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Trotting along the dirt path that led towards civilization, Mario looked at the sky and let out a happy sigh, "I wonder what this town-a is going to look like."

A high pitched squeak brought Mario out of his wonder of Ponyville. Worried, he looked in all directions to discern the source of this cry. His eyes drifted downward to find a distressed chipmunk with a limp leg. Mario felt immediate sympathy for the poor little woodland creature, "Poor little guy, I wonder-a what happened."

"Oh no!" Exclaimed someone, but exclaimed would be a stretch; the voice was incredibly soft spoken and barely reached ear splitting levels. Nonetheless, the mysterious voice startled Mario, thus in turn startling the chipmunk. The red earth pony turned his head to find another pegasus next to him. Her coat was butter yellow in color and her light pink mane was long and wavy. Her cutie mark was an image of three pink butterflies, an icon that was present on her saddlebags. Her moderate cyan eyes expressed only one emotion: worry. She lightly pushed Mario aside and knelt down to the chipmunk's level, "Oh, you poor thing," she scooped up the creature in her hooves and gently lifted herself off the ground with her wings. Then she flew off with the chipmunk in hoof.

"Wait! Come back!" Mario followed after her. She was flying at a surprisingly fast speed that Mario was barely able to catch up to. He followed the mare to a fairly remote cottage that was well away from the path he had followed. There was a little bridge that provided a path over a small creak. The structure itself was very modest and only provided a necessary amount of shelter. The mare opened the door and rushed inside, locking the door behind her, thus leaving Mario outside once he arrived. The mustaches pony took a look at the surrounding area, finding numerous woodland critters roaming around. The entire atmosphere of the area was calming, the chirping birds and the squeaks of various critters brought a sense of ease to the soul. Mario heard the door open as he enjoyed his surroundings. He turned to find the yellow mare shyly exiting her house, closing the door behind her.

"Uh, hello there," He greeted, but she only fiddled with her fore-hooves in response, "It's-a me Mario, what's-a your name?"

"I-I'm Fluttershy..." She whispered, her words barely registering to Mario.

"Sorry, I didn't-a catch that."

"Fluttershy..." She said, a little louder this time.

"Fluttershy?" Mario repeated, "Is it Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy stepped back slightly and let out a little whimper. Mario could easily see that the mare was very shy around others. He himself couldn't help but feel a little awkward around her. Mario looked over what he assumed was her home, taking note of all the different animals roaming the premises. There were also numerous enclosures and feeding stations dotted around the cottage. There was also the mare's overall attitude towards the injured chipmunk earlier; she acted like a concerned mother tending to her child. Maybe bringing up the subject of animals would get her to open up.

"Hey, is the little guy okay?" Mario asked.

"Oh—uh, yes, he's alright now," Fluttershy assured, "That poor chipmunk hurt his leg foraging acorns up in the trees. He was lucky I found him on my way back picking up carrots for Angel Bunny. He just needs time to recover, then he'll be back on his feet."

"That's-a good to hear," Mario nodded. His change of topic had the effect he desired, Fluttershy was star to look more comfortable, "You're-a really good with animals, aren't-a you?"

"Oh yes," Fluttershy answered as enthusiastically as she could, "I love animals. I care and tend to them whenever they need it."

"I can tell-a. You were really worried- about that chipmunk," Something then occurred to Mario. Fluttershy said that the chipmunk hurt his leg harvesting acorns, but she didn't see that happen, "Hey, how did you know how he got hurt-a?"

"Oh—uh... I asked him and he told me," She stammered, almost as if she was embarrassed to say anything regarding the subject.

"Wait, you can talk-a to animals?" Mario couldn't believe his ears. Fluttershy nodded nervously, worried that she might have just weirded him out, "Yahoo! That's-a awesome!"

"Really? You think so?" Fluttershy inquired, she wasn't used to another pony displaying this level of interest in her work.

"Yeah," Mario affirmed with a big smile.

"Oh, that's very kind of you to say," Fluttershy expressed her appreciation, "Are interested in animals too, Mario?"

"Well, I've-a met a few cool animals before if that's- what you mean," Mario continued the conversation, "There was this elephant-a with big ears, and there was also this lion-a named Simba..."

"You've met a lion?!" Fluttershy almost squealed in delight, gently hovering above ground, "I've never seen a lion before. What was he like?"

"Simba's really cool-a," Mario was glad he was able to get Fluttershy to open up. Mario spent the next hour discussing the various animals he's met with Fluttershy. The yellow mare listened intently as he told tales of a deer fawn, a flying elephant, and a blue creature Mario didn't know the species of, but it was very slobbery and affectionate and even his friends, Donkey Kong and Yoshi. Mario told her as much as he could, but he intentionally left out a few details. Eventually, Mario bade farewell to Fluttershy and resumed his trek to the village of Ponyville.

Mario looked around the rustic and charming architecture, seeing pastel colored ponies of all different ages trotting around, not just normal ponies and pegasi, but unicorns as well.

"It's-a like I've landed in a little girl's-a fantasy," Mario thought, "Well, I guess-a I could've ended up someplace-a worse." As he wandered through the town, Mario caught glimpse of a peculiar phenomenon. He saw pegasi moving around clouds like they were cardboard boxes. "Hmm? They can move clouds? That's-a so cool!"

As the stallion reveled in this newfound discovery, he came across a rather strange building. The entire building was circular and was designed to look posh and frilly. The top of the structure was a fully detailed carousel, making Mario wonder if it actually worked. The sign read "Carousel Boutique." Being stricken with curiosity, Mario opened the door and heard a little jingle above him. The owner had installed a bell on the door frame, likely to alert the arrival of customers. Mario took in the interior. It was very... girly. The walls were varying shades of pink and white, and there were numerous stands displaying a diverse range of pony fitted dresses. There was a runway which Mario assumed was for ponies to model the clothes on display. What puzzled Mario was that the ponies he had seen so far didn't wear clothes; what was really the point of this shop? Recreation?

"I'll be just a moment," came a pleasant and posh voice from another room. After a moment of waiting, the source of the voice trotted into the main lobby. She was probably the most stunning pony Mario had seen thus far. She was a marshmallow white coated unicorn with an elegantly curled purple mane and tail. Her eyes were closed as she trotted, so Mario could see the expertly applied makeup on her face. Her cutie mark consisted of three blue diamonds, "Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where everything is—" The unicorn cut off her speaking when she opened her teal blue eyes and got a full view of Mario's appearance, "Pardon me but, where did you get those clothes?"

Mario, slightly taken aback, stammered his response, "Oh—uh... they were given-a to me," That was a truthful statement, but Mario didn't want to disclose who or where. The marshmallow pony trotted closer to Mario and carefully inspected his clothing, which did nothing to circumvent the awkward air in the room, "What?"

"I've never seen their like before," She mused. She pulled herself back and shook her head to recompose herself, "Apologies. Where are my manners, I'm Rarity, or Miss Rarity if you prefer."

Mario blinked his eyes in confusion, "It's-a me Mario," he introduced, feeling a little more comfortable, "It's-a nice to meet you, Rarity."

"Now that introductions are out of the way, what can I do for you, Mario?" Rarity asked.

"Oh, I was just a little curious-a was all," Mario admitted, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly, "Sorry to bother you, I'll-a just be on my way," He turned his frame to trot out the door, but a light blue aura took hold of his jacket and held him in place, "Oh! What the..?"

Rarity galloped in front of Mario, who saw her horn glowing in the same light blue aura for a split second, "Must you leave so soon?" She pleaded, "I'm sorry for being so blunt but I simply must examine your clothing."

"Hmm? You want-a to study my clothes?" Mario questioned, confused with Rarity's eagerness.

"Oh yes!" Rarity nodded her head rapidly, "I'm an aspiring fashion designer, you see, and I need to study up on the latest trends to predict what will be 'in' per say. Your overalls and even your hat are avant-guarde if I've ever seen it. Why, just looking at them is giving me inspiration! I implore you, Mario, may I PLEASE examine your clothing?" She spoke her request with an overly dramatic flair, earning her an odd look from Mario.

"Well, I guess-a you can take a look," He allowed. Rarity squealed in delight and stomped her hooves in place to show her excitement.

"Oh, Thank you so much, Mario! I promise I won't take too long," Rarity's horn lit up in a light blue aura once more. All of a sudden, Mario's clothes were yanked from his body: Overalls, shirt, gloves, shoes and hat. Mario had difficulty comprehending what transpired as his clothes floated away. Rarity trotted past Mario with his clothes floating next to her. Rarity made her way to a nearby desk as a pencil and some paper floated to her.

Mario took notice of his floating clothes and the aura covering Rarity's horn. That horn was what was levitating all those objects. The posh pony was treating this as an everyday occurrence. Was this just something unicorns in this world could do?

"Plaid highlights?" Rarity mused, "Why, it just might be daring enough to work!" She began furiously scribbling up designs with this newfound inspiration. Mario looked around the shop once again, noting all of the gorgeous and well designed dresses on display.

"Hey, Rarity, did you make-a all of these?"

"Absolutely," Rarity responded without taking her eyes away from her sketches, "All of my designs are hoof stitched with precise care and consideration. I never accept anything that isn't perfect."

"Yeah, I can tell-a. They're-a really good," Mario's compliments brought a proud smile to Rarity's lips. It was always nice to know her talents were acknowledged and appreciated.

"I've never seen you in town before, Mario," Rarity kept the conversation going, "Have you just arrived in Ponyville?"

"Yeah, I'm-a staying over at Sweet Apple Acres. They're- letting me stay in exchange-a for helping them on the farm-a." Mario's answer brought a heartfelt laugh from Rarity.

"So Applejack finally buckled down and hired some hooves for that farm of her's?" There was no hint of distain in her voice, just a jovial tone.

"Yeah, she was a little hesitant-a, but she warmed up to it after awhile-a."

"So, how are you enjoying Ponyville, Mario."

"Oh yeah. It's-a great so far," Mario answered with a smile, "It's-a alot different than some of the other places I've-a been to," Mario slightly winced at his choice of words. He almost gave away information he wasn't supposed to.

"Oh, you're a world traveler then?" Rarity didn't seem to read into Mario's words too much, something he was very grateful for.

"Yeah, something like that," Mario took note of how Rarity was able to effectively multi-task talking and drawing at the same time.

"Well, I believe I've come up with some stunning new designs," Rarity levitated Mario's clothes back to him, "Here you are, thank you for allowing me a closer look at your wardrobe."

"Sure, no problem," Mario put his clothes back on, taking no time at all now that he knew how to do it.

"Just a moment," Rarity levitated some measuring tape, along with a pencil and note pad, and began to measure Mario's depth and width. This action confused Mario.

"Oh? What are you doing?" He inquired.

"Just taking your measurements, darling," That didn't give Mario any further insight.

"Okay, why?" He inquired more.

"Well, I want to make sure I have your proper proportions, just in case I want to craft you some new garments," Rarity reasoned, scribbling down the length of Mario's frame.

"Wait, but I don't have any money on me," Mario really didn't see himself shopping for new clothes any time soon, what he had was fine enough.

"Maybe, but whose to say I won't feel generous and give you an outfit for free," Rarity replied.

"Really, you'd-a just make me a new outfit-a?" The inhabitants of this town were unbelievably kind. First was the Apple's ample hospitality, Fluttershy's devotion to animals, now there was Rarity's inspiring generosity.

"Just think of it as me repaying you for all the tremendous inspiration you've given me," Rarity told Mario, putting away her measuring tape and note pad, "Besides, you have such an eye for fashion, it'd be a crime to not give you more garments to wear."

"That doesn't-a make alot of sense-a to me," Mario admitted, "But I appreciate it."

"Do make sure you visit again, Mario," Rarity said, "You have such a natural knack for fashion."

"I might-a just do that," Mario responded. Talking with Rarity was a surprisingly pleasant experience, "Alright, Buh bye," He trotted out the door, hearing the little bell ring again.

Rarity looked over her sketches when a paralyzing thought occurred to her, "Oh Rarity, you twit! Why didn't you ask him how he made his mustache the way it is?"

Mario continued on his tour of Ponyville, taking a short stroll through a local park with a calming river and lush grass. As the earth pony trotted along the dirt path, he thought back to the ponies he met so far. Applejack was as hospitable as she was hard working, Fluttershy was a kind-hearted soul who cares for any creature under her wing, and Rarity was passionate for her work but still managed to maintain a generous streak. Ponyville certainly had it's fair share of great inhabitants. His thoughts grinded to a halt when something pink blocked his way.

"Hi!" She announced, causing Mario to fall on his back in surprise. She was a light pink earth pony with joyful blue eyes, and unending smile, a curly hot pink mane and tail, and a cutie mark of three balloons (two blue and one yellow).

Mario recuperated to look up at the strange pony, "Huh? Where did you come from?"

She ignored his question and said in a single breath, "Hi I'm Pinkie Pie it's nice to meet you mustached pony I really like your mustache by the way your hat is really cool what's your name?"

Mario stood back up during Pinkie's small tangent. The only things he understood was her name and her question for his name, "It's-a me Mario."

"Mario? That's a weird name," Pinkie said. As Mario furrowed his brow in annoyance at her remark, the pink mare suddenly gasped loudly, "I just remembered!" Pinkie's face suddenly grew serious. She slowly inched her way towards Mario, who backing away nervously, "I need to ask you something super duper ultra stupendously important. Your answer is of the utmost importance!"

"Uh... What?" Pinkie's snout was uncomfortably close to Mario's and her piercing scowl wasn't helping matters either. Whatever Pinkie wanted to asked, it sounded unequivocally urgent if she was this serious.

"What is your favorite cake flavor?"

Mario blinked in confusion, "That's-a it?" Pinkie intensified her stare, prompting him to answer, "Um... Chocolate, I guess?"

Pinkie immediately resumed her previous cheerful demeanor and pulled away from Mario, "Thanks!" She then ran off. More accurately, she disappeared, leaving behind a puff of smoke in her shape. Mario just stared off into nothing as his brain tried to comprehend what just transpired.

"Man, that was weird-a," he commented, continuing his trot.

Mario was halted, again, when he heard a noise in the distance. He couldn't make out what it was, but it kept getting louder. Mario turned his head to find a rainbow blur heading right for him. Any thought of dodging was a distant dream as the two entities collided with each other in a painful crash. The blur that hit Mario was a cyan blue pegasus mare with rose colored eyes and a messy mane and tail that carried all the colors of a rainbow. Her cutie mark was a storm cloud firing a rainbow lightning bolt. Mario and the mare skidded on the grass for a few feet before they ended up sprawled on the ground. Mario's body ached as he stood back up, fixing his hat and stretching his back until he heard his bones realign themselves. He turned his attention to the cyan mare working off her crash.

"Hey, watch where you're-a going!" Mario reprimanded her with a scowl on his face, "You could've seriously hurt-a someone!"

"Hehe, sorry about that," She sheepishly apologized, brushing away any dirt on her. She eyed the object of her crash, noting his strange clothes and his wild hairstyle, "Never seen you in town before. You new?"

Mario continued to leer at her, still not pleased with her crash landing on him, "Yeah, I just-a got here today. It's-a me Mario."

"I'm Rainbow Dash," She introduced with a dramatic pose, "Maybe you've heard of me," Mario felt something click in his head.

"Actually, yeah I have," Mario replied with a deadpan expression, "Applejack says you still-a owe her a new pig-a pen," Rainbow Dash's eyes widened.

"Aww c'mon, is she still mad about that?" Rainbow whined, lifting herself in the air with her wings, "I had dust in my eyes. It's not my fault her pig pen was in my way."

"From what I've-a seen so far, you have a talent-a for crashing into things-a," Mario said.

"Whatever," Rainbow brushed off Mario's insult.

"What exactly were you doing-a anyway?" Sora asked.

"I was practicing my flight technique," Rainbow responded, stretching her hooves, "You're looking at a future Wonderbolt!" She proclaimed while putting her fore-hooves on her hips. Mario, in response, tilted his head in confusion.

"What's a Wonderbolt?" Rainbow Dash went slack-jawed and looked at Mario as if he just grew a second head.

"You don't know who the Wonderbolts are?!" She zoomed dangerously close to Mario's snout, "You been living under a rock or something?!" She angrily demanded. Mario flinched back from the blue mare's outburst, but he immediately went on the defensive.

"Hey, I'm-a not from here!" The red earth pony retorted, "It's-a not like I know everything!"

"Seems to me like the Wonderbolts should be common knowledge for everyone," Rainbow fired back, then sighed in annoyance, "THE Wonderbolts are the greatest fliers in all of Equestria. It's been my lifelong dream to join them."

"I doubt they'd-a let you join if they how bad you're-a crashes were," Mario insulted with a sly smile. Now Rainbow Dash was on the defensive.

"Hey, I could zoom across all the clouds in town in one go if I wanted to," She boasted.

"Oh yeah, prove it," Mario challenged.

With a cocky smirk on her face, Rainbow Dash blasted off into the sky, creating a dust cloud. Flying a super sonic speed, Rainbow bolted her way across the Ponyville skyline, swerving, zigzagging, and loop-de-looping her way past every cloud in the vicinity. Mario watched Rainbow's display of aerial acrobatics with intense awe. The cyan mare's display was attracting an audience in the park, all of them entranced by her display. With a corkscrew dive, Rainbow Dash landed in the exact same spot she was when she started. The crowd cheered in applause as Rainbow threw Mario a cocky smile.

"Told ya," She bragged, eagerly absorbing the crowd's admiration.

"Whoa!" Mario was certainly proven wrong. His jaw was as low as it could possibly be, "That was amazing!"

"What I'd tell ya," Rainbow reveled in his awe.

"I wish I could-a pull off something like that, despite-a not having any wings-a," Mario commented.

"Hey, not your fault you're a runt," Rainbow shrugged, not realizing she said the wrong thing to Mario.

"What do you mean?" He asked, feeling insulted.

"I mean, no offense even if you were a Pegasus, you'd be too scrawny to be a pro flyer," Rainbow Dash playfully stated. There wasn't a hint of superiority or anything of the sort in her voice, but that didn't stop Mario from being mad. Now he wanted to prove her wrong as he made a quick look around the various trees and light posts dotted around the park gave him an idea.

"Okay, how about this," Mario proposed, "I can platform across this entire park-a," the crowd all whistled in anticipation, wondering if actually meant it.

Rainbow Dash did not think so, chuckling loudly, "You're bluffing, there's no way," Mario smirked in response.

"Let's-a go!" Mario exclaimed, facing a nearby tree, Mario galloped forward, launching himself with a super jump and planting his hooves on the tree trunk. Defying all laws of physics, he pushed himself off the trunk and propelled himself towards a nearby light post, where he grabbed hold of it with both his fore-hooves. Mario used his forward momentum to make himself spin around the pole. He let go of the light post and now he was heading towards a bench. He landed on the top of the bench and vaulted himself to another light post he then kicked off of it, he then saw rows of branches in the air as Mario took this advantage and jumped high into it as he then followed the branches. Near the end, Mario spin jumped off it it and was heading towards another light lost as Mario jumped off of with with a wall jump. For a full minute, Mario performed a chain of incredible platforming moves, much to the enjoyment of any passerby ponies in addition to the crowd who saw Rainbow Dash's display. Mario ended his show with a triple jump and then a high flip in front of a stunned Rainbow. Now the crowd was cheering for Mario.

"Yah. Mario win. Wahoo. How was that?" The red pony asked with a smile on his face, though he could probably could guess Rainbow's opinion based on her slack-jawed expression.

In an instant, the pegasus mare expressed excitement, her face molding into a wide toothy smile, "That. Was. Awesome!" Rainbow Dash caught herself fangirling and immediately composed herself in a shroud of neutrality, avoiding eye contact, "I mean, y-yeah, that was cool... I guess."

Mario shook his head, "You're-a really hard to please, aren't-a you?" He joked.

"What can I say," Rainbow went along with the charade, "I'm a mare with high expectations," She and Mario shared a hearty laugh, "You're really something, Mario. We should hang out sometime."

"Hmm. I'd-a like that alot," Sora nodded his head, "Just-a try not to crash-a into me next time."

"No promises," Rainbow teased, "Later," She flew off at high speeds. Mario felt a smile curl up on his lips. That entire experience made him feel like a kid again, getting into dumb contests with his friends. With his spirits high, Mario continued his trot through the park.

This town was filled with strange looking buildings. Now Mario found a large oak tree that had been converted into a library. "The Golden Oaks Library" it was called.

"Seeing as how I'll-a probably be here for awhile, I might-a as well learn more about-a this world." He entered the tree turned library, seeing bookshelves built into the wood of the tree itself. Mario was surprised to find no librarian in sight.

"Hello, anyone-a here?" No answer. With no perceivable help, Mario looked over the shelves for something that could give him some insight into where he was. Among the shelves, Mario found what he was looking for, "A Brief History of Equestria Vol. 1." Mario reached for the book, but couldn't grip it properly with his hooves.

"Mamma Mia, I miss-a fingers," he lamented. Mario dug at the top of the book to bring it down, and he succeeded. However, the tome fell down on the floor with a thud. He sighed in annoyance and picked the book back up with his teeth. Bringing it to a nearby table. Mario opened the table of contents and found an interesting section, "The Two Royal Sisters." He flipped through the pages till he arrived at the section he was looking for.

"Once upon a time, in the magical land-a of Equestria, there were two regal-a sisters who ruled together and created-a harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest-a, Celestia, used her unicorn powers to raise-a the sun at dawn; the younger, Luna, brought-a out the moon to begin the night," Mario did a trouble take with this new knowledge. "What?! They controlled-a the sun and moon?! They must-a have been powerful." Mario continued reading, "Thus, the two sisters maintained-a balance for their kingdom and their-a subjects, all the different types-a of ponies. But as time went-a on, Luna became resentful. The ponies relished-a and played in the day her elder sister brought-a forth, but shunned and slept through-a her beautiful night."

"One fateful day, Luna refused-a to lower the moon to make way for the dawn-a. Celestia tried to reason with her, but the bitterness-a in Luna's heart had transformed-a her into a wicked mare of darkness-a: Nightmare Moon. She vowed-a that she would shroud-a the land in eternal night. Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful-a magic known to ponydom: the Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, Celestia defeated-a her younger sister, and banished-a her permanently in the moon. Now alone, Celestia took on responsibility for both sun and moon, and harmony has been-a maintained in Equestria for generations since-a."

Mario absorbed the information he just read, feeling sadness for Celestia and Luna. Having felt as though he learned enough, he closed the book and placed it back onto the shelf where he found it. He exited the library in a far more somber mood than when he first entered.

"Celestia had to banish-a her own sister," Mario repeated the tale to himself as dusk loomed over the horizon, "That's- just... awful," Mario thought back to his own experiences; he had a friend who fell into a dark path once, a friend he and Sora were forced to battle.

Mario was brought back to reality when he heard a commotion not too far away from his location. He turned his head to see ponies gathering towards a growing plume of smoke.

The red earth pony gasped in shock. "Oh no! Fire!" He galloped over to the source of the smoke to find where the fire was coming from. A two story house was alight in a blazing inferno. Many ponies were gathered in concern as this scene played out. To Mario's left were a brown coated earth pony stallion with a darker brown mane and a gray coated pegasus mare with a messy blonde mane. The stallion was holding the mare back as she seemed to want to gallop towards the burning house.

"Let me go! My little filly is still in there!" The mare screeched, unable to break free of the stallion's hold. Mario overheard the mare and he gasped in shock at her words.

"It's much too dangerous now!" The stallion tried to reason, but to no avail. The mare continued to struggle against the stallion to go inside the building, but he continued to hold her at bay. Mario tensed up, if there was a defenseless filly trapped in that fire, he had to act.

"Where is she?" The red earth pony asked the mare, concern prevalent in his tone of voice.

"She's on the second floor," The gray mare blubbered.

"Got it!" Mario crouched low and made a running start. With enough forward momentum, he jumped high in the air toward the second floor window. Mario braced his right shoulder and crashed through the window into the blazing inferno, much to the shock of the pony bystanders.

"He's barking mad!" The brown stallion yelled.

Mario rolled onto his hooves as the heat of the fire assaulted his very being, forcing him to flinch. The room he found himself in was charred beyond repair. The ceiling was starting to cave in as chunks of burning debris lay scattered. He looked through the flames to see if the trapped filly was inside, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Hello?! Is there anyone-a in here?!" Mario called out.

"HEEEEELP!" A voice rang out, followed by a string of guttural coughs. Mario perked his ears to determine where the voice originated, "SOMEPONY HEEELP!" The voice sounded like a little girl's, and it was coming from a terrified lilac unicorn filly with a messy blonde mane huddled in the corner of the flaming room whimpering in anxiety. Chunks of debris lay on top of a fallen, burning support beam, trapping her in place. Mario gritted his teeth in determination as he adjusted his hat, he had to save this filly.

There was no escape. She was trapped and the heat was becoming more intense by the minute. She had closed her eyes to wait for her inevitable demise when she head the sound of glass shattering. She opened her eyes, only for the heat of the fire to force them to partially close again. However, in the blur of orange assaulting her vision, she could make out a pony on the opposite end of the debris.

Mario placed his fore hooves under the wooden beam and lifted with all his strength. Despite his frame, the red earth pony brought the beam up above his head; however, the burn marks on the wood were hurting a great deal, but Mario was determined, he would weather the pain. The filly looked in awe at this heroic pony, hope welling up in her heart, but she couldn't stay in her state for long.

"C'mon! We gotta go!" Mario pleaded to the filly. The smoke was beginning to put a strain on his lungs. The filly crawled along the floor, hacking in pain along the way. The amount of smoke and heat in the house sapped away most of her strength, causing her to move at a slow and agonizing pace. The fumes of the fire proved too much for the little filly as she collapsed. She was still breathing, which was good news. Mario was now stuck between a rock and a hard place. Both he and the filly were underneath the support beam he was carrying. He only had one option, scoop up the filly and make a break for the window. With great focus, Mario hefted the beam in the air, grabbed the unconscious filly, and leapt away before the large hunk of wood crushed them.

Mario's momentum halted when the floor began crumbling beneath him. It seemed that the beam crashing into the floor caused it to cave in under the pressure. The red earth pony looked down in trepidation as his only source of solid footing was falling apart. In this moment of extreme adrenaline, a thought occurred to him: he had and item with wings, surely he could fly to escape this situation.

There didn't seem to be another option at the moment. Mario quickly took out his hat and put in in his pocket and switched it to his now Winged Hat with wings as he put it on. Taking a deep breath and shutting his eyes closed, Mario clutched the filly tighter to his chest and made a leap just as the floor crumbled. The earth pony willed, more like prayed, his winged hat to grant him aviation. Hearing a flapping sound, Mario carefully opened his eyes to find that he was still on the second floor; more accurately, he was hovering above the first floor. Mario was successful, his Winged Hat was working. As much as he wanted to revel in his accomplishment, the well being of the child was more important. The red earth pony looked towards the window he crashed into, that was his way out. Now was the issue of flying towards the window to safety. Mario wasn't sure how he would do that, but he was determined. With great fortitude, Mario lunged forward, using his Winged Hat to propel him towards the window.

The ponies outside watched in crushing anticipation when Mario jumped into the burning house. The silver mare in particular was silently praying with leaking eyes that this mustaches stranger would rescue her little filly. The onlooker's anticipation end ed when Mario flew out of the broken window with an unconscious filly bundled in his hooves. He landed on the ground back first, likely to keep the filly from taking any brunt from the fall. Mario panted heavily as ponies gathered around him in awe. The pegasus mare sobbed in relief as she grabbed the unconscious filly from Mario's hooves and embraced her. As for Mario, he righted himself back on all fours, trying to catch his breath. Seeing the gray mare cry tears of joy brought a satisfying feeling to his heart. At this time, a group of pegasi had gathered some rain clouds and were using them to douse the fire.

"Is she going-a to be okay?" Mario asked to no one in particular. The brown stallion who held the mare back earlier approached her and took a critical look at the filly wrapped in her hooves.

"There are no major injuries," He diagnosed, "But the intensity of the flames has caused her to pass out. She'll require medical attention," The mare and stallion hurried over to the nearby hospital.

Mario felt at ease knowing that the little girl he rescued would be okay. His relief switched to bewilderment when the gathered crowd erupted in uproarious applause. The ponies gathered around Mario and hoisted him above ground. "Three cheers for the hero!" One of them proclaimed. The crowd chanted the customary "Hip, hip, hooray!" while launching Mario in the air. The red earth pony was more than flustered receiving this kind of treatment. Even when he was placed back on the ground, his new fans were bombarding him with praise and admiration. Mario could only rub the back of his head bashfully, appreciative of the crowd's kind words. He was able to scurry his way away from his adoring fans. Mario thought he should make his way back to the farm, the sun was close to setting.

"That was an eventful-a day," Mario thought back to the experiences he had today. He met a multitude of friendly ponies, did some lucrative farm work, platformed around, rescued a little girl and became a hero to the citizens of Ponyville. His mind was at such a state of peace that he failed to notice the pink presence behind him.

"Hey, Mario!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, startling the red pony once again. He looked back to find the smiling mare once again.

"Oh, it's-a just you, Pinkie," Mario sighed, "Do you need-a something?"

"Yeah, I need you to come with me for just a second," Pinkie covered Mario's eyes with hooves.

"Oh? Hey, what are you—" He didn't finish his sentence as the pink mare drag Mario for what felt like a few feet. Pinkie gave Mario back his vision. Now he found the new strangest building in town, a building designed to look like a gingerbread house. Now the red earth pony was craving gingerbread. Something wasn't right however, "Hey, wait a second..." Mario was in a completely different position just a second ago before Pinkie hijacked his sight, "How did you bring-a me here so quick?"

"I really need your help with something inside," Pinkie ignored him. Whatever she wanted Mario for, he was more than happy to oblige, even if she was incredibly weird. He walked through the doors, only to be met with pitch black darkness.

"Eh, where are the lights-a in here?" Mario asked. Just then, the lights were turned on.

"SURPRISE!" The interior was a bake shop, but wasn't the space's use at the moment. The room was filled with balloons, streamers, snack tables, and smiling ponies. Mario flinched back in shock, this was certainly not what he was expecting.

"Surprise!" Pinkie inexplicably appeared in front of Mario, "So what'ca think?"

"What's-a all this for?" Mario was completely thrown for a loop at this turn of events.

"It's a party for you, silly," Pinkie Pie stated the obvious.

"Okay, but why? It's-a not my birthday," Mario could not understand Pinkie's line of thought.

"Well, I figured that much, but I saw you in town earlier and I know I've never seen a mustache like yours before and it occurred to me that you were new in town," Pinkie explained, "And since you were new in town I just had to throw you a party."

"Wait a minute," Mario processed Pinkie's explanation with excitement, "I get a party just-a for being new?"

"Duh. But when I was setting everything up I was thinking about what kind of cake I should bake. Then I got worried if I made a cake you didn't like it would ruin the party for you, so I asked you what kind of cake you liked and you said chocolate, so I baked you a delicious triple decker fudge chocolate cake!" Pinkie presented her culinary creation on a nearby table. Just looking at the cake made Mario's mouth water, "C'mon, lets party!"

Mario was more than happy to obey Pinkie's orders. He threw himself towards the nearest snack table, surveying all the scrumptious looking treats available. He settled on a pink cupcake which he shoved strait into his mouth. It was really good, so much that he ate another, and another, and another.

"Quite the little piggy, ain't ya," Drawled a familiar southern accent. Mario pivoted his form to find Applejack looking at him with a cheeky grin. The red earth pony quickly swallowed his current cupcake.

"Hey, Applejack," Mario greeted the farm mare with an awkward smile, "You made it to the party too?"

"Pinkie Pie invited me here," Applejack explained, "From what ah've heard, you've made quite a name for yerself her in Ponyville."

"I have-a?" Mario tiled his head with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, most certainly, darling," Said Rarity. Mario looked to his left to find her, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were at the party as well, "I've heard from some ponies that you braved a burning building to save the life of a defenseless filly. I knew you had an eye for fashion when we met, but who would have thought you were such a dashing hero as well."

"You heard-a about that?" Mario questioned. That news certainly spread quickly.

"Everypony's been talking about it since it happened," Rainbow Dash commented, "I mean, I could've pulled it off, but it's cool," Mario gave the cyan mare a speculative smirk.

"I'm-a sure you could've," He responded sarcastically.

"But it still really brave of you," Fluttershy said softly, bringing a genuine smile to Mario's face. Mario then thought back to Pinkie Pie and all her weird antics.

"Hey, can any of you answer-a me a question about-a Pinkie Pie."

"Mario," Applejack interrupted, "Let me jus' answer yer question for ya. Ya'll shouldn't question anything Pinkie Pie does."

"What, why?"

"Trust us, Mario," Rainbow Dash added, "You'll sleep better at night not thinking about," The rest of the mares all nodded their heads in affirmation. Since everyone was telling him not to question Pinkie, Mario decided to go along with the pink mare's antics.

"Hey, what's going on?" Speaking of, Pinkie appeared right in front of Mario, again, startling him, again.

"Oh, it's-a nothing, Pinkie," Mario answered, "We were-a just talking about stuff."

"That's good that you're talking with your new friends," Pinkie said with a big smile, "You've been here only a day and you already have so many friends. You must be some kind of friendship expert or something."

Mario rubbed the back of his head as he surveyed the five mares he befriended today. He was glad he got to meet all of these great ponies. Applejack was a hard worker with a high moral compass, Fluttershy was a compassionate caretaker willing to aid any creature, Rarity was a passionate creator with a heart of gold, Rainbow Dash was a confident athlete with big dreams; and Pinkie Pie was an energetic mare who goes above and beyond to make others happy. The party went on for hours, with Mario and his new friends playing all manner of different games, including "pin the tail on the pony." As the party went on, Mario felt more and more at ease. Of all the places he could be stranded in, Equestria was a great place.

But now this raises the question, if Mario was transported into Equestria, where did Sora end up in?

Description
Trotting along the dirt path that led towards civilization, Mario looked at the sky and let out a happy sigh, "I wonder what this town-a is going to look like."

A high pitched squeak brought Mario out of his wonder of Ponyville. Worried, he looked in all directions to discern the source of this cry. His eyes drifted downward to find a distressed chipmunk with a limp leg. Mario felt immediate sympathy for the poor little woodland creature, "Poor little guy, I wonder-a what happened."

"Oh no!" Exclaimed someone, but exclaimed would be a stretch; the voice was incredibly soft spoken and barely reached ear splitting levels. Nonetheless, the mysterious voice startled Mario, thus in turn startling the chipmunk. The red earth pony turned his head to find another pegasus next to him. Her coat was butter yellow in color and her light pink mane was long and wavy. Her cutie mark was an image of three pink butterflies, an icon that was present on her saddlebags. Her moderate cyan eyes expressed only one emotion: worry. She lightly pushed Mario aside and knelt down to the chipmunk's level, "Oh, you poor thing," she scooped up the creature in her hooves and gently lifted herself off the ground with her wings. Then she flew off with the chipmunk in hoof.

"Wait! Come back!" Mario followed after her. She was flying at a surprisingly fast speed that Mario was barely able to catch up to. He followed the mare to a fairly remote cottage that was well away from the path he had followed. There was a little bridge that provided a path over a small creak. The structure itself was very modest and only provided a necessary amount of shelter. The mare opened the door and rushed inside, locking the door behind her, thus leaving Mario outside once he arrived. The mustaches pony took a look at the surrounding area, finding numerous woodland critters roaming around. The entire atmosphere of the area was calming, the chirping birds and the squeaks of various critters brought a sense of ease to the soul. Mario heard the door open as he enjoyed his surroundings. He turned to find the yellow mare shyly exiting her house, closing the door behind her.

"Uh, hello there," He greeted, but she only fiddled with her fore-hooves in response, "It's-a me Mario, what's-a your name?"

"I-I'm Fluttershy..." She whispered, her words barely registering to Mario.

"Sorry, I didn't-a catch that."

"Fluttershy..." She said, a little louder this time.

"Fluttershy?" Mario repeated, "Is it Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy stepped back slightly and let out a little whimper. Mario could easily see that the mare was very shy around others. He himself couldn't help but feel a little awkward around her. Mario looked over what he assumed was her home, taking note of all the different animals roaming the premises. There were also numerous enclosures and feeding stations dotted around the cottage. There was also the mare's overall attitude towards the injured chipmunk earlier; she acted like a concerned mother tending to her child. Maybe bringing up the subject of animals would get her to open up.

"Hey, is the little guy okay?" Mario asked.

"Oh—uh, yes, he's alright now," Fluttershy assured, "That poor chipmunk hurt his leg foraging acorns up in the trees. He was lucky I found him on my way back picking up carrots for Angel Bunny. He just needs time to recover, then he'll be back on his feet."

"That's-a good to hear," Mario nodded. His change of topic had the effect he desired, Fluttershy was star to look more comfortable, "You're-a really good with animals, aren't-a you?"

"Oh yes," Fluttershy answered as enthusiastically as she could, "I love animals. I care and tend to them whenever they need it."

"I can tell-a. You were really worried- about that chipmunk," Something then occurred to Mario. Fluttershy said that the chipmunk hurt his leg harvesting acorns, but she didn't see that happen, "Hey, how did you know how he got hurt-a?"

"Oh—uh... I asked him and he told me," She stammered, almost as if she was embarrassed to say anything regarding the subject.

"Wait, you can talk-a to animals?" Mario couldn't believe his ears. Fluttershy nodded nervously, worried that she might have just weirded him out, "Yahoo! That's-a awesome!"

"Really? You think so?" Fluttershy inquired, she wasn't used to another pony displaying this level of interest in her work.

"Yeah," Mario affirmed with a big smile.

"Oh, that's very kind of you to say," Fluttershy expressed her appreciation, "Are interested in animals too, Mario?"

"Well, I've-a met a few cool animals before if that's- what you mean," Mario continued the conversation, "There was this elephant-a with big ears, and there was also this lion-a named Simba..."

"You've met a lion?!" Fluttershy almost squealed in delight, gently hovering above ground, "I've never seen a lion before. What was he like?"

"Simba's really cool-a," Mario was glad he was able to get Fluttershy to open up. Mario spent the next hour discussing the various animals he's met with Fluttershy. The yellow mare listened intently as he told tales of a deer fawn, a flying elephant, and a blue creature Mario didn't know the species of, but it was very slobbery and affectionate and even his friends, Donkey Kong and Yoshi. Mario told her as much as he could, but he intentionally left out a few details. Eventually, Mario bade farewell to Fluttershy and resumed his trek to the village of Ponyville.

Mario looked around the rustic and charming architecture, seeing pastel colored ponies of all different ages trotting around, not just normal ponies and pegasi, but unicorns as well.

"It's-a like I've landed in a little girl's-a fantasy," Mario thought, "Well, I guess-a I could've ended up someplace-a worse." As he wandered through the town, Mario caught glimpse of a peculiar phenomenon. He saw pegasi moving around clouds like they were cardboard boxes. "Hmm? They can move clouds? That's-a so cool!"

As the stallion reveled in this newfound discovery, he came across a rather strange building. The entire building was circular and was designed to look posh and frilly. The top of the structure was a fully detailed carousel, making Mario wonder if it actually worked. The sign read "Carousel Boutique." Being stricken with curiosity, Mario opened the door and heard a little jingle above him. The owner had installed a bell on the door frame, likely to alert the arrival of customers. Mario took in the interior. It was very... girly. The walls were varying shades of pink and white, and there were numerous stands displaying a diverse range of pony fitted dresses. There was a runway which Mario assumed was for ponies to model the clothes on display. What puzzled Mario was that the ponies he had seen so far didn't wear clothes; what was really the point of this shop? Recreation?

"I'll be just a moment," came a pleasant and posh voice from another room. After a moment of waiting, the source of the voice trotted into the main lobby. She was probably the most stunning pony Mario had seen thus far. She was a marshmallow white coated unicorn with an elegantly curled purple mane and tail. Her eyes were closed as she trotted, so Mario could see the expertly applied makeup on her face. Her cutie mark consisted of three blue diamonds, "Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where everything is—" The unicorn cut off her speaking when she opened her teal blue eyes and got a full view of Mario's appearance, "Pardon me but, where did you get those clothes?"

Mario, slightly taken aback, stammered his response, "Oh—uh... they were given-a to me," That was a truthful statement, but Mario didn't want to disclose who or where. The marshmallow pony trotted closer to Mario and carefully inspected his clothing, which did nothing to circumvent the awkward air in the room, "What?"

"I've never seen their like before," She mused. She pulled herself back and shook her head to recompose herself, "Apologies. Where are my manners, I'm Rarity, or Miss Rarity if you prefer."

Mario blinked his eyes in confusion, "It's-a me Mario," he introduced, feeling a little more comfortable, "It's-a nice to meet you, Rarity."

"Now that introductions are out of the way, what can I do for you, Mario?" Rarity asked.

"Oh, I was just a little curious-a was all," Mario admitted, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly, "Sorry to bother you, I'll-a just be on my way," He turned his frame to trot out the door, but a light blue aura took hold of his jacket and held him in place, "Oh! What the..?"

Rarity galloped in front of Mario, who saw her horn glowing in the same light blue aura for a split second, "Must you leave so soon?" She pleaded, "I'm sorry for being so blunt but I simply must examine your clothing."

"Hmm? You want-a to study my clothes?" Mario questioned, confused with Rarity's eagerness.

"Oh yes!" Rarity nodded her head rapidly, "I'm an aspiring fashion designer, you see, and I need to study up on the latest trends to predict what will be 'in' per say. Your overalls and even your hat are avant-guarde if I've ever seen it. Why, just looking at them is giving me inspiration! I implore you, Mario, may I PLEASE examine your clothing?" She spoke her request with an overly dramatic flair, earning her an odd look from Mario.

"Well, I guess-a you can take a look," He allowed. Rarity squealed in delight and stomped her hooves in place to show her excitement.

"Oh, Thank you so much, Mario! I promise I won't take too long," Rarity's horn lit up in a light blue aura once more. All of a sudden, Mario's clothes were yanked from his body: Overalls, shirt, gloves, shoes and hat. Mario had difficulty comprehending what transpired as his clothes floated away. Rarity trotted past Mario with his clothes floating next to her. Rarity made her way to a nearby desk as a pencil and some paper floated to her.

Mario took notice of his floating clothes and the aura covering Rarity's horn. That horn was what was levitating all those objects. The posh pony was treating this as an everyday occurrence. Was this just something unicorns in this world could do?

"Plaid highlights?" Rarity mused, "Why, it just might be daring enough to work!" She began furiously scribbling up designs with this newfound inspiration. Mario looked around the shop once again, noting all of the gorgeous and well designed dresses on display.

"Hey, Rarity, did you make-a all of these?"

"Absolutely," Rarity responded without taking her eyes away from her sketches, "All of my designs are hoof stitched with precise care and consideration. I never accept anything that isn't perfect."

"Yeah, I can tell-a. They're-a really good," Mario's compliments brought a proud smile to Rarity's lips. It was always nice to know her talents were acknowledged and appreciated.

"I've never seen you in town before, Mario," Rarity kept the conversation going, "Have you just arrived in Ponyville?"

"Yeah, I'm-a staying over at Sweet Apple Acres. They're- letting me stay in exchange-a for helping them on the farm-a." Mario's answer brought a heartfelt laugh from Rarity.

"So Applejack finally buckled down and hired some hooves for that farm of her's?" There was no hint of distain in her voice, just a jovial tone.

"Yeah, she was a little hesitant-a, but she warmed up to it after awhile-a."

"So, how are you enjoying Ponyville, Mario."

"Oh yeah. It's-a great so far," Mario answered with a smile, "It's-a alot different than some of the other places I've-a been to," Mario slightly winced at his choice of words. He almost gave away information he wasn't supposed to.

"Oh, you're a world traveler then?" Rarity didn't seem to read into Mario's words too much, something he was very grateful for.

"Yeah, something like that," Mario took note of how Rarity was able to effectively multi-task talking and drawing at the same time.

"Well, I believe I've come up with some stunning new designs," Rarity levitated Mario's clothes back to him, "Here you are, thank you for allowing me a closer look at your wardrobe."

"Sure, no problem," Mario put his clothes back on, taking no time at all now that he knew how to do it.

"Just a moment," Rarity levitated some measuring tape, along with a pencil and note pad, and began to measure Mario's depth and width. This action confused Mario.

"Oh? What are you doing?" He inquired.

"Just taking your measurements, darling," That didn't give Mario any further insight.

"Okay, why?" He inquired more.

"Well, I want to make sure I have your proper proportions, just in case I want to craft you some new garments," Rarity reasoned, scribbling down the length of Mario's frame.

"Wait, but I don't have any money on me," Mario really didn't see himself shopping for new clothes any time soon, what he had was fine enough.

"Maybe, but whose to say I won't feel generous and give you an outfit for free," Rarity replied.

"Really, you'd-a just make me a new outfit-a?" The inhabitants of this town were unbelievably kind. First was the Apple's ample hospitality, Fluttershy's devotion to animals, now there was Rarity's inspiring generosity.

"Just think of it as me repaying you for all the tremendous inspiration you've given me," Rarity told Mario, putting away her measuring tape and note pad, "Besides, you have such an eye for fashion, it'd be a crime to not give you more garments to wear."

"That doesn't-a make alot of sense-a to me," Mario admitted, "But I appreciate it."

"Do make sure you visit again, Mario," Rarity said, "You have such a natural knack for fashion."

"I might-a just do that," Mario responded. Talking with Rarity was a surprisingly pleasant experience, "Alright, Buh bye," He trotted out the door, hearing the little bell ring again.

Rarity looked over her sketches when a paralyzing thought occurred to her, "Oh Rarity, you twit! Why didn't you ask him how he made his mustache the way it is?"

Mario continued on his tour of Ponyville, taking a short stroll through a local park with a calming river and lush grass. As the earth pony trotted along the dirt path, he thought back to the ponies he met so far. Applejack was as hospitable as she was hard working, Fluttershy was a kind-hearted soul who cares for any creature under her wing, and Rarity was passionate for her work but still managed to maintain a generous streak. Ponyville certainly had it's fair share of great inhabitants. His thoughts grinded to a halt when something pink blocked his way.

"Hi!" She announced, causing Mario to fall on his back in surprise. She was a light pink earth pony with joyful blue eyes, and unending smile, a curly hot pink mane and tail, and a cutie mark of three balloons (two blue and one yellow).

Mario recuperated to look up at the strange pony, "Huh? Where did you come from?"

She ignored his question and said in a single breath, "Hi I'm Pinkie Pie it's nice to meet you mustached pony I really like your mustache by the way your hat is really cool what's your name?"

Mario stood back up during Pinkie's small tangent. The only things he understood was her name and her question for his name, "It's-a me Mario."

"Mario? That's a weird name," Pinkie said. As Mario furrowed his brow in annoyance at her remark, the pink mare suddenly gasped loudly, "I just remembered!" Pinkie's face suddenly grew serious. She slowly inched her way towards Mario, who backing away nervously, "I need to ask you something super duper ultra stupendously important. Your answer is of the utmost importance!"

"Uh... What?" Pinkie's snout was uncomfortably close to Mario's and her piercing scowl wasn't helping matters either. Whatever Pinkie wanted to asked, it sounded unequivocally urgent if she was this serious.

"What is your favorite cake flavor?"

Mario blinked in confusion, "That's-a it?" Pinkie intensified her stare, prompting him to answer, "Um... Chocolate, I guess?"

Pinkie immediately resumed her previous cheerful demeanor and pulled away from Mario, "Thanks!" She then ran off. More accurately, she disappeared, leaving behind a puff of smoke in her shape. Mario just stared off into nothing as his brain tried to comprehend what just transpired.

"Man, that was weird-a," he commented, continuing his trot.

Mario was halted, again, when he heard a noise in the distance. He couldn't make out what it was, but it kept getting louder. Mario turned his head to find a rainbow blur heading right for him. Any thought of dodging was a distant dream as the two entities collided with each other in a painful crash. The blur that hit Mario was a cyan blue pegasus mare with rose colored eyes and a messy mane and tail that carried all the colors of a rainbow. Her cutie mark was a storm cloud firing a rainbow lightning bolt. Mario and the mare skidded on the grass for a few feet before they ended up sprawled on the ground. Mario's body ached as he stood back up, fixing his hat and stretching his back until he heard his bones realign themselves. He turned his attention to the cyan mare working off her crash.

"Hey, watch where you're-a going!" Mario reprimanded her with a scowl on his face, "You could've seriously hurt-a someone!"

"Hehe, sorry about that," She sheepishly apologized, brushing away any dirt on her. She eyed the object of her crash, noting his strange clothes and his wild hairstyle, "Never seen you in town before. You new?"

Mario continued to leer at her, still not pleased with her crash landing on him, "Yeah, I just-a got here today. It's-a me Mario."

"I'm Rainbow Dash," She introduced with a dramatic pose, "Maybe you've heard of me," Mario felt something click in his head.

"Actually, yeah I have," Mario replied with a deadpan expression, "Applejack says you still-a owe her a new pig-a pen," Rainbow Dash's eyes widened.

"Aww c'mon, is she still mad about that?" Rainbow whined, lifting herself in the air with her wings, "I had dust in my eyes. It's not my fault her pig pen was in my way."

"From what I've-a seen so far, you have a talent-a for crashing into things-a," Mario said.

"Whatever," Rainbow brushed off Mario's insult.

"What exactly were you doing-a anyway?" Sora asked.

"I was practicing my flight technique," Rainbow responded, stretching her hooves, "You're looking at a future Wonderbolt!" She proclaimed while putting her fore-hooves on her hips. Mario, in response, tilted his head in confusion.

"What's a Wonderbolt?" Rainbow Dash went slack-jawed and looked at Mario as if he just grew a second head.

"You don't know who the Wonderbolts are?!" She zoomed dangerously close to Mario's snout, "You been living under a rock or something?!" She angrily demanded. Mario flinched back from the blue mare's outburst, but he immediately went on the defensive.

"Hey, I'm-a not from here!" The red earth pony retorted, "It's-a not like I know everything!"

"Seems to me like the Wonderbolts should be common knowledge for everyone," Rainbow fired back, then sighed in annoyance, "THE Wonderbolts are the greatest fliers in all of Equestria. It's been my lifelong dream to join them."

"I doubt they'd-a let you join if they how bad you're-a crashes were," Mario insulted with a sly smile. Now Rainbow Dash was on the defensive.

"Hey, I could zoom across all the clouds in town in one go if I wanted to," She boasted.

"Oh yeah, prove it," Mario challenged.

With a cocky smirk on her face, Rainbow Dash blasted off into the sky, creating a dust cloud. Flying a super sonic speed, Rainbow bolted her way across the Ponyville skyline, swerving, zigzagging, and loop-de-looping her way past every cloud in the vicinity. Mario watched Rainbow's display of aerial acrobatics with intense awe. The cyan mare's display was attracting an audience in the park, all of them entranced by her display. With a corkscrew dive, Rainbow Dash landed in the exact same spot she was when she started. The crowd cheered in applause as Rainbow threw Mario a cocky smile.

"Told ya," She bragged, eagerly absorbing the crowd's admiration.

"Whoa!" Mario was certainly proven wrong. His jaw was as low as it could possibly be, "That was amazing!"

"What I'd tell ya," Rainbow reveled in his awe.

"I wish I could-a pull off something like that, despite-a not having any wings-a," Mario commented.

"Hey, not your fault you're a runt," Rainbow shrugged, not realizing she said the wrong thing to Mario.

"What do you mean?" He asked, feeling insulted.

"I mean, no offense even if you were a Pegasus, you'd be too scrawny to be a pro flyer," Rainbow Dash playfully stated. There wasn't a hint of superiority or anything of the sort in her voice, but that didn't stop Mario from being mad. Now he wanted to prove her wrong as he made a quick look around the various trees and light posts dotted around the park gave him an idea.

"Okay, how about this," Mario proposed, "I can platform across this entire park-a," the crowd all whistled in anticipation, wondering if actually meant it.

Rainbow Dash did not think so, chuckling loudly, "You're bluffing, there's no way," Mario smirked in response.

"Let's-a go!" Mario exclaimed, facing a nearby tree, Mario galloped forward, launching himself with a super jump and planting his hooves on the tree trunk. Defying all laws of physics, he pushed himself off the trunk and propelled himself towards a nearby light post, where he grabbed hold of it with both his fore-hooves. Mario used his forward momentum to make himself spin around the pole. He let go of the light post and now he was heading towards a bench. He landed on the top of the bench and vaulted himself to another light post he then kicked off of it, he then saw rows of branches in the air as Mario took this advantage and jumped high into it as he then followed the branches. Near the end, Mario spin jumped off it it and was heading towards another light lost as Mario jumped off of with with a wall jump. For a full minute, Mario performed a chain of incredible platforming moves, much to the enjoyment of any passerby ponies in addition to the crowd who saw Rainbow Dash's display. Mario ended his show with a triple jump and then a high flip in front of a stunned Rainbow. Now the crowd was cheering for Mario.

"Yah. Mario win. Wahoo. How was that?" The red pony asked with a smile on his face, though he could probably could guess Rainbow's opinion based on her slack-jawed expression.

In an instant, the pegasus mare expressed excitement, her face molding into a wide toothy smile, "That. Was. Awesome!" Rainbow Dash caught herself fangirling and immediately composed herself in a shroud of neutrality, avoiding eye contact, "I mean, y-yeah, that was cool... I guess."

Mario shook his head, "You're-a really hard to please, aren't-a you?" He joked.

"What can I say," Rainbow went along with the charade, "I'm a mare with high expectations," She and Mario shared a hearty laugh, "You're really something, Mario. We should hang out sometime."

"Hmm. I'd-a like that alot," Sora nodded his head, "Just-a try not to crash-a into me next time."

"No promises," Rainbow teased, "Later," She flew off at high speeds. Mario felt a smile curl up on his lips. That entire experience made him feel like a kid again, getting into dumb contests with his friends. With his spirits high, Mario continued his trot through the park.

This town was filled with strange looking buildings. Now Mario found a large oak tree that had been converted into a library. "The Golden Oaks Library" it was called.

"Seeing as how I'll-a probably be here for awhile, I might-a as well learn more about-a this world." He entered the tree turned library, seeing bookshelves built into the wood of the tree itself. Mario was surprised to find no librarian in sight.

"Hello, anyone-a here?" No answer. With no perceivable help, Mario looked over the shelves for something that could give him some insight into where he was. Among the shelves, Mario found what he was looking for, "A Brief History of Equestria Vol. 1." Mario reached for the book, but couldn't grip it properly with his hooves.

"Mamma Mia, I miss-a fingers," he lamented. Mario dug at the top of the book to bring it down, and he succeeded. However, the tome fell down on the floor with a thud. He sighed in annoyance and picked the book back up with his teeth. Bringing it to a nearby table. Mario opened the table of contents and found an interesting section, "The Two Royal Sisters." He flipped through the pages till he arrived at the section he was looking for.

"Once upon a time, in the magical land-a of Equestria, there were two regal-a sisters who ruled together and created-a harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest-a, Celestia, used her unicorn powers to raise-a the sun at dawn; the younger, Luna, brought-a out the moon to begin the night," Mario did a trouble take with this new knowledge. "What?! They controlled-a the sun and moon?! They must-a have been powerful." Mario continued reading, "Thus, the two sisters maintained-a balance for their kingdom and their-a subjects, all the different types-a of ponies. But as time went-a on, Luna became resentful. The ponies relished-a and played in the day her elder sister brought-a forth, but shunned and slept through-a her beautiful night."

"One fateful day, Luna refused-a to lower the moon to make way for the dawn-a. Celestia tried to reason with her, but the bitterness-a in Luna's heart had transformed-a her into a wicked mare of darkness-a: Nightmare Moon. She vowed-a that she would shroud-a the land in eternal night. Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful-a magic known to ponydom: the Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, Celestia defeated-a her younger sister, and banished-a her permanently in the moon. Now alone, Celestia took on responsibility for both sun and moon, and harmony has been-a maintained in Equestria for generations since-a."

Mario absorbed the information he just read, feeling sadness for Celestia and Luna. Having felt as though he learned enough, he closed the book and placed it back onto the shelf where he found it. He exited the library in a far more somber mood than when he first entered.

"Celestia had to banish-a her own sister," Mario repeated the tale to himself as dusk loomed over the horizon, "That's- just... awful," Mario thought back to his own experiences; he had a friend who fell into a dark path once, a friend he and Sora were forced to battle.

Mario was brought back to reality when he heard a commotion not too far away from his location. He turned his head to see ponies gathering towards a growing plume of smoke.

The red earth pony gasped in shock. "Oh no! Fire!" He galloped over to the source of the smoke to find where the fire was coming from. A two story house was alight in a blazing inferno. Many ponies were gathered in concern as this scene played out. To Mario's left were a brown coated earth pony stallion with a darker brown mane and a gray coated pegasus mare with a messy blonde mane. The stallion was holding the mare back as she seemed to want to gallop towards the burning house.

"Let me go! My little filly is still in there!" The mare screeched, unable to break free of the stallion's hold. Mario overheard the mare and he gasped in shock at her words.

"It's much too dangerous now!" The stallion tried to reason, but to no avail. The mare continued to struggle against the stallion to go inside the building, but he continued to hold her at bay. Mario tensed up, if there was a defenseless filly trapped in that fire, he had to act.

"Where is she?" The red earth pony asked the mare, concern prevalent in his tone of voice.

"She's on the second floor," The gray mare blubbered.

"Got it!" Mario crouched low and made a running start. With enough forward momentum, he jumped high in the air toward the second floor window. Mario braced his right shoulder and crashed through the window into the blazing inferno, much to the shock of the pony bystanders.

"He's barking mad!" The brown stallion yelled.

Mario rolled onto his hooves as the heat of the fire assaulted his very being, forcing him to flinch. The room he found himself in was charred beyond repair. The ceiling was starting to cave in as chunks of burning debris lay scattered. He looked through the flames to see if the trapped filly was inside, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Hello?! Is there anyone-a in here?!" Mario called out.

"HEEEEELP!" A voice rang out, followed by a string of guttural coughs. Mario perked his ears to determine where the voice originated, "SOMEPONY HEEELP!" The voice sounded like a little girl's, and it was coming from a terrified lilac unicorn filly with a messy blonde mane huddled in the corner of the flaming room whimpering in anxiety. Chunks of debris lay on top of a fallen, burning support beam, trapping her in place. Mario gritted his teeth in determination as he adjusted his hat, he had to save this filly.

There was no escape. She was trapped and the heat was becoming more intense by the minute. She had closed her eyes to wait for her inevitable demise when she head the sound of glass shattering. She opened her eyes, only for the heat of the fire to force them to partially close again. However, in the blur of orange assaulting her vision, she could make out a pony on the opposite end of the debris.

Mario placed his fore hooves under the wooden beam and lifted with all his strength. Despite his frame, the red earth pony brought the beam up above his head; however, the burn marks on the wood were hurting a great deal, but Mario was determined, he would weather the pain. The filly looked in awe at this heroic pony, hope welling up in her heart, but she couldn't stay in her state for long.

"C'mon! We gotta go!" Mario pleaded to the filly. The smoke was beginning to put a strain on his lungs. The filly crawled along the floor, hacking in pain along the way. The amount of smoke and heat in the house sapped away most of her strength, causing her to move at a slow and agonizing pace. The fumes of the fire proved too much for the little filly as she collapsed. She was still breathing, which was good news. Mario was now stuck between a rock and a hard place. Both he and the filly were underneath the support beam he was carrying. He only had one option, scoop up the filly and make a break for the window. With great focus, Mario hefted the beam in the air, grabbed the unconscious filly, and leapt away before the large hunk of wood crushed them.

Mario's momentum halted when the floor began crumbling beneath him. It seemed that the beam crashing into the floor caused it to cave in under the pressure. The red earth pony looked down in trepidation as his only source of solid footing was falling apart. In this moment of extreme adrenaline, a thought occurred to him: he had and item with wings, surely he could fly to escape this situation.

There didn't seem to be another option at the moment. Mario quickly took out his hat and put in in his pocket and switched it to his now Winged Hat with wings as he put it on. Taking a deep breath and shutting his eyes closed, Mario clutched the filly tighter to his chest and made a leap just as the floor crumbled. The earth pony willed, more like prayed, his winged hat to grant him aviation. Hearing a flapping sound, Mario carefully opened his eyes to find that he was still on the second floor; more accurately, he was hovering above the first floor. Mario was successful, his Winged Hat was working. As much as he wanted to revel in his accomplishment, the well being of the child was more important. The red earth pony looked towards the window he crashed into, that was his way out. Now was the issue of flying towards the window to safety. Mario wasn't sure how he would do that, but he was determined. With great fortitude, Mario lunged forward, using his Winged Hat to propel him towards the window.

The ponies outside watched in crushing anticipation when Mario jumped into the burning house. The silver mare in particular was silently praying with leaking eyes that this mustaches stranger would rescue her little filly. The onlooker's anticipation end ed when Mario flew out of the broken window with an unconscious filly bundled in his hooves. He landed on the ground back first, likely to keep the filly from taking any brunt from the fall. Mario panted heavily as ponies gathered around him in awe. The pegasus mare sobbed in relief as she grabbed the unconscious filly from Mario's hooves and embraced her. As for Mario, he righted himself back on all fours, trying to catch his breath. Seeing the gray mare cry tears of joy brought a satisfying feeling to his heart. At this time, a group of pegasi had gathered some rain clouds and were using them to douse the fire.

"Is she going-a to be okay?" Mario asked to no one in particular. The brown stallion who held the mare back earlier approached her and took a critical look at the filly wrapped in her hooves.

"There are no major injuries," He diagnosed, "But the intensity of the flames has caused her to pass out. She'll require medical attention," The mare and stallion hurried over to the nearby hospital.

Mario felt at ease knowing that the little girl he rescued would be okay. His relief switched to bewilderment when the gathered crowd erupted in uproarious applause. The ponies gathered around Mario and hoisted him above ground. "Three cheers for the hero!" One of them proclaimed. The crowd chanted the customary "Hip, hip, hooray!" while launching Mario in the air. The red earth pony was more than flustered receiving this kind of treatment. Even when he was placed back on the ground, his new fans were bombarding him with praise and admiration. Mario could only rub the back of his head bashfully, appreciative of the crowd's kind words. He was able to scurry his way away from his adoring fans. Mario thought he should make his way back to the farm, the sun was close to setting.

"That was an eventful-a day," Mario thought back to the experiences he had today. He met a multitude of friendly ponies, did some lucrative farm work, platformed around, rescued a little girl and became a hero to the citizens of Ponyville. His mind was at such a state of peace that he failed to notice the pink presence behind him.

"Hey, Mario!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, startling the red pony once again. He looked back to find the smiling mare once again.

"Oh, it's-a just you, Pinkie," Mario sighed, "Do you need-a something?"

"Yeah, I need you to come with me for just a second," Pinkie covered Mario's eyes with hooves.

"Oh? Hey, what are you—" He didn't finish his sentence as the pink mare drag Mario for what felt like a few feet. Pinkie gave Mario back his vision. Now he found the new strangest building in town, a building designed to look like a gingerbread house. Now the red earth pony was craving gingerbread. Something wasn't right however, "Hey, wait a second..." Mario was in a completely different position just a second ago before Pinkie hijacked his sight, "How did you bring-a me here so quick?"

"I really need your help with something inside," Pinkie ignored him. Whatever she wanted Mario for, he was more than happy to oblige, even if she was incredibly weird. He walked through the doors, only to be met with pitch black darkness.

"Eh, where are the lights-a in here?" Mario asked. Just then, the lights were turned on.

"SURPRISE!" The interior was a bake shop, but wasn't the space's use at the moment. The room was filled with balloons, streamers, snack tables, and smiling ponies. Mario flinched back in shock, this was certainly not what he was expecting.

"Surprise!" Pinkie inexplicably appeared in front of Mario, "So what'ca think?"

"What's-a all this for?" Mario was completely thrown for a loop at this turn of events.

"It's a party for you, silly," Pinkie Pie stated the obvious.

"Okay, but why? It's-a not my birthday," Mario could not understand Pinkie's line of thought.

"Well, I figured that much, but I saw you in town earlier and I know I've never seen a mustache like yours before and it occurred to me that you were new in town," Pinkie explained, "And since you were new in town I just had to throw you a party."

"Wait a minute," Mario processed Pinkie's explanation with excitement, "I get a party just-a for being new?"

"Duh. But when I was setting everything up I was thinking about what kind of cake I should bake. Then I got worried if I made a cake you didn't like it would ruin the party for you, so I asked you what kind of cake you liked and you said chocolate, so I baked you a delicious triple decker fudge chocolate cake!" Pinkie presented her culinary creation on a nearby table. Just looking at the cake made Mario's mouth water, "C'mon, lets party!"

Mario was more than happy to obey Pinkie's orders. He threw himself towards the nearest snack table, surveying all the scrumptious looking treats available. He settled on a pink cupcake which he shoved strait into his mouth. It was really good, so much that he ate another, and another, and another.

"Quite the little piggy, ain't ya," Drawled a familiar southern accent. Mario pivoted his form to find Applejack looking at him with a cheeky grin. The red earth pony quickly swallowed his current cupcake.

"Hey, Applejack," Mario greeted the farm mare with an awkward smile, "You made it to the party too?"

"Pinkie Pie invited me here," Applejack explained, "From what ah've heard, you've made quite a name for yerself her in Ponyville."

"I have-a?" Mario tiled his head with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, most certainly, darling," Said Rarity. Mario looked to his left to find her, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were at the party as well, "I've heard from some ponies that you braved a burning building to save the life of a defenseless filly. I knew you had an eye for fashion when we met, but who would have thought you were such a dashing hero as well."

"You heard-a about that?" Mario questioned. That news certainly spread quickly.

"Everypony's been talking about it since it happened," Rainbow Dash commented, "I mean, I could've pulled it off, but it's cool," Mario gave the cyan mare a speculative smirk.

"I'm-a sure you could've," He responded sarcastically.

"But it still really brave of you," Fluttershy said softly, bringing a genuine smile to Mario's face. Mario then thought back to Pinkie Pie and all her weird antics.

"Hey, can any of you answer-a me a question about-a Pinkie Pie."

"Mario," Applejack interrupted, "Let me jus' answer yer question for ya. Ya'll shouldn't question anything Pinkie Pie does."

"What, why?"

"Trust us, Mario," Rainbow Dash added, "You'll sleep better at night not thinking about," The rest of the mares all nodded their heads in affirmation. Since everyone was telling him not to question Pinkie, Mario decided to go along with the pink mare's antics.

"Hey, what's going on?" Speaking of, Pinkie appeared right in front of Mario, again, startling him, again.

"Oh, it's-a nothing, Pinkie," Mario answered, "We were-a just talking about stuff."

"That's good that you're talking with your new friends," Pinkie said with a big smile, "You've been here only a day and you already have so many friends. You must be some kind of friendship expert or something."

Mario rubbed the back of his head as he surveyed the five mares he befriended today. He was glad he got to meet all of these great ponies. Applejack was a hard worker with a high moral compass, Fluttershy was a compassionate caretaker willing to aid any creature, Rarity was a passionate creator with a heart of gold, Rainbow Dash was a confident athlete with big dreams; and Pinkie Pie was an energetic mare who goes above and beyond to make others happy. The party went on for hours, with Mario and his new friends playing all manner of different games, including "pin the tail on the pony." As the party went on, Mario felt more and more at ease. Of all the places he could be stranded in, Equestria was a great place.

But now this raises the question, if Mario was transported into Equestria, where did Sora end up in?