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Chapter Text

Star Vs the Forces of Evil 10 th anniversary one shots  

Hello, SVTFOE fans! To celebrate the 10th anniversary of this show, I have decided to post thirteen different one-shots on the dates each episode was posted, as is listed below. The only exception is when I’ll post two one-shots on the air date of the second episode. This is because I didn’t think about doing this until after the first episode anniversary. I did a one-shot on that, though, so go check that out. 

None of the stories I post on the following dates will be connected. Each is a self-contained story designed as a jumping-off point for other fanfic writers. The stories will be a mix of my own ideas and inspirations from other fanfics I have read. I’ll try to credit the source when I can.  

2 (Matchmaker and School Spirit), 3/30/15 

-Marco followed: After Star left Earth with her mom, why didn’t Marco use his scissors to immediately follow? In this story, he did. 

-Grandma Eclipsa: When making a deal with Eclipsa, Moon gets an idea to prevent either Eclipsa or Toffee from becoming a future threat. Flashforward, and while she isn’t a threat, she does return in a way Moon never thought possible. 

3 (Monster Arm and The Other Exchange Student), 4/6/15 

-Cool Ex: Jackie dated and broke up before Star arrived on Earth, with Marco still crying himself to sleep over it. Stan gets fed up and goes to get answers from Jackie over why she broke his heart. 

4 ((Cheer Up, Star and Quest Buy), 4/13/15 

-Festivia the Forgotten: Eclipsa has no idea who Festiva is or why she is listed as her daughter. This leads her to ask the MHC what they did to her daughter. The MHC smile and ask ‘which one?’ 

5 (Diaz Family Vacation and Brittney’s Party), 4/20/15 

-Monstrous Sister: Eclipsa was holding Meteora when the two were crystallized together. When Moon came three hundred years later, the two made a different deal.  

6 (Mewberty and Pixitopia), 6/15/15  

-Mewberty AU: When 3:57 came around, Star’s mind returned to normal. Her body didn’t. Inspired by some great comics made by “rikoudu” on DeviantArt.  

7 (Lobster Claws and Sleep Spells), 6/22/15  

-The five teachers of magic: Glossaryck isn’t the only all-powerful and all-knowing teacher around; his three sisters and brother are also teaching powerful and promising students the ways of magic. This is their stories and their pupils. Tableaucontenta, Indexia, Chapterra, and Footnotryck.  

8 (Blood Moon Ball and Fortune Cookies), 7/20/15  

-What is the Blood Moon?: Tom didn’t interrupt the Blood Moon Dance until after the skylight closed. This means both kids feel the full power and discover what it is.  

9 (Freeze Day and Royal Pain), 7/27/15  

-Royally Screwed: When Mewberty came around, Mewberty Stan dropped the other victims and ignored Oscar as soon as she saw Marco. She grabbed him, took him home, and her form did what it was meant to do. Star later learns of consequences she can’t run from no matter how hard she tries. Inspired by a great story by “DarkMasterofCupcakes” on AO3.  

10 (St. Olga’s Reform School for Wayward Princesses), 8/10/15  

-Queen Star, too young by far: After Eclipsa vanquishes her daughter, Star offers her the wand. What would have happened if Eclipsa refused it?  

11 (Mewnipendance Day and The Banagic Incident), 8/17/15  

-Ludo’s Redemption: Ludo moves in with Buff Frog after Toffee’s defeat.   

12 (Interdimensional Field Trip and Marco Grows a Beard), 9/14/15  

-Into the Wand: When Glossaryck brings Star into her wand to remove the thing that dosen’t belong, they don’t go to the part of the wand that’s connected to her memories. They go to the room of Moon’s spells.  

13 (Storm the Castle) 9/21/15  

-The Wand isn’t a Wand. It used to be Glossaryck’s sister, Indexia. She thought the MHC should have more than just her family on it and turned herself into the wand to get around the rules they put in place to try and block her. The Whispering Spell was a way of undoing this so Toffee could petition her directly.  

Chapter Text

1. Marco followed

Marco could only look as his shock slowly morphed into despair as Star’s room morphed back into the old guest room. All that was left was her spider necklace on the ground.   

Standing there, he could only run Star’s speech repeatedly in his head. While doing so, one part stood out the most.  

“I have to leave Earth, probably forever.”  

He thought about all the reasons Star could not return to Earth, and none of them were good for her. Marco focused on that part of her discussion and formulated a plan to help her.  

Marco pulled out his Scissors and was about to make a portal to Mewni before realizing he should talk to Jackie and his parents. He put them back in his hoodie pocket and moved to go downstairs, stopping to pick up and put on the necklace.  

“Hang on, Star, I just need to do two things first.”  

The entire room was staring at him as he walked down, with the exception of Janna, Jackie, Starfan13, and his parents. Jackie due to being in shock, Janna due to her trying to comfort Jackie, and Starfan13 due to her still being fainted. His parents went over to him as soon as he came down and hugged him.  

“We know you have to go after her. Just promise to come back to us.”  

He smiled and nodded before walking over to Jackie and Janna.  

Jackie regained some of her senses when Marco reached her, or at least enough to look up at him.  

“Hi Jackie, can we talk in private?”  

It took a bit for her to respond. “Can Janna come with us?”  

Marco nodded and the three of them went upstairs, with Janna helping Jackie. When the three reached Star’s old room, the girls looked around in shock.  

“She’s gone?”  

Marco just nodded. “Yeah, and there isn’t a single explanation for Star to never come back to Earth that doesn’t mean disaster for her or Mewni.” He then turned to Jackie. “I have to go after her.”  

“Marco! Star left you here to protect you from whatever she will deal with. You going after her will just throw her attempt out the window.”  

“I don’t care! She is my best friend, and there is no way I will let her get involved in a dangerous situation if there is anything I can do to help her.”  

As Janna and Marco argued, Jackie just looked at the floor before looking up at him.  

“You should go after her.”  

Both of them turned to look at her at that. “Jackie, are you sure? Marco might not come back alive.”  

Jackie just smiled. “He will have Star by his side. The two of them together are more than able of handling anything the world throws at them.” She then turned to Marco. “And Star needs help. I am not going to tell Marco to not help someone in need.”  

Marco smiled and reached for Jackie’s hand. “I promise I will return as soon as possible, Jackie.”  

She looked down at their hands before pulling them back from the embrace. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Marco.”  

He just looked at her in shock before sighing. “Ok, Jackie, I promise I will do everything I can to make it back here.” He then pulled out his Dimensional Scissors. “They have compacts that can call cell phones across dimensional barriers, so I’ll call you as soon as possible.”  

He then made a portal disappear.  

Jackie just collapsed into the chair and looked down at her feet. “He’s never coming back even if he doesn’t die, isn’t he?”  

Janna turned to her and put on a smile. “Don’t think like that. You’re his girlfriend; there is no way he would leave you hanging if he had a choice.”  

Jackie sniffled. “I was only his girlfriend because, as far as we knew, Star wasn’t interested. The second he knew she was interested, our relationship turned to dust. He’s even wearing her neckless now!”  

Janna frowned at her normally cool friend’s loss of composer. She tried to think of something to say and came up empty. “I know I am not this kind of person, but do you want a hug?”  

Jackie nodded and clung to Janna like her life depended on it while bawling like a baby.  

Marco had walked out of her world and into Star’s, and she could do nothing about it.  

Butterfly Castle  

River was talking with the foolduke, making arrangements for the party he was planning.  

“And I want as much corn ale as we can fit in the pool. And some floaties shaped like ducks. And-“  

A portal appeared in the middle of the throne room, letting Marco walk into the room.  

“Hay River, where’s Star?”  

River turned to Marco and kept his smile on his face. “Marco, my boy! So glad you could come. I was planning a massive party with no end date. Do you want to join us?”  

Marco just shook his head. “No thanks, River, I just want to know what's going on. Star said she had to leave Earth, and possibly forever. Do you know what’s going on?”  

River just looked at Marco with horror on his face for a split second before he started laughing a hollow laugh. “No, nothing’s wrong. She and her mother just took a little trip, and Moon Pie asked me to keep up morale in the kingdom until they get back.”  

Marco was disturbed by this. “Do you know where they went or when they will return?”  

River just laughed. “Moon didn’t mention that. As for when she will be back, let me show you something.”  

He then led Marco to the royal bedroom. “Whenever Moon goes away, she always puts together the outfits for each day she is gone so I know what to wear. But look at this.”  

He then gestured to the closet, which was stacked to the roof the exact same outfit for River, 75 copies at least.  

“So it’s possible she’s not coming back anytime soon, is she, Marco?”  

River than fell to the ground a sobbing mess. Marco looked at him with sorrow before taking a deep breath.  

“Star is my best friend, and I care about her a lot, but that doesn’t mean I am not blind to her faults. Her biggest one is that she has a habit of running from her problems instead of dealing with them.”  

He then sat down next to River and put a hand on her shoulder. His other hand began to fiddle with the spider neckless. “When she didn’t want to talk to her Aunt Felicity or give her a thank you card for a neckless, she just kept hanging up on her mom for a while and then just gave the neckless away. When she didn’t like the idea of song day, she left the songstral alone in my house for the whole day and ignored him.” Then he just signed. “When Song Day happened, she ran away from me and avoided me until 5 minutes ago when she thought she would never see me again.”  

He then turned to River. “I think you are trying to do the same thing. Planning a massive party so you don’t have to think about what is happening. But I will tell you something that Star told a talking dog, ‘You can’t run away from your problems.’”  

River blinked in confusion at Marco. “Do you mean it?”  

“Of course. How about this? We work together to find the girls and keep the kingdom running until they return. And you keep the partying to a minimum, deal?”  

River held out his hand and shook Marco’s. “Deal.”  

River then stood up. “Ok, what should we do first?”  

“First, we get organized.” He then pulled out a pad of paper. “Let's list everything Moon and you do when running the kingdom.”  

River then got a sheepish look on his face. “I’m not actually sure. My job as king is less ‘running the kingdom’ and more ‘making sure that Moon is happy.’ She ran everything else herself and didn’t need my help with that.”  

Marco just blinked. “Ok, what about her advisors or the other government members?”  

River Stood up. “Oh yes, there are a few I can get. Why don’t you go to Moon’s office and look around for something to use while I gather them?”  

River then pointed out the door.  

“It’s the third door on the right. The one labeled “queen’s office.”  

Marco nodded before heading out. River soon followed and went the opposite direction in his search.  

When Marco opened the office door, he found himself in a moderately sized room with walls covered in bookcases. Even the space above the fireplace had some. Directly behind the desk was a window to let in natural light and fresh air. Between the bookshelves were some potted plants that gave the room a pop of color. One book, "The Complete History of the Butterfly Family,” was placed prominently on a pedestal.  

The chair behind the desk was designed with comfort first but was still gilded and arching to convey the importance of the one behind the desk. The desk had two bins labeled “in” and “out.” Both had stacks of paper the size of Ludo in them.  

“Ok, I guess I can go through these documents and see if River can do anything with them.”  

Marco then sat down in the chair and started going through the papers. They appeared to be reports, budgets, and a few requests from nobles' houses and commoners. There was even a list of what foods would be served over the next week by the kitchen, and half of them were corn-based.  

After a few minutes of reading, River returned with about a dozen people in tow.  

“I found them, Marco. The 2 nd through 10 th most sensible and stable people in the kingdom. These folks are responsible for keeping this kingdom in working order. The Mewnisters of Mewni!”  

River then introduced them one at a time while Macro looked them over.  

The nobles included a pink-haired woman in a pink and yellow dress holding a flower-printed fan; a dark aquamarine-haired woman with a hat sprouting four feathers; a bald man with a bright red beard; a nurse with bright pink hair; a man with dark brown hair and a plain khaki suit; a grey-haired man in a squires outfit; a light purple-haired woman with a beret; a dark red-haired women with a bright red ruby on her chest; and a tall green-haired women with a pair of pine tree shaped earrings and neckless.  

Lady Jasmine Flowers, Mewnister of justice. Lady Marine Waterson, Mewnister of the Navy. Lord Falcon Redbird, Mewnister of security. Lord Jordan Fields, Mewnister of agriculture. Lord Percy McKnight, Mewnister of the military. Lady Carice Cross, Mewnister of healthcare. Lady Berenice Firefly, Mewnister of education. Lady Ruby Stone, Mewnister of the treasury. Lady Juniper Forest, Mewnister of boarders.   

“Um, hello, my lords and ladies. I’m Marco Diaz, a friend of Star from Earth.”  

Lady Firefly rolled her eyes. “We know who you are. We were all there for song day.”  

Marco blushed slightly at that but quickly returned to his speech.  

“I'm here because less than ten minutes ago, Star and Moon both disappeared with evidence suggesting they won’t for an indeterminant amount of time. I don’t know why or where they are, but I want the same thing you want. To keep this kingdom running until they can be found.”  

Lord McKnight shook his head. “We can’t do that second part; she ordered us not to look for her. She will come back when she is done with her important mission.”  

Marco graoned at that. “Ok, then, how about we see what we can do to keep the kingdom running until she decides to return? How do you normally run the kingdom?”  

The nobles eyed him with suspicion. Lord Redbird one stepped forward.  

“Just because you are a friend of the princess doesn’t give you the authority to boss us around. You are just a commoner from another dimension.”  

Lady Cross scrunched up her face as she heard that. “Actually, if he and Star are as in love as the song said, then there is a good chance they are engaged, which would make him consort to the crown princess. In emergencies like this, that would give him the authority to boss us around. Such engagements are usually symbolized by exchanging jewelry.”  

The rest of the nobles suddenly noticed Marco was wearing a necklace belonging to their princess.  

“Marco, do people on Earth give each other necklaces as a way of proposing?”  

Marco then found himself paralyzed as the meaning became clear. His face began to turn a bright crissum as he weighed his answer.  

I can apologize to Star later.  

“Yeah, kind of. She left the neckless behind with a note saying she would hear my acceptance or rejection when she returned.”  

The gathered nobles sighed and groaned at the response.  

“Great, we have to listen to a child.”  

“Of course that irresponsible girl would do that.”  

“She always runs when things get hard.”  

Luckily, they all bought it, with even River seeming to nod along and give Marco “shovel talk” vibes.  

Marco did a quick clap to get everyone back on topic.  

“Ok, now can someone tell me how the government is run? Also, I have several questions about these documents in the inbox.”  

The meeting room then had an intense discussion as the nobles explained to River and Marco how things usually went. What the role of the queen usually was, what River would be doing, and how much Marco would take over for him while he focused on keeping morale up.  

It ended up with Marco doing all of it while River kept people happy.  

They then spent the rest of the day reviewing the documents in Moon’s inbox. When the moon rose, the paperwork was all done, and Marco felt comfortable calling the meeting.  

“There we go. Now it’s time for us all to go to  bed and get some sleep before we deal with tomorrow's paperwork.”  

“Not yet.”  

Everyone froze and shot Marco some dirty looks.  

“I know you all want to sleep, but not until after we send some scouts to look for Star and Moon. As the acting monarch until they return, I am overturning Moon’s decision. If she is mad, she can take it up with me when she gets back. Feel free to make up whatever reasons you want to convince her you weren’t to blame for it.”  

If there is one thing that every politician knows how to do, it's CYOA.  

Juniper Forest immediately stood up with a determined look on her face.  

“I’ll have my rangers search the borders for signs of her leaving. Lord Redbird, can I trust your mento search the kingdom's interior?”  

The red-bearded man nodded. Marco sighed in relief.  

“Great. Now, let's all go to bed and see what happens in the morning.”  

With that, everyone went to their rooms, with one exception.  

Marco found himself standing in front of one of the guest rooms with River.  

“We can find more permanent arrangements later. For now, you can sleep here. Goodnight, my boy, and I’ll give you “the talk” tomorrow when I’m not so tired.”  

With that, the king left Marco alone with his thoughts.  

He looked at the cold, empty guest room before turning and walking down the hall. He didn’t know how he found it, but he ended up in Star's room and fell atop her bed.  

“Goodnight Star.”  

This is far from a new idea, but I haven’t seen many stories about Marco trying to help River run the kingdom while Star and Moon were hiding before Ludo and his army invaded. It never made sense why Marco didn’t immediately use his magic scissors to try and find Star, even if he only went to River.  

Marco and Star being fake engaged was just something I added in to explain why the nobles would listen to a random kid. Even if he is Star’s boyfriend and has the king's ear, he is still a commoner from another dimension.  

As for the nobles, I took them from the disgraced SVTFOE artist JGSS0109. There are plenty of things online about why he is persona-non-grata, but if there is one thing being a fan of Greek Mythology has taught me, it is how to take the good bits from a messed up source material and fiddle with them to make them more palatable.  

It could be fun if you're willing to work in worldbuilding and researching what the government of a medieval society like Mewni might look like, especially one that appears to be entirely reliant on doing whatever the queen tells them to do. As for Ludo’s invasion, maybe a kingdom that hasn’t been partied to destruction by River would fare better.  

And when Star and Marco are reunited, the two will have to deal with Marco pretending to be engaged to her and how they should handle it.

Chapter Text

2. Grandma Eclipsa

“I call the darkness unto me, from deepest depth of earth and sea. From ancient evils unawoken, break the one that can’t be broken. To blackest night, I pledge my soul and crush my heart to burning coal. To summon forth a deathly power, to see my hated foe devoured.”  

Moon stood in the middle of the monster camp, aiming her wand at the one who slew her mother. As the wand hummed with energy, a purple vortex formed above her. Lightning sparked out from the wand’s bell even as it turned a purple so dark it could be mistaken for black. She could feel the dark magic creeping up her arm, staining her with its power.  

While the magic rages around her, a similar debate was raging within the young queen.  

“If I kill Toffee, Eclipsa will be free to wreck the kingdom in revenge for being crystalized.”  

“If I don’t kill Toffee, he will wreck the kingdom and kill me like he killed my mom.”  

“I can permanently scar him to show that I could kill him; that should scare off the armies enough to remove the threat.”  

“Toffee was able to become a general and seize the monster army from the monster king! He is too charismatic and smart to be allowed to live.”  

“The same is true of Eclipsa, even without her wand. We can do nothing to stop her if she wants the throne.”  

In one timeline, this is where the mental battle stops, leading Moon to only remove Toffee’s finger. This led to a chain of events that almost ended with the death of magic and Moon’s daughter.  

But in this timeline, Rasticore had stolen a pair of interdimensional scissors and had them tucked in his belt where Moon’s eyes could catch out of the corner of her eye. This gave her an idea the queen latched onto like a drowning woman.  

With a silent prayer to her mother and the queens of the past, Moon let the wand strike out at Toffee’s heart. A beam formed of butterflies and the night struck out pierced his light armor. Toffee staggered back from the impact but still gave Moon his smug grim.  

“Have you learned nothing?”  

As he took a single step forward, he hunched over in pain as he gripped his chest.  

“What? What did you do?”  

Moon kept an impassive look as the monster’s skin slowly turned midnight black. The coloration slowly crept out from under his armor as Toffee gasped and writhed in pain.  

As the lizard lay seizing on the ground and his entire body turned black, Toffee gasped out one last threat.  

“I’ll return, Moon. When I do, you and everyone you love will pay!”  

With a final gasp, he disappeared, not in a flash of light, but by simply fading out of existence.  

The army momentarily stood speechless as they looked where their invincible leader once stood.  

“He’s not growing back!”  

At that panicked scream, the army dropped their weapons and ran screaming into the woods as fast as possible. Before she knew it, Moon was alone in an empty camp. As she processed what she had done, she heard hooves thumping on the grass.  

“Queen Moon! You did it!”  

Moon turned to see an overjoyed River rushing toward her. The sight brought a genuine smile to her face.  

 
“Oh, my gosh, River! Thank you!” 

As the two embraced, she saw the MHC approaching her. Glossaryck was floating at the front. Moon sighed as she broke the hug with her best friend and pulled out a piece of paper. She hastily unscrewed the bottom portion to make it a pen before turning to River again.  

“Can you turn around? I need to write something important down.”  

River nodded before doing just that. As Moon began writing her letter, the MHC finally got close enough to speak.  

“What… did you just do?”  

Moon gave Rhombulus a sideway glance as she wrote her letter.  

“I did my job! And as your queen, I will continue to do my job of protecting this kingdom! I will hunt down the remains of the monster army and scatter them without country or leadership! Now, are there any questions?”  

The MHC and royal court of Mewni stared at the regal queen where a timid princess once stood.  

“Good. Glossaryck? I have an important task for you. I need you to follow these instructions to the letter. Understand?”  

Glossaryck took the paper, read it, and then nodded.  

“Sure thing, your majesty.”  

Between one blink and the next, he and the paper were gone. Moon then walked to her castle between the court and MHC bowing to her.  

-Eclipsa’s cell-  

Eclipsa took a few wobbly steps on the ground in front of the shattered crystal she emerged from. She had to lean against a nearby crystal to keep herself upright, but the pain hurt so good. After 300 years of feeling nothing while being inside a magic crystal, feeling anything was better.  

“It is done. I am free.”  

After taking another breath, she tried walking without the support of her former prison in the direction of the vending machine. It’s chocolatey goodness within beckoning her.  

“Come to Eclipsa, my treats!”  

When she got to the dispenser of chocolaty goodness, she found that fate had once again decided to make her miserable.  

“No money! NO! Why must you do this!”  

As she pounded on the glass with both hands, a small sack filled with coins being carried by a familiar blue figure floated over.  

“Here you go, Eclipsa.”  

Quick as a wink, Eclipsa grabbed the bag from him and plugged several coins into the machine. As the candy popped out, she ripped the wrapper off and took a large bite.  

She closed her eyes as she slowly chewed the candy, savoring the chocolate and caramel, enjoying how the nuts offered resistance to her teeth, enjoying how it felt as it was swallowed down her throat.  

After five minutes of enjoying the first bar, she realized who had given her the money.  

“Hello Glossaryck. Thank you for the money. I assume Moon successfully used the spell?”  

As Eclipsa bought another bar, Glossaryck nodded.  

“Yep, and she sent me to convey her thanks and offer you a deal.”  

Eclipsa held off answering until she had finished her second bar, deciding to hold off on the third one until she finished this conversation with Glossaryck.  

“What sort of deal?”  

“Moon’s worried about the threat you pose to her rule. Whether you want the crown or not, you still have the legal, biological, and magical right to seize the throne.”  

Eclipsa rolled her eyes, already buying another candy.  

“I don’t want the throne. All I want to know is where my daughter and husband are.”  

Glossaryck just stared at her impassively. “It doesn't matter what you want. As long as you are in Mewni, people will worry about what you might do to the throne. The MHC, the Butterfly family, the nobles, the bodyguards, even Moon herself will always be looking over their shoulders at you and ready to kill or crystalize you at the first sign of you trying to either claim it or burn it down.”  

He then smiled at her. “This is where the queen and I’s deal comes in.”  

He then snapped his fingers, making a portal appear before the two.  

“This portal through time and space will take you to a dimension I have personally hand-picked and one that no one besides me can access right now. No one will persecute you for your past ‘crimes,’ no one will think less of you for liking monsters, no one from Mewni will be able to find you, and you will find happiness.”  

Eclipsa looked at the portal with suspicion. “What’s the catch?”  

He shrugged. “It’s a one-way trip. If you go in, you won’t return to Mewni for decades, if ever.”  

Eclipsa bit her lip as she looked at the portal.  

“So Moon’s thanking me for my help by banishing me?”  

He shrugged. “The other option is for you to go with your original plan of walking into a castle filled with people who all fear and hate you.”  

As painful as it was to admit, Glossaryck did have a point.  

“Fine, I guess I don’t really have other options.”  

She stepped towards the portal, turning to Glossaryck one last time before she did so.  

“Can you promise me that I’ll find out what happened to Meteora and Globgor?”  

Glossaryck gave the former queen one of his rare, honest smiles.  

“It will be a long time, but you will find your family again. And a few more to boot.”  

Eclipsa returned the smile, took a deep breath, and walked through the portal.  

As the multicolored portal disappeared behind her, she found herself in a hallway with two large bags with her name on them. The left one had clothes, toiletries, and some books on where she found herself. The other was filled with the local currency and several official-looking documents.  

“All right, Eclipsa, you built up your life from scratch before; it's time to do it again.”  

She then stepped forward into the busy streets of Cleaveland, Ohio.  

In the Realm of Magic  

Toffee found himself floating in a sea of gold. The liquid burned him, consumed him, threatened to wash away everything that made him Toffee.  

But Toffee wouldn’t be so easily destroyed by Butterfly trickery. Every square inch that was destroyed was regrown. It was slow going, but he would regain his full form one day.  

He had studied the Butterfly wand for centuries and learned of this place through it. The magic dimension. The source of power for the wand, the Magical High Commission, and everything being used to keep monsters down.  

How fullish the queen was for casting him to where he could do the most damage to her. He didn’t know how, he didn’t know when, but one day, he would destroy this place and return to enact his revenge on the Butteflys.  

Toffee the Immortal was patient.  

Star  

“And then, Ludo licked his fingers to put out the candle. The second the flame touched the oil on him, he was coated in fire and screaming for his life! He ran two full laps around the castle before jumping into the moat. He pulled himself out, yelled that he would be back, and walked back into the forest.”  

Marco chuckled at that as he and his new friend returned to his home.  

“Wow, he isn’t that much of a threat, is he?”  

Star shrugged. “Not really. That’s why he’s still messing with us and isn’t in the dungeon or dead. The only thing he has going for him is his minions, most of whom are idiots. He’s not harmless, but he’s not a threat.”  

Her expression then dropped a little. “I also don’t want Mom to use this as an excuse to withdraw me from this dimension and send me to St. Olgas.”  

“AAAAHHHHH!”  

Marco immediately got into his battle position as Star screamed, confused when he realized there wasn’t anything threatening around.  

“Sorry, I just REALLY don’t want to go there.”  

Marco’s guard dropped as the two walked up to his porch. “Okay, then, let's just not talk about it anymore.”  

Marco then opened the door and called out.  

“Mom! Dad! I’m home!”  

An unfamiliar voice Star didn’t recognize called back to him.  

“Welcome back, Marco.”  

Marco stopped, a large grin appearing on his face.  

“Grandma Aurora!”  

He immediately rushed to the sound of the voice and wrapped her in a hug. While he was doing that, Star examined the new figure.  

She was about Star’s height, and her gray hair had streaks of green in it. She was wearing a torn leather jacket and torn blue jeans with a black T-shirt. At first, it looked like she was wearing gloves, but then Star realized the hands themselves were black, with her arms turning purple the further up you went.  

When she let go of Marco and turned to Star, her mauve eyes full of mischief lit up at her. As was the image of a four-eyed, screaming purple face. Under it was the word “Globgor! 2000 tour.”  

“Well, hello there. You must be the newest exchange student.” She then held out her hand to Star. “I’m Marco’s grandma, Aurora.”  

Star smiled and shook her hand.  

“Nice to meet you. I’m Star Butterfly, and I’m a magical princess from another dimension.”  

Aurora’s eyes widened momentarily in surprise before her passive smile returned.  

“Well, this is unexpected. If I knew royalty would be in the house, I would have dressed up more.”  

Star laughed at that. “Don’t worry, I’m not formal. Wear whatever you want.”  

Aurora nodded as she let go of Star’s hand. “I’ll remember that. But what about your mother? Should I dress up for her? Call her certain titles?”  

Star rolled her eyes. “If everything goes well, mom won’t show up here. But if she does, just dress normally and call her Queen Moon. You're not her subject, so you get some leeway.”  

Marco then decided to ask a question he had been wondering.  

“So, how long are you staying here, Grandma?”  

Aurora gave her grandson a mischievous smile. “Well, I planned on staying for only a week while the convention was in town. But if your hosting a princess, then I think I should take up my daughter’s offer of moving in.”  

Marco’s face immediately lit up as he wrapped his grandma in a large hug.  

“YES! This is great. We’re going to have so much fun together.”  

Aurora then gave Star a sly smile.  

“And maybe we can convince you to finally talk to that girl you’ve been crushing on for the last ten years.  

“GRANDMA!”  

Aurora  

As Aurora closed the door behind her, her shoulders dropped and her face shifted to a worried expression. Automatically, she reached for a whip and removed the make-up from her face, revealing the cheek-marks there.    

“After all these years, Mewni has returned.”  

She didn’t know what to do, but she knew three things.  

First, she couldn’t let Star or her mom find out who she was. She didn’t know how Moon’s opinion of her had changed over the years.  

Second, if Star was here with the wand, then Glossaryck was here as well. She was going to grill that little blue man for everything she could.  

Third, this was the last chance she was going to have to find out what happened to her daughter.  

Here’s a good place to stop. It’s a simple idea: Eclipsa gets banished to Earth after helping Moon so she can live in peace and Mewni can sleep easily. She ends up being Marco’s grandma and spending the princesses' visit staying with the Diazs as well. If you're wondering how the timeline works, Glossaryck ensured the portal went through time and space so this could happen.  

As for Toffee, ‘the spell with no name’ works by sealing the targeted thing inside the wand, or in this case sending them to the magic dimension. Either way, they are slowly destroyed over time unless they have a massive amount of will and something to either resist or repair the damage. Toffee has both and eventually corrupts magic like he did in season 2. It just took him a while to figure out how to do it after being sent there against his will instead of intentionally, as in season 1.  

When Aurora being Eclipsa comes out after Toffee is defeated and Star and Marco decide to start dating, we get a lot of fun plot points.  

Star and Marco are freaking out about having romantic feelings towards family members (even if they're separated by 300 years), Moon being angry that Eclipsa’s spell didn’t work, the MHC freaking out that Eclipsa had unrestrained access to Star for half a year, Marco being seen as a pawn in his grandmother’s plot to take revenge on the kingdom, and Star and Marco reconciling their beloved Grandmother Aurora with the stories of Eclipsa.  

When the trial happens, Moon is willing to pardon her as soon as she confirms that Eclipsa fully thought the spell would have killed Toffee and let her return to Earth with no strings attached. When the truth of Eclipsa’s past and the fate of Meteora are revealed, Angie comes along with her mom to try and reason with the sister she never knew she had.  

Meteora sees this as Eclipsa replacing her old family with a new one and vows to destroy the Diazs after she destroys Mewni. Moon tries to give Eclipsa time to get herself and Angie back to the castle, but she is injured and has to return to the magic dimension, as in Cannon.  

From this point, the rest of the story goes on like normal, with the only change being Eclipsa tending to her daughter in her rose garden room instead of being under arrest.  

When Eclipsa saves Star, she and Angie return to Earth to raise Meteora and Mariposa together, leaving the kingdom in the hands of Star and Marco, Will and Mary style.  

With the two ruling together, they try to put the kingdom back together while dealing with the systemic racism, suspicion with their ties to Eclipsa, Mina’s interference, and handle their relationship when the entire kingdom sees them as already married even if they haven’t done the ceremony or even know if they want to.  

Lots of fun places you can take this, including having Eclipsa considering adopting Janna as another grandkid.   

Chapter Text

3. Cool-Ex

Jackie stood in the woods, sighing as she waited for Star to show up. Why the princess asked to meet her here at Isolation Point was a mystery to the blond skater, but she was hoping this would be a start to a friendlier relationship.   

Star was friendly with everyone in school, even Britney. The only exception was her.  

She thought she knew why though. She was living with her ex-boyfriend Marco.  

The two broke up a week before Star showed up, so maybe some resentment had rubbed off on the princess from another dimension. Marco was good at putting up a brave face and not letting the breakup seem to bother him, but she knew him well enough to see through it.  

Star might seem goofy, but she was good at telling when someone was happy. Add in living with him, and Star would definitely be able to pick up on his hurt feelings no matter how well he tried to hide them.  

“Jackie.”  

Jackie turned around with a start, relaxing when she saw it was Star.  

“Whoa, warn a girl, Star. You startled me.”  

Jackie then realized Star’s stern expression, which is not something she usually sees on the peppy blond.  

“Um, are you ok?”  

Star scoffed at that.  

“Oh, so NOW you care about other people’s feelings? Why didn’t you care about that back when you broke Marco’s heart?”  

Jackie sucked in a breath at that and took a cautious step back.  

“What? Star, it wasn’t like that. Marco and I just weren’t compatible, and it was an amicable breakup.”  

Star narrowed her eyes at her. “So you weren’t the one to break things off with him?”  

“Un, no I did. But that was-“  

“So, how weren’t you compatible?”  

Jackie began to panic as the princes took a few steps closer with a rage-filled expression.  

“We… um… just weren’t. Sometimes people seem like they would make a good couple, but they go on a few dates and realize they aren’t.”  

Star’s expression didn’t change as she closed on the blond. “You didn’t go out on a few dates; you had been dating for months. I saw the photo album.”  

Jackie swallowed at that. “Um, anyway I can just say ‘it’s personal’ and leave it at that?”  

Star began beating her wand against her open palm. “No. You broke my best friend's heart, and I’m not going anywhere until I get a good reason why.”  

Jackie nervously eyed the wand as it continued to slam into her palm.  

“Um… bye!”  

She immediately turned around and tried to make a break for it.  

“Get back here!”  

Jackie ran as fast as she could through the woods, angry Star Butterfly behind her, firing spell after spell at the fleeing skater.  

She was forced to dodge, weave, jump, and duck around razer sharp harts, glowing worms, and narwhals flying at her. The spells felled multiple trees, and she felt her heart leap into her throat when she saw a large bolder explode from one such hit.  

“Are you trying to kill me?”  

“This is what you deserve for hurting my best friend!”  

Jackie would have been so happy that Marco had a friend willing to do this for him if said friend wasn't trying to kill her at the moment.  

She eventually made her way to and across a rope bridge. Looking back at the deranged blond on the other side, Jackie took out a pocketknife Marco had given her for their three-month anniversary.  

With a quick flip of her wrist, the blade extended—the sharp steel sliced through the rope easily, sending the bridge tumbling into the canyon.  

Jackie sighed in relief as she sat on the ground and pulled out her phone.  

“Please pick up Marco. I really need backup if I want to keep your new friend from killing me.”  

“Glitter Dragon Escalation!”  

Jackie then felt a large shadow covering her, making her look up to the terrifying sight of Star standing on the back of a giant dragon made from the bridge she had just cut down.  

“AAAAAA!”  

Jackie turned and ran again, not even realizing her phone was ringing.  

“Hi, Jackie. What’s up?”  

Jackie didn’t realize Marco had picked up due to her fear, which turned to terror as the dragon's head slammed into the ground behind her in a large explosion that sent her flying forward.  

Jackie groaned as she turned herself over. Paling as she saw the terrifying visage of an angry Star walking towards her. Her eyes darted to the pocket knife she was still holding.  

The pocket knife with the words “To Jackie, from your boyfriend Marco” planly written on it.  

“So that’s it, isn’t it? You only dated him to get gifts from him, and when he wasn't of any further use, you kicked him to the curb.”  

Jackie shook her head at the other blond. “No, that’s not it.”  

“Well, what am I supposed to think? I asked around and no one knows why you two broke up. Even Marco won’t talk about it. All the pictures I’m getting paint you two as happily dating one day and breaking up with no in-between!”  

BOOM  

“Star! Stop that!”  

Marco’s pleas were unheard over the spell blasts fired around Jackie.  

“Marco is the kindest, most considerate person I know. What possible reason could you have for breaking his heart?”  

Jackie began to panic. “It wasn’t him, it was me.”  

Star scoffed at that. “Really? Then what was wrong with you to make you dump him?”  

“Leave this alone, Star.”  

The two girls were so engrossed in each other that they couldn’t hear a word Marco was saying.  

“It’s personal.”  

“PERSONAL! You broke up almost two months ago, and he is STILL crying himself to sleep.”  

“What?”  

BOOM  

Another spell fired to the left of Jackie’s head.  

“Yesterday, we were looking at his photo album, and he cried while looking at the pictures. Not a little cry, it devolved into full-on balling!”  

“He did?”  

BOOM  

“Star Butterfly!”  

Star continued to march forward with purpose.  

“He still spent all day yesterday agonizing about getting you the perfect birthday gift! He was crying the whole time!”  

“He didn’t-“  

BOOM  

“He thought the world of you! He is a great guy that deserves the best!”  

“He does, but-“  

Star was now tearing up in a typhoon of conflicting emotions aimed at the skater girl.  

“Why did you do it?! Why did you break his heart and stomp on the pieces!”  

“I- I-“  

BOOM  

One last spell fired so close Jackie could feel her hair scorch from the blast. She felt herself falling apart from the stress of everything.  

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?”  

“I FIGURED OUT I WAS GAY!”  

…  

It seemed like the entire world froze at that. Star stopped, Jackie stopped, and Marco stopped. They all stayed where they were in the woods, processing what she had just said.  

“What?”  

Jackie wanted to stop, but the words couldn’t be halted any more than the tears from her eyes.  

“I don’t like guys that way. I enjoyed spending time with Marco, but not in the way he liked me. I know I broke his heart, but dating him wasn’t healthy for me.”  

Star found her wand pointed at the ground as she tried to process what she was hearing.  

“But, why all the secrecy behind why you broke up?”  

Jackie began to sob as she answered. “Because I’m not ready for people to know yet. Marco is the only one who knows, and I asked him to keep it a secret.”  

Jackie climbed to her feet, tears still running down her face.  

“Congratulations, Star! You finally figured out what’s wrong with me. Are you happy now?”  

Star could only look at her, trying to think of what to say now.  

“There isn’t anything wrong with you.”  

Jackie’s scoff mixed with her sobbing.  

“Then why did I break the heart of the best guy in town?”  

She then turned around and started to run.  

“Just leave me alone!”  

Star did nothing as Jackie ran. She just stared at her as she disappeared into the trees.  

“Come home, Star.”  

“MARCO?”  

Star started looking around for the source of Marco’s voice, finally landing on the phone on the ground.  

“How long-“  

“Jackie called me a little before you accused her of dating me for gifts. I tried to intervene, but neither of you heard me.”  

“Oh my gosh, Marco, I’m-“  

“DON’T! We can talk later. For now, please bring the phone to me at the school so I can give it to Jackie when I talk to her later.  

“But-“  

“Anything you do now will just make things worse. You are going to come to the school so we can have a short talk so I can get all the facts before I talk to Jackie. Got it?”  

She had heard that tone from her mother often enough to know to obey it without question.  

“All right, see you in a bit.  

Jackie  

Jackie loved the sunset. The beautiful colors, the slight chill in the air, the ocean as it reflected the light and how the waves looked. Even better, it was the promise of moving to the next part of her life.  

Despite how much she loved them, she was having trouble enjoying it right now.  

Her clothes were torn and muddy from running through the woods. Her face was stained with snot and tears. She lost a shoe somewhere. Her guilt over breaking up with Marco was at the forefront of her mind.  

The cherry on top of it all?  

Star knew she was gay.  

Her biggest secret lay bare to someone who had every reason to hate her. What was worse was that she was from a medieval society! She didn’t know any examples of what was done to gay people back then, but she thought it was pretty bad.  

As much as she wanted this messed up day to end, she was equally terrified of what the next day would bring.  

“Jackie?”  

She looked up when she heard the voice.  

“Marco?”  

Sure enough, Marco was standing next to the boardwalk bench. He had her phone in his hand and looked at her worriedly.  

“Can I sit and talk with you, or do you want me to leave?”  

Jackie sighed. “I doubt there’s anything you can say that can make this day get any worse.”  

Marco grimaced at that. “Yeah, I know. Your call connected a little before Star asked if you were dating me for my money.”  

Jackie groaned and buried her head in her hands.  

“And now I’m at rock bottom. Any chance you can help me put on cement shoes?”  

Marco chuckled as he sat down and handed over her phone. The two then sat silently together on the bench, watching the sunset.  

“I talked to Star about what happened. She said that she was sorry and that she was just projecting her own bad breakup onto us. I also got her to agree to leave you alone until you’re ready for her to apologize and make it up to you in person.”  

Jackie didn’t respond; she just kept looking at the sunset.  

“She also to tell you that she was bi.”  

“What?”  

Jackie turned to look at Marco in shock.  

“Wait? When she said Bi, did she mean Bisexual or some Mewni thing?”  

“Bisexual. She even mentioned having a rebound crush on Janna.”  

Jackie chuckled at that. “Wow, Janna would be all over that. I can totally see those two getting along.”  

“Yeah, and maybe if they got together, Janna would stop messing with me so much.”  

“Fat chance, she likes messing with you too much for that.”  

The two then returned to a comfortable silence for a minute until Jackie broke it once more.  

“I’m sorry I broke your heart, Marco. Don’t tell me you didn’t; anyone who knows you can see it. I didn’t know how badly until Star laid out all the ways you were hurting.”  

Marco continued to stare at the sunset as he pondered how to answer her.  

“No one likes going to the dentist.”  

Jackie raised an eyebrow at the non-secular but decided to let him continue.  

“It’s important to go regularly; it’s important for your health and well-being, and not doing it just means more problems in the long run. But none of that makes the experience any less painful in the short term.  

“The same is true for our break up. We couldn’t keep dating because my feelings would get hurt as we broke up. It’s like you said, it wasn’t healthy for you.”  

Jackie gave Marco a small smile. “Thanks, Marco, but I can still feel crummy for making you feel sad all the same. You’re a great guy, and you didn’t deserve to fall in love with someone who didn’t love you the same way.”  

Marco then gently placed his hand on Jackie’s.  

“I don’t regret the time we spent together. Those were the happiest six months of my life so far, and I will treasure them always. I won’t lie that it makes me sad to think about now, but I’m not going to let the pain of the past stop me from trying to live my life to the fullest today. And neither should you.  

“If you want, I can get Star to use her scissors to bring you to a gay bar in another dimension where you can practice picking up girls where no one in town will know. Star might be willing to be your wingman. If you're uncomfortable with her, I can borrow them and be your wingman.”  

Jackie was torn between amused and mortified at the idea of her ex helping her pick up girls.  

“Thanks, Marco. It’s nice to know I’ll always have you as a good friend, no matter what.”  

“Same here, Jackie.”  

Once again, the two looked at the sunset together, but not together.  

It was fitting; it felt like they had finally closed one chapter of their lives, but another had just opened.  

Chapter Text

Eclipsa stood before the Magical High Commission under the light of the Box of Truth. Star sat behind them while Moon stood above them in her box.  

This was it. Now, she would finally find out what had happened to her daughter. Why did every book mention someone she had never seen called Festivia as her daughter? Why did the Magical High Commission always look at her like something nasty they stepped in?  

“What did you do with my daughter?’  

Eclipsa fought to keep her face as the box turned to illuminate the MHC… who were now all smirking like she had stepped in a bear trap.  

“Oh, I was hoping that would be what you did.”  

“This is going to be great.”  

“Time for you to pay for what you did, Eclipsa.”  

“Enough! Answer the question, please. I wasn't there three hundred years ago, so you must answer it.”  

As Moon brought order, Omni turned to the box.  

“Can I ask her a clarifying question before we begin?”  

Go ahead, but I will withdraw that right if it isn’t relevant.  

With a nod, the oldest member turned to face the ex-queen.  

“Which daughter? Meteora or Festivia?”  

Eclipsa rolled her eyes at the question. “Meteora, of course. I don’t even know who Festivia is.”  

Omni narrowed his eyes at her while Heckapoo held her scissors threateningly, and Rhombulus’s snake hands hissed at her.  

“We did nothing to Meteora. Festivia dealt with her sister herself.”  

True.  

“What! Festivia wasn’t her sister! How could she? I only had one daughter.”  

Are you sure about that?  

The box began to glow menacingly, and the wall began to close.  

“Hold up, Box; it’s possible she really doesn’t remember. That wouldn’t be lying. We can help jog her memory if that’s allowed.”  

The box pondered a moment before answering.  

Fine, but you will still be required to tell the truth during this.  

Omni nodded, as did his two siblings.  

“Ok then. It started over 300 years ago on Eclipsa’s wedding day.”  

The box projected a holographic image of a young Eclipsa in a wedding dress, looking incredibly unhappy as she stood next to a plump young man in a powdered wig and green teeth.  

“I think you remember this? Your mother put you marrying Shastacan in her will to show solidarity with a fellow Mewman kingdom.”  

Eclipsa scowled at the image.  

“He smelled of moldy old coin purses, chewed algie, had nothing going on in his mind, was way too fat, had corn-colored toe-nails, and only cared for the wealth and power of marrying me. The only good thing was that he was ok with the two of us sleeping in separate rooms and only seeing each other when there was no other option.”  

Omni nodded at that. “Yeah, we can all agree that he was far from a catch. But you do remember that he was the ONLY one in the castle at the time who wasn't putting pressure on you to have a kid with him to secure the family line?”  

Eclipsa nodded. “That was most disheartening. It was a full month of non-stop bugging before I got them to leave me alone. I did it by… Um?”  

She blinked as she scratched her chin. “I remember casting a spell to make them leave me alone, but I can’t remember the details. I think it was a spur-of-the-moment thing.”  

Rhombulus stood up. “I was there, so how about I take over?”  

Go ahead.  

With that, the rock-head spoke.  

“I was there to work with the army to smash down the monsters in response for their killing your mother. We were in the meeting room, and you looked terrible. Like you hadn’t slept at all.”  

The hologram turned into one of a disheveled Eclipsa standing at the head of a table, yawning into her hand. A board-looking Shastacan sat on a throne to her side, drinking from a goblet large enough to fit an entire roast chicken. Rhombulous sat to her left, brushing the fangs on his snake hands. A dozen mewman nobles and knights crowded the large table before them.  

“Only a quarter of the meeting was about attacking the monsters. A quarter was the nobles saying how disgusting the monsters were, while a half was them needing Eclipsa on having a kid.”  

The hologram changed to show Eclipsa’s face beginning to twitch as the nobles kept talking, half of them at her and the other half ignoring her. Shastacan finished his goblet and placed it between the two monarchs on the table.  

“Eventually, you lost your cool.”  

The holographic Eclipsa slammed her fist on the table as she leaped to her feet.  

“ENOUGH! You want a heir? Here!”  

She flipped around her wand to prick her finger on the tip before grabbing Shastacan’s and pricking his.  

“Ouchy!”  

Ignoring his cries of pain, she tapped the wand to put both drops of blood in the goblet. She then took a step back and pointed her wand at it.  

“Blood of mother and father, bind together to make a daughter.”  

A blast of energy shot forth, coating the top of the goblet with a purple webbing.  

The entire table stared at the goblet in silence, waiting for anything to happen.  

“So, is the cup supposed to be the new princess? Because-“  

“WAAAH!”  

As the sounds of a baby crying emerged from the cup, the webbing disappeared, and a tiny hand shot up.  

“There, happy? Now can someone bring the kid to the nursery so we can get back to business?”  

Rhombulus looked at this event in shock.  

“But Queen Eclipsa? That is your daughter. Don’t you want to take some time to bond with her? Play with her? Name her?”  

Eclipsa rolled her eyes before shoving the crying goblet into his hands.  

“Thank you for volunteering, Rhombulus. There’s a nursery in the east hall on the 5 th floor. Take her there.”  

Rhobulus grabbed the goblet and stood up before realizing what was said.  

“But the royal bedrooms are on the west hall on the 12 th floor. How are you going to hear her cries?”  

Eclipsa didn’t respond; she just pointed to the door.  

“Get that screaming thing out of here!”  

With a wave of her wand, Rhombulus and the goblet floated out of the room, and the door closed behind them. As soon as they had left, another servant with a large mug of a steaming brown liquid entered.  

“Your coffee-“  

“GIVEME!GIVEME!GIVEME!”  

On one side of the hologram, Eclipsa downed the coffee in one go. On the other hand, Rhombulus gently removed the baby from the goblet from which she was born and cradled her gently in his arms.  

“Um, there there?”  

The baby’s crying stopped, and the courtroom got its first real look at the kid. She had fair cream skin, blueish-purple hair, and grape-colored four-pointed star-shaped marks on her cheeks. The most striking thing about her was her blue eyes staring at Rhombulus. Her crying quieted a little as she rested in his arms.  

“Ok, this was not how I expected this day to go. Um, hello there? I’m Rhombulus.”  

The baby’s crying then picked up in volume.  

“Whoa, can you stop crying? Do you want to be rocked? Burped? Fed? What do babies eat?”  

As he panicked, several thumps were heard from the door behind him.  

“Keep it down! We’re trying to have a meeting.”  

Rhombulus looked back before adjusting the baby to be held with one arm as he pulled out his scissors with the other.  

“Ok, time to consult my siblings.”  

The hologram ended as he opened the portal, leaving the real MHC glaring daggers at Eclipsa, Moon and Star looking at Eclipsa with expressions of shock and horror, and Eclipsa looking mortified.  

“I-I forgot that. I forgot about making a child. How could I forget doing that?”  

She then paled. “What happened to Festivia? Why don’t I remember being a mother to her?”  

You already asked your one question.  

“Let her ask, she deserves this.”  

The Box nodded at Heckapoo’s request.  

“Well, the simple reason why you can’t remember making her is that you were too tired and hadn’t gotten your coffee yet. As for why you don’t remember being a mother to her. Well, watch.”  

The hologram shifted to one of Heckapoo, Omni, Lekmet, Rhombulus, and a giraffe man in a toga. Heckapoo looked at the baby being fed from a bottle in Lekmet’s arms.  

“So Eclipsa made a baby and told you to put her at the opposite end of the castle from her?”  

Rhombulus nodded. “I can get not wanting the whole royal family in one place to avoid them all being taken out at once, but this didn’t seem like that.”  

Lekmet bleated, which helpfully had subtitles in the hologram.  

“Give her a chance. Put the baby in the nursery, alert the staff, and remind Eclipsa about it later when she has had time to realize what she did.”  

Omni nodded. “Yeah, she just had a bad day. Give her some time, and she’ll show that she can be a good parent.”  

With that, the hologram shifted to Rhombulus and Heckapoo appearing in a nursery and talking to a head maid. After confirming that she would be cared for, the two went to Eclipsa at a lunch table.  

“Your majesty? We have dropped your daughter at the nursery as you requested.”  

Eclipsa didn’t stop cutting her steak as she responded. “My what?”  

All the Butterflies watching the hologram flinched at that, with the real MHC shooting daggers at both the holographic and real Eclipsa. The holo-MHC just glanced at each other before turning back to her.  

“Your daughter? The one you made during the meeting?”  

Eclipsa didn’t stop eating while she shrugged.  

“Look, whatever decisions I made during the meeting are final. Constantly pestering me about them during my dinner isn’t going to change my mind. I am still against the war with the monsters, I am not joining the front lines, I am not making more Solarian Warriors, and I am not going to have kids with Shastacan.”  

As she finished her dinner, she waved a servant over.  

“Now leave me alone; it's dessert time.”  

The two members of the MHC just looked at her back as she took off the lid and began enjoying the candy bars underneath. As she finished the first, the two made a portal and disappeared.  

Star was heartbroken by this display and turned to Eclipsa in desperation.  

“Why did you brush them off?”  

Eclipsa was as horrified as Star as she stared at the hologram.  

“People were always trying to corner me outside of meetings and convince me to change my stance on those policies or decisions. I just grew into the habit of tuning them out and telling them to bring it up in meetings.” She then grew to look shameful and deflated. “And even during the meetings, I would only try to convince people to stop the war with the monsters, stop seeing monsters as lesser, and try to convince the people to do things without my involvement.”  

Heckapoo nodded. “Yep, you had a bad habit of labeling everyone in your kingdom and your allied kingdom as against you, so you never listened to any of them. Even when they spent a month trying to get you to acknowledge your daughter.”  

Moon was shell-shocked at that.  

“A MONTH?”  

Star hadn’t realized she had jumped from her chair until she was next to Heckapoo.  

“But what about Shastacan?”  

The hologram changed to one of the puggy man sitting at the head of a table laden with food and shoving an impressively large quantity into his mouth with lightning speed. The giraffe man and Lekmet stood next to him.  

“Shastacan-“  

“It’s Your Majesty or King Shastacan.”  

Lekmet rolled his eyes and bleated at the giraffe.  

“Your majesty, we just wanted to tell you that your daughter has been moved to the nursery prescribed by your wife, the queen. She hasn’t visited yet, and we were wondering if you wanted to.”  

The Giraffe got a disgusted look as he saw the king shove an entire turkey leg into his mouth to remove all the meat. When he was done, he said one word.  

“No.”  

“BAAA!”  

Shastacan reached forward to pick up a sausage, cutting it up as he answered what he thought Lekmet said.  

“It’s not my responsibility to look after the brat. That’s what servants are for. Why would I want to be around that crying, snot-covered, smelly thing? It can’t even go to the bathroom on its own!”  

“But-“  

Shastacan turned and shot the giraffe man a look.  

“Raynaldo the Bald Patch, let me make this perfectly clear; the only reason I am here is to promote some idea of ‘mewman unity’ in the face of a monster war. The only thing that baby does for me is take away an excuse I could have used down the line to make one with the queen once the pressure had built up on her enough. If the kid died today, I wouldn’t shed a tear.  

“Now, get out of my dining room.”  

The now-named Raynaldo and Lekmet just glared daggers at him for a few seconds before turning and walking away.  

“As you can see, there was no help on that side.”  

Omni nodded. “Yes. We didn’t give up, though. We decided to try to work on convincing them to step up and be the parents they should be. Until then, we all soldered the title together.”  

It then switched to showing dozens of images of the MHC members trying to talk to Eclipsa and Shastacan while being shut down and ignored every time.  

Omni telekinetically floated her into the air and rocking her, to her great amusement. Heckapoo warming a bottle with the flame over her head before feeding her. Rhombulus changing her diaper while angling his head to project rainbows where she could see them. Lekmet “singing” her to sleep, and somehow succeeding. Raynaldo reading a history book as a bedtime story.  

“After a month, we started giving up hope. We cut our daily attempts down to weekly, then monthly. Eclipsa grew more distrustful and fed up with her kingdom and job, while Shastacan continued indulging in his hedonistic lifestyle.”  

The hologram then showed the MHC all sitting in the baby’s nursery, with Lekmet cradling the kid while the others had a little cupcake with a candle in it.  

“Happy one-month anniversary, baby!”  

Heckapoo groaned at that.  

“Okay, that’s it. We need to name the kid. Neither parent is willing to do it, so I guess it’s up to us.”  

Rhombulus let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank you. That had been bothering me for a while. How about something related to wine? She was born in a wine goblet after all. Chartreuse?”  

Omni shook his glass ball at it. “Nah, it needs to be something easy for her to understand. How about Brandy?”  

Heckapoo shot the two a dirty look. “We are not naming our kid after alcohol; I don’t want her becoming an alcoholic.”  

Raynaldo snapped his fingers. “Calpurnius.”  

Omni sighed. “I just said they have to be kid-friendly.”  

“Baaa.”  

The rest of the party froze and all turned to him. “What was that?”  

He then began bleating again, with the captains returning.  

“Festivia. She is bringing us happiness, and we want her to be happy. It also ties into her birth in the chalice.”  

The others began looking at each other and nodding.  

“Yeah, that makes sense.”  

“Works for me.”  

“Let’s do it.”  

Lekmet then looked down at the baby. “Hello, there, little Festivia. Since your parents are jerks, we will be your family now.”  

The scene then changed to one of a four-year-old Festivia reading a book with Lekmet, seemingly understanding his bleeding.  

A six-year-old Festivia dulling Rhombulus with wooden swords. When she disarmed him, he overacted his defeat to the little girl's laughter.  

An eight-year-old Festivia stargazing with Omni. The skull told the girl stories of the stars and promised to take her to visit them one day.  

Ten-year-old Festivia going down a river of time with Raynaldo, being shown scenes of the past as she takes notes.  

An 11-year-old Festivia is sitting on a bench with Heckapoo, reading a book titled “Mewberty and You.” Festivia’s face was entirely red from blushing, but Heckapoo chuckled and continued talking.  

Twelve birthday parties, which became more and more elaborate and filled with more and more people. No matter what, each party started with the same question.  

“Where are mom and dad?”  

After each party, no matter how large, no matter how many presents, no matter how good the cake, no matter how many friends or servants showed up, the holograms always ended the same. A lonely girl in her room looking at a picture of the parents who didn’t show.  

There wasn’t a dry eye in the courtroom at that time. Even the Box of Truth was shedding a single flaming tear. Rhombulus then rounded on Eclipsa again.  

“And when she got old enough to try to talk to you and Shastacan? You both brushed her off again.”  

“No more. Please?”  

Ignoring the pleas of the former queen, the Box showed a scene of a four-year-old walking up to Eclipsa walking down the hall.  

“Excuse me? Do you-“  

“Not now, little girl. I have an important meeting to get to.”  

“Can you skip and spend time with me, Mom?”  

Eclipsa scoffed at that. “I’m not your mother, and I can’t skip this meeting. I have finally figured out how to convince those mewnisters to call off this war. Soon, the monsters will be left in peace.”  

Eclipsa picked up the pace, leaving the shot-legged Festivia behind without once looking down at her.  

The scene then changed to Shastacan sitting on a balcony and chewing some green algae. Four-year-old Festivia walked up to him like she did with her mom.  

“Hello, Daddy, can you play with me?”  

“No, now leave me alone.”  

Festivia frowned at that. “But why?”  

He shrugged before popping another algae chew in his mouth. “Because I don’t like kids, why don’t you bother someone else before I have the guards throw you into the moat?”  

Festiva’s expression dropped with that, leading to her walking out dejected.  

Dozens of more attempts then paraded before them. Unlike the MHC’s attempts, these didn’t stop as time passed. She tried to talk once a week, but they constantly ignored her, dismissed her, or saw her as one of the servants' kids.  

Omnitrik then let out a joyless chuckle.  

“Then we got to the day you ran away to be with your monster love. Festivia’s 12 th birthday.”  

Just when you thought Eclipsa couldn’t get paler, she did.  

“No.”  

Despite her plea, the hologram did show a teary-eyed 12-year-old Festivia on the throne, being handed Eclipsa’s wand. When she grabbed it, the parasol became a goblet. The MHC stood by her side and rested their hands on her shoulders.  

Her father was by the buffet table nearby, stuffing his face.  

“We had to step in and rule while she grew up, and Glossaryck helped teach her magic. It was fine for two years, until she finally decided to read your chapter in the book and found the All-Seeing Eye spell.”  

The hologram then showed Festivia casting the spell.  

“Now I can finally find my mom and bring her back.”  

The portal then showed her an image of Eclipsa cuddling a baby Meteora with a purple monster beside her.  

“Hello Meteora. I’m your mother. This is your dad.”  

Festivia looked at the image with shock on her face.  

“She replaced me?”  

The butterflies all flinched at that. Heckapoo shot Eclipsa a savage look.  

“Oh, it got worse. She kept using it to see everything you did for her that you didn’t do for her.”  

The hologram then changed to show Festivia looking at Eclipsa raising Meteora. Feeding her, burping her, reading to her, playing with her, and more.  

“She never did anything, mainly because the spell only showed her what was happening and not where it was.   

“And then came the day everything changed.”  

The hologram showed Festivia using the All-Seeing Eye again, looking at Eclipsa, and putting her to bed before pecking her cheek.  

“Goodnight, sweety. I love you.”  

The portal disappeared as she dropped the wand to the ground.  

“She loves her?”  

Festivia just stood there silently before tears began to fall.  

“Why does she love her and not me?”  

The slight tears turned into full-blown bawling, collapsing to the ground. Eclipsa tried to reach forward to hug the crying child, but her chains kept her in check.  

Soon, the crying turned into a rage-filled scream before she was engulfed in a flash of light.  

When it cleared, Festiva was changed. Her skin was wine purple, she had six arms, light wings were behind her, and her eyes matched her cheek marks.  

“It’s her.”  

She waved her hand to make a portal and flew through it. It then changed to show her in a stone structure where Eclipsa was sitting.  

“Festivia was the one who crystallized me.”  

Festiva waved her hand and crystallized Eclipse’s bottom half before slowly floating over to her. Rhombulus chuckled at the display of magic.  

“I was so proud of her when she figured out how to do that.”  

Eclipsa tried hammering at her prisons without effect, eventually turning to reason.  

“Look, please leave us alone. I don’t know who you are, but I promise I have done nothing to you. I only left a castle filled with people who hated me to live with my family. I have built a life with my husband, and I have a daughter who needs her mother. What kind of person do you have to be to deprive a daughter of her mother?”  

Festivia didn’t stop. She just raised her hand, pointed it at her, and asked one question.  

“What about your child with Shastacan?”  

Eclipsa blinked before laughing.  

“I can guarantee I have no daughter with that creep. I have never even kissed him, let alone sleep with him. No, my only daughter is in the nursery behind me.”  

Hearing it again and knowing what she did now, Eclipsa felt her broken heart turn to dust.  

“So be it.”  

With a final blast, Eclipsa was crystallized. Festiva then exited her butterfly form, finding herself in the stone building and a crystalized figure beside her.  

“What did I do?”  

“WHAAA!”  

The hologram then fast-forwarded to Festivia standing above the cradle of Meteora. Omni then spoke up.  

“She gave you to us for storage, where we kept you until Moon freed you. As for Meteora, she dropped her off at St. Olgas.”  

Rhombulus then shot Eclipsa another stink eye. “But since she knew what it was like to have terrible parents, she called once a month to check in on her. Just calling, though; her issues with you wouldn’t let her do more than that.”  

Heckapoo then wrapped it up. “After that, she entered the ‘party girl’ vibe she is so well known for nowadays. Trying to always fill the hole you left in her heart with good times, friends, food, and drink. When your Monster husband ate your mewman husband, she crystallized him also.  

“So that’s why you can’t remember being a mother to her. You weren’t. We were her family; you are just another screw-up parent who made a kid do a job you hated and forgot about until it was convenient. Just like Glossaryck did with us.”  

Rhombulus and Omni nodded in agreement. Stan and Moon looked at them in shock.  

“You’re saying you let her rot in crystal for three hundred years because she was a bad parent and you have issues with Glossaryck? How is that fair?”  

“It isn’t.”  

The box stopped projecting and turned to Eclipsa.  

“Eclipsa has been found guilty of crimes against Mewnanity and being a terrible parent. However, the Magical High Commission has also been found guilty of falsely imprisoning Eclipsa and omitting the truth from the Butterfly records.”  

“Hay! What about sending Meteora to St. Olgas and separating her from her family?”  

The box turned to Star. “As lawful queen of Mewni, Festivia had the right to have her executed or banished as she wished. As distasteful as it may seem, it is not a crime I can punish her for.  

“This concludes the Trial. Although, if we’re all being honest here, it seems like ya’ll still have some issues to deal with.”  

With that, the box retracted its eye and fell to the ground, surrounded by the angry MHC and the stunned Butterfly family.  

Chapter Text

5: Monstrous Sister  

Moon examined the crystallized form of Eclipsa before her. The ex-queen had one arm held before her, no doubt preparing to fire some evil spell in an attempt to slay Rhombulus before he could crystalize her. Her other arm had something clutched tightly to her chest. Moon didn’t know what it was; it was probably some dark artifact of unknown power. Her face was frozen in an expression of fear, no doubt an act to try and get those who saw her in this state to mistake the Queen of Darkness for an innocent victim instead of the threat to her kingdom she was.  

“Eclipsa has been crystallized for hundreds of years. I’ve got no idea what’s going to happen when we open this up.”  

Moon discreetly swallowed in an attempt to steal her nerves.  

“I can handle it.”  

With a nod, Rhombulus turned to the crystal containing the Queen of Darkness and fired a beam from his eye. Eventually, her head and the left side of her body were uncrystallized. Her right side and the strange bundle held in her arm were kept in the crystal.  

When it was done, Rhombulus backed away nervously.  

“Hoo. Ok, I’m out. Uh, call if you need me!”  

As he ran away, Moon allowed herself to feel a little fear. She turned and pointed her wand at her great-something grandmother.  

Eclipsa was still momentarily, almost like she was still trapped in crystal. Then she began to gasp for breath. Her freed arm grasped her throat before reaching towards the bundle at her side. When it hit the crystal, Eclipsa began to panic visibly.  

“Meteoria? Sweety? Are you all right?”  

She turned her body towards the bundle as far as she could, trying to examine it thoroughly for any way to free it.  

“Um, it’s frozen in Rhombulus’s crystal. Whatever’s there isn’t harmed but can’t be used.”  

Eclipsa turned to Moon with a confused expression, turning to realization as she caught sight of where she was.  

“Rhombulus? This is Rhombulus’s crystal? Well, get him over here to get her out! We need to get her out now!”  

Moon was beginning to get both scared and confused.  

“Get who out?”  

“My daughter! She was crystalized with me!”  

Moon felt her stomach drop out as her face turned pale. Her eyes went to the bundle in the queen's arms. The crystal was refracting light enough that it was hard to see, but-  

“Rhombulus?!”  

With the size of the bundle, the theoretical child would be a baby. She didn’t want to take a risk with an innocent child’s life, even if it was Eclipsas.  

Seconds after she called, Rhombulus materialized beside her and stared at Eclipsa with his hands at his head.  

“Time to freeze evil-“  

“GET MY BABY OUT OF THE CRYSTAL!”  

Upon hearing those words, Rhombulus became so still that Moon thought for a second he had crystallized himself. Eclipsa continued to pound on the crystal holding her bundle.  

“What?”  

Eclipsa turned towards Rhombulus with a rabbit expression. “As I tried to tell you when you crystallized me, I’m holding my daughter! She has been frozen with me for the last, however long I’ve been frozen.”  

“300 years.”  

Eclipsa stopped her pounding to shoot Moon a look of shock.  

“300 YEARS!” She then rounded on Rhombulus while foaming at the mouth.  

“GET HER OUT OF HERE!”  

Rhombulus held up his hands in a placating gesture.  

“Hey, I don’t know the full ramifications of letting you out after 300 years. I’m not willing to do that to the kid without having Lekmet check on her first. Just give me a second to get him, and we’ll see if it's safe.”  

Eclipsa’s face paled at hearing that. “Is she ok?”  

Rhombulus shrugged while pulling out his scissors. “I have no idea. All I know is that whatever is going on won’t become worse from letting her stay in the crystal for a few more minutes, at least while I get Lekmet. While I’m doing that, how about you and Queen Moon talk?”  

With that, he cut his portal and walked through. As the portal dissipated, the former queen began to calm down as she looked at the current queen standing before her.  

“So, you’re the new queen.”  

The whiplash from foaming at the mouth to curiously asking questions was severe and threw Moon a little.  

“Yes, what of it?”  

Eclipsa’s expression became softer as she began walking through a field of bear traps.  

“Well, it’s just that you're far too young to be queen unless…”  

The full ramifications of what had happened hit Eclipsa like an invisible goat.  

“Oh no. Unless your mother, is she?”  

Eclipsa couldn’t bear to ask, but it was enough for Moon to begin tearing up.  

“I see. I lost my mother too, when I was not much older than you.” She then looked down at the bundle in her arms. “The one bright side of Meteora and me being crystallized together is that she didn’t have to know that pain.”  

Moon wiped her watery eyes on her arm before returning to the former queen.  

“Ever since mom… um… Ever since I became Queen, everybody’s been looking to me to end the war and make all these big decisions. But I’m just a kid! I can’t decide the fate of Mewni, I can’t even decide which boy I like!”  

Eclipsa looked at the teenager before her and, for a moment, saw her younger self in her place.  

“I know how you feel. My mother’s will placed me in an arranged marriage with a noble of a neighboring kingdom, whom I detested. She also left me the war with the monsters, which I fully opposed.” She then let out a mirthless chuckle. “The worst part about being queen is that just because you are in charge doesn’t mean people will do what you want. I couldn’t get out of that loveless marriage, I couldn’t end the war, and I couldn’t be with the man I loved. Eventually, I just left the wand and crown behind and fled to be with my Monster love.”  

Moon chuckled at that. “Funnily enough, I have a similar problem. I became queen because the monsters attacked an unarmed queen bringing a peace agreement to them. I have a whole army of Serpentines at the gate and a cabinet debating, getting into a hopeless fight with the monsters. This is why I came to you.  

“I need you to teach me one of the spells from your forbidden chapter.”  

Eclipsa cocked an eyebrow at Moon. “Forbidden? Is that what they’re calling my chapter?”  

Moon began to fiddle with her hair nervously. “Yeah, sorry, I didn’t name it.”  

“I know, and I guess you want me to teach you the spell I made specifically to kill immortals like Serpaintines?”  

Moon nodded desperately. “Yes, it’s my only hope.”  

Eclipsa looked at the desperate queen, and an equally desperate plan formed in her head.  

“Well, the spell you seek requires a magical contract. I can give it to you, but once your enemy is killed, you must give me something in return.”  

Moon began to feel like a mouse in front of a caged cat.  

“Ok, what do you want?”  

Eclipsa’s expression shifted to reflect that of the queen she once was, giving a decree that only a fool would deny.  

“Our freedom.”  

Moon’s eyes widened in shock. “What?”  

Eclipsa then let out a little chuckle. “Oh, I know, it’s a lot to ask. But, we’ve been here so long, all by ourselves. I want to see my daughter grow up and be a mother she could be proud of.”  

Moon was getting nervous.  

“But, there are Rhombulus’s crystals. I can’t free you. And even if I could, that price is too steep for a single spell. No matter how much I need it. Besides, you heard Rhombulus. There is no telling what side effects could be from unfreezing your daughter after 300 years.”  

Eclipsa’s expression was still, hiding the turmoil behind the mask. “A contract between two queens is stronger than any crystal. As for my Meteora, I’m willing to adjust the terms of my deal once we get Lekmet’s appraisal of her condition. And the price…”  

She then gave Moon a small smile.  

“What price are you willing to pay to save everyone you love?”  

Moon nervously racked her brain for anything she could offer her.  

She’s been frozen here for 300 years; this is the only way she can escape. There is nothing I could offer her that she would take instead.  

Her eyes then glanced over the bundle in her arms.  

Nothing except.  

“One person’s freedom. Either yours or, what was it? Meteora’s? We can decide which after Lekmet gets here.”  

Eclipsa made a show of mulling it over while she grinned internally.  

“I can accept that, on the condition that you ensure she is well taken care of. And I mean that in the ‘raised by people that love her as best they can’ way, not in the ‘take care of an old animal by putting it down’ way.”  

Moon nodded. “I’ll find the best people I can to raise her like their own and check in regularly to ensure they aren’t doing any funny business. Ok?”  

She then held out her hand, which Moon grasped.  

Purple ribbons formed from the grasped hands, wrapping up both their arms as their check marks glowed. After several seconds, the ribbons faded.  

“Now, come close.”  

Moon then leaned in to let Eclipsa whisper in her ears.  

“-and aim it directly at his heart.”  

Just as she said that, a portal tore open behind the young queen. Rhombulus and Lekmet hurriedly jumped out of it.  

“I’m back, and Lekmet will now check out your daughter.”  

Lekmet bleated as he walked over to the crystal. He held his hands over the bundle, which glowed pink in response. Rhombulus let out a sigh of relief at that.  

“So that’s where she’s been. That’s a load off my mind.”  

Both queens turned to give him quizzical looks, prompting him to explain.  

“We knew you had a kid with your monster lover, but we had no idea where she went after we crystallized you. We searched all over Mewni for decades, looking for her. It’s honestly a relief that she’s been here and not setting up a rival lineage that would gather an army to one day conquer Mewni or dead in a ditch.”  

As the queens mulled over his answer, Lekmet let out a series of bleats.  

“Okay, Lekmet says the preliteracy examination came back okay. We can unfreeze her with no issue.”  

Eclipsa’s expression shifted to relief at that.  

“Thank you. Can you let us out now?”  

Rhombulus shook his head. “No can do, Eclipsa. You are going right back into the crystal. We’ll debate what to do with the kid after we deal with the Lizard and his army.”  

ZAP  

Before Eclipsa could respond, she was frozen once more. Moon could only look at her as she walked away with the MHC.  

She seemed so nice, and a loving mother.  

The Butterfly Throne Room  

Moon stood before the MHC, her nobles, and representatives of her kingdom’s allies. The only one missing was River, and he was doing something important for her.  

“The Immortal Toffee has been slain, but his army is still out there. Tomorrow, we will hunt them down and ensure they won’t be a threat to us ever again.  

“Today, we have something else to discuss.”  

Moon waved her wand, causing a light to signal River to come in. Moon continued to talk to her audience as he began to make his way to her side.  

“To get the spell that saved us all, I made a deal with the crystalized former queen Eclipsa.”  

The assembled nobles began to murmur amongst themselves about the wisdom of such an action before stopping under Moon’s cold glare. When River reached her side holding a small bundle, she continued.  

“When she was crystallized 300 years ago, her infant daughter was crystallized along with her. In exchange for the spell that killed Toffee, I agreed to free her daughter from the crystal and give her a home.”  

She then took the bundle from River’s hands and turned it to show the assembled nobles what it was.  

Those assembled could only recoil in horror at the child’s face. It had purplish skin, purple hair, and clovers on its cheeks. When it opened its eyes and smiled at them, its magenta cat-like eyes and fangs were shown.  

“Evil baby! Gonna freeze it!”  

As Rhombulus jumped forward to freeze the baby, Moon formed a shield between them. Rhombulus’s beam dissipated against her construct.  

“Stand down Rhombulus. I gave my word Meteora would be taken care of.”  

Rhombulus lowered his arms but continued to give the baby the stink eye. Heckapoo appeared next to him and glared at Moon.  

“Well, how about we do what we planned to do three hundred years ago and drop it off at St. Olga’s?”  

While quivering in fear from Rhombulus’s attack, River found his courage at the suggestion.  

“A reform school! Do they even have any other babies there?”  

The pale-skinned women just shrugged in response. “No idea, but what other option is there? There aren’t any orphanages for royals, especially half-monster ones.”  

Moon shifted her glare to her, shutting her up. Omni decided to try his luck.  

“Queen Moon, be reasonable about this. We can’t risk a monster taking the throne and wand. The second she’s old enough, she’ll overthrow you and take them by force before leading the kingdom to ruin!”  

Meteora somehow found that statement hilarious and began to shriek with laughter.  

“See! It’s enjoying the idea of our destruction!”  

River shot Rhombulus a dirty look.  

“She’s a baby! She doesn’t know anything you're saying.”   

The rest of the hall wasn’t better. All the assembled nobles were yelling over each other to deal with the monster-spawn in one way or another. The only voices absent from this were Moon and Rivers.  

“ENOUGH!”  

Moon’s voice cut through the cacophony and silenced everyone.  

“I have made my decision. Meteora is just a child who has done nothing except be born! As such, she will not be punished for her parents’ actions. Now, who shall take up the task of raising her?”  

The entire hall was silent. Every noble glared at the child like it was a rabid animal. Moon sighed in disappointment.  

“Very well. Until a suitable home can be found, I’ll care for the child myself. If anyone changes your mind, let me know. Until then, meeting adjourned.”  

Moon waved River to follow her out of the throne room and to her nearby office, leaving the MHC and nobles behind. When the three were safely behind closed doors, Moon groaned and collapsed into her chair.  

“River, what am I gonna do? I’m seventeen! I barely know how to run the country, let alone how to take care of a baby. I can’t trust that the nobles won’t try to kill her, I can’t trust the MHC not to crystallize her, and I can’t trust that Omni might be right and she’ll try to overthrow me when she’s old enough.” She then buried her head in her hands and began to sob.   

River held the baby in his arms, watching his crush break down under the pressure. He then walked over and turned his bundle so Moon could see the contents.  

“Moon, whatever else she is, this is a baby. She hasn’t done anything yet, and we can’t punish her just because of who her parents are.”  

River’s voice helped soothe Moon enough to let her sit up and look at Meteora’s wide-eyed expression. She tried to search for any of the treasury, malaise, and disregard for Mewman's life that filled Toffee’s eyes and came up empty.  

All she saw was a child who would never see her mother again, thanks to her. But she also saw a child who would have a future thanks to her actions and her mother's sacrifice.  

River was right that she needed a home, but-  

“I have no idea how to do anything baby-related.”  

River gave her a small smile. “I have a few younger cousins and siblings that I helped out with. I can show you the basics.”  

He then began sniffing the air before looking down at Meteora.  

“And since it looks like someone needs a new diaper, we can start with that. How about we go gather some supplies and get started?”  

As Moon got a whiff of the dirty diaper, she scrunched up her face as she agreed. The two then stood up and headed out the door.  

While walking down the hall, Moon nervously shot River a look.  

“River, do you think you could stay with me until I can find a home for her?”  

River simply smiled at her.  

“As long as she’s with you, I’ll stay with you.”  

Chapter Text

Marco was on his knees, staring off into the cloudy sky where Star had carried off Oscar and his car.  

Marco couldn’t believe it. She was gone.  

Star had come into his life like a hurricane and changed everything. Opened up his world to endless possibilities. Helped him become more than just the “safe kid.” Helped him talk to his long-time crush for the first time.  

She was his best friend, and now she was gone. He was never going to see her again.  

“Goodbye Star.”  

His eyes filled with tears as he felt despair fall onto him.  

Should he have tried harder to keep her from flying away? Should he have just used her dimensional scissors to send her to her mom and let her handle it? Should he have shoved Star into the girls' locker room and had her stay there while he went to the book?  

Or was she always going to leave him?  

His dark spiral of self-deprecation was cut off as he felt something fall onto the tip of his nose.  

It was a pale purple heart-shaped fleck.  

As Marco began processing it, hundreds more fell from the sky. The courtyard was coated in a light snow, and then they stopped.  

CRASH  

Oscar’s car then fell from the sky in front of Marco, barely missing him. Oscar soon fell from the sky as well, none the worse for wear. His keytar then fell into his open hands. The boy was too checked out to recognize that anything had happened in the first place.  

Marco’s attention was then grabbed by a large mass of hearts slamming into his locker.  

“Star!”  

Marco immediately rushed towards them like his life depended on it. His heart beating so fast, a part of his mind was wondering if he needed to go to the doctor after this.  

“Sorry… Marco…”  

Star's voice emerged from the pile of hearts, with Star soon following them.  

But it wasn’t the Star Marco had seen this morning.  

She had dark purple skin, antenna, a large pair of wings, pink eyes with heart-shaped pupils, and six arms.  

She was shuffling awkwardly, unsure of herself and resigned to being rejected.  

“Seems, like… I’m still…”  

Marco didn’t let her finish before he wrapped her in a big hug.  

“The coolest girl I know? Yes, you are!”  

Star froze as he felt his arms around her, before relaxing and returning it with one of her own. The two teens found comfort in each other’s company and physical closeness.  

“I never thought your hugs could improve, but they just got four arms better.”  

Star chuckled, feeling that no matter what had changed with her, Marco would still be her friend.  

Her best, bravest, nicest, handsomest, sexiest-  

“Um, Star?”  

Marco’s voice broke her out of her trance just in time to realize one of her hands was copping a feel. She hurriedly pulled it back in embarrassment.  

“Sorry, I’m still getting used to the new arms.”  

She soon let go of Marco and took in the destruction of the school.  

Piles of her hearts were all over the floor; lockers were torn off the walls; all the boys were cocooned and stuck to the wall; dozens of small fires were all over the place; the school buses were on their sides.  

She was going to be in big trouble when she called her folks. How will they explain all this to them? How would they even get home with the buses destroyed?  

Wait.  

“Hey Marco? Wanna see if I can fly us home?”  

Happy to have something exciting to move on to after the awkwardness of her extra hand, Marco jumped onto the idea.  

“Absolutely!”  

Star grinned as she grabbed Marco’s hand and began flapping her wings. After a running start while pulling Marco behind her, she leaped into the air.  

Marco looked down in amazement. They were flying! Everything under him looked so small. The people looked as small up here as that weird little man in-.  

Oh-No.  

“Star! We have to go back! We forgot to get the book of spells!”  

The Diaz house, the next day  

 “Un-Mewberty Beam!”  

The wand’s beam struck Star in the chest and covered her in a cloud of sparkles. When they cleared, Star was still in her Mewberty form. She groaned in annoyance and turned to Marco nearby with a notepad.  

“Ok, so that didn’t work. What else is on the list?”  

Marco shook his head at her.  

“Nothing. We’ve tried waiting, we’ve tried a hundred different spells, we’ve tried meditation, we’ve tried looking in the book of spells, we’ve asked Glossaryck-“  

“You can’t fight nature. This is who you are now, so deal with it.”  

Both teenagers shot the blue man withering looks before turning back towards each other.  

“We’ve tried everything we can think of. I hate to say it, but we need to talk to your parents.”  

Star began to pull in on herself again as she glanced towards the magic mirror on the wall.  

“But what if they don’t like the new Star?”  

Marco sighed as he stood up and walked to her, holding two of her hands in his.  

“Star Butterfly. You are the most incredible, amazing, coolest, caring, and best girl I know. Your body might have changed, but you haven’t. I can see this, and so will your parents. No matter what, they will love and support you. Ok?”  

Star felt better as she looked into his eyes, but only slightly.  

“Can you stay with me?”  

He gave her a heartfelt smile.  

“I won’t leave your side.”  

With a final deep breath to center herself, she turned to activate the magic mirror with her hand in Marcos.  

One call and recap of the episode later  

“…And the next thing I remember walking up in a pile of purple hearts, but I didn’t change back.”  

Star was hugging herself again as she talked, and it was only through the continued support of Marco holding her hand that she was able to push forward.  

“And- and I tried everything. I just won’t change back. I’m sorry, Mom, Dad… I know I disappointed you again, but this… is the new Star Butterfly.”  

She couldn’t raise her eyes to meet her parents' shocked expressions in the mirror while waiting for their reactions.  

She braced herself for them to yell, to disown, to banish, to execute.    

All the while, Marco stayed by her side, held her hand, and continuously watched her worriedly.  

“Star, you aren’t in trouble.”  

Star looked up in surprise while Marco smiled at her, mouthing “I told you so.”  

“I don’t know why you stayed like this, but don’t talk about it as a bad thing. I promise you we’ll get to the bottom of this. Now, did you talk to Glossaryck?”  

Marco nodded.  

“Yeah. He said we can’t change her back.”  

“Ok, but did you ask why she stayed like this or what the long-term effects could be?”  

Marco opened his mouth to reply, but froze. Star began to blush in embarrassment at the question.  

“Um, no?”  

Moon chuckled fondly at them.  

“Don’t worry, that’s why you ask for help when you can’t solve a problem. Glossaryck! Can you come over here?”  

The little blue man put down his pudding cup and floated over to the mirror.  

“Hay Mooney! How can I help you?”  

Glaring at him in annoyance at the nickname, Moon nevertheless put her annoyance on hold.  

“What happened with her Mewberty to have her remain like this? How long will this last? What side effects should we expect?”  

Glossaryck rolled his eyes at Moon’s barrage of questions.  

“As glad as I am to have intelligent questions about this, I’m going to tell you the same thing I told them. You can’t change her back; she’s going to look like this forever. Deal with it.”  

Moon and River looked at him in shock.  

“But why? No other queen in Mewni's history had this happen. Mine lasted fifteen minutes, and the records I’ve read said it has never lasted more than an hour!”  

Glossaryck shrugged before floating and angling his body to face all four interested parties.  

“Ok, to bring Marco and Star up to speed, Mewberty isn’t just the mewman version of puberty. They have that too, and it’s exactly the same. Mewberty is only for those who wield the Royal Magic Wand. As the most powerful magic item in the universe, constant exposure changes the wielders in obvious and subtle ways.  

“Like how Moon and Star have check marks?”  

Glossaryck snapped in Marcos' direction.  

“Bingo, kid. The two most important changes made by wielding the wand are making those who wield it capable of doing magic without it. Moon?”  

Moon looked at Glossaryck in confusion before realizing what he was saying. She then held out her hand, which then glowed blue, and caused a table to float into view.  

“Thanks. Enough use of the wand will eventuly let the user use magic without it. However, they will always be weaker than the wand itself. This is because the body can only use so much magic without getting hurt.  

“The other is the Butterfly form.”  

Star’s eyes widened as he said that, and a bright light filled the mirror. When it faded, Moon was different. Her skin was blue, she had six arms, and there was a massive pair of butterfly wings on her back.  

River was looking at her with an expression that made Star and Marco uncomfortable.  

“All right, Moon, save it for the bedroom.”  

“GLOSSARYCK!”  

Ignoring the blushing and mortified expressions from those glaring at him, Glossaryck continued.  

“The butterfly form allows you to use more powerful spells without the wand and without injuring yourself. That’s why you enter it when you first start connecting to magic during mewberty. Until the normal body gets used to the new amount of magical power, it’s stuck in the Butterfly form. The greater the magical power, the longer it takes for the body to get used to it. When your body can channel the magic without dying, you turn back.”  

He then got a small smile. “This first form also has a few other side effects due to the body not being used to the magic, such as the webs, skin flakes, and boy obsession. Future Butterfly forms usually don’t have these.”  

Star nodded along in annoyance.  

“Ok, so until my body gets used to being magical, I’ll be stuck like this. Any idea when I’ll turn back?”  

Glossaryck sighed as he facepalmed.  

“Have you been listening to anything I have said, Star? You are stuck like this forever.”  

Moon looked at Glossaryck in confusion.  

“But you said it’s just until her body gets used to the magic.”  

He nodded. “Normally, yes. However, Star has access to so much magic that her body will never get used to it. She has more magical power than even I.”  

While most of the group looked at him in Shock, Star got a mischievous smile on her face.  

“Does that mean I’m stronger than you and could defeat you in a fight?”  

“No Star. I would wipe the floor with you while eating pudding.”  

As Star’s face fell from Glossaryck’s bluntness, he didn’t let up the assault.  

“I was talking about the amount of magic, not about power. I still have an eternity of experience and routine against your 14 years.”  

This might have taken the wind out of Star’s sails, but Moon’s S.S. Panic was still going at full speed.  

“Star, you need to come back to Mewni this instant! I’ll delegate as many of my duties as I can and put my full effort into helping you get a handle on this. I’ll call the MHC in to help out as well. They have experience helping to run Mewni, and more experience than anyone besides Glossaryck with using magic. River-“  

Moon was suddenly doused by a torrent of water pouring on top of her from a portal that wasn’t there a moment ago. When it stopped, Moon’s hairdo was ruined and her expression was frozen in shock.  

While the rest looked on in shock and horror, Glossaryck smiled devilishly at her.  

“Have you calmed down now, Moony?”  

As Moon turned to look at the blue imp, River turned and began rushing away.  

“I’llGoAndGetTheRoyalHairDresser!”  

As soon as he left the room, Moon said one word.  

“Why?”  

Glossaryck shrugged.  

“Because I thought it was funny, you were going on a tangent, and you were proposing a terrible idea that would cause more harm than good.  

“Star is happy here with a friend who is a positive influence. I will have a better chance of helping her gain control of her magic here than if we took her back to Mewni.”  

Star nodded along with him.  

“He’s right, Mom. I like Earth. There are so many new things to see and do, I made several friends, and people are happy with how I use magic here. Please let me stay!”  

Moon looked at how desperate Star was, and then noticed that she was still holding Marco’s hand.  

“All right, but I want weekly updates from you.”  

“YES! ThankYou!ThankYou!ThankYou!”  

As her purple daughter bounced up and down with joy, Moon’s mind still whirled with turmoil.  

I hope I’m not making a horrible mistake.  

Chapter Text

Tableuncontenta  

Ludo mumbled to himself as he led his battered minions back into the castle.  

“Another day, another failed attempt to take the royal wand from Queen Moon. This is embarrassing! We are the greatest fighting force of monsters in Mewni, and we got beaten up by a twelve-year-old girl and her floating unicorn friend!”  

Bearicorn shrugged before wincing as he continued to ice his shoulder.  

“I don’t know, the boss; I’m still wondering how the pony head was able to take out half of us when I stuck her in a barrel first thing.”  

Ludo rounded on the helpless henchman and rapped him on the head with his staff.  

“Imbecilic! That wasn’t the Ponyhead! It was a rocking horse! How could you mix them up? The rocking horse didn’t say a word the entire time while Ponyehead can’t shut up to save her life!”  

“Yeah, you really got the bargain barrel minions, haven’t you, Ludo?”  

The monsters stopped in their tracks as they heard the unfamiliar voice coming from the kitchen. Despite their injuries, Ludo marched forward to confront whoever it was, with his forces trying to follow.  

Whatever they were expecting of the intruder, none of them could have predicted who they found waiting for them.  

Ludo had seen Glossaryck around Queen Moon before, and the figure here looked a lot like the blue imp. Although being small, brightly colored, floating, and having a gem on their forehead, the similarities ended there.  

This figure looked like a teenage girl with dark purple skin. She wore a green sundress with her green hair down and partially covering a pearl on her forehead. She had sneakers on her feet with rainbow colored laces.  

While the monster army looked curiously at the strange figure, she continued making herself a milkshake. When she was done, she took a big gulp of it.  

“Ahh, now that hit the spot. Just needs a little dash of cinnamon to make it pop.”  

She then turned around and held it out to Ludo.  

“What do you think?”  

Ludo looked at the drink suspiciously, which was all the invitation Lobster Claw needed to grab it and take a big drink.  

“Umm, tastes great! But I think some nutmeg would do a better job of bringing out the flavor.”  

The unnamed teen snapped her finger. “That’s it! You have great taste, Lobster Claw.”  

With that, the little patience Ludo had went up in smoke.  

He smacked the milkshake out of Lobster Claw’s hand and pointed his staff in the stranger’s face.  

“Who are you and why are you here?”  

The little figure didn’t react to the staff head larger than she was being pointed at her face. She simply smiled and waved her hand. As words formed from sparkling dust formed around her, she began to speak.  

“I am Ms. Tabelucontenta, and I have chosen you and your army to be my new students in the ways of light magic.”  

The monsters looked at her in confusion, which soon morphed into excitement.  

“We’re going to learn magic!”  

“I’m gonna get my own wand!”  

“Bawk Bawk Bawk!”  

“I’ll finally have my big boy body!”  

As the monsters continued to celebrate, Tabelucontenta looked on with an amused look on her face.  

Eventually, they calmed down enough to turn towards her.  

“All right, where are our wands?”  

“This doesn’t use wands.”  

Ludo was brought up short at hearing that, with Buff Frog voicing the confusion all of them felt.  

“But, without wands, how do we do magic?”  

Tabelucontenta sighed as she rolled her eyes before snapping her fingers. A blackboard appeared behind her with a picture of a golden ocean at the bottom, with lines running to images of Ludo, Buff Frog, Bearacorn, and a serpentine. Each line had a small square drawn near the monster.   

“Ok, magic 101. All magic in the universe comes from the magic dimension. It goes to living things through portals inside of them that connect them to it. This connection allows them to do magic. The bigger the portal, the more powerful you are. Each portal also has filters that limit the magic they can do to ensure none of you hurt yourselves.”  

She then pointed at the picture of the Serptaine.  

“Think of the Serpentine monsters. The only magic they can do is their regeneration. They are born with a weak one, which means they can recover from injuries much faster than others but can’t regrow limbs, will age normally, and can be killed like anyone else. With practice, meditation, and exercising their portal, they can increase the strength of the regeneration to let them heal faster, regrow limbs, and slow aging. The best of them can halt their aging entirely and reassemble themselves after being burned to ash and scattered.  

“However, that is the only magic thing serpentians can do. They can’t heal other people, they can’t breathe fire, and they can’t shoot lasers. The only magical thing their filters let them do is heal themselves.”  

She then pointed to the other images on the chalkboard in turn.  

“Frog people like Yvgeny Bulgoyaboff can supernaturally increase the strength of their leg muscles. Bearacorns can mimic the laser and weather manipulation feats of the floating unicorn heads on a lesser scale. Kapas-“  

“Can shoot lasers from their eyes? Have super strength? Can increase their size tenfold?”  

As Ludo looked at her in awe, Tabelucontenta just leveled a deadpan look at him.  

“No. Kappa can naturally fly, despite several laws of physics and biology stating that it shouldn’t be able to. However, due to being born a runt, you won’t be able to do that. On the plus side, if you're dedicated, you might be able to learn how to project an indestructible force field around yourself. This is very difficult to do, since you have to focus entirely on that and not be distracted by anything.”  

Ludo deflated a little before puffing himself up and looking her right in the eye.  

“All right, I DEMAND that you teach us all-“  

“Ok.”  

“How to do this magic that you described!”  

“I already said I would.”  

Ludo gave her an evil smile.  

“Excellent.”  

Tabelucontenta then looked to the army and pointed at Buff Frog’s raised hand.  

“Yes, Yvgeny?”  

He looked at the dark-purple woman with suspicion.  

“Why are you helping monsters? And why do you look like a little blue man with Queen Moon?”  

Tabelucontenta sighed as she pulled out a picture of her, Glossaryck, and three other people.  

“First, he’s my brother. Don’t ask us which is older; none of us remembers it anymore.  

“As for why, my family’s job is to teach people to use our kind of magic. We don’t care about sides, politics, or things like that. The only things I care about are making sure you are the best light magic users you can be. I chose you because I believe that through you, I will be able to set up a school here. I’ve tried before, but it kept getting destroyed by either mewmans who saw it as a threat, or monsters who wanted to gatekeep the knowledge.”  

Buff Frog nodded, satisfied with her answer. Ludo just rolled his eyes.  

“Blah, blah, blah. Less talking and more teaching! I wanna be indestructible!”  

Ludo’s excitement was infectious, leading all of the monsters to begin clamoring.  

Tabelucontenta looked at her new class and smiled.  

Indexia  

Twelve-year-old Janna was walking home from school, her nose buried in a new witchcraft book she had just gotten. She was intrigued with the potions listed, especially the truth one.  

“Man, it would be hilarious if I could get Marco to drink that. Maybe he would finally confess his feelings to Jackie if I did.”  

She then sighed in disappointment.  

“Too bad this stuff isn’t real.”  

“Who says it isn’t?”  

Before she processed who had said that, Janna was facing the voice and had a can of pepper spray aimed at them.  

Then she took in who said it and began mentally checking to see if she somehow got some of Oscar’s stash.  

It was a small, floating, middle-aged woman with skin the color of wine and hair the color of blueberries. She had a slightly darker blue dress and white go-go boots. Her forehead had a heart-shaped crystal that was a grey color.  

“As cool as you look, I have no idea who you are or if you're real. I don’t know how I would be hallucinating you, but-“  

Janna was then cut off by a stream of cold water in the face, knocking the pepper spray out of her hand. As she sputtered and rubbed her eyes, she looked up at the smirking women pointing a hose at her.  

Janna’s expression turned murderous. “Give me one good reason not to make your life a living hell.”  

She shrugged as she dropped the hose to the ground.  

“I can give you three reasons, Janna. One, this proves that I am real and not a hallucination.”  

Janna paused as she processed that.  

“Fine, you're real. But weren’t there other ways of proving that?”  

“Sure, but this was the funniest for me.”  

As much as Janna wanted to bite her head off for that, she wasn’t going to.  

She had done similar things with the same logic too many times.  

“Anyway, the second reason is that I am older than your planet, and powerful enough to destroy and remake it with the snap of my finger. You're good at messing with people, but you are not in my league.”  

She then gave her a savage grin.  

“Besides, I’ve been to hell loads of times. I love it there.”  

That piqued Janna's interest.  

“You’ve been to hell? What’s it like? How can I get there? Are there any hot demon princesses I can get with?”  

The purple woman smirked at her.  

“I can answer those questions later. For now, let’s go to the third reason not to mess with me.”  

She then waved her hands, causing sparkling letters to appear around her.  

 “I am Lady Indexia, and I have chosen you to be my new student to learn the ways of gray magic.”  

Janna’s eyes lit up at the sound.  

“I don’t know what I need to do for your payment, but I will find a way. Money, blood, organs, unspeakable acts, name it, and I’ll get it done. Just teach me everything you know.”  

Indexia let out a small laugh at that.  

“Slow down there, Janna. I don’t want payment, I just want you to be a good student.”  

If anything, Janna’s smile got bigger.  

“This is officially the best day of my life! What do we need to do first so I can learn gray magic?”  

She then paused as she realized a very important question.  

“What is gray magic? I can get that there are different types, but what is gray magic specifically?”  

Indexia nodded as she turned and began to float toward Janna’s house. She motioned for Janna to follow, and she readily did.  

“Gray magic is more commonly called Alchemy, potion making, or something else like that. You find things with innate magic in them, chop off parts, mix them together, and use the concoction to have an effect based on what was used.”  

Janna's eyes flashed in understanding.  

“Like how several DND books I’ve read say that healing potions will use troll blood because of their regenerative abilities?”  

“Bingo. However, it doesn’t have to be animals. Plants and rocks can have innate magic, also. All that new age stuff you like? Most of that is grey magic, or would be if they were using things with innate magic. Want to predict the future? Make tarot cards from paper from a tree with innate magic geared towards knowledge or foresight. Those crystals you see used for healing or focusing? Imbued with either healing or mental magic. Herbal remedies? A mix of their natural healing abilities that are further amplified by their innate magic.”  

Janna’s smile then began to deflate a little.  

“How many inherently magical things are there on Earth? Or more accurately in Echo Creak? As cool as this is, I don’t think I would be able to go to some far away place to gather specific ingredients for this.”  

Indexia grinned as she pulled out a map of the United States from the air.  

“Well, good news for you. All magic in the universe comes from the magic dimension. It connects to worlds through permanent portals. These portals radiate the magic, which causes things around them to develop their own innate magic.  Some worlds have hundreds, while others have only one. Guess where Earth’s is?”  

Janna’s eyes brightened again as she leaned in to see that Echo Creak had a bright gold dot on it.  

“YES! Finally, something good about living in this boring town!”  

Indexia smiled again as she caused the map to disappear.  

“It’s not going to be boring for much longer. Especially if my family has anything to say about it.”  

Her smile then faltered a little.  

“I will have to warn you, this is both the easiest and hardest kind of magic to do. Easiest because all you need is something with a natural portal in it that is geared towards your goal. It doesn’t matter if or what kind of innate magic you have; literally anyone with the ability to follow the recipe can do it.  

“The hard part is that you still need to experiment to make the recipes in the first place. This can be dangerous, frustrating, and time-consuming. Think of making a recipe for food without knowing which plants and animals are actually safe for you to eat or how they actually taste. Even then, you need inherently magical things for it to work.”  

Janna stood up straight as they reached her front door.  

“I don’t care how hard it will be, I am not blowing this opportunity.”  

Indexia looked at her newest student and smiled.  

  Chapterra  

14-year-old Eclipsa sat in her tower facing Glossaryck with an exasperated expression.  

“Come on, Glossy, why can’t you show me dark magic? If the MHC and the nobles are all against it, then it has to be good.”  

Glossaryck shook his head.  

“Nope. There is a good reason for them all to hate it. They might all be jerks, bigots, and tightwads, but that doesn’t mean they are wrong about this. Also, I don’t teach dark magic. My sister does that.”  

Eclipsa rolled her eyes.  

“Sure, take their side. What’s so wrong about-“  

She stopped and turned to Glossaryck with a confused expression.  

“Did you say you have a sister?”  

He nodded. “Yep. Chapterra Owen, the teacher of dark magic. Anything and anything you want to learn about the subject, she can teach you.”  

Eclipsa immediately perked up at this.  

“Can I meet her?”  

“Sure thing, sugar.”  

Eclipsa whirled around and pointed her wand at the intruder in her tower, before lowering it as she recognized who it was. She might not have known Glossaryck had a sister, but the two were obviously related.  

She was a small, floating, grandmotherly woman with red skin. She wore a light blue floral dress and had flats on her feet. In the center of her forehead was an eye-shaped gem that looked like a piece of the night sky cut into the shape of an octagon.  

She bowed to Eclipsa before waving an arm and summoning glowing letters around herself.  

“Hello, Princess Eclipsa. I am Chapterra Owen, the teacher of dark magic. So you're interested in learning about it?”  

Eclipsa began nodding ecstatically before plopping herself on her bed and pulling out a notebook.  

Chapterra smiled slightly at the princess's enthusiasm.  

“All right then, let’s get started. The first thing to know is that while I teach Dark Magic, that doesn't mean I teach what you think of as dark magic.”  

As Eclipsa looked up in confusion, Chapterra continued.  

“Simply put, lots of people will label any kind of magic they don’t like for religious, ethical, moral, or whatever other justification they are using as dark magic even if it isn’t. For example, you can say scrying spells are dark magic because using magic to look at people without them knowing about it can be considered morally dark.”  

“Like how Mother’s book of monsters and people categorizes the monster species and non-monster species based on personal biases and political reasons rather than biology? Having the waterfolk being ‘people’ despite them not being that different from certain types of monsters, for example.”  

Chapterra pulled out a bell and rang it.  

“Correct! Now that we've got that out of the way, do you know about light magic? This is important to know for learning about dark magic.”  

Eclipsa nodded. “Globgor told me about it. I tried to talk to mother about it, but she insists that what the monster is using is different from ‘real magic.’”  

Chapterra shrugged.  

“She isn’t entirely wrong. The magic from the wand, the magic of the MHC and demons, the magic of the monsters, the magic of potion makers, and dark magic are all radically different in execution and method. They are all still magic, though.”  

She then shook her head.  

“We’re getting off topic. Now, as light magic is entirely about using the naturally occurring portal inside of you to do magic, and gray magic is about using the portals in other things to do magic, dark magic revolves around altering portals to change how the magic in a target works.  

“Think of it like this. A Frog Man wants to breathe fire and doesn’t have access to the components for grey magic; they can use dark magic to do it. The dark magic would forcibly increase the size of the portal and rip off enough of the filters to allow them to do it.”  

Eclipsa looked disturbed at that. “That doesn’t sound safe or healthy.”  

“It’s not. Even if it was a short-term one that would wear off after one use, it could still leave lingering health issues for a while. If it was designed to let them breathe fire permanently, it would lead to horrible physical and psychological side effects.  

“Given that all forms of magic will affect the caster as much as the target, the caster also has to look out for those. Dark magic side effects can be physical, magical, and mental on both the target and the caster, even if they are cast properly. If they aren’t, the effects can be a lot worse. The most common side effect for casters is scarring and discoloration of the hands and arms, which increases with repeated castings. Mental effects range from amplification of certain thoughts or traits motivating your casting, remembering things you had forgotten or having certain events wiped from them, or sometimes personality alteration.”  

Eclipsa gulped at this.  

“I’m beginning to see why people don’t like this. Have there been any successes in negating these side effects?”  

Chapterra nodded.  

“Yep, by Queen Solaria herself.”  

“WHAT!”  

Eclipsa was on her feet in an instant.  

“When was this? Why haven’t the MHC gotten mad at her for using dark magic to do this?”  

Chapterra gave Eclipsa a shrug.  

“Because I was supervising her the entire time. As for when, how do you think she made the Solarian warriors?  

“They were made using dark magic to increase their physical abilities and battle lust while also removing their conscience and stopping their aging. This was one of the more successful uses of dark magic on a large scale due to her incorporating the side effects into the spell itself. Even then, most of them will die as the magic consumes them from the inside. The only one who won’t die like this is Mina due to a combination of pre-existing mental issues related to the ones the spell was meant to induce, magical predisposition in her filters towards the physical changes, and getting the most magical medical care that helped smooth over the other issues due to being Solaria’s girl-toy.”  

Eclipsa groaned upon hearing that.  

“I don’t know what is worse! Thinking about mother’s love life or thinking about how much suffering has been caused by dark magic. At least it can’t get any worse”  

Chapterra patted Eclipsa on the head.  

“Don’t worry, it will when you hear about how it destroyed dimensions.”  

Eclipsa was already a pale girl, but the little color in her face drained out as she heard that.  

“What?”  

Chapterra backed up and summoned a globe in her hand.  

“Dimensions with magic aren’t just filled with things that can use magic. They ARE magical. The magic dimension connects to these worlds through wells, which are the world’s version of the portals that let light magic users do magic. This means that the very soil in some places is magical. If the world is old enough, or the wells strong enough, this can permeate through the whole world.  

“All you need is one badly aimed or designed dark magic spell, and…”  

The globe in Chapterra’s hand began to dissolve into dust. Eclipsa reached out a hand to catch some of it with a haunted look on her face.  

“That isn’t even the worst case scenario.”  

“IT’S NOT!”  

“Nope. Here is a fun question for you: What are portals made out of?”  

Just when Eclipsa thought she was as scared as she was capable of being, Chapterra found a way of raising the bar.  

“It can jump dimensions?”  

Glosseryck just sighed. “The largest outbreak took down nine dimensions before they were all sealed off by the MHC. If the magic dimension itself wasn’t so good at sealing its own portals to prevent dark magic from getting in, it would have been destroyed long ago. You would have to enter it and cast dark magic directly inside to do any damage, and even then, you would need either a lot of spell casters, be powerful, be patient, or all of the above.”  

At this point, Eclipsa found herself collapsed on her bed, staring at the ceiling in despair.  

“Is there anything good from Dark Magic?”  

Chapterra nodded.  

“Sure there is. At its core, it’s about altering the connection to the magic dimension and the filters on that connection. If you're careful and use it responsibly, it can be a massive help. Dark magic is your best bet for getting rid of curses. Dark Magic is your best friend when fighting magical creatures. Dark Magic is the most effective way of treating creatures with detrimental magical effects.  

“It is a dangerous tool when abused, but with the right guidance, it can help a lot of people. That is why I am here, to provide you with the guidance.”  

Eclipsa looked up at the grandmother, smiling at the small imp she was giving her, and returned it with her own.  

“Thanks. If you're still interested, I would love to have some lessons with you. Just not tonight, this has been very overwhelming, and I need some sleep.”  

“Understood. I’ll show up tomorrow at 9.”  

With that, Chapterra disappeared.  

Footnotryck  

Tom sat in his chair, petting his emotional support bunny and taking deep breaths. A picture of him and Star when they were dating sat to his side. Eventually, he got calm enough to look at it again.  

“I’m going to get you back, Star. I don’t know how, but I will.”  

A knocking on his door woke him from his brooding.  

“Come in.”  

The door then opened, leading to his dad walking in, followed by a strange figure.  

He was a small, floating, young man who looked like a carrot due to his orange skin and the tuft of green hair on the top of his head. Add in his purple t-shirt, yellow shorts, and green sneakers, and it painted a picture of someone who didn’t take their job seriously. The only formal thing about him was the crescent jewel in his head with a rainbow of colors.  

“Hi Dad, who’s that?”  

King Dave smiled at his son.  

“Hi Tom. I know you’ve been in a bit of a rut since things went bad with Star, but I found someone who can help. He’s an expert on demonic magic, demonic psychology, and how those two fields overlap.”  

Tom looked at the carrot man skeptically.  

“Please tell me he isn’t here right now and that the weirdo next to you is the new jester.”  

The figure laughed before waving his arm.  

“No Tom, I am Mr. Footnotryck, the teacher of rainbow magic.”  

He then gave King Dave a look.  

“It’s a broader topic than demonic magic and psychology, but there is overlap.”  

He then floated over to Tom and held out a hand to shake.  

“I’m here to help you become the best magic user you can be, which also has the side effect of you becoming a better person most of the time.”  

That made Tom sit up and pay attention.  

“Does that mean you can help Star and me get back together?”  

Footnotryck shrugged.  

“No idea, but I can help you with your anger issues. Given that’s one of the reasons the two of you broke up-“  

“I’m in. What do you want me to do?”  

Footnotryck chuckled upon hearing that and snapped his fingers, forming a blackboard behind him.  

“Let’s start with establishing what Rainbow magic is compared to other kinds. You do know about those? Light, Grey, and Dark?”  

With Tom’s nodding, Footnotryck began drawing on the board as he talked.  

“Rainbow magic is the most debated and controversial type of magic. People argue whether it should be one large category or be split into two or more smaller ones. That’s part of the reason it’s called Rainbow Magic.  

“Well, that and to fit in with the color theme.”  

He then drew a picture of himself, Glossaryck, three other similar figures, the entire MHC, and a giraffe man on the board. “With Light magic, the creature has only one small portal with the filters? For Rainbow Magic, the creature IS the portal. The best examples of this are me, my siblings, and the MHC.”  

Looking at the picture, Tom realized how similar he was to Glossaryck.  

“Wait, you're that weird little blue guy’s brother?”  

Footnotryck sighed in annoyance.  

“Yes, I am. I know he can be a jerk, but can we leave the family drama out of this until we have no other choice? We have a lot of ground to cover, and not much time to do it in.  

“Now, with Light Magic, the bigger the portal, the more magic they can draw and the more powerful they are. That holds true for rainbow magic, which is half the reason most are so powerful. The other half is that since we’re portals in physical form, we don’t have the biological issues from overusing our magic. This means we can keep using our powers without being exhausted or hurting ourselves. Though there are a few exceptions to this, that isn’t relevant to this discussion.”  

King Dave politely coughed, reminding everyone that he was still in the room.  

“Excuse me? While this is interesting, how does any of this relate to Tom’s magic or anger issues?”  

Tom found himself nodding along with his dad’s question.  

“I’m getting there, guys. Be patient. Now, when someone with a portal in them dies, the portal leaves the body and follows the soul to its final destination. These spirits are the dollar meal compared to the MHC 5-star meal of rainbow magic.”  

Tom snapped his fingers as he got it.  

“And demons have hundreds of thousands of those things inside of them. Meaning that when we use demonic magic, we’re drawing on their power!”  

“Correct! When you take into account the vast diversity of the souls within a demon, and how each one has different filters, demonic magic can be incredibly diverse in its execution.”  

He then erased the board and drew a bunch of little ghosts with different expressions on their faces inside a silhouette of Tom.  

“The second biggest downside of this is that the portal sizes can’t be increased like living light magic creature portals can be though exercise. Their only option to grow in power is to draw in more souls, which is where the stereotype of demons and devils bargaining for mortal souls comes from.  

Dave nodded along while Tom raised his hand. “You said that’s the second biggest downside. What’s the biggest?”  

Footnotryck then pointed at the different expressions on the souls on his picture.  

“The single biggest downside to drawing on the power of souls (or honestly any rainbow creature) is that you get a glimpse into the soul’s emotions. When you consider that most souls only really remember a few events from their life that always include how they die, you can see how that might negatively impact their mental health.”  

Both Dave and Tom looked at the picture in shock.  

“So the reason I’m so mad is because every time I use my magic, I literally feel the rage of a thousand tortured souls.”  

“Or sad, or scared, or whatever other emotion they are feeling.”  

Footnotryck’s explanation didn’t do much to help calm Tom down, leading to Dave walking over and patting him on the shoulder.  

“Hey, look on the bright side. Now that we understand this, we can take steps to help you manage these feelings. You just need to cut down on your magic use in the meantime.”  

He then turned to Footnotryck.  

“Is there a way to map which souls Tom is drawing from? Or which ones he draws power from for his spells? Maybe we can fiddle with those so that the emotions he feels balance out. Like, one angry with one sad equals no emotional change?”  

Their teacher nodded.  

“It’s not an exact science, and it will take a lot of trial, error, and psychological help. However, it can be done. We can also look into you trading your souls with other demons to adjust the emotions. However, we have to be careful about that. This isn’t like trading cards; these things have a direct impact on your physical, mental, emotional, and magical well-being. Not to mention, you might be weaker as a result.”  

Tom took a deep breath and looked up at the strange being before him.  

“Well, let's get started. The sooner I get my head on straight, the sooner I can get Star to go to the Blood Moon Ball with me.”  

While Dave looked at Tom with worry, Footnotryck just smiled at him.  

Chapter Text

8: What is the Blood Moon?  

A red demon in a suit and powered wig stood behind a podium at the front of the Blood Moon Hall. He tapped his microphone a few times to get everyone's attention before speaking.  

“Good evening, ladies and gentledemons. It is my pleasure that I request you now to turn your heads skyward.”  

Star looked up, seeing a massive stone circle in the ceiling with a handprint on it. The hand then slightly pushed out of the circle before its palm opened up to reveal a crescent jewel in the shape of a crescent moon in the center.  

“When the light of the blood moon dribbles down and selects two lucky souls, binding them together in its hypnotic, ruby brodum.”  

Star’s eyes sparkled in wonder as she took in the wondrous sight and the speaker’s beautiful words.  

The organ then began to play, signaling the couples to dance. The dozens of demons in the hall paired up and began to waltz, apart from two.  

“Ugh! That’s the wrong piece of music! This is gonna drive me crazy. Alright, don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back.”  

He then turned and rushed towards the organ.  

“Okay.”  

Star sighed as she walked around the ballroom with her eyes on the ceiling, wondering whether this was a good idea.  

It was nice to get dressed up like this, and the ceiling thing was neat. But Tom really hadn’t changed that much.  

He might have better control over his anger, but he still wanted control over everything around him. Things were either his way or else.  

She contemplated just giving up and going home when someone grabbed her hand and pulled her into his arms.  

Just then, a bright red light shone on the pair from the ceiling while a hunting piano melody played.  

Star looked at the handsome stranger for the first time and found herself captivated.  

He wore a striking black suit with gold trim over a white dress shirt accessorized with a red tie. His face was covered by a skull mask decorated with intricate and colorful designs. On his head sat a large, red sombrero.  

Before Star knew it, the two of them were dancing. It was a beautiful waltz, but nothing like the ones she had done at the Silver Bell balls. This was as if she and the boy were one. Every step was made as if they were a pair. Every move of their hands was known before they made it. It was less like two people dancing and more like a single person.  

The two glided across the open ballroom floor, the other dancers stopping to stare at them as they did so. All looked upon the beauty of the dance and smiled.  

Save one angry demon prince.  

In one universe, He rushed over to break the couple up. But here, a stubby demon stuck out his foot to trip him as he passed.  

“You already ruined this ball for all of us, you're not ruining it for them.”  

As Tom turned to glare at the demon that dared trip him, Marco decided to tell Star who he was.  

“Marco?! What are you doing here?”  

“Let’s get out of here. This place is the worst.”  

Star’s look of shock shifted to annoyance as they continued dancing.  

“We’ll have words about this later, Marco, but I am going to stay a little longer. I at least owe Tom a dance after this one.”  

Marco and Star returned to their starting position as the ceiling closed and the room's lighting returned to normal.  

A loud explosion broke the quiet moments as the room was filled with dozens of flaming geysers.  

Marco spun around just in time to see a demon being thrown at him, and they both fell to the floor in a heap. As Marco dizzily lifted his head to see what was happening, he saw Tom stomping forward, his eyes consumed with fire.  

“That. Dance. Was. Meant. For. ME!”  

The demon on top of Marco quickly scurried out of the way, leaving Marco alone as an angry demonic prince closed in on him with a massive fireball.  

Yet despite being consumed with fear, he felt a calm certainty that he wouldn’t get the chance to hurt him.  

This was proven correct as Star froze Tom in a large block of ice.  

She then strode towards Marco with a blank expression, stopping only to change Tom’s button to “0 days anger free.”  

“Let’s go, Marco.”  

With that, the two teens walked to the same elevator, though Star refused to meet Marco’s gaze the entire trip home.  

Once they returned to the balcony from which they departed, Star let her inner turmoil spill out.  

“Ugh! So infuriating.”  

Marco looked at Star with a confused expression.  

“This isn’t about Tom, is it?”  

Star rounded on him, shoving a finger in his face.  

“No! You! You’re infuriating! You don’t trust me to do things by myself. I’m 14, I can handle a demon.”  

She then walked over to the balcony before leaning over it. Marco looked at her with a look of understanding.  

“I’m sorry for that. I tried to be a hero when you needed a friend.”  

Star nodded as Marco walked over and joined her on the balcony.  

“And looking back, the party wasn’t as lame as I thought. That red light thing was pretty.”  

Star chuckled at that. “Yeah, and now I know you can dance.”  

She then grabbed Marco’s sombrero off his head and plopped it on her own. The two then noticed Marco’s pushed-down hair.  

“ Hat hair… Whoa! We both said-!.. The same thing!.. Okay. Stop That.”  

This exchange ended with Marco clamping his mouth shut and Star pointing her wand at him.  

“Ok, what was that?”  

Star slowly lowered her wand.  

“I have no idea.”  

Her eyes widened when she realized something else.  

“Um, Marco? Are you feeling puckish for nachos with extra paprika and chili powder?”  

Marco nodded with a confused expression that soon shifted to surprise.  

“And you want to add some extra cinnamon to them.”  

The two teens looked at each other without saying anything for a full minute before they turned and rushed towards the Book of Spells.  

“ GLOSSARYCK!”  

As soon as the book was thrown open, they saw the little blue man sitting in an easy chair and reading a book.  

“Yes, Star? What is this about?”  

“ME AND STAR/MARCO WENT TO THE BLOOD MOON BALL AND DANCED UNDER A BRIGHT RED LIGHT! NOW WE’RE TALKING IN UNISON AND KNOW WHAT CRAVINGS AND FEELINGS THE OTHER IS HAVING! WHAT IS GOING ON?”  

Glossaryck’s only reaction to having the pair of twins talk in perfect unison was to turn the page of his book.  

“Yeah, that’s what happens when you dance under the Blood Moon’s light. Next time you go to a demonic party, do a little research first.”  

Marco immediately grabbed Glossaryck and pulled him close to his face.  

“What did that moon do to us?!”  

Glossaryck leveled an annoyed look at the boy before sighing.  

“If you let me go, I can explain it.”  

Desperate for answers, the boy let him go. Glossaryck then floated a little distance away before he began to speak.  

“Ok, let's go into my eyeball.”  

He then pulled apart his eyelids as he closed in on the two kids. Before they knew it, all three of them were standing in a field before a wedding. Standing at the altar were two demons in royal finery. Above then shown the blood moon.  

“A million years ago, King Adam Lucifer the First and his wife Lilith got married under the blood moon. Those two were so in love with each other that it was sickening to watch. Seriously, they couldn’t go two minutes without touching each other, saying sappy things, pining for the other, you get the idea.”  

Star cooed at how adorable the pair looked while Gossaryck continued.  

“They were both incredibly powerful magic users, with Lilith being incredibly talented in prophecy and Adam being really good at spirit manipulation. In addition, their union helped signify the founding of the underworld as a single nation rather than the patchwork of nations, tribes, clans, duchies, and the like it had been for the previous few eons.”  

The couple kissed and began walking down the aisle hand in hand.  

“But some people didn’t want that age to end and took action.”  

Stan and Marco then saw a crossbow peak out of a nearby bush and point at the happy couple.  

“No!” Star leaped forward and formed a magical shield between the couple and the assassin.  

Unfortunately, this was an illusion of what had come before, and there was no magical princess then to avert disaster.  

The arrow flew true through Star and her shield like they weren’t there.  

It neared the king, primed to pierce his heart.  

Only for his new queen to shove him out of the way and take the arrow herself.  

Adam looked up in shock and horror as the woman he loved fell into his arms. As his guards leaped after the assassin, he sat there holding his wife as his hands glowed white.  

“Adam tried everything in his power to save her life, but the wound was too great.”  

Lilith gave him one last smile before she closed her eyes for the last time. Adam howled to the sky in despair, his voice wracked with such pain and remorse that even the stoic Glossaryck shed a tear.  

“In his grief of losing his love, desperation to keep her around, and desire to prevent this from ever happening again, he did something drastic.”  

Adam’s hand was then aflame with purple fire, which he then plunged into her still chest. He pulled it out, holding a golden ball of light.  

“He prevented her soul from moving to the afterlife and attempted to bind it to a physical object in this world.”  

Adam then held the light to his crown, which promptly turned to dust. He looked at the ash with a tear-filled face in confusion and then despair.  

“Unfortunately, her soul was strong enough that most physical objects couldn’t contain it without being destroyed.”  

Adam then looked up at the beautiful moon before looking back at the soul. He then held his hand up and let the soul fly into the sky.  

“So he fused it with the moon itself.”  

Marco and Star looked up at the moon in awe, which soon glowed as brightly as the sun for a few seconds before returning to normal. The scene then faded away before shifting to show Adam wandering through a castle.  

“Over the next 667 years, Adam did his best to take care of the kingdom he and his love built together.“  

Marco's head snapped towards Glossaryck in confusion.  

“Wait, how long?”  

Star shrugged.  

“Demons have ridiculously long life spans. Tom’s mom is 1000 years old.”  

Glossaryck nodded as he returned to his story.  

“During all that time, he never remarried. Several nobles tried to broach the topic with him, especially since they wanted to make sure his royal line continued, or new alliances formed. Unfortunately, he was still grieving Lilith.”  

King Adam soon sat down at a table, where another demon was sitting and reading a book.  

“The only thing he did besides run the kingdom was hang out with a friend of Lilith, her lady in waiting, Eve.”  

When Eve put down the book and began talking to Adam, he began to smile again. The first time the teens saw him do so since he lost Lilith.  

“Centuries passed, and the two grew closer. Though both of them still felt the specter of Lilith between them.”  

A montage occurred of the pair reading, taking walks in a garden, having meals together, and watching a play.  

“Eventually, the Blood Moon occurred again.”  

The montage shifted to a familiar scene. A party in a stone ballroom with a ceiling bearing a massive stone circle with a handprint on it.  

“Adam had this commissioned to better show off his love’s light. When it came time to dance, the only one Adam felt like doing so with was Eve.”  

The two then took each other’s hands and were bathed in the light of the blood moon. Haunting music began to play that struck a chord in the teens as they watched the couple from ages past dance like no one was watching.  

“Turns out binding the soul of a powerful demon to the moon has side effects.”  

Soon, the dance ended. As the light faded away, the two dancers shared a kiss.  

“Lilith was giving her approval.”  

Glossaryck nodded at Marco’s statement.  

“More than that. It made sure that what happened to her and Adam wouldn’t occur again. She gave them several supernatural gifts to ensure that they wouldn’t meet her own fate.”  

The scene then changed to another wedding, this time between Adam and Eve.  

“In a decade, the two were married. The pair ruled together for 600 years before dying of natural causes. Everyone thought that would be the end of Lilith.  

“But with her soul permanently bound to the moon, Lilith had other plans.”  

The scene changed to the Blood Moon Ballroom once again. This time, a young man stood at the head, a crown on his head.  

“Adam and Eve’s son, King Cain, decided to continue the tradition of the Blood Moon Ball to honor his parents. No one expected a repeat performance. But one did occur.”  

The light shone down again, this time on a pair of Ponyheads in the audience.  

“Lilith had found another pair to bless—a princess of the cloud kingdom and her lower-class boyfriend. The nobles didn’t approve and tried multiple times to remove them both. But Lilith’s gift kept them both safe.”  

The scene changes to another Blood Moon Ball. And then another, and another, and another.  

“Every 667 years, when the Blood Moon was in the sky, Lilith followed the same pattern. Find the pair who love each other and were in the greatest danger, and bless them so they would be safe.”  

Star and Marco looked at Glossaryck in shock before awkwardly looking at each other and scooting a few inches away.  

“Um, Glossaryck? I don’t know how to say this-“  

“I do. We’re not dating! As much as I don’t want to call him ‘just’ anything, Marco is JUST my friend.”  

Marco nodded along.  

“Yeah, and I’m in love with Jackie.”  

Glosseryck rolled his eyes at the teens.  

“You do know there’s more than one kind of love, right? The Blood Moon doesn’t just protect those who want to kiss each other. It protects parents and kids, siblings, and friends just as much as it protects love bugs. It’s just the love bugs that get the most press in the stories.”  

Star and Marco calmed down upon hearing that.  

“Ok then. So, what kind of protection does the Blood Moon offer?”  

Glosseryck snapped his fingers, revealing a pair of people fishing together on the shores of a mustard lake.  

“There are three gifts that come from this. First, and what you have already discovered, an empathic bond.”  

The couple sat fishing when one suddenly reached into their pocket and pulled out a tissue, handing it to the other just as they sneezed. The sneezer took it with a smile and a thanks before wiping their nose.  

“This isn’t mind control or invasive, this just means that if you want, you can sense and share each other's emotions. Such as being annoyed, why the other is annoyed, and what kind of foods the other wants to eat.  

“But just to repeat myself, you can block each other out of your mind either entirely or partially, if you want. It just takes practice.”  

Both kids sighed in relief at hearing that. There were definitely things both wanted to keep private.  

The scenery changed once again, showing two different people miles apart. One was walking down a forested path in the rain, while the other was sitting in a castle, looking worriedly at the weather. The castle one suddenly perked up and began running in a panic, while the other barely dodged a falling tree before ducking into a cave.  

“Second is a danger sense tied to the other. If one is in any form of danger, the other will always know where and what kind of danger they are in. This can be combined with the empathic ability to know where each other is and how they are doing or feeling, for better or worse.”  

“But only if we want to?”  

With Glossaryck’s nod, both teens sighed in relief again.  

“Not gonna lie, that sounds like it could be useful if Ludo tries to attack us separately.”  

With Star’s nod, the trio returned to Star’s room.  

“And with that, I think it’s time for me to go to bed.”  

As he floated in the direction of his book, Marco ran around and put himself between the two.  

“Wait! You didn’t say what the third gift was.”  

Glosserick shrugged at the boy.  

“That’s for you to discover on your own. You’ll figure it all out in time. When you do, come to me, and I will help you master it. But until then, telling you will just make it harder for you two to tap into it. Now, if there’s nothing else, I would like to go to bed.”  

One quick teleportation to the book and a harsh ‘Goodnight’ later, Star and Marco were alone in her room.  

“Well, that was fun.”  

Marco nodded, his head feeling full of all the info Glossaryck had dumped onto him.  

As the silence reigned across the room, the sound of two rumbling stomachs caught both their attention.  

“Nachos?”  

“Yes, please.”  

Chapter Text

9: Royally Screwed

-the morning-  

BLEGH  

Star was a mess. The first time she woke up on her own in time to get ready for school, it was to throw up in the toilet. This was the third time this week!  

“Are you ok, Star?”  

She waved him off as she stood up and flushed it.  

“Yeah, I’m just realizing I should not have eaten two servings of dessert last night. Give me a minute to change.”  

Marco nodded at her as he continued to brush his teeth and hair while she returned to her room. After a few minutes, a flash of light and a squeal of surprise emanated from under her door. Star immediately rushed in with her now flaming PJs and threw them in the shower before turning it on. When she was sure the fire was out, she sighed in relief.  

“What happened?”  

Star shrugged her shoulders at Marco’s question.  

“I don’t know, I touched my wand, and the crystal glowed before casting a spell all on its own. I didn’t even think about casting one. It was like the wand had a mind of it’s-“  

Before either of them knew what was going on, another beam of light emerged from the wand, trapping Marco in a crystal.  

“Marco! Don’t worry, I’ll-“  

As she started to raise her wand to blast the crystals away, she swiftly lowered it.  

“No, let’s try the non-magical way first. I don’t know what is going on with the wand, but I’m not risking setting you on fire.”  

She then rushed towards her room and pulled out her entire collection of weapons. She then proceeded to spend the next thirty minutes trying to chip him out with no success. Every weapon rebounded with no effect, with several shattering upon impact.  

“Ok, wand, you better not hurt him.”  

With trepidation, she raised her wand and pointed it at Marco.  

“Crystal Eating Goat Beam!”  

The face of her wand glowed before a rainbow beam with the head of a goat on the front shot forth and spun around Marco’s crystal prison. In seconds, he was free.  

“Marco! Are you ok? I’m so sorry about that.”  

Marco gave her a thumbs-up.  

“It’s fine, Star. Just, maybe you should avoid using your wand for a bit until we can figure out what is going on.”  

He then looked up at the clock and began to panic.  

“Oh No! I’m gonna be late!”  

-The Realm of Time-  

Star and Marco frantically looked around the plane of time for Father Time. Unfortunately, they lost him after he jumped the river. Both frantically looked around for anything that could hint at where the ancient being had gone.  

“I think he went over there!”  

Star pointed at a large building that looked like a library. Marco briefly wondered what it was doing here, but it was far from the weirdest thing he had seen with Star. Since it was the only thing around that could be used for hiding, the two immediately rushed forward hoping to find Father Time.  

Once they stepped inside the building, they were both brought up short. Every inch of the walls were covered with TV screens. Each screen showed a different scene from hundreds of different worlds. Based on the Earth ones, Marco gathered they were all images of the past.  

Star immediately walked deeper into the building, looking for any images of Mewni. After crossing some invisible line, a panel in the ceiling opened up, and a long, fleshy tendril with wires embedded emerged. It descended until it stopped directly in front of Star before the end opened, revealing a large eye.  

The two stared at each other briefly before the eye closed. The screens on the walls then changed from displaying scenes of the universe's history to scenes of Star Butterfly’s personal history.  

“It… It’s me.”  

Star watched with great enjoyment as her entire life played out before her. Baby Star playing with blocks and a toy monster. Toddler Star taking a carriage for a joy ride while River chased after her in a panic. Kindergarten Star learning sword fighting with a guardsman. 1 st grade Star and Ponyhead stealing treasure from some monsters. 2 nd grade Star enjoying fireworks from the top of the castle towers. 13-year-old Star and Pony Head in their “cool” phase. Star jumping onto the back of a wild unicorn before riding it into her wand-ceremony.  

“Watching me is fun!”  

The scene then changed to Star sitting on her bed, lazily reading a book titled ‘Mewberty and you.’ Past-Star was half-heartedly flipping through the pages, her expression making it clear that she wanted to be anywhere else but there.  

“‘It is very important to avoid being in enclosed spaces with the opposite sex once the mewberty transformation has begun.’”  

Star’s next words immediately grabbed the attention of both teens watching.  

“And if you experience nausea, combined with random bursts of magical energy or unplanned spell-casting, you are – bored. I’m bored.”  

The image of Star then tossed the book behind her, where the screen made a point of showing it slide between the wall and bed.  

The screen then showed a few more scenes of events that had occurred between then and now, but Marco and Star were still thinking about that book.  

“Star, those symptoms. Those are the exact things happening to you.”  

She nodded. “Yeah, as soon as we get Father Time back, we need to find that book.”  

As Marco nodded, the eye moved forward and looked at him. The screens then filled with images of him nodding at Jackie throughout his life.  

-After School-  

Star and Marco walked back into their house filled with trepidation. While Marco talking to Jackie was a point of celebration and pride, the rest of the day was still a low point.  

Every time Star touched her wand, there was a chance for a random spell to be fired off. They were able to play it off as normal Star things, but it got so bad that she had to keep her wand in her backpack for most of the school day. This, combined with the book shown in the Realm of Time, kept the kids on edge.  

What were the throwing-up and random magic-burst symptoms of? And how did it tie to mewberty?  

The pair rushed to Star’s room as soon as they got home. Star immediately began rummaging under her bed, handing the things she found to Marco as she searched. After 10 minutes of pulling random stuff out, she found the book.  

“Okay, let’s see what this book thinks is going on with me.”  

After brushing off the dust that had gathered on the cover from being left under the bed for so long, she began flipping through the pages. She hoped that something would jump out at her, letting her know what to look at so she wouldn’t have to read the whole thing. Luckily, she found it at the end of Chapter 3, "Precautions."  

“Found it!”  

Marco sighed in a mix of relief and trepidation.  

“Great, what does it say?”  

“Hey, I meant I found the section that looks familiar. I still need to read it. Let’s see…”  

After a minute of the most thorough reading of a non-fiction book in Star’s life, she found the relevant passage.  

“And if you experience nausea, combined with random bursts of magical energy or unplanned spell-casting, you are…pregnant.”  

As the words left Star’s lips, it was as if the world came crashing down on them. In her shock, Star let the book fall to the floor. She didn’t notice, but Marco immediately raced forward and began reading it.  

“No, it can’t be. You probably misread it.”  

As Marco’s words reached her ears, Star began nodding along eagerly.  

“Yeah, you're right. There must be some other explanation.”  

She continued to give Marco a strained smile as he meticulously read the book. Unfortunately for both of them, the words there only continued to confirm their fears. After five minutes of reading the book, Marco threw it against the wall in a panic.  

“This could be a false positive. Those happen all the time. Diet, stress, and certain diseases can all mimic symptoms of pregnancy. We just need a few pregnancy tests. I’ll just use the dimensional scissors and go to one in New York and-“  

“No need.”  

“AAAHHH!”  

“AAAHHH!”  

Both Star and Marco rounded on Glossaryck as he spoke. He regarded both calmly, uncaring of the danger he was in. When the kids realized who spoke up, they calmed down slightly before panicking again.  

“Glossaryck! What are you doing out of your book?”  

Glossaryck gave Star a smile.  

“I’m your magic teacher. This is a good opportunity to teach you a spell. The ‘pregnancy test’ spell. It’s earlier than I usually teach princesses, but these things happen.”  

Star’s face fluctuated between horror, relief, surprise, and a dozen other emotions she couldn’t identify.  

“Why would I need-“  

Glossaryck stopped her with a flat look.  

“Star, I’m an all-knowing being who has been hanging around princesses throughout their teenage years for centuries. I know what happened last month, and I don’t care.”  

This did little for Star’s emotions, but Marco latched onto the lesson Glossaryck mentioned.  

“So the spell?”  

Glossaryck nodded. “Yes, it’s simple. Just hold your wand in front of you with both hands, make a small circle over your belly with the head of the wand, and say ‘pregnancy check.’ Perform this three times, and the crystal will change to either red, blue, or pink. If it turns red, you're not pregnant. If it’s blue or pink, you are, and that’s the baby's gender.”  

Star dumbly nodded as she picked up her wand. Marco maneuvered himself to her side to keep himself out of the line of fire. He wanted to be close enough to support her, but also didn’t trust that the spell wouldn’t malfunction again like everything else had for her.  

Star took a deep breath and performed the spell Glossaryck mentioned. The words spilled out of her throat even as her entire being held its breath.  

After the third circle, the crystal glowed pink.  

“You're pregnant.”  

Star couldn’t believe her eyes.  

“I’m pregnant.”  

She found herself lying against the side of her bed with Marco by her side. Both stared at the wall before them with dumbfounded expressions.  

“I’m gonna have a baby.”  

“I’m gonna be a dad.”  

Despite saying these words, neither teen had fully processed what they were saying. The enormity of the statements rang in their heads, drowning out the capability to do anything else but stare at the wall and contemplate.  

After five minutes, Star finally managed to get a coherent thought out.  

“What am I going to do?”  

As she began to cry, Marco laid a hand absentmindedly on her shoulder.  

“I don’t know Star. I got decent marks in family studies at school, but there’s a world of difference between that and actually taking care of a baby. Not to mention, I have no idea how to tell my parents about this.”  

As he said those words, Star was struck by realization as she rocketed to her feet.  

“Marco! We can’t tell my parents!”  

Marco shook his head. “I know you're worried, Star, but this is bigger than we can handle on our own.”  

“No, you don’t understand! Mewnin law states that they have to banish me and kill the baby!”  

Marco’s eyes widened in shock upon hearing this. When he turned to Glossaryck for confirmation, he nodded.  

“When the first queen founded the kingdom, she introduced the seven ‘First Laws.’ One of those states that if a mewman princess becomes pregnant out of wedlock, she will be banished from the kingdom forever and removed from all records. The child will then be executed after it is born.”  

Marco looked at the blue imp in horror. He had only met the king, but he didn’t seem the kind to support this. Like he was reading his mind, Glossaryck continued.  

“It doesn’t matter if you can convince the parents otherwise, the nobles and peasants will demand that it is carried out. The ‘First Laws’ are considered the bedrock upon which the kingdom is made, and even suggesting that they should be ignored or altered will get an angry mob after you faster than kicking a puppy on live TV.”  

Star had stopped crying enough to add her own opinion to the matter.  

“I might be able to get dad on my side, but mom will never break a law. Especially one of the First Laws.”  

She hugged herself tightly and pressed herself under the bed, hiding herself from the world. Marco gulped and sat down on top of the bed.  

“Ok, I hate to suggest this, but… given how young we are and what will happen… maybe we can find a doctor who can… take care of it?”  

The silence that rang out after that was as painful to Marco as what he had just said. He got Star pregnant, and now he was asking her to abort it! He was 14, and he wasn’t supposed to think about this stuff except in a theoretical sense!  

Eventually, Star spoke up again.  

“I can’t. I’m scared of being a mom, but I’m somehow more scared of losing it.”  

Marco was prepared to accept this when Glossaryck spoke up again.  

“Plus, you couldn’t if you tried.”  

Star peeped up from under the bed at him, and Marco shot him a puzzled expression.  

“Mewnian princesses and queens don’t get pregnant like other females do. The babies develop in the magic dimension, where all magic in the universe comes from. When it’s time to give birth, you’ll have contractions like normal. But instead of pushing the kid out of yourself, a little portal will appear for the kid to pop out of.  

“Due to this, there is no way to abort the baby. There was even a queen who was killed while 8 months pregnant, and the corpse gave birth a month later to a healthy princess!”  

Marco didn’t like the imagery of that last statement, but he could see his point. Star began to remember some things her mother had mentioned and got a desperate idea.  

“Why don’t we just keep the kid a secret?”  

As Marco turned to her, she began to explain more.  

“Due to how the pregnancy works, I will never get a large belly. If we don’t tell anyone anything, no one will ever have to know!”  

Marco frowned at her.  

“Star, we can’t just pretend this isn’t happening. They’ll find out eventually.”  

Star sighed. “I know Marco, but this will give us time to figure out how to handle this without me getting banished or my baby getting executed.”  

She turned to Marco with her eyes wide.  

“Please, Marco. I don’t know what else to do! We can’t let her die!”  

Marco’s eyes darted down to her belly. He was still processing all this, but he was sure of a few things. Chief among them was that he needed to protect his and Star’s daughter. The second of which was that Glossaryck also knew.  

He turned to the blue man.  

“Will you tell them?”  

“Why would I? My job is to teach Star magic, not babysitting her or telling her how to live her life. The baby is none of my business.”  

Glossereck turned to Star.  

“If you put effort into our lessons, I’ll pass this along to your parents and say that you're doing better learning here on Earth than you were on Mewni. That should help convince them to leave you alone.”  

Star moved so fast that it seemed like she teleported to Glossaryck’s side as she hugged him.  

“Thank you, Glossaryck! I promise I’ll be the best student you’ve ever had!”  

Glosseryck rolled his eyes at this. While that was happening, Marco raised a hand.  

“Can you get me some Mewmin law books? I’ll take a look through them and see if I can find anything that can help us.”  

Glossaryck nodded.  

“Sure thing, kid. Well, I’ll start getting my lesson plan written up in the book. While I do that, why don’t the two of you talk about all this?”  

In a flash of light, Glossaryck was gone. All that was in the room were the teens who had just found out they were going to be parents.  

Chapter Text

10. Queen Star, too young by far

Star stood behind Eclipsa as the former knelt before a giant crater. The same crater where her beloved daughter, Meteora, once stood before she was forced to use ‘Black Velvet Inferno’ on her to stop the senseless rampage.  

“Eclipsa, you… You saved us.”  

Eclipsa turned quickly, looking at Star with surprise as she realized who was behind her.  

“Star? Well, thank you for letting me borrow this.”  

She then handed the wand back to Star. Star looked at the wand as multiple conflicting emotions raced through her head. Her eyes moved to find Meteora’s torn dress at the bottom of the crater. All that was left of a victim of her family’s actions and the MHC.  

Star took a deep breath before gently pushing the wand towards Eclipsa and kneeling before her.  

“No. Keep it. This wand was yours. It belongs to you. Things haven’t been right since my family took the kingdom. The best thing I can do as queen is return what my family stole from you.”  

As Eclipsa looked at Star in surprise, a soft crying sound echoed from the crater. Eclipsa stood up and walked down into it, leaving her wand behind on the ground.  

“Ummm?”  

Star looked at her and the dress the sound emanating from in confusion. Eclipsa knelt before the dress and reached inside.  

She then pulled out Meteora, not as the villain that destroyed the kingdom, but as the baby she was when Eclipsa last saw her. When she saw her mother holding her, she cooed happily, waving her arms around.  

“Hello there, little one.”  

Star’s brain shut down at the sight. She didn’t move from her position as the queen and baby walked towards her.  

As Eclipsa looked down at the princess, the acting-queen who offered her whole kingdom to her, she could only think of one thing to say.  

“Thank you, Star, but you can keep it.”  

Star looked up in shock as Eclipsa continued.  

“Your family didn’t take the kingdom from me. I left it three hundred years ago to build a family with my love. The MHC then gave it to Festivia. While I’m mad that they passed her off as my daughter, rewrote history, and inadvertently turned Meteora into that thing, none of that is the fault of you or your ancestors.  

“You didn’t steal anything from me, you simply saw what I left on the curb and brought it home.”  

She then curtseyed to Star.  

“What I’ve seen of you makes me believe that you’ll be a fine queen yourself. Or, acting queen until your mother returns. If you promise to give me and Meteora full pardons for all that has happened, and help me free my husband, I’ll sign whatever legal documents you need to make your reign fully legal and swear away any right I have to the crown or wand.”  

Star looked down at the wand, seeing it shift to her form as she picked it up.  

“Are you sure, Eclipsa?”  

She nodded.  

“I always hated being queen; the only bright spot was getting to do magic. But the only magic I want to learn about now is the magic of motherhood and love.”  

She then began walking out of the ruined castle.  

“I’ll be in the monster temple you threw your bash in if you need me!”  

With that, the queen of darkness walked out. The confused Star Butterfly looked after her as a blue figure scampered up to her.  

“Globgor! Globgor! Globgor!”  

-Later-  

 Star stood before the ruined castle, Marco and Tom flanking her. The annoying imp Glossaryck floated behind her, ignoring everything except his pudding cup. Crowding before her were all the people who were in the castle and the surrounding town when Meteora attacked.  

Star looked at her- her subjects and took a deep breath.  

“Meteora is defeated! Everyone she zapped has returned to normal. Now it’s time to rebuild, so let’s get to it!”  

The crowd looked at her in confusion as Star pointed at the buildings.  

“How are we going to do that?”  

Star’s arm limply fell to her side.  

“Um, ok then. Let’s get started by putting out all the fires. Get some buckets and form lines from the wells to the burning buildings.”  

The crowd still didn’t move from their spots.  

“Where are the buckets?”  

“Are the wells still standing?”  

Star groaned in annoyance as she buried her face in her hands.  

“Fine! Let’s find all the buckets, tools, and cleaning supplies we can and gather them here to distribute. While doing that, let’s find out how many wells are still operating and where they are relative to the burning buildings. Then we can start the bucket lines.”  

Star looked up, and a vein on her head popped out as she saw that the crowds were still there.  

“Moon would just wave her wand and fix everything.”  

“Yeah, why don’t you just use magic?”  

With that, the crowd devolved into people clamoring for Star to fix it and bringing up times when Moon did the same.  

“ENOUGH!”  

The crowd stilled as everyone turned to Star. Her chest heaved as she glared at the crowd through narrowed eyes.  

“Queen Moon isn’t here to fix all our problems now, I am! Now, I’m not going to magically fix all your problems like Mom did, but maybe that’s a good thing! When she was away during Ludo’s attack, the kingdom fell to an army of rats in a day! When Meteora took her out, no one stepped up to help me except a bunch of teenagers who don’t live in this dimension! The kitchen staff couldn’t even decide what to make for dinner without my input!  

“You can’t keep relying on one person to do everything for you! You are masons, blacksmiths, woodworkers, and more. You don’t need someone to wave a magic wand to fix this. All you need to do is get organized and be willing to put in the work.”  

The crowd shuffled around upon hearing that, feeling slightly ashamed at being called out like that. Star let them mull that over before she continued.  

“I swear, I’ll do everything in my power to find Moon and bring her back to be queen. But I won’t have time to do that if I’m forced to fix everything in the kingdom myself. That’s why I need the help of all my subjects and allies.  

“So I’ll ask again. Are you going to lie around and wait for someone else to fix things, or are you going to step up and help me rebuild our home?”  

Star hoped that the crowd would erupt into thunderous applause, but all she got was a sea of mumblings.   

“I do like the idea of building something again.”  

“When was the last time we put out a fire ourselves?”  

“What’s the point of writing menus if all we make is what the queen tells us to?”  

Star smiled at the scattered fragments of speech she heard from the crowd. After a minute, the townsfolk turned to her, showing Star a sea of smiles.  

“Thank you all for doing this. Now let’s get started! First up, gather every bucket you can and find every working well. We need to get these fires out!”  

The crowd quickly dispersed, heading out into the ruins to do as Star said. While they rushed to build the bucket brigades, Star turned to Tom and Marco.  

“Tom? I need you to assemble the team Marco has put together to deal with Meteora, as well as my Dad. I want you to lead them in searching Mewni for Mom.”  

Tom looked at Star worriedly.  

“Um, are you sure, Star?”  

She nodded.  

“I need people I can trust to look for her while I try to put the kingdom back together. I already tried the All-See Eye spell and got nothing, so it's up to you.”  

Tom smiled and nodded at Star.  

“Hay, what about me?”  

Star turned to a confused-looking Marco.  

“I need you here helping with all the paperwork, organizing, managing, and other stuff relating to being a ruler that I’m not good at. Your first step is to help me figure out what we need to do to get the city and castle up and running after we put out all the fires.”  

Marco nodded and ran into the castle.  

“Give me a minute to get some note-taking notebooks and I’ll be right back!”  

As Marco raced inside, Tom turned to Star.  

“I’ll talk to my folks about borrowing some scouts. Maybe a few dozen more hands will help us find Moon faster. I’ll talk to Ponyhead about her own kingdom’s scouts as well.”  

Star smiled at him.  

“Thanks, Tom, knowing you're personally looking for her is already making me feel a lot better.”  

With a final smile, Tom summoned a flaming pillar and stepped into it.  

“Queen Star?”  

Star let out a sigh and turned to the peasant before her.  

“Acting Queen Star, I’m giving the title back to Mom as soon as she returns.”  

The mewman shrugged before showing her a bucket.  

“This bucket isn’t working. Can you use your magic to fix it?”  

Star looked at the bucket, finding that the bottom portion was gone.  

“Just find a round piece of wood and-“  

“Queen Star? The fire in my house is out. Should we stop pouring water into it?”  

Star quickly turned to the next peasant, who was pointing at a building with the lower floor looking like a pool.  

“Acting Queen, and-“  

“Queen Star? I think sand will put out the fire just as well as water. Are there any sand wells we can use?”  

Star turned to the third compartment and noticed the dozen or more people gathered before her. All of them were clambering for her attention.  

“Please hurry, Tom.”  

Next Week  

It was slow going, but the capital was being rebuilt. Marco had set up a shift schedule that allowed the repairs to occur around the clock. The Mewmans were still mostly sleeping in tents, but several houses had been repaired. The castle itself was still severely damaged, but tarps had been placed over the holes to prevent further damage from the rain.  

Star sat in a chair in the mostly intact meeting room of the castle with Marco, the Mewnisters, and the MHC.  

“All right, that wraps up the discussions on the rebuilding project. Next up is Eclipsa, Meteora, and Globgor.”  

Lady Jasmine Flowers groaned and rubbed her temples.