In another dimension, home of magic, wonders, and corn, rests the kingdom known as Mewni. A medieval land of castles and nobles, dominated by one in particular. Towering far above all the land is Castle Diaz, home of the highest ruling family and strongest wielders of magic. Queen Angie rules over this land with her husband King Rafael. It was daybreak on Mewni and their son Marco Diaz was staring out a window in his room, overlooking the kingdom. He let out a nervous sigh- today was going to be a big day. He was meeting his longtime crush for a date in the castle rose garden. Jackie Lynn Thomas was the daughter of a noble within the kingdom and Marco had been courting her for months. He really hoped today would be the next step of their relationship. Marco snapped from his thoughts when a knock came at the door.
"Prince Marco," came a woman's voice from the other side. "It's time for your training session with the Magic High Commission." It was Maria, his personal servant.
"I'm coming," Marco let out with a grumble. He didn't really enjoy training, but he mostly just hated that it was the most he could do for the kingdom. Marco had problems, big ones. Mewni, by law, was ruled by the queen, with the king being little more than a figurehead. Marco's parents loved him, but he was their only child, their son. He was a prince without right to the throne of his own kingdom. And it gets worse. The Diaz family had ruled Mewni for generations using their strong connection to magic and a family heirloom, the royal magic wand, which was traditionally passed from mother to daughter along with this strong connection to magic. The wand had been passed to Marco some time ago, but the magic connection he got from his mother was very week, and Marco had little natural magical abilities. It had taken two days for the wand to even connect to the magic within him and change to his form. Marco's wand was a pale blue ball with translucent wings on a handle wrapped by twin faded red dragons, the crystal face forming a dull yellow sun. It looked every bit as weak as his connection to magic. Angie and Rafael had tried to have more children after Marco and failed, and no one could figure out the cause. Never in the known history of Mewni had a prince been the only heir to the throne. Not knowing what else to do, the Magic High Commission placed a hold on Marco's birthright unless he could bring a worthy heir into the family through marriage. A totally normal burden to place on a 14-year-old.
Sometimes Marco despised his own existence. No one else in my family history has been a bigger disappointment than me, and I did it by just being born. I can barely do magic, and I can't inherit the throne until I find my own replacement. And now I get dragged to these stupid training sessions that don't even help that much. It's just wasting my time. Marco found himself thinking these thoughts most days that started with training from the High Commission. They began his training in hopes of building up his magical abilities or at least turning him into a warrior on par with the kingdom's knights. This was where Marco headed now.
Maria led Marco to the training grounds, an open grassy field within the castle walls dotted with sparring rings, weapons racks, and exercise stations. Waiting for him were some of the members of the Magic High Commission. Rhombulus, a green, crystal-head guy with snakes for hands who could encase anyone in a crystal prison and make surprisingly good donuts. Lekmet, a bat-goat hybrid who was a strong healer and even stronger talker. Hekapoo, a fiery demon in charge of forging dimensional scissors. Among their many jobs as members of the High Commission was to help train the next queen of Mewni. Or in this case, prince and future King. Maybe.
Marco was getting a different kind of training from each. Hand to hand and weapons fighting with Rhombulus, magic and non-magic healing with Lekmet, and trials with Hekapoo to earn a pair of dimensional scissors. None of them were going well, which made Marco hate going that much more. As Hekapoo took him aside for a lesson on dimensional blacksmithing, Marco's mind wandered back to Jackie. Her family had spent generations as part of Mewni's upper nobility. They had met for the first time at a royal gathering when they were both 7. Marco was shy around her, but she had always been very nice to him. They never got to hang out much outside of royal functions, mostly because Marco's duties as prince kept him from any semblance of a normal childhood. Truthfully, Marco didn't get to hang out with anybody. Well, except maybe Tom, Prince of the Underworld, on the rare occasion that neither had royal duties. While Rhombulus made him run laps, Marco's mind wandered through memories of a lonely childhood. Before Marco knew it, his training was over for the day. It had not gone that well, but then, it never did. With little natural ability to speak of, Marco usually gave his teachers little to be excited about. But at least he was trying.
Marco went back to his room to get cleaned up for his date with Jackie. He changed out of his white sparring outfit and into his standard prince attire, a white top adorned with gold buttons and shoulder tassels, black pants with gold trim, and his signature red cape. Maria brought him some flowers to give to Jackie, a bouquet straight from the castle grounds and news that she had arrived as he was completing his outfit. He went down to the castle front doors and found a carriage waiting to take the two around to the castle rose gardens. Inside sat Jackie Lynn Thomas, the most beautiful girl Marco had ever seen. She wore a sea green gown and a necklace of shells and pearls. A warm smile formed on Marco's face as he walked to the carriage, waving and handing her the bouquet.
"Dude, these are beautiful," she smiled.
"Fresh from the castle gardens, where we're headed now," Marco replied.
Marco joined her in the carriage and they left for the garden. They sat in silence for a minute, Jackie looking out the window and Marco glancing nervously at his crush.
"So, Jackie," Marco began. "You look nice today."
"Nice?" Jackie giggled. "Don't I always look like this?"
"Well I- I mean, y-yeah, but- No wait that's not what I-" Marco stammered, interrupted by Jackie's laughter. As it died down, Marco thought he saw a different emotion flash in her eyes, but before he could even think about it the carriage jerked to a halt and the driver opened the door to usher the two into the castle gardens.
Jackie stepped out of the carriage wide-eyed, even though she had seen the gardens a few times before. But Marco's eyes were fixed on her. He was expecting to take a walk with her but was surprised to see her stroll to the nearest bench, motioning for the carriage driver to stay put. Marco followed her over and the two sat near the garden entrance. The two regal teens stared at each other, Marco wearing a slightly confused expression as Jackie's face took on a more serious look.
"Marco, I need to tell you something," Jackie began. "I've been having a lot of fun with you recently, and you're a really great guy. We've known each other for a long time and I think we work well together. But I just don't know if I can handle the pressure of inheriting your throne someday. That just doesn't seem like my thing. I'm very sorry Marco, but for now I'm not ready to continue with you as anything more than a friend. I hope you understand." Jackie's voice wavered in the last few words as she sadly shifted her gaze away from the prince.
Marco's heart sank. "Oh, ok. Take care Jackie" was all he could manage to say. He sat on the bench as he watched her stand and walk back to the carriage. He sat as he watched it slowly take her away. He sat for a long time after that.
After who knows how much time had passed, Marco stood up and numbly walked back inside. Marco wandered the castle halls deep in thought about everything and nothing. He thought of the kingdom outside the castle walls, Jackie, how he would ever find a future queen, his future duties as King. He noticed the sound of his parents talking coming from a door down the hall. Marco started towards them to say hi until he started to hear what they were talking about.
"Why would you do something like this?" Queen Angie asked her husband.
"Dear, you know some of the other kingdoms are getting restless," replied King Rafael.
"But sending spies against our allies?"
"We needed to know if the rumors are true, and they are. Gustav, tell the Queen what you learned."
Marco heard a voice thick with an accent he did not recognize, but it was clear he was one of Mewni's top spies.
"My Queen, the other kingdoms are getting restless over our situation. Kingdom Pony Head worries about this kingdom's ability to continue protecting Mewni, while Kingdom Spiderbite and Kingdom Jaggy hold rumors about deposing the Diaz family as rulers of Mewni."
"This is bad," muttered Queen Angie. "They know that without a true heir to magic…"
"…Mewni could see a change in rulers for the first time in centuries," finished Gustav.
"What do you know about the plots against us?"
"So far they don't seem to be much more than ideas. The good news is there is some misinformation about the prince. Most of the other kingdoms think he is actually sick and will not live long enough to inherit the throne, and they don't know about his magic abilities."
"Then we need to keep it that way," said Rafael. "Marco will be kept here away from the public as much as possible. Gustav, make sure we have ears listening in on any kingdom that might be plotting against us."
Marco had heard enough for one day and quietly slipped away.