INVITATIONS

Sol Butterfly was very different from his sister, thank you very much.

They may have looked similar; the only difference in appearance besides their style of dress and hair length being the hearts on their cheeks. As per usual with twins, Sol's hearts were flipped upside down, as well as red instead of pink like his sister's.

However, personality-wise, the two couldn't have been more diverse. Sol was much more like his mother, cool and calculated, without a head for nonsense. He didn't much approve of Star's monster-fighting either, as it was far too dangerous a pastime for anyone of their age. He was, in all ways, his mother's perfect son. So when Star was sent to Earth for nearly blowing up Mewni, he only went along to keep her out of trouble, not because he was in trouble himself.

Earth was a strange adventure that Sol had never wanted. Everything was new, from the people to the terminology to the food to the technology. It was...scary. But one had to adapt, and adapt he had. (Not that adapting had done anything to keep his sister from nearly accidentally destroying Earth on multiple occasions...which she did.)

Despite the...um, minor setbacks, Sol had mostly kept it together. That is, until the day that he showed up at Echo Creek school.

Oskar Greason was doing what he did every day, skip class, hang out on the hood of his car, and play dissonant songs on his little electric keyboard. (It was a wonder that he hadn't been expelled yet, really.) But unlike every day, the handicapped spot next to him burst into flames, and a carriage pulled by a skeleton horse―erm, unicorn?―appeared.

The door of said carriaged creaked open, and a person hopped out. His black boots flamed as he walked across the pavilion. The mysterious boy ignored the whispers of the human classmates commenting on his unearthly appearance. He was on a mission.

The classroom that the boy walked into fell silent and stared as he approached one of the rows. The front desk of that row lifted into the air of its own accord, taking the goth girl sitting in it with it. In the second desk sat none other than Star Butterfly, Echo Creek's very own magical space princess, and directly behind her, her twin brother Sol Butterfly, Echo Creek's very own magical stick-in-the-mud prince.

"Hey, Star." The mysterious flaming boy tossed away his shades to reveal his eyes―all three of them. "I'm here to take you to the Blood Moon Ball." He held out his hand, and a flaming crescent moon appeared in his palm. The Butterfly twins would have recognized those three red eyes, that spiked salmon hair, and those ice-tipped horns anywhere.

Tom Lucitor.

"Nope, nope, nope. I don't think so." Sol dragged Tom out of the school by the back of his suit. "You need to leave my sister alone, Lucitor. So get in your ridiculous carriage, with your dead horse, and get out of here. And don't come back." The prince of Mewni tossed Tom back into his carriage―which really was ridiculous―and went to close the door.

"Wait, I'm dead?" asked the poor skeletal horse, though his question went unanswered.

Rolling his eyes, Sol turned away and headed back for the school, where his sister waited on the steps.

"Oh, come on, Solace, it's the Blood Moon ball!" Tom leapt to his feet. "It only happens once every 667 years!"

Sol ground his teeth. Tom knew how much he hated being called by his full first name. "You two broke up!" Sol snapped at the demon. "Take the hint already, you blasted demon. Star doesn't want anything to do with you. And neither do I, for that matter."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait." Tom grabbed Sol's wrist. "I'm a changed man, okay? I've got a life coach, Brian." At this point, a large human-looking man popped his head out of the carriage and handed Tom a fluffy pink bunny. "He's awesome." Tom held out the bunny. "A happy bunny. And, and, I have been anger-free for fifty-three days." He pulled aside his jacket to reveal a button that read 53 days anger free.

Naturally, Sol was not impressed. Okay, maybe he was a little impressed that Tom was working so hard on his issues, not that Sol would ever admit it, of course.

"Don't you want to pet my bunny?" Tom asked.

Okay, so the bunny was really adorable, and Tom working on his anger issues was commendable, but that didn't make Sol like him. Star would've cracked with the bunny, Sol thought. It's a good thing that I'm here to protect her. "There's no time for such foolish matters," Sol said coldly, crossing his arms over his chest.

Foolish matters? Tom thought. How utterly like Sol. Who but this stick-in-the-mud prince didn't like petting bunnies?

Tom sighed. "Okay, I know that you and I have had our differences, Sol, but―"

Sol let out a sharp laugh. "Hah! Our differences. That's one way to put it. You broke my sister's heart, Lucitor." He ripped his hand away. "I'm not going to let you do it again."

"Hyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyah!"

At the battle cry, Sol snapped his fingers, freezing Marco mid-karate chop. "Diaz, stop," he said, turning to look at the Earth boy.

Marco flinched, expecting another Multiverse-famous Sol Butterfly lecture. Instead, he only got a "If you're going to karate this demon, at least aim for the face" before Sol snapped his fingers again and dropped him to the ground.

"Owww…."

"No, Marco!" Star shouted, running over. "Don't karate him. This is Tom."

Marco frowned. "Tom?" he repeated. "As in demon-ex-boyfriend, Tom?"

"The one and only," Sol muttered.

"Nice to, uh, meet you, Marco," Tom said, awkwardly shaking Marco's hand.

"Whaaaaaat is he doing here?" Marco whispered.

Sol crossed his arms over his chest. "He wants Star to accompany him to the Blood Moon Ball, which, of course, she won't be doing."

"Look, I can see you're mad," Tom started, his eyes on Sol. "You think I'm a jerk. I get it. But I have changed."

Marco raised his karate hands again and made those weird karate noises. (Did he seriously think that he was threatening to a guy who could control fire?) And then there was Sol, glaring silently at Tom with those intense periwinkle eyes, everything in that fierce gaze telling him to run and never ever curse this place with his presence again. (Did...did Sol really hate him so very much?)

So Tom raised his hands in defeat and backed toward his carriage. "No pressure. If you decide you want to go, Star, just toll this bell." He pulled a small silver bell out of his jacket and placed it in Star's hands. And then a wall of flame engulfed the carriage.

Buuuuut not a moment later, a small window opened in the wall of flame and Tom poked his head out. "Oops, almost forgot the little hammer." He handed a tiny matching hammer to her. "I hope I see you there," the demon prince said softly, before the carriage vanished in a whoosh of flame.

No one noticed that Tom had been looking at Sol when he'd said his last statement.