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It started like any other day in Paw-Tucket. Roxie was hanging out at the Littlest Pet Shop with her friends—Trip, Quincy, Jade, Edie, and Bev—when something extremely not-normal happened.
The magical portal that let pets into Paw-Tucket, suddenly started shimmering and crackling like it had opinions. Everyone froze and stared.
"Uh... is that supposed to happen?" Quincy asked, already backing away like the portal might bite.
The portal flared bright yellow, and out stumbled—
"HELLO THERE!" boomed an impossibly cheerful voice.
Big Bird, all eight feet two inches of bright yellow feathers, tumbled through and landed in a heap right in the middle of Paw-Tucket's town square.
Silence. Absolute silence.
"What the—" Trip started.
Big Bird pushed himself back up, brushing off his feathers and looking around with wide, delighted eyes. "Oh wow! What a neat place! Where am I?"
Roxie blinked at him. "You're... in Paw-Tucket. But... you're not a pet."
"I'm a bird!" Big Bird said proudly.
"Yeah, but... you're huge," Jade said, completely deadpan.
Big Bird glanced down at himself. "Oh! I guess I am pretty tall, huh?"
"How did you even get through the portal?" Edie asked, wings fluttering nervously. "Only pets who make their owners happy can come here!"
Big Bird tilted his head, thinking. "Well, I do make lots of kids happy on Sesame Street! Maybe that counts?"
Behind him, the portal gave one last little shimmer and snapped shut.
"Great," Jade muttered. "Now we've got a giant bird stuck here."
Big Bird just beamed. "Oh, I'm sure it'll be fine! I love making new friends!"
Big Bird spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Paw-Tucket like a tourist on his first day in the city. He marveled at the tiny buildings, complimented literally everyone he saw, and managed to knock over three lamp posts just by turning around too fast.
Eventually, though, nature called. Loudly.
"Excuse me," Big Bird said politely to Roxie, who had somehow become his unofficial tour guide. "Where's the restroom?"
Roxie pointed toward the Littlest Pet Shop. "Inside, down the hall on the left."
"Thank you!" Big Bird nodded and ducked through the doorway, doing his best not to take the doorframe with him.
Five minutes passed.
Then there was a loud CRACK.
Then a SPLASH.
Then a very concerning WHOOOOSH.
Big Bird stumbled back out of the bathroom, looking like he wanted to evaporate. "Uh... I think I broke something."
Water started seeping out from under the bathroom door.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Roxie shrieked.
"I just... I sat down, and the toilet made a weird noise, and then it just... snapped," Big Bird said, flailing his wings helplessly. "I didn't mean to!"
Jade opened the bathroom door, took one look inside, and immediately regretted all her life choices. The toilet was absolutely destroyed, water was gushing everywhere, and there was a huge crack in the floor that went way, way down.
"Oh no," Jade whispered.
"What?" Trip asked, trying to see past her.
"That's not just a broken toilet. That's a broken pipe. And in Paw-Tucket, all the plumbing is hooked up to one central system."
Big Bird’s eyes went wide. "Is that... bad?"
Within an hour, Paw-Tucket was in full disaster movie mode.
At Bev's place, her toilet started making ominous gurgling noises and then just gave up on life.
At the Paw-Tucket Café, the sinks backed up and flooded the kitchen.
At the carnival, the porta-potties overflowed. Nobody was okay.
Pets were panicking. Social media was exploding. Group chats were in shambles. Everyone was asking the same question: What happened to the toilets?!
Trip and Quincy ran to the town square, where what felt like half of Paw-Tucket had gathered.
"Alright, alright, calm down!" Trip yelled, hopping up onto a bench. "We'll figure this out!"
"The ENTIRE plumbing system is down!" someone screamed from the crowd.
"How is that even possible?!" another pet shouted back.
Roxie stepped forward, looking like her stomach had dropped into her paws. "I... might know what happened."
She pointed at Big Bird, who was standing at the edge of the crowd trying very hard to be small, which was not working.
"HE BROKE THE TOILET!" Roxie announced.
The crowd exploded into angry yelling.
"I DIDN'T MEAN TO!" Big Bird wailed. "I'm sorry! I'm just... really big!"
"This is a disaster!" Edie cried. "What are we supposed to do?!"
Quincy, shaking, raised a hoof. "Uh... maybe we need... a plumber?"
Everyone stared at him like he’d just suggested they call God.
"That's actually... not a bad idea," Jade said slowly.
"But where are we gonna find a plumber in Paw-Tucket?" Bev asked.
Trip snapped his fingers. "I got it. We call the plumber."
"Who?" Roxie asked.
Trip grinned. "Mario."
Getting in touch with Mario was, weirdly, the easiest part of the day. Trip just Googled "Mario plumber" and, because the universe has a sense of humor, an actual phone number came up.
"Hello? Mario Brothers Plumbing?" Trip said. "Yeah, we've got a situation. The entire plumbing system in a magical pet dimension is down because an eight-foot bird broke a toilet. Can you come fix it? ...Yeah, I know how that sounds. ...Uh-huh. ...Great, thanks."
He hung up and turned to the others. "He'll be here in twenty minutes."
"Wait, he's actually coming?!" Quincy squeaked.
"Bro's a professional," Trip said with a shrug, like this was just a normal day now.
Sure enough, about twenty minutes later, the portal flickered back to life, and out stepped Mario—red hat, blue overalls, iconic mustache, the whole package.
"Let's-a-go!" he said cheerfully, hauling a massive toolbox like it weighed nothing.
The crowd went wild.
"MARIO'S HERE!"
"HE'S GONNA SAVE US!"
Mario tipped his hat and headed straight for the Littlest Pet Shop, not even fazed. Big Bird trailed after him nervously.
"I'm really, really sorry, Mr. Mario," Big Bird said.
Mario glanced up and chuckled. "Don't-a-worry, big guy. I've seen worse. You should-a-see what Bowser does to the pipes in his castle. Mama mia!"
Mario took one look at the wrecked toilet and the massive crack leading down into Paw-Tucket's central plumbing hub and let out a low whistle. "Ohhh, that's-a bad. You really did a number on this, huh?"
Big Bird’s shoulders slumped. "I feel awful."
"Eh, accidents happen," Mario said, already pulling out a wrench. "Let's-a-fix it."
For the next three hours, Mario went full plumber superhero. He squeezed into pipes, swapped out broken sections, re-sealed connections, and casually hummed the Super Mario Bros. theme while he worked like this was just another strange call-out. Trip recorded everything on his phone.
"Dude, this is wild," Trip muttered.
Finally, Mario climbed back out of the pipes, covered in grime but grinning. "All fixed! Give it a test!"
Quincy, looking like he was about to defuse a bomb, flushed the repaired toilet.
It worked. Perfectly. No explosions. No geysers.
The crowd outside lost their minds cheering.
Mario instantly became a Paw-Tucket legend. Pets lined up for his autograph. Someone gave him an honorary citizen certificate. Edie wrote a power ballad called "The Hero in Overalls."
Big Bird was still mortified but also incredibly relieved. "Thank you so much, Mario," he said. "I'm so, so sorry for all the trouble."
Mario patted his wing. "No problem, my friend. Just... maybe next time, use the outdoor facilities, eh?"
Big Bird laughed weakly. "I'll keep that in mind."
Before he left, Mario turned to the crowd. "Remember, folks—when in doubt, call a plumber. And-a don't sit on toilets that aren't built for you!"
The crowd cracked up and cheered as Mario stepped back through the portal, waving like the absolute icon he was.
Big Bird eventually made it back to Sesame Street, but the tale of "The Giant Bird Who Broke Paw-Tucket's Plumbing" turned into one of those stories that got passed down and exaggerated every time someone told it.
And Paw-Tucket? They upgraded. Reinforced toilets. Everywhere. Just in case.