It was the next morning, Princess Peach just having gotten dressed and ready for the day, when she received a missive. Mario wanted to see her, something important apparently. She sent back the usual message to meet her in the royal chambers, then sat down in front of her mirror to think. She'd been doing a lot of that lately, thinking about how casually she'd lived her life thus far. Was it a mistake? Why hadn't she started taking her responsibility more seriously? The more she thought, the more it nagged at her. Things had to change.

The door opened, and Mario entered. That made a cold flash of anger burn through Peach. He didn't even knock? She was his ruler, and he had the nerve to just enter her chamber? "Hello, Peach," he said nonchalantly, "how are you doing this morning?"

Peach took a deep breath, trying to make the anger dissipate. "It's going fine, Mario. I was told you had something urgent to tell me."

"Oh, that..." he replied hesitantly. "Well, Princess Daisy wrote me a letter, apparently something terrible is happening in Sarasaland. She wants me to take the next possible plane over to help." He paused again before finishing. "My flight leaves in an hour."

More anger, now a white-hot rage that threatened to be seen visibly, was barely contained by the Princess. It did manage to manifest itself in the curtness of her response. "I see. Why are you telling me this?"

There was a pause; Mario seemed a little shocked by Peach's words. "Well, you're my friend. I wanted to tell you that I'll be gone for a few weeks, and to write to Daisy if you need me for anything." He noticed the look Peach was giving him, and finished with, "I'd better go, I don't want to miss my flight. I'll see you soon, Princess."

"Goodbye," was the only thing she said before he left. She sat there, fuming over the conversation. How impertinent! He's a commoner, an immigrant, and he dares just show up and speak to her in such a manner! She is his queen, dammit! Peach stopped herself for a moment. She wasn't a queen, just a princess. For now, she thought. For now. She sighed. That wasn't the real reason she was angry, and she knew it. Mario was helping Daisy, another princess. Peach couldn't help but feel jealous at that. That was obviously the reason, she thought. That's the only reason she'd be jealous.

And...he'd called her his friend! After all the times he'd saved her, the years they'd spent together, that's how he described their relationship?! Princess Peach took a breath. As interesting as this self-discovery was, it was better saved for another time. She had something important to do.



"I beg your pardon, Your Highness, but what are you suggesting?" Toadsworth asked. "You've ruled fairly and justly for over a decade now, as a Princess. Why would you want to become Queen?"

Peach sighed. She knew there'd be resistance to the idea, especially from her conservative attache. "Toadsworth, you've pointed out the exact reason I should have been named Queen ages ago. I've been ruling this country in my father's place long enough that we need to stop pretending it's temporary. I'm the ruler of this country, and it's time I started being treated like it. I want a full coronation ceremony in a week."

For a second it looked like the elderly fungus was going to argue, but instead he nodded. "Yes, Your Highness. I'll see to it the preparations are completed by then." He started to walk out of the room, then stopped. "I wanted you to know, whatever we call you, I'm very proud of the women you've become." With that, he left. Peach smiled, glad the closest thing she had to a father anymore wasn't disappointed with her recent pragmatic streak. She looked at the clock, and saw it was time to hold court.




After a full day at court, Peach retired for the night to her bedroom. It had been a long, dull affair, but it needed be be done. She moved to her full length mirror, and started changing into her nightgown. It was going well, until she took off her gloves. It was then she finally started to see what had been happening. Her fingers used to end in femininely trimmed nails, though not long enough to make wearing her gloves difficult. Instead her fingers ended in claws, ones that looked more familiar than they should have. Peach stared at them, shocked. What was going on? She look back in the mirror, and noticed something else. Her skin looked paler than normal. No, that wasn't right, it wasn't pale...it was turning yellow. Without realizing it she started to itch her side, then caught herself. She looked closer, and saw that where she'd been scratching, her smooth skin was replaced with yellow scales. Peach sat down, and tried to come to grips with what was happening.




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