Disclaimer: I do not own nor do I claim Star vs. The Forces of Evil

Chapter 1: Doldrums

It was almost a dream come true for Marco. It had only been 2 days since the date with Jackie Lynn Thomas, and already she and Marco had made plans to go see the new monster flick at the Echo Creek Cinema! In just two days, he'd discovered more about Jackie Lynn then he had in 10 years of distant longing. It was all he had ever wanted, this should have been the happiest time of his life! But...there was Star. The events of that day had shattered her. Her spellbook had been taken by Ludo, and Glosaryck was gone with it. Her spellbook and her mentor were both gone, and while she would never say so out loud, she was afraid that Marco would soon follow. It took everything she had just to get up these last couple mornings, and it had shown. She had always lived up to her name, an inescapable beacon of joy and excitement that lit up any room she walked into. But these last 2 days, she had been a black hole that happiness went into to never return.

Marco had never seen her like this. Star had been sad before, but he had never seen her...defeated. That's what it was. Star was completely and utterly defeated. He had tried every known method of cheering her up. Tom had even be gracious enough to take several punches directly to the face to try and find her smile. It had gotten to the point where his eye had been blackened. Nothing.

Star came down for breakfast from her room and was immediately bombarded by Marco, a plate of waffles in hand. Star simply looked away. She knew Marco was only trying to cheer her up, and while she appreciated it, Marco was part of the problem. Ever since he had officially become, ugh, smooch buddies with Jackie Lynn she felt...weird. Like bad weird. Like she had a stomachful of Mewni-flies, buzzing around and all trying to burst out through her chest. Blech. Worse, she didn't know who to talk to! StarFan13 wouldn't give her any advice she couldn't think of for herself, she didn't want to strain her friendship with Janna, and while she wasn't 100% sure about earth traditions, she didn't exactly feel like she could talk about Marco and Jackie with...Marco or Jackie. Glosaryck was gone...wait! There WAS someone she could talk to about this! "Wow," she said to herself, "I'm actually going to do this. Things are bad. Bad, bad, baaaaaad." She shuffled over to the mirror on the wall, pulling down the curtains around it. "Mirror, mirror on the wall. Call...Mom" The mirror lit up, making the weird noises it always did when making a long distance call. The mirror lit up, but it wasn't the face she was expecting to see.

"Why, STAR, my dear! Do what do I owe the pleasure?" came the booming voice of her father, King River Butterfly.

"I...was actually calling for Mom, thanks," Star replied. The king was surprised at her response. It wasn't like Star at all, it was...downright dull!

"What's happened, my dear. You look positively in the doldrums! The DOLDRUMS! Where's that boy of yours...Marco is it? He usually can help put you in a grand mood!"

"Why don't you ask Jackie Lynn Thomas where Marco is?" Star mumbled, "SHE'S his...his...SMOOCH BUDDY NOW! SHE probably could tell you exactly where Marco is!"

The king looked taken aback, "Jackie Lynn Thomas, it can't be! But that means..." The king trailed off, mumbling to himself.

"Oh well here's your mother now! I imagine she'll be far more qualified to discuss matters of...hrmph, Smooch Buddies with. Good day my dear!"

Queen Moon Butterfly now showed up on her daughter's mirror, distracted by something off screen.

"Oh Star, my dear Star. What have you done this ti-", Queen Moon had looked into the mirror and seen her daughter's face. Without a word, she drew a pair of dimensional scissors from a hidden pocket of her dress, cutting a hole into the space in front of her. She stepped through the rift and into her daughter's bedroom, pulling her in for a wordless hug. Star stayed in her mother's arms for what felt like an eternity, tears running down her face. Her mother let go, pulling her out to look in her daughter's eyes.

"My poor Star...tell me all about it. I'm here...Mother's here."

Star told her mother everything. The loss of her spellbook. Glocaryck. And Marco. Normally, the Queen would be yelling at her daughter for the loss of such important things but she sensed that the spellbook was the least of Star's worries at the moment. Star was babbling, words were coming out just as quickly as the thoughts left her mind.

"But, Marco and I are just buds, right? Like I don't want to...at least I don't think I want to...I want him to be happy, and he's happy with Jackie Lynn! So why do I feel all...blech?"

The Queen patted her daughter on the arm, "I believe you can answer this one all by yourself, dearie."

Star nodded silently. Her mother was absolutely right. She knew exactly how she felt about Marco, how she had always felt about him. And she knew just what a massive mistake she had made.

"I always thought...I always thought that there wouldn't be anyone else. It would just be him and me at the end of the day. Like we have other friends obviously but...it was always just the two of us...now she's with him all the time and...why did I not see this before?"

"Marco's always been something you've taken for granted, my dear. And while he'll always be there for you there will be other people that notice him. If you want him to be yours then you'll have to fight for him. Or at the very least, ask him."

"But...what if it's just me? What if...what if he only sees me as goofy old Star, all buddy-buddy, nothing else?"

"That's a risk you'll have to take, but if anyone will take that chance it's you. Now...let's discuss the retrieval of your book."

Meanwhile, King Butterfly was not going to let his daughter see him cry. As a king - no as a father, he had to be strong when his little girl was in distress. He returned to his bedroom, checked around quickly and opened the top drawer of his dresser. Pushing aside the clothes, he finally found what he was looking for: the picture that he had secretly commissioned. It was his daughter and the Diaz boy, dressed in the traditional wear of Mewnian royalty and locked in the joyful embrace of young lovers. There was no artist's signature at the bottom, instead there was one word, elegantly lettered:

STARCO.

The King looked at the picture as a single tear rolled from each eye. He put the photo back and restored it to it's hiding place, quietly whispering, "Have faith...have faith and our time will come."

Author's note: Yeah, not a lot happens. Imagine this as more of an establishing shot, getting us up to date on where things are with Star. More things will happen, promises