In the depths of Bowser's Castle, Kamek and three other Magikoopas stood around magic runes painted onto the floor in a square, a Koopa at each corner. Inside that square lay a circle, and within the circle, a triangle. Kamek grumbled as he held aloft a staff, not the usual one he or other Magikoopas ever used. This one held a large circular crystal within a golden frame that resembled a cartwheel. Apart from them, the open doors, and a small chest near Kamek, the room was otherwise empty, just bare stone walls and floors.

"Alright, another try at this. We're getting it right eventually," He grumbled.

The other three Koopas nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, we learn from failure, right? And we've learned a LOT today! And yesterday! And the day before! And..." Left Corner spoke.

"Yes, I get it, knock it off!"

The Koopa fell silent at Kamek's order.

"Now.... We all know how this works so we know what we're doing and.... Wait, no, you're new, whatsisname had to go to his dentist appointment," Kamek said, pointing a finger at the Koopa across the square.

"Oh, yeah. Uh, I think I know though, you've got a powerful magical staff that can move people through space to in front of us, the rest of us have staffs that help focus it and stuff," Opposite Corner said.

"More or less. I have the Staff of Movement, that can bring someone across space. In this case, Princess Peach, bringing her straight to the dungeons right from the Mushroom Kingdom, where King Bowser can imprison her, and Mario will be none the wiser until the ransom demand is delivered!"

"But we need Princess Peach captured first," Left Corner Koopa said.

"Yes, yes we do. Good thing Larry forgot to put a stamp on the letter when he tried to get it sent off early. You have the letter, yes?" Kamek asked Right Corner.

"Yep, WITH a stamp this time. I'll send it off once Peach is in her nice cosy cell! Which is definitely cosy by the way, the new insulation really works."

"Good. Now, let us begin..."

The four Koopas began a chant that sounded like a shrill cackle, but holding their wands aloft, the gems at the end glowed, and the wand Kamek held began to glow too. Light began to shine from the Staff of Movement, the runes on the floor glowing too.

A new circle emerged within the triangle, floating off the floor and rising a few feet above the stones, a spinning wheel in the very air, until it flashed, and with a yelp, a shape fell through and landed inside the runes.

And the Magikoopas groaned, ceasing their chant. The wheel in the air vanished, but the runes kept glowing.

"Drat, wrong one again!" Kamek sighed as he looked at the arrival that had landed butt-first on the ground inside the rune shapes.

This was not Princess Peach. This was another pointy-eared one, this time in a blue-white shirt, dark brown leggings, and lighter brown boots. She looked around in shock with her blue eyes, getting to her feet as she saw the strange creatures around her.

"Who are you? Where am I?!" She demanded.

"Oh, we're Magikoopas, you're in Bowser's Castle but we were looking for a different princess, sorry," Left Corner said.

Kamek hissed at him.

"Don't let them know that stuff! It's completely useless to them at best and might backfire on us once we figure out what we're actually doing with the others!"

"You brought me here by mistake? And what others?!" The Princess demanded.

"Well, you see, Zelda... I assume you're another Zelda?"

The blonde's eyes widened again, shocked these things knew her name.

"Wait, if you brought me here in error how do you know my name?"

She looked around at the four and noted that apart from the presumed leader, they seemed inattentive....

"Well, basically, you're actually like the... fifth, seventh Zelda we brought in by mista-" Kamek said, halting only when Zelda tried to flee for the open door, only to bounce off invisible walls marked by the triangle-runes she stood in.

"You're in a forcefield by the way," Right Corner said.

"I think she noticed," Opposite snarked, as Zelda once more stood up from landing on her behind, holding her nose that had crashed into the invisible wall.

"Yes, I did," She groaned.

"Anyway, as I was saying, we caught other Zeldas by mistake. See, we're after Princess Peach and... Wait, this is no use to you at all, I was getting on his back for this sort of thing!" Kamek spoke again.

"Er, it's quite all right, please, explain..." Zelda tried, hoping maybe these odd creatures might let something slip before taking her to a cell or whatever they planned.

"Nope, not doing it again, we're getting you out of the way and then we're getting our actual Royal Pain here and in the cell!"

As Kamek said that, he walked over to the chest, all four Koopas swapping their glasses for black-lensed shades.

"Well then, get me out of the way, send me back to Hyrule!" She hissed.

"Nah, we can't really do that, and we only have one cell, so, you're going in the store rooms with the rest," Kamek said as he opened the chest.

Zelda frowned.

"Store rooms?"

Her puzzled expression did not fade as the robed creature turned around, holding up a strange shield, a snake-haired face upon it. She barely had a second for her eyes to widen in surprise as the shield's eyes glowed and she felt a chill spread quickly and deeply into her bones.

She stood there for a moment, unable to move, only feeling herself grow colder and colder, eyes unable to move away from the glowing shield. She heard a sound like pebbles falling downhill in a landslide, felt her blood turning ice cold, felt her heartbeat slowing and stopping, as her vision began to grow cloudy.... And then the shield was moved, but she remained transfixed in place.

She tried to speak, tried to blink, but nothing. The sound of the chest closing again seemed muffled like there was water in her ears. Her whole body felt like it was made of ice. And she couldn't move a muscle. She could see, but her vision was cloudy, darkened, like her eyelids were half closed, but she knew they were wide open. No effort to close them worked at all....

"Okay, that's another one petrified. Let's put her with the rest," Kamek said, pulling his normal staff and making the new statue levitate, as his words sank into her muffled hearing.

'Petrified?! I... I've been turned to stone?!' She thought, as her body lifted up, still unmoving to her efforts.

"Say, why do we do that again?" Opposite asked.

"Well, we don't got the space in the cells. Or cell, rather. But we can cram them in some store rooms AND don't have to feed them!" Kamek replied, as he walked, the floating stone form of Zelda moving too.

As he floated her out into the corridor, they passed a few things removed from the room to make space for their ritual area. Zelda's blurred vision caught sight of a mirror, and if she could, she would have cried out in surprise to see confirmation of what the creature had claimed. For in the mirror, she saw herself almost normal, except for her hair, face, and fingertips poking from her gloves. Instead of the pink skin and blonde locks, alabaster looked back. Her wide eyes just globes of stone set in her petrified head, her blonde hair a cascade of delicate marble.  A fleeting moment, hard to see with her muted vision, but one that burned into her mind.

She was floated down a corridor that had a lot of other boxes and items outside doors, as if the rooms were filled with something else. The trip did not take long, as they went to a nearby room, and her eyes fell upon the other occupants. Many statues like her. She passed one that had Hylian ears, and looked very similar to herself, in an ornate looking white dress. Another seemed to be a round-eared and short-haired female in an orange jumpsuit over a white blouse. One seemed to be a catlike creature in a purple coat and white leggings.  But her trip soon ended and her vision now faced a blank wall, put down in place and wobbling for a moment. Her mind raced with the visions of her stone body tipping over... but Kamek waved his wand again.

"There, just stick you to the floor..."

She felt a surge of energy at her feet, as her wobbling stopped. But now she was motionless, stuck to the floor, and facing a wall. In a store room, alongside many other statues. Many other Wrong Princesses.

"This room's nearly full too... Yeesh, running out of space in here too. Ten rooms of statues. Still, imagine trying to cram you all in the cell, even if we did make it bigger for Peach's visits..." He muttered as he walked out.

'Ten rooms... At least six other Zeldas. How many have they been snatching from across time and space to just stuff in rooms to gather dust?' She wondered to herself.

The wall before her held no answer, nor did the many other statues she faced away from....

Back in the ritual room, Kamek went back to his spot.

"Okay, now, let's try one more time and then go get lunch after I stick the next one in the storage room. Oh, and we need to clear another space, that's the tenth room filled up nearly."

"Maybe King Bowser can stick them in a gallery in the main castle? I mean, there's dozens of them," Right Corner suggested.

"Kinda weird how we keep getting the wrong princesses though, and from so many different places," Left Corner said.

"Well, it's some kind of dimension magic, we'll get it aimed at our own one and get Peach sooner or later!" Kamek said, and resumed the chanting....