The oddest thing about Princess Peach's reaction was how nonchalant it was. Peach realized she should be screaming, calling out for a doctor, freaking out. Instead she stared, curiously. What was going on? Scales? Claws? It was then her tongue touched one of her teeth, and she opened her mouth to see what had happened. Peach looked in the mirror to see her teeth had all sharpened, and looked more suited to ripping and tearing meat than to consuming a fine dinner.

Why wasn't she scared? Maybe it was part of the changes, she thought. Peach realized she'd spent the last couple days a lot differently than normal. Peach had been more thoughtful, more confident in herself, in her power. That word is what spurred on the next idea: sharp teeth, claws, yellow scales? Could she be...no, that was ridiculous. Then again, Peach noted, only a fool disregarded plain evidence because of a preconceived notion. Mushrooms had made her people grow larger or smaller since time immemorial, why doubt they could do other things as well? Is it really impossible for one to turn her into a koopa?

Peach would research this tomorrow, but considering she'd eaten the thing yesterday, and by now all had changed was parts of her skin, her hands, and her mouth then she wasn't changing very fast. She'd be able to hide the changes for a few days, hopefully, before she changed back. If she wanted to change back, she added.



She woke up the next morning, and was immediately certain that something was different. Peach could feel something in her bed-sheets with her, and when she lifted the comforter she saw dust covering different parts of her body, and smooth yellow scales just under it. The patches skin she'd been scratching with irritation the day before was now gone completely. She reached her clawed hand out, to move her fingers across her scales.

It was cool to the touch, soft but unmistakably reptilian. They reminded Peach a little of someone else's scales, but Peach through that idea out headlong into the trash. No matter what may come next, she would never turn out like that monster. Dropping that line of thought, she tried scratching the scales with her new claws, even though she could guess the results ahead of time: nothing. She turned to face the stone of her bedroom wall, and tried scratching that. Peach's claws sunk into the cobblestone like it was made of butter. Peach smirked at that. Her scales were strong, unbelievable so. Interesting.

That wasn't the only change, standing up from her bed, she found the room a little smaller than it should have been. A quick check with the chalk height drawings near her bed showed that Peach had grown at least an inch overnight, maybe more. She gave her body a quick once-over, but that was it. For today.

A quick trip to the calendar showed that it was Starday, which meant that her usual day of holding court was suspended for the weekend. Peach didn't have anything in particular planned, so it was time to go to the Royal Mushroom Library, and see what she could discover about that strange mushroom. Of course, there was the problem of her new changes being discovered. Luckily, Peach realized, they were quite easy to fix.

All she'd have to do is change her wardrobe a little: wear one of her thicker pairs of white gloves, which would cover her new claws up quite nicely. Peach knew her height hadn't changed enough to need a new dress, at least not yet. The new scales Peach wore were all in her torso region, so the dress covered them perfectly. As for her sharp teeth...they weren't too noticeable, and as long as she didn't draw attention to them, no one would notice. She quickly got dressed in her usual garb, a little more tight on her taller frame, and set off for the library.



Peach had been searching the dusty old library for hours now, trying every tome she thought might hold some clue to her transformation. She grew more frustrated with every failure, and was nearly beginning to give up when she saw the exact illustration she'd been hoping for in moldy book that, as far as she could tell, didn't have a title. At first Peach thought that maybe it was just age that had darkened a normal 1UP mushroom's picture into something resembling the one she saw, but as she looked closer, it was identical. Sadly the book was written in Ancient Fungese, a language she'd learned to read in her school years but had since dropped from her use almost entirely. She smiled to think all those long hours studying would actually come it handy.

She wasn't able to read some of it, and other parts she wasn't really sure on, but the description seemed read something like this: "The Royal(?) Mushroom: A (word too faded to read) fungus that changes(?) the eater in several ways. It turns them from their original race(?) into a turtle monster (probably means koopa). With this change(?) comes several other developments(?), such as an increase in intelligence, confidence, strength, endurance," but after that the letters were to faded to be read properly. It only became legible again near the bottom. "No cure(?) has been found."

Well, that settled that. There wasn't any cure. And, for that matter, Peach didn't see a reason she needed one. Sure, the koopa thing would be hard to explain, but it was making her smarter, stronger. No longer would she stand by letting others do what they willed in her land. It was time to take action. And if that mushroom was the cause of it? Then a few scales were a small price to pay. She sat up from the table, and headed for her room. It was time to get to work.


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