Epilogue – Mushroom Kingdom Forever

The car made it's way down the winding dirt road to Toad Town, past tall spotted rocks in colours of red, yellow, blue and green and small thickets of bright leafy trees. The sun was shining up ahead, and puffy white clouds drifted lazily through the sky. White birds flew into the air with a flap of their wings as the car passed them by. In the distance, there was a crashed airship, covered by so much moss and vines one could almost think it was an oddly-shaped hill. One day, not even enough of it would remain for that.

The car had the look of being expensive, with the antique class of a Sarasalandi manufacturer. It was a brightly polished orange colour, decorated with the flower of the royal seal. If he was to speak honestly, Luigi would've preferred the car the car to be in green, but, well, some sacrifices were worth it if they meant your wife's happiness. That was a thing that mattered to Luigi more then just about anything.

At fifty years of age, Luigi was not yet old, and most often he felt as if he was at least thirty years younger. He sat in the plush white leather seat of the car with his hands on the wheel, as he guided the car forward. He could see Toad Town in the distance, Peach's Castle rising high above it. He didn't have to be up close to know that it's bright red roofs were free of tears or burns. Daisy sat beside him, her green eyes wide with excitement. Lorenzo sat in the back seat, reading a book based off his favourite tv show, Koopa Quest. While the franchise had existed in the Koopa Kingdom for years, it had only recently become popular in the Mushroom Kingdom. Things produced there were quite a bit easier to get around here these days, in general. Ten-year old Lorenzo was the splitting image of his father at that age, right down to his green shirt and overalls. Of course, he had yet to grow a moustache.

The radio was on, playing a news report about the Beanbean Kingdom.

"King Peasley has praised his citizens' work on helping restore the nation to its' former glory." the newscaster reported. "He's hoping that Beanbean City, built on the site of the old castle town which was destroyed in the war, will be able to be the site of the upcoming Mushroom World Sports Championship. Princess Peach, King Bowser of the Koopa Kingdom, and President Pauline of the Metro Kingdom have all endorsed his idea."

"I better give him some support, too." Daisy laughed. "Peasley's done a great job. I bet the old Queen Bean would've been proud of him."

"Yeah." Luigi nodded. "Last time I talked to him, he was working on building better relations with the Oho Oasis. He's done some amazing things to make his kingdom strong again!"

"Think the sports committee would object to the Princess of Sarasaland competing in the championship?" Daisy laughed. "I hate missing out on things like that!"

"You're the ruler." Luigi shrugged. "I guess that's your decision, right!"

"By the way, Mom, my tennis lessons start next month." Lorenzo spoke up, closing his book. "Some of my friends were telling weird stories about the teacher, who's some weird lanky purple guy. There are stories that he used to be some kind of master thief! Wouldn't that be cool?"

"A master thief?" Daisy asked, gazing back at her son skeptically. "I'm not sure if I want a guy like that teaching my son.

"Don't worry." Luigi chuckled. "I know who he's talking about. I have a feeling he's been completely reformed."

The Wario Brothers, following the war's end, had decided to give up a life of crime and enjoy their fortune in peace. Bowser Jr had helped Luigi honour the deal he made with Wario to recruit him, although the brothers were only able to get a bit of the imperial treasury instead of all of it. It was still a few million coins, so they only grumbled a little bit. It made Luigi happy to know that Waluigi was finally pursuing his more legal passion of tennis. He'd heard Wario was thinking about using his wealth to start some kind of video game company. Now that was a weird thought.

"Next," the newscaster reported, "What is believed to be the last remaining cells of former mega-syndicate, Seven Stars, have been routed out, courtesy of Mushroom Kingdom champion, Yoshi. The former head of the Fire Flower organization told us in an interview that he needs no fame or recognition for his deeds, and was only doing what he did for the good of the kingdom. The man behind the Neon City tragedy has expressed full regret for his actions as head of Fire Flower, and is known for his charitable work in not only rebuilding the city, but supporting the families who were affected by the destruction. He also played an major role in the rebuilding of committees in his homeland of Yoshi's Island which were hurt by the Koopa Empire."

That made Luigi smile. While he'd fallen far, Yoshi had managed to raise himself back up and atone for his crimes. The last few times they'd talked, he'd even seemed happy, just like his old self.

Luigi switched off the radio as they neared the Toad Town gates. The wall the resistance had built to protect it was nowhere to be seen, as it was no longer necessary. As they passed underneath them, Luigi gazed at the brightly-coloured Toad houses and the people walking past them, some of them gazing at the Princess of Sarasaland's luxurious private car, others simply chatting to each other or tending to their gardens. There was nothing left of the war-torn Toad Town...if anything, it was even more alive and bustling than before.

Cars were still an oddity in Toad Town, so there there wasn't much place to park. Luigi ended up parking the car near the fountain in the town square. As he got out, he admired the sculpture on the top of it...an amazing likeness of Peach, him, and Mario, with water splashing from pipe-shaped fountains underneath, glittering in the sunlight as it fell into the shallow pool around it.

"Can I go up and see Bianca, Mom?" Lorenzo asked, tugging at Daisy's dress.

"Of course, Lorenzo." Daisy smiled. "Make sure to thank Uncle Mario and Auntie Peach for inviting us over, ok?"

"Sure thing!" Lorenzo grinned, giving his mother a thumbs-up. Then he ran up the sloping road to Peach's Castle, past the Toads who were going about their daily business in the peaceful town.

"Hey, Big L!" came a familiar voice. Luigi turned around to see Cobal strolling towards him. The Yoshi had a more mature look to him now, and wore his shades up so you could see his eyes. He wore a red uniform with a Mushroom on his breast, the uniform of the Mushroom Kingdom army. Princess Peach had made sure to reorganize Luigi's trained resistance fights into a proper army after the war had been over. Now with trained defenders, the Mushroom Kingdom would never be taken off-guard again. Toadette and Captain Toad led the army, and Cobal and several of the others had reached quite high positions.

"Cobal!" Luigi smiled. "How are things? How your Dad?"

"Better than ever." Cobal smiled. "I've been spending a lot of time with him, actually. He's bought this amazing house out in Poshley Heights and has been running this dojo for aspiring fighters. Some people he's trained have even reached the Glitz Pit's major league!"

"Wow." Luigi smiled. Nothing less could be expected from one of Mario's former partners.

"Yeah." Cobal grinned. "Dad and his friends have been living real good lives. Goombella's a professor of archaeology at the university of Goom, just like her mentor, and Flurry's with her, teaching an elite acting course. Vivian's living a quiet, peaceful life in Twilight Town again, and Koops, well, you all know what's happened to him."

Luigi nodded. It had been a difficult decision for the Koopa, but under King Bowser II's request, Koops and his family had moved to the Koopa Kingdom, with Koops taking the Grand General position after Shelldon retired due to his injuries. Koops had never wanted a soldier's life, but he saw the offer as an opportunity to root out the corruption in the Koopa Troop and work towards a more peaceful world. Plus, as someone with high standing in both kingdoms, he'd been a great help for peace between Mushroom and Koopa.

"That's great to here." he grinned. "So...what's-a going on with you? Still keeping up with your training?"

"Every day." Cobal grinned. "Things aren't quite as bad as they used to be, but there's still people who need to be stopped before they can cause problems. I've been off-duty for a while now. I've just been to Donkey Kong Island, for some celebration at the K Rool statue celebration peace between the Kongs and Kremlings. Klump and Krusha have got this sort of idea that it was thanks to my good influence that K Rool became a hero, and now Donkey Kong and the others can't stop giving me bananas." he chuckled. "I was actually just stopping by here to say hi to Toadbert. I've been all over the kingdom, so I don't have much time to see the old man."

"What about the others?" Luigi asked. "Your friends?"

"Aww, well, you know about Peasley, of course." Cobal nodded. "As for Strike, we keep in touch, although he's all the way back in the Koopa Kingdom, of course. He's a general now, you know, and part of High Command. He and another guy, General Blueshell, are working hard with Koops getting rid of all those bad apples in the ranks, people like the old Governor Flame. We're looking at an all-new Koopa Troop, Luigi, one that's full of proper pride and honour."

"That's-a great!" Luigi exclaimed. He'd heard a lot about the Koopa Troop recently. It had come a long way from being Bowser's goon squad, even though the members still liked to jokingly refer to themselves as "Bowser's minions".

Luigi glanced up at the tall tower of Peach's Castle, with the mushroom flag flapping in the breeze. "I-a gotta see my bro now, Cobal. Stay well, ok?"

"Yeah, you betcha I will, Luigi." he smiled, as Luigi and Daisy began to walk away from him. Luigi looked back and they stared at each other a moment, before Cobal said, "Really...thanks for sticking up for me, all those years ago. I've come along way."

"Yeah, you have." Luigi nodded. "Now that my bro and I are kind of retired, it's up to you to be the kingdom's superstar!"

Cobal blushed with embarrassment as Luigi chuckled, walking away up the sloping path to Peach's Castle.

Peach's Castle was a bustle of activity, brightly lit and full of Toads rushing every way, way, dusting old pictures or carrying platters of food. Mario and Peach were standing at the top of the staircase in the main hall. Luigi couldn't see ten-year old, blond-haired Bianca. Most likely she and her cousin Lorenzo were getting up to some mischief.

"Luigi!" Mario exclaimed, running down the stairs.

"Mario!" Luigi replied, nearly being knocked down by his brother's embrace. "Uhh...it's only been three months, you know."

"Sarasaland's far away, bro! Ten years, and I'm still not used to you living that far from Toad Town. I miss my little brother, Luigi!"

Luigi nodded. He'd be lying if he didn't feel the same way.

"How about we head to our private chambers?" Peach asked warmly. "It'll be more comfortable to talk there."

"Sounds great, Peach!" Daisy laughed. "Hey, did I tell you Lorenzo hit the home run in his school's baseball championship? He may look like his dad, but he's inherited a lot from his Mom, too!"

"I can't wait to hear about it." Peach grinned. "Down here, Bianca keeps asking me when she'll be old enough to drive a kart."

"Let's-a-go, Luigi!" Mario said, motioning ushering him up the stairs. As the Mario Brothers walked through one of the castle corridors, past many Toad servants, Luigi glanced into a door leading towards a sitting room. To his surprise, both Kammy Koopa and Toadsworth were seated there, sipping tea by the fire in a comfortable den.

"Congratulations to your one-hundredth birthday, Kammy Koopa!" Toadsworth laughed, raising his teacup in salute. "Although I daresay I'll be joining you soon."

Kammy cackled. "For one entire century I've lived in this world, and this old girl doesn't seem to be slowing down yet!" she took a sip of his tea. "Heh...this is so good, our kingdoms should've made peace sooner."

"We've both lived through so much." Toadsworth reflected. "The war with King Morton, the Shroob Invasion, all the madness with Bowser, the Conquest War, and the Koopaling War. Dear me, that is quite a lot of wars. I hope the next era is a little more peaceful."

"We're in luck, Toadsworth." Kammy grinned. "Why, I've been having tea with Merlon as of late, and he's told me his crystal ball only predicts peace and happiness for a long time?"

"How long?" Toadsworth inquired.

"Oh, at least three hundred years." Kammy replied conversationally. "It's tough to see any further into the future than that, of course. At the very least, both of our kingdoms will be free of wars and conflict for a long, long time."

"Ah, that warms my heart." Toadsworth smiled. "Dear Princess Bianca deserves a life entirely free of kidnapping by ferocious Koopas."

Luigi left the den behind feeling in even more good spirits. Yup, he really had made the right choice to retire from the active hero business, although of course he wouldn't be opposed to a light-hearted adventure every now and then.

By the time they caught up with the Princesses, Peach and Daisy were in the spacious living room, which had blue walls decorated with designs of hills like most of the palace, as well as the luxurious red carpet and a magnificent fireplace with a huge picture of the royal family hanging over it, looking over some picture. The bright afternoon sun was shining through the large

"Hey, what's-a going on?" Luigi asked, walking over to his wife.

"Oh, just Bowser Jr's family photo." Daisy laughed. "Apparently Mario and Peach are the godparents."

Luigi looked over at the picture, which showed Bowser Jr with his arm around a pretty Koopa girl with a gold-coloured shell, significantly smaller than him of course. She held in her arms a tiny baby Koopa, who had the same face his father had had when he was young, his spiked shell a magnificent gold. Luigi noticed that behind the Koopa family was another family picture, one of Bowser with a red-haired Koopa woman dressed in a fiery orange dress. He recognized it instantly from Kammy's vision...it seemed like the Koopa Kingdom could finally acknowledge Queen Lavaria's existence again. "Aww, that's-a sweet!" he grinned. "What's his name?"

"Bowser III, if you'd believe that. Yeah, the Koopas aren't the best at coming up with original names."

"Maybe I'll-a teach him how to jump like me!" Mario exclaimed excitedly. "Imagine that, Peach...a Koopa Prince jumping like a Mario Bro!"

"That would be a sight, all right." Peach giggled.

"How's the Koopa family doing, anyway?" Daisy asked conversationally. "I mean, I haven't heard anything about the Koopalings for a while, although Morton still sends me birthday gifts, of course. I here he's started a construction company."

"Well, Lemmy's started a film company." Peach replied. "I've seen some of his comedies...I've always known he was more suited to making people laugh than fighting. Iggy's helping Junior run the kingdom, while Wendy's enjoying the high society life, like she always has. Really Larry should be in prison, like Roy, but of course he managed to scam his way out. He's now in charge of one of the most powerful corporations in the kingdom...but don't worry. While I'm sure he's as shady as ever, he's definitely learnt his lesson about trying to steal power. We shouldn't expect more from him than some tax fraud. Roy...well, as I said, he's in jail, but he's actually doing really well there. Fits in with the others, I guess. He kind of runs the place and keeps the other roughs in order. Hopefully, by the time he serves his sentence, he'll be a reformed Koopa."

"What about Ludwig?" Luigi asked.

"Ludwig..." Peach replied. "He's in house arrest in his castle in the Koopa Kingdom. Perhaps he'll get out someday, but given the serious nature of his crimes it's likely to be a very long sentence. He's been doing surprisingly well, though. He's been composing some beautiful symphonies, and he's made scientific breakthroughs which will be able to lead to loads of good things. It seems he's told himself that if he can't be the Koopa Kingdom's greatest king, he can at least be its greatest scientist and musician. He's on surprisingly good terms with Junior, and I've heard that he sends some extravagant smashing device to Roy on his birthday every year...supposedly as a way to make up for something terrible that happened between them, back in the war. Really, he doesn't seem to nurse too many grudges any more."

"That's good." Luigi smiled. Somehow, he didn't think Bowser's eldest son would be a threat again."

The feast Princess Peach had held was classic Mushroom Kingdom hospitality, and the spaghetti and the past would remain in Luigi's memory for a long time yet. Taking a brief break from the dancing in the ballroom, Mario and Luigi stood together on a balcony, holding glasses of Chuckola Cola (the best vintage, a gift from King Peasley himself), as they stared out over the houses of Toad Town, the sun setting on the horizon.

"It's a beautiful kingdom, isn't it, bro?" Luigi smiled, looking down at the happy town lit by it's mushroom-shaped streetlamps which shone off the bright roofs of the houses, still filled by cheerful townspeople. He could still remembered what it had looked like ten years ago, ruined and broken down by the Koopa forces.

"Life's-a good, Luigi." Mario agreed, sipping his Chuckola Cola. "I can never say it too many times...thank you for-a everything, bro."

Luigi nodded, as he thought over everything that he'd been through to get to this part...saving Cobal, rising up against Boom Boom, freeing Mushroom City and battling Roy, the Second Battle of Toad Town and the conflict over the Blooper Sea, his terrible battle with the mind-controlled Mario and the final showdown at New Donk City, back when it was called Koopa Central. It had been a hard, rough journey, but now it was finally over, and there was peace.

"Let's make to toast to the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario." Luigi said, raising his glass.

"You're-a right, Luigi. To the Mushroom Kingdom, to the princesses and to the best rival anyone could ask for...and too all the adventures we-a had together!" the two brothers clinked their glasses together, the glass catching the sun's light as it set upon a free, peaceful kingdom.

Stoneshell Prison had been repaired and it's cells reinforced with both technology and magic, revolutionary techniques that had been learnt from analyzing the secret blueprints left behind by Ludwig and Seven Stars. As the Mario Brothers walked down one of the dimly-lit hallways, they past several cells containing notorious international criminals...including their uncle, Giovanni. That wasn't the cell they were visiting, however. The cell they were visiting was at the end of a long hall, protected by powerful magical wards and made of steel thick enough to shrug off a bombardment of King Bills.

As the brothers approached, the thick door slowly slid open, spilling light onto the darkened hall. "Hello, my sons." Antonio said, seated upon the simple bench that was the only bit of furniture in his cell aside from his bed.

"H...hello, Dad." Luigi said. He still had trouble looking his father in his cold eyes. They'd visited him several times, so far. Perhaps, with time, they'd finally come to understand each other.

"Hey..." Mario said, taking something out of his overalls pocket. "I-a brought something for you!"

Antonio stuck his hand out of the bars and took the small picture from Mario, gazing at the old photo of the young, brown-haired woman. A slight smile appeared...the closest to a genuine smile Luigi had ever seen on him. "Thank you, Mario and Luigi." he finally said. "Thank you."

There was something like sadness in those cold blue eyes, and Luigi smiled. That was the first time has father had ever spoken kindly towards him.

The brothers turned around as the door began to close. Their visits with Antonio were seldom long, as the former Grand Star seldom had anything to say. But not this time.

"Your mother..." Antonio said as the iron doors slowly began to shut, "Would've loved you."

They turned around, staring at their father. "Maybe one day you can tell us about her." Luigi replied.

Antonio smiled sadly again. "Mario...Luigi...this world you have created...perhaps this kind of peace is not so bad."

The doors shut with a clank that echoed through the room, shutting him off from sight. Mario and Luigi turned around and began to walk back out, their footsteps echoing through the empty hall.

"You're right, Dad." Luigi thought. "This peace isn't so bad. We may have stopped your World of Silence, but a quiet life...yeah, I'd like that. Because, really, now...at long last...we-a saved the world.

Thank you, everyone, for all your support for this fanfiction, which I've been working on for nearly two years. I'd especially like to thank those people responsible for the creation of the Fallen Kingdom TV Tropes page. This story is the result of a great deal of ideas I'd had, and existed in several different forms before the version I ended up posting. The initial plot was actually somewhat inspired by the anime series "Code Geass", although in the end the only similarity Fallen Kingdom shares with it is that it involves a revolution against an empire.

There were loads of prototype ideas I'd scrapped from this story that I'd like to share with you, for fun...for example, the very first concept for "Fallen Kingdom" involved it being ten books long, each one only about 20,000 words however. There was no time skip to twenty years in the future, and Mario never died. The main plot involved Morton Koopa Sr coming back to life and rebuilding his Koopa Empire and all the characters coming together and stopping him. Later on, the Seven Stars organization and Antonio would be revealed manipulating things behind the scenes. The Board of Directors was considerably different in this version, as it included characters such as "Dinor" a rough-natured Yoshi who was sort of a prototype for Cobal, and "Lord Drakonis", an anthropomorphic dragon who was supposed to be Bowser's ancient ancestor, the leader of an extinct species of dragon people who interbred with Koopas to create the larger, fire-breathing ones. In the end, however, it would be revealed that Antonio was really being used by Dimentio, of all people, who managed to survive at the end of Super Paper Mario and is attempting to obtain the "Grand Dark Star" the source of the Shadow Queen's power, so that he could become all powerful. During one part in the story, there was going to be a rematch battle of sorts between King Morton and Antonio which was going to be quite emotional, with Morton finally choosing his family over power, which unfortunately never made it into the final version. The climax of the story would involve Mario obtaining the "Grand Light Star" to become all powerful and battling Shadow Dimentio, until Bowser sacrifices himself to finally kill Dimentio by ramming the Comet Observatory into him. As you can tell, the plot changed wildly, although the fact that the story would end with Bowser's heroic sacrifice remained consistent.

Eventually I realized the flaws with my story and created a new version of sorts, which would be called the "Mario Finale Trilogy" and consist of three longer books. I never really made up too much about this story, except that it would begin with Morton's resurrection. The big difference with this story is that Skallz Fortiscule is the main antagonist, and is given a very complicated backstory which somehow makes him responsible for nearly everything bad that happened in the Mario universe, with him manipulating Antonio in Seven Stars and also manipulating Morton in the Koopa War, as well as in the modern day with Morton's "Koopa Kingdom Revitalization Front (KKRF)" organization. His motivation for doing this is that he is, in fact, thousands of years old and a prince of the Koopas, but was passed on his inheritance because he did not inherit dragon-koopa genes. Additionally, Skallz had split his soul into three parts, "Skallz Fortiscule" who supported King Morton, "Skallz Fogtop" who was the Prime Minister of the Cap Kingdom (for some reason, I dunno how that fit into the plot), and "Skallz Phantasmus", who was the true leader of Seven Stars. In addition to all of that, there was the "true" Skallz, "Skallz Koopa", who resided in a palace in another dimension. The climax would involve Mario taking on Skallz, who somehow became a god who resembled a combination of a shinto war god (due to the Koopa Kingdom's Japanese influence in Odyssey), and Bowser, who has the name of "Amatsumikaboshi Skallz". There would be one time where Antonio sacrifices himself heroically by smashing his warship into Skallz to distract him, and the battle would finish by Bowser's sacrifice, in the end, just like in all the other versions.

It's probably for the best that I scrapped this version, because if you don't understand what's up with Skallz, that's perfectly ok since I don't other. Anyways, I later got the idea to create what I hoped was my best concept yet, the story that I ended up posting. Of course, there were loads of scrapped concepts for Fallen Kingdom, as well. The most notable of these was that I considered having Ludwig bring old villains like Cackletta, Fawful, Antasma, and even his grandfather Morton Koopa Sr back from the dead to help him, although this was scrapped because I just couldn't manage to fit it into the plot. Yoshi was also always supposed to die, it was a pretty last minute decision that he lived. I planned for Yoshi to go down slamming some kind of fighter plane into General Flame's gunship, killing both of them, but in the end I decided that it would be better if Yoshi lived so he could better atone for his crimes and recover his reputation. It didn't seem right to me that Yoshi would die still being known by most of the world best as the destroyer of Neon City. Billy, the Yellow Toad of the Toad Brigade, I initially invisioned as one of the main protagonists and even imagined him battling Antonio with Cobal and Luigi on the Observatory. In the end, his role got cut massively because I just couldn't think of a reason for him to be with Cobal or Luigi most of the time, and as such he didn't get enough character development to warrant a big role in the later parts. Really, there are a lot of things I wish I could've expanded more on, mainly Mario being the Red Star, considering he only really is on Seven Stars' side for one chapter. Additionally, Koops is introduced as leading an elite force composed of ex-glitz pit fighters, but that never actually came into play because I straight-up forgot about them. I was also surprised about how many people expected Giovanni to put up more of a fight against Larry; he was never supposed to be too strong, likely even Krezena and Sthnadlash were stronger, he just was higher rank because of his technological intelligence. I'm well aware of all the typos as well, (most infamously one where Skallz orders Mario to kill...Mario?), the reason for there existence being that I posted every chapter immediately after I finished writing it with no proofreading whatsoever.

While Fallen Kingdom is far from a perfect story, I'm so glad so many people were able to enjoy it. Your reviews and the success it enjoyed on this site are super encouraging to me as a writer and I'm glad that you were able to help make it one of 's top Mario stories. I probably won't post on this account again, because I'm planning on focusing my writing on non-fanfiction works at the moment, with the aim of getting a novel published through a legitimate publishing house. Either way, I hope you all enjoyed my take on the Mario universe, and I wish you all the best in your future endeavours!