Star woke with a start. She was breathing heavily and was covered in sweat. She sat up in bed for a few minutes, trying to remember what had jerked her out of sleep. She had a vague memory of being unable to save Marco's life when he was abducted by Toffee.
Great, she thought, another nightmare. At least I didn't wake the whole corning castle this time.
Star took a photo from her purse, placing it where she could see it while she got ready for the day. Moon and Eclipsa had returned after several fruitless days searching for Meteora. Moon had convened an emergency meeting of the Magic High Commission, and as Crown Princess, Star had to take Moon's place in meetings she now could not attend. Star groaned; even if she were trying to be the best princess she could be, she still hated royal duties. She just wanted to be a teen and have fun.
As she put on her formal princess attire, Star reflected on the nightmares she could remember. The worst ones had a common theme: Marco was killed in front of her and Star was unable to save him.
Odd ... I don't think I've ever had one where Tom was the one in trouble, she thought in realization. Weird.
Star finished dressing, put the photo back in her purse, then opened the door to her room. Standing in the hallway was Marco, waiting to remind her of the day's duties if she was more than fifteen minutes late. The first time he had to remind Star, he did so after she was only a minute late. Marco immediately learned that he should wait longer; the encounter had not ended well for him.
"On time for once," said a smiling Marco.
Star, in no mood for teasing this morning, frowned, and simply said, "Shut it, Marco."
"Star, I told you before that it's rude to tell someone to shut it."
That brought a smile to Star's face. She reached over and pinched his cheek, saying, "But you're so cute when you're indignant."
"Whatever," Marco replied.
They walked side by side down the hallway and out of the royal living quarters.
"Since you aren't permitted to join me in my meetings, what will you be doing today?" Star asked.
"Knight training, then a study session on Mewni geography. After that, Kelly invited me to spar with her and Jorby. We'll probably get cornshakes afterwards. You wanna join?"
They stopped in front of the large meeting room, used for royal business meetings. Star turned to Marco, taking his hand, and said, "Have fun with training today. Don't tussle with Higgs again; that chick is crazy, man. I'll pass on the cornshakes, don't want to be the third wheel on a date again."
"We're just friends. Anyway, thanks for the advice about Higgs. As for you, try to enjoy yourself, or at least don't blast anybody this time."
Star pouted and mumbled, "That's how I enjoy myself."
They hugged, then parted. As Marco cut a dimensional portal, Star stood there and watched him leave. She felt a slight constriction in her chest, and even a slight pang of jealousy. It was not the first time that had happened when they had to separate for a few hours.
Odd ... I don't think I've ever had that happen with Tom, she thought in realization. Weird.
— Oo1oO — Oo1oO — Oo1oO — Oo1oO — Oo1oO —
"She has no right to be here," yelled Hekapoo.
The surviving members of the Magic High Commission ... Omnitraxus Prime, Rhombulus, Hekapoo, Eclipsa and Queen Moon ... were arrayed around the meeting table in the top room of the Bureaucracy of Magic.
Moon stood at the head of the table, with Eclipsa sitting to her left. Moon said, "Eclipsa has every right to be here. As I told you before, she is a former queen so still a Commission member. More importantly, we are here to discuss the issue of her daughter, who wouldn't be an issue if not for your interference in the affairs of the kingdom."
"She's evil!" yelled Rhombulus. "She's a purple monkey!"
"A purp ... what?" said Moon.
Hekapoo rolled her eyes. "He's been like this since Lekmet died. We think Lekmet was using his magic to boost Rhombulus' intelligence. There's no brain in that crystal, after all."
"42!" yelled Rhombulus.
The room became quiet except for the sound of Moon grinding her teeth. Finally, she said, "Eclipsa stays."
"Fine," said Hekapoo, sitting down in a huff, pouting.
Moon continued. "We tracked Meteora to a spot between the Mewni River and the Forest of Probable Itchiness, where the trail ended. We searched for several days branching from that point but found no more sign of her."
"I can't be certain, since it's been 300 years," Eclipsa said, glaring at Hekapoo, "but I think I sensed her magic. She must have used it there."
Hekapoo leapt to her feet. "She has magic?" Hekapoo yelled. "A Monster has magic? This is a disaster!"
Moon slammed her fists onto the table. "Sit ... DOWN!" Moon collected herself as Hekapoo sat. "She is half Monster. The other half is Mewmin ... Butterfly, to be exact, from the first Butterfly line and true granddaughter of Queen Solaria. Of course she has magic."
Moon turned and walked to a window. Quietly she said, "I also sensed something, magic I've not felt since..." The room was silent as she thought. She shook her head, then walked back to her position at the head of the table. "Whatever it was, there was a familiarity about it, but different somehow. Perhaps it was Meteora's magic, perhaps there was a second magic user present."
Moon sat, then Hekapoo rose. "When you returned empty handed, Omnitraxus and I conducted our own investigation since we do not trust Eclipsa."
Rhombulus jumped up, slamming his snake-head "hands" onto the table, both of which yelled "Ow!" "Evil," Rhombulus shouted, "evil, evil, evil, EVIL!"
Eclipsa took in a breath to speak, but Moon placed a hand over hers. She glanced at Moon but stayed silent. She took out a Snookers bar and began eating it angrily, staring daggers at Rhombulus.
Meanwhile, the flame above Hekapoo's tiara flared. "Zip it, or it's the time-out corner for you!" she said furiously.
Rhombulus sat, muttering something unintelligible.
Calming, Hekapoo continued. "We found the trail ended exactly where you said. I sensed the echo of a dimensional portal, and Omnitraxus sensed a ripple in space-time, but neither was strong enough to glean any information."
Hekapoo sat, then turned her glare on Eclipsa. "You're her mother," Hekapoo said, "you must know something."
Eclipsa stood. "I know nothing," she said. "Meteora was an infant when you and that vile Shastacan stole her from me and imprisoned me in crystal for 300 years. I know nothing about her, except for what is known of the history of Miss Heinous. She sustained her life for 300 years by sucking the life-forces from princesses in her care, so I'm guessing she did not grow up well. That's all your doing. And you have the nerve to call ME evil!"
Hekapoo began a retort, but Moon said, loudly, "Enough! Meteora will show herself again eventually. Unless somebody has an idea for what to do other than remain vigilant, this meeting is adjourned."
Nobody else spoke.
"Then we are adjourned."
— Oo2oO — Oo2oO — Oo2oO — Oo2oO — Oo2oO —
Star and Marco sat on the floor of Star's room, playing with each other. They were playing a 3-D Chutes-and-Ladders type game, using magical avatars of themselves as game pieces. They had changed things up, each playing with the other instead of playing with themselves as usual. They enjoyed themselves for a little while, but the pleasure of the game was not enough to keep their attention.
They watched the laser puppies and Glossaryck playing together, wrestling in a heap on the floor. Glossaryck yelled, "Globgor!" then ran around the room with the puppies chasing him. One of the puppies collided heavily with a chair, knocking Star's purse to the floor. Glossaryck turned, diving into the purse. He rooted around for a few seconds, reappearing with a photograph in his mouth. It was a photo of Star and Marco playing on a beach, with "Beach Day" written on it.
"Hey!" Star yelled, rising from the floor, reaching for Glossaryck. "Drop it!"
Glossaryck said a muffled, "Globgor," then ran. Star and Marco chased him about the room for several minutes until Star's patience ran out. She grabbed her wond and cast, "Cat o' Nine Tails Auto-Snare!"
A large, horrific, calico cat with nine tails and a snare pole appeared from a pink beam of magic.
"Star," Marco said, "that's a cat, not a Cat o' Nine Tails."
"Okay, so I don't actually know what a Cat o' Nine Tails is."
"It's a ..." Marco began, but stopped when he saw Star's knuckles on the hand holding the wond turn white, and blood-lust appear in her eyes.
Marco mumbled, "What is it with you and cats, anyway?"
Star simply smiled sweetly and batted her eyes at him.
Unfortunately, the cat had taken only a few steps before the laser puppies spied it. They immediately gave chase, firing lasers at the cat as they ran. They chased it, and Glossaryck, two times around the room before the cat jumped out a window. The puppies screeched to a halt, whining at the loss of their playmate.
"Okay," Star said, "let's try this: Winter Storm Micro Brew!"
A small puff of wind, snow, and an amber liquid, discharged from the wond, freezing Glossaryck in a chunk of Mewnian Ale. Star gently pulled the photo from his mouth.
"What is that?" asked Marco. Star showed him the photo. "The photo of us at the beach that was on the fridge at home. Why do you have that?"
"Take a close look, Marco. When, exactly, did we go to that beach?"
Marco looked closely at the photo. He could not recall ever being on that beach with Star, nor having that picture taken. The joy he saw on both their faces made his heart ache. "What is this?" he asked.
"It's a gift from Father Time. It's from the future."
"What? How long have you had this thing? That's, like, so many levels of time paradox!"
"Look, I don't know how, but someday soon, we're going to have this awesome beach day. When I'm feeling down, or worried, or ... had a nightmare ... I like to look at it. There's no way we'd look that happy if things don't work out."
"Well, I'm not keen on paradoxes, but we do look pretty happy in that photo. Still a paradox, though." Marco cocked his head. "Say, why isn't Tom in this picture?"
"Because he's going to be the one taking the photo, silly goose."
Or Tom bailed on you yet again, Marco thought. He shook his head, mentally beating himself up for thinking such a thing.
Star put the photo back in her purse. The pair sat down on the floor, leaning back against Star's bed.
Marco looked at Glossaryck, his head free but his body still frozen in place. "We really need to stop letting him run free. We need to tie him up."
"Globgor!" Glossaryck screamed.
"And maybe use a muzzle, too."
"Marco!" Star chided. "How would you like it if I tied you up and put a muzzle on you?"
Marco became quiet, staring into the distance.
"Marco? Marco!"
"Sorry, Star. You know how it is ... sticks and stones may break my bones, but whips and chains excite me."
Star laughed out loud. "Gross," she said.
Marco grinned. Hearing his bestie laugh was music to his ears, especially these days. He decided to save, for a later joke, the fact that their initials together were S&M.
"So ..." Marco began, "we told Babystoat about the last AU we visited, but we haven't talked about it. What did you think?"
Star flourished the wond, retrieving their AU journal. Star flipped through the pages to the latest entry.
"So, let's see. In that AU Meteora never disappeared and attacked Butterfly Castle. Star, as queen, defeated her somehow, then ... abdicated the throne to Eclipsa. Star became a royal advisor and ..." she flipped through several pages. In a more subdued tone, she continued, "Marco briefly had a weird 'friends with benefits' thing with Kelly, and ... um ... Tom dumped Star. Eventually Star and Marco became a thing." Star looked up at Marco, a slight blush on her cheeks. "Heh, heh, like that'd ever happen."
Marco looked away from Star to hide his disappointment, rubbing the back of his neck. "Heh, heh, yeahhhhh," he said. He looked back up at the journal.
"I think that happened at the end of the fourth season. You know, Fall. It probably should have happened at the end of the third season, Summer. That would have made more sense."
Star continued reading. "So, for some reason, the Butterflys destroyed their magic, killing the MHC and all the other magic beings, ending dimensional travel, and destroying a heck of a lot of lives. Star and Marco somehow cleaved their Earth and Mewni together so that they could be together, regardless of what it did to everybody else. So, a happy ending."
Star and Marco looked at each other, then burst out laughing.
After a minute of merriment, they stopped, gasping for breath. Wiping away tears, Marco said, "That universe sounds like a really good cartoon that had an iffy final season."
The journal disappeared in a puff of glittery smoke.
"I wonder what happened to our Meteora," Marco said. "It's been around a month since she disappeared."
Star shrugged. "Dunno. Mom's worried. Eclipsa's worried too, which is probably a bad sign."
They sat silently for a few minutes before Star turned to Marco. She traced a finger up Marco's arm, and said in a sultry voice, "Sooooo ... we have a couple of hours to kill. You know what I want to do, don't you?"
"Yes, I do," replied Marco.
"Then let's do it!" squealed Star.
The pair leapt up, then Star opened a space-time portal.
"Random alternate universe, here we come," they cried in unison, as Star leapt through the portal.
Marco hesitated, a thought having occurred to him. Doesn't that photo mean that when Star said she was leaving forever she knew it wasn't true? So that would make confessing in front of Jackie, with all our friends watching, a real dick move. He didn't know whether to be mad at her dishonesty, or proud of her craftiness. As he stepped through the portal, he decided to not say anything about it.
— Oo2oO — Oo2oO — Oo2oO — Oo2oO — Oo2oO —
In a different dimension, Meteora stood, muscles taut, teeth clenched, concentrating on a cloud of green mist and yellow sparks between her hands. Try as she might, she could not get the magical energy to form the spell she was attempting to cast without a wond.
Finally, she gave up, slamming her fists into the ground.
"Why won't this work?" she yelled in frustration. "We've been at this for a month and I still can't do it."
Bob rubbed her temples through her hood. "Alright, I think we can conclude that this is not going to work. Princesses begin training to use their magic at fourteen; some earlier, depending on how attentive the queen is. I think you have the potential, but you're just too old. Yes, too old to begin the training."
"I am not too old! I look as young and beautiful as ever."
"Meteora, you look young because you were stealing the life-forces of princesses. You have been alive for 300 years. Those 300 years shaped your habits, your thoughts, and your abilities, none of which included magic. We are simply going to have to try something else, building on what you can do."
Bob thought for a few minutes while Meteora crossed her arms and glared. Bob waved her hands, producing two pieces of parchment. They were clearly old, burned in spots and with tattered, charred, edges.
Meteora was intrigued. "What are those?"
"Spells," Bob answered. "Pages from ... an ancient book of magic."
Bob levitated the parchments to Meteora.
"The first is the 'mutari in mewmonster' spell. The spell turns a Mewmin temporarily into a Monster. When combined with your life-force-sucking magic, it will permanently turn a Mewmin into a monster that you can control."
Meteora said, "Hmph," and bobbed her head.
"The second is 'femina est occultatum de magicae,' or the hiding spell. It will hide you from detection by spying spells, including your mother's All-Seeing Eye."
Meteora scowled. "How do you know my mother's spells?"
"A story for another day," Bob answered. "These spells utilize dark magic, so care will have to be used when learning and using them. I will also teach you tactics and strategy. Just turning Mewmins into monsters isn't enough. You must be able to use them effectively. Then you will be able to take back what is yours from the fake Butterflys."
Meteora's eyes glowed green, as her clover-shaped Magic-Pips glowed white. Smiling broadly, she said, "Excellent. I can't wait to annihilate them."