Chapter Text
All it took was one moment of perfect chaos, a series of benign events aligning in such a specific way that surely fate was involved, and everything changed forever.
Bowser had seen the Super Crown before, of course. The little pink mushroom girl, Toadette, used this crown to become a shorter and much less refined version of Peach. The gut reaction that came from seeing the cheap imitation “Peachette” was that it was an insult to the true Princess Peach.
But the real truth, the one that had eaten away at Bowser for a very long time and had taken even longer to admit, was that those feelings were just another shape of intense jealousy. Oh, how easy it was for her. Find a magical crown and turn into a beautiful woman, just like that. And even though Mario wasn’t a woman, during the last wedding fiasco he’d fought Bowser at the Nimbus Arena in a full-length wedding gown and looked amazing doing it. It was ridiculously unfair.
Bowser had secretly been trying on she and her and the title queen for quite a while, just in the safety of her own head. It was something she’d very quickly resolved was right for her, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell anyone else. The idea of asking her friends and foes to refer to her differently terrified her. She couldn’t bear the thought of that much rejection, so instead she settled for quietly knowing herself, by herself. It was frustrating and lonely, but a necessity to avoid that much more hurt.
At the very least, she was glad that her massive dragon-turtle body was pretty gender neutral as it was, especially compared to the more obvious visual differences between humans. Still, it was far from affirming in any way and very difficult to make clothes for.
Regardless of her personal feelings on dresses and the Super Crown, no one else seemed to think anything of this mysterious new item that appeared in the question mark blocks hidden around their worlds. After all, it was a frequent occurrence that new magical items would just show up out of nowhere.
But on this particular day, as Bowser chased her nemesis under a row of blocks, Mario jumped on top of them and slammed into the one directly above her in a poor attempt to stun her. Obviously he missed, but something else happened.
Dark purple vines full of thorns grew from the underside of the block at an alarming pace and slowly engulfed the whole row. Bunches of black roses bloomed around the edges, and at the center a single wine red rose budded and grew bigger than all the rest.
When it bloomed and all of its petals had unfurled, a delicate black crown that had never been seen in any of the kingdoms yet shone from the heart of the rose. The metal looked as if it was made of oil, pitch dark and shimmering with rainbow iridescence. Pigeon blood rubies and dusky garnets were embedded around the base, and a silky black cushion filled the inside. A fascinating, beautiful little thing, but not Bowser’s priority.
There was no way she could stop herself from running into it, so instead she tried to swat the whole flower out of the way and barrel past it. The crown however, seemed to have other plans. It dropped from the flower and bounced off the tip of two claws, spun through the air, and landed smack in the middle of her face.
Stars burst in her vision and all at once magical energy rushed through her veins and thrummed in her bones. It was raw and astringent, electrifying and transformative, and also a very familiar sensation by now; it was a power-up.
What would this mysterious new power-up do? Make her three times her usual size and five times as strong? Give her an invulnerable, metallic body? Or maybe something much less cool but still helpful, like the Super Bell that made her a fluffy cat version of herself?
All that coursing magical energy finally began to settle, and ribbons of light unwound from her body to reveal its new form. She jumped back a few paces to give herself room to discover whatever new powers she beheld. Judging by the way Mario was struck with shock, it must have been very intimidating.
She lifted her hands to take a look at what upgrades her claws might have, but there were no claws, not in the way she was used to at least.
These were human hands. Hands the color of dark brown sugar and a few shades lighter on the palms. There were sleek black nails shaped into points at the end of each finger.
Bowser froze, staring at these unfamiliar hands and watching the fingers move in exactly the way she willed them to. But that couldn’t be—the Great Demon Koopa Bowser, transformed into… what was the rest of her anyway?
Upon looking further down, the rest of this new body came into view. Thick, muscled arms had the usual spiked bands circling them at the wrists and upper biceps. Strong human legs extended to the ground with luxurious charcoal grey fabric draped behind them. And finally, the thing that really made her balk, the grand curve of breasts firmly contained within a sleeveless, black bodysuit.
A soft feeling blossomed in her heart. This couldn’t be real, could it? Just another one of those strange dreams brought on by too much spicy soup?
Those powerful yet elegant hands came to a taut abdomen, and Bowser’s breath caught as the texture of the bodysuit’s fabric was transmitted to her brain. Those really were her hands, and that really was her stomach.
The sound of Mario running away and diving into the nearest pipe snapped Bowser out of her daze.
“Hey, get back here!” she shouted.
Her voice was low and gravelly but came out several octaves higher than she expected.
“Woah. This is my voice?” she muttered. A huge grin spread across her face. “This is my voice!”
A hearty laugh boomed from her chest and a short burst of flames came from her mouth as she did. This was no dream. This was actually happening.
She turned on her heel to head back to her castle and when she did, she felt layers of heavy silk billow behind her and swirl around the back of her legs. Oh, this was too good.
After a few more indulgent twirls for good measure, she jumped into the air with a whoop and dashed back home. The grass beneath her feet was soft and squishy and felt more solid under her than it ever had before. It was crazy how much more sensitive skin was than scales.
As her castle came into view, her celebratory mood was dampened by an overwhelming sense of dread that settled in the pit of her stomach. It wasn’t like she was just coming home after tennis in a t-shirt and shorts; this was a completely different form altogether. In her heart of hearts, she knew that this was her true self. She had never felt more comfortable and happy in her own body. The problem was that nobody else knew that about her. How could they have?
Anxiety kept her rooted in place and made it hard to breathe. Was her troops’ loyalty as strong as she thought it was? Could they accept this change without unwanted questions or comments? Bowser was still the same person, it just took a while to find the body she belonged in all along. Would they be able to see that?
She gritted her teeth and balled her hands into fists. This was ridiculous. Bowser was royalty. She had commanded the Koopa Troop and taken in each and every one of them as her own for her whole life. So what if she was a queen instead of a king? She deserved the exact same loyalty and respect she’d always been given.
Her heart raced and her knees felt weak, but she steeled her nerves and marched onward. With her head held high and her posture oozing confidence, she busted through the castle doors just as she would any other day of the week.
Paratroopas patrolled the foyer, goombas stacked on top of each other and rolled between rooms, terrapins shuttled baskets of food to the kitchen. Just another day.
Except it wasn’t. And every single one of them came to a halt to stare at Bowser. Some stopped so abruptly that others ran into them, only to join the heavy silence. None of them said a word or reacted in any way that betrayed their thoughts.
It was obvious she looked different, but Bowser knew that they could all sense exactly who she was. They’d worked under her for long enough to be able to tell no matter what form she took.
“What are you all staring at? Get back to work!” she snapped. Thick smoke filled with sparks escaped from between her teeth for an unintentional but effective warning.
Everyone scrambled back into place and continued on with their work, just as she’d commanded. Some of them gave her goofy grins, a few chattered excitedly amongst themselves, and others continued on like nothing had happened at all. She gave a firm nod in approval.
“Oh, and someone send Kammy to my room,” she added as she ascended the staircase to the upper floors of the castle.
As soon as she made it back to her room and shut the door she collapsed to the floor, a wave of relief washing over her. So far things had gone smoother than she ever could have hoped, but confronting one of her deepest fears had left her exhausted. It wasn’t everyday she had to find out whether or not her own clan would turn against her for simply being who she was.
Then, a knock at her door.
“Your Viciousness!” came a crowing voice. “I was told you needed me, so here I am!”
As grating as Kammy Koopa was, she was the only one in the castle Bowser felt she could trust enough to discuss all this with.
She lifted herself off the floor with a grunt, dusted her knees off, and fluffed her skirt so it was laid out behind her just so. Another deep breath, and then she opened the door.
Kammy looked Bowser over for a moment, then tilted her head forward and looked again from over her glasses.
“Bowser.” It felt more like a question than a greeting.
“Yes,” she confirmed.
“My… queen,” Kammy said, once again more as a question than a statement.
Hearing herself be called a queen made Bowser’s heart skip a beat. She couldn’t help a grin from tugging at her lips.
“Yes!”
“How interesting!” Kammy readjusted her glasses and matched Bowser’s smile with her own. “And what name should we call Her Highness? Bowser or something else?”
Bowser tapped a finger to her chin thoughtfully. It hadn’t occurred to her to change her name, but it seemed so obvious now that Kammy mentioned it. The suffix “-ette” was pretty popular with women in both the Koopa Troop and Mushroom Kingdom.
“Maybe… Bowsette,” she tried. Yes, that sounded exactly right. She loved it. “Yeah, call me Queen Bowsette.”
Kammy nodded and clapped her hands together. “Very good! A perfect fit, in fact. I’ll let the troops know.”
As she turned to leave, Bowsette grabbed the end of her broom and yanked her back.
“Hey, I didn’t say that was all, did I?” she spat. “I want you to take a look at this crown. Tell me anything you can about it.”
“Of course, Your Evilness.”
Kammy began to reach for the crown, but Bowsette smacked her hands away.
“No, it stays on. You will look at it without touching it.”
A raspy cackle left Kammy’s throat as she floated upward to inspect the crown.
“You never told me you’d been thinking about anything like this, my queen. You know, if you’d just said the word, I could have made you as beautiful as me even without a magic crown,” she said.
Bowsette grimaced at the thought. She’d really prefer not to look like Kammy. The old bat had some sense of color, but style? Absolutely not.
“If you think I’d let someone like you play dress-up with me, you really have gone senile.” A jolt of panic shot through her when she felt the crown shift on her head as Kammy poked at it. “I said no touching!”
She was not going to lose this.
“Forgive me, my curiosity got the best of me.” The apology sounded sincere enough.
“Yeah, well, you know what they say about curiosity and cats or whatever,” she grumbled.
Kammy drifted through the air in lazy circles, humming and hawing at whatever it was she saw.
“Well, it’s expensive for sure. The metal isn’t like anything I’ve seen before, but the rubies are incredibly rare. It’s quite a treasure,” she said. “You’ll have to ask someone that has more specialized knowledge of power-up science to find out what it really is.”
How irritating. Bowsette had hoped to keep the research between her and Kammy, but it looked like she wasn’t going to be any help at all.
Kammy could probably sense her frustration because she quietly cleared her throat and continued. “From what I’ve heard, Princess Peach is well versed in chemistry and has even managed to create an invisibility potion. Maybe she—”
Oh, no. Princess Peach. Bowsette had gotten so caught up in everything else going on that she hadn’t even considered what Peach might think of her. This was going to ruin her chances with Peach for good, wasn't it?
She wracked her brain for a solution to this new, unexpected problem while Kammy blabbered on until one word caught her attention again.
“... could easily kidnap her with the clown car while--”
“No,” she interrupted. “No kidnapping. I mean it. No kidnapping this time.”
There was no way Peach would cooperate if she was taken against her will. She would be too furious to think straight even if they could get her to look at it. If Bowsette wanted her help, she would have to ask nicely.
She let out an exasperated huff and rubbed her temples. “Get me some paper. I’ll send her a letter and just ask.”
It was humiliating to have to ask for help, but this wasn’t something she was willing to take chances with. She had to know how this crown worked and make sure it sat on her head forever. This was her shot at finally being the person she was always meant to be, and she’d be damned if a bruise to her ego was going to get in the way of that.
Kammy whisked the air with her staff and produced a piece of scarlet and gold paper with a black envelope.
“Suit yourself. I’ll have a paratroopa take it to her. Will that be all?” she asked with an exaggerated bow.
Bowsette rolled her eyes and waved her away. “Yeah, yeah, go on.”
It was awkward trying to write with an extra finger more than she was used to, so her handwriting was much messier and shakier than usual. Just another level of embarrassment to add to this whole asking-for-help ordeal.
Dear Princess Peach,
I found a new power-up. Please come to my castle to help me understand it.
She wasn’t really sure how she should sign it. Of course she wanted to use Bowsette, but a sudden name change might make her seem disingenuous. She settled for just “- B”. The stationary was probably indication enough who it was from anyway.
After folding the paper and tucking it into the envelope, she blew a controlled stream of fire at the mulberry candle she used for letters. With a careful tilt, wax dripped onto the back, and she pressed her official seal on it.
“Get this to Princess Peach,” she said, handing the letter to the paratroopa that had just arrived at her door. “Make sure no one sees you do it.”
“You got it, boss!” The winged koopa gave a salute and shot into the dim corridor beyond.
Bowsette sighed and shook her head. She must be crazy to think Peach would actually come, right?
Nevertheless, she wasn’t about to be caught off guard. She was going to have to get herself and the castle ready to welcome the princess as a completely voluntary guest for the first time ever.
She stood in front of her mirror and finally gave herself a thorough look. It was still hard to believe this was really her, but it was. A smile spread across her face, and she got to work combing out messy, but wonderfully long and thick red hair.
Even if Peach couldn’t be romantically interested in Bowsette, she sure as hell was going to look like a goddess anyway.