Super Mario Christmas

12. The Road to the Yellow Brick Road

The pre-noon light sparkled brightly as Mario and his crew emerged from the secret tunnels within the mountain. Mario was relieved. Considering his last experience with tunnels, he was concerned his faithful followers might become mutinous at being asked to enter an unknown dark space again.

Luckily, Goomblette’s soft squeaky voice and sweet demeanour had quickly charmed the pals and set them at ease. She began by showing them the goomba’s toileting spot, which all quickly indulged. Apparently Mario’s friends’ bladders weren’t as strong as his. She then entertained them with tales of her life in the mountain and made jokes about all the things she'd do, if only she had arms. Her soliloquy was so dramatically over the top that Mario had been expecting her to break into song at any moment. 

The group had been left stunned by some of the goomba’s comments about her treatment from others of her kind. She had been the laughing stock of the herd - which, by the way, Mario had been surprised to learn was the collective term for goombas (he'd expected it to have been something more like 'pack') - and had been alienated for months because of her size and her compassion for other living creatures. However, Goomblette had made herself useful, finding new ways to stabilise the very tunnels they walked through so they could withstand candy corn slides. She had, therefore, improved their very way of life because, as Goomblette reminded, it was extremely hard to dig tunnels with merely your legs, butt and forehead. For that, they relied heavily on other species, limiting their ability to be independent. This success had brought her the loyalty of the herd.

She'd explained that they still didn't trust the caves during and straight after a candy corn slide, just in case they weren’t completely safe (hence why the goombas had been exiting the pass and the caves were empty for them to walk through), but Goomblette had been working on a way to stabilise their tunnels for good, and this would hopefully make the goombas able to be more self sufficient, reducing their need to be Bowser's minions. Goomblette wouldn’t say this would stop her herd from aligning with the mutant turtle, but she hoped they would choose more passive roles.

Mario very much doubted it, since goombas everywhere aligned with his arch enemy, still he admired her optimism and determination. He found himself quickly wishing that Peach were with there with them. She would have enjoyed the company of Goomblette, who, like Peach, was intelligent, charming and headstrong. 

He wondered how Peach was progressing back in her kingdom. He hoped that her subjects had kept their faith in her (and him), and that he was not going to let them down. While he had been so sure the whole way along, now that he was close to reaching his objective, Mario started to doubt himself. What if he’d been wrong? Peach was the most level-headed person he knew. If she had concerns, why hadn’t he listened? 

“And here we are, back on the path.” Goomblette announced.

Mario squashed the worry growing within him. It was not useful, and was most likely just cold feet. He wanted so much to save the day for Peach that a little bit of doubt was only natural.

The group said fond thank yous and goodbyes to Goomblette, preparing for the final leg of their journey. 

A short trip down the yellow brick road that shone in front of them, clear of any enemies, and they would finally be at their destination. Then, they could reclaim Santa and return to the Mushroom Kingdom.

Mario clicked the heels of his brown boots. There truly was no place like home.