Super mario
Maria

7
Letโs begin with a simple, undeniable fact: Mario absolutely ruined the Mushroom Kingdom.
Not Bowser. Not some ancient curse. Not even one of those suspiciously sentient pipes. NoโMario did this. Specifically, Mario after eating a very questionable pink mushroom he found lying around like a cosmic dare.
Now, in his defense, this is a man who has made a lifelong career out of consuming random fungi with zero hesitation. Red? Eat it. Green? Eat it. Glowing ominously in a dark cave while whispering in Latin? Sure, why not. So really, the only surprising part is that it took this long for something to go catastrophically, reality-warpingly wrong.
The moment he bit into it, the universe didnโt just wobbleโit flipped. Reality hiccupped, rewrote itself, and decided, โYou know what? Letโs try something new.โ
And just like thatโฆ Mario became Maria.
Same overalls. Same heroic instincts. Same questionable plumbing credentials. But now? Entirely, undeniably, not the same guy.
Also, small detailโeveryone else changed too.
The Princess Peach? Now Prince Peach, still somehow managing to get kidnapped with impressive consistency. Luigi? Now Lucia, somehow even more anxious about everything. And Bowser? Oh, Bowser is still a problemโjust with a slightly differentโฆ presentation.
Maria, for her part, handled the situation with remarkable composure. Which is to say, she stared at her reflection for a solid ten seconds, said, โMamma mia,โ in a slightly different pitch, and then immediately got dragged into another kingdom-saving crisis.
Because of course she did.
Now armed with the same jumping skills, the same mustache-free face, and a rapidly growing list of existential questions, Maria sets off to save the prince, fix reality, and maybeโmaybeโstop eating mushrooms she finds on the ground.
But letโs be honest.
Sheโs absolutely going to eat another one.