Pipes. A seemingly normal way of traveling in the Mushroom World. I'm sure you've played several Mario games and never asked the question, "How do those pipes work?" Although it never directly told us in the games themselves, I have an interesting theory. First we will look at what we know about pipes from the games.
Pipes are most commonly green and very big. There are some, however, that do come in other colors, and sizes (SMW.) There are several pipes that do not even transport people or things, but just stick out of the ground.
Pipes can be found sticking up from the ground, in caves, and buildings, underwater, and even on clouds. Pipes are an everyday part of life for the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom (SMRPG, PM,) but pipes are not always relied on for transportation. Pipes can be blocked, so the people of the Mushroom World also have other sources of transportation as well (Nimbus Bus, Train.)
Pirhana Plants infest piping, but only seem to be a problem when they are above the pipe, not inside. Goombas (SMB3) and Shyguys (SMW2) also use pipes as means of travel.
Well those are all the facts I can think of. Now to my theory:
Pipes for several millenia have been viewed as natural formations. Most pipes sank into the ground, but only went about ten feet or so down, before stopping. Pirhana Plants used these shallow pipes as homes, and would lure prey into the pipes. It was only two thousand years ago a clever mole discovered a phenomina that occured with several of the rocks that were mined from Moleville Mountain. Every so often, he would find two rocks that were the exact same size and shape. He decided that there must be a reason for this common occurance, so he spent several weeks studying these pairs of rocks, and expiramenting with them.
This mole, eventually hit pay dirt, when he placed one of the twin rocks into a mug, and the other rock into another mug. He then poured water into one mug, and the water vanished, and translocated to the other mug. This was an amazing discovery no doubt, but did it have any purpose? The mole then used these rocks on bigger and bigger cylindrical shaped objects he found he could move large quantities of items over far distances, but he never did find anything that could transport an entire being. As he pondered this predicament, he looked to some near by hills. These certain hills were infact covered with pipes.
The brilliant mole had an idea. using two pipes, one on opposite side of the hill, he drilled holes into them, he then placed two twin rocks into each of these holes. After placing these two stones, he then jumped into one pipe, and miraculously came out of the other, even though both pipes only went ten feet into the large hill.
After that first pipe test, the twin rocks have been named pipestone, for their use. After the use of pipes became widespread, many companies sprouted up creating synthicated pipes, for use where not many pipes were available for transportation. A whole island, now called the Warp Zone, was devoted to connecting every part of the Mushroom World.
