Chapter 2-Scars of the Past
Butterfly Castle-Butterfly Kingdom
It was now verging onto the hour of 10 o'clock and Marco Diaz and Star Butterfly, having now finished breakfast and Marco having taken his typical 'Way too long to get ready', now awaited the arrival of their guests. This was not a grand and massive affair by any means, the entrance to the castle had been connected to the gate by a long, smooth, royal purple carpet which was just about wide enough for two people to walk down without stepping onto the cobblestone of the courtyard between the castle doors and it's gatehouse.
Additional soldiers lined the route up towards the entrance of the castle itself, all dressed in their ceremonial uniforms which were impractical in a fight, however they gave an impression of iron discipline and regal bearing which is what events such as this certainly required. They had been evenly arranged so as to appear neat and pleasing to the eye as the guests of the Butterfly family would pass by them on their entrance to the mighty and beautiful castle.
The ceremonial uniform consisted of a thin, navy blue tunic, with gold trim and a pair of navy blue trousers which tucked into black boots which shone like mirrors with all the hours of polishing that had clearly been put into them by the men. Overlaying the tunic was a highly polished and gleaming breastplate manufactured from the finest Mewnian steel money could buy, and these being ceremonial breastplates, they had been decorated with fine patterns of vines which outlined an embossment of a large Butterfly in the centre which seemed to sparkle majestically as the blazing Mewnian sunlight hit it.
The soldiers currently had their swords nestled within the black-leather scabbards with golden chape at it's end which hung from their waists. The handles of the swords were crafted from finest gold with blue thread running down the grip of the weapon in a simple coil pattern and the guards were of a rapier design with the golden guards being decorated by embossed vines all meeting at the shape of a butterfly at the base of the pommel.
Marco and Star were stood just in front of the entrance to the castle, stood before the mighty oakwood doors upon which was carved with the symbols of every queen of Mewni which had ever stepped through them. They were an impressive sight to behold, although the same could easily be said for the rest of the restored and brand new Butterfly castle. Many things had remained extraordinarily similar, however much had been improved upon and refined to the point of the castle now being one of the most picturesque sights across all dimensions.
"You think they'll be happy for us?" Marco nervously whispered to Star who shot him a hopeful look from the corner of her eye. "I'm sure they will, they're our friends Marco, we've been through everything with them" she took his hand in her own and their fingers gently intertwined as the contact helped to calm both of their nerves, knowing they were together through it no matter what. "Let's try not to worry about this okay? Whatever their reaction, this is us we're talking about here okay?" she reassured him with a loving smile which he could only match as he looked into her shimmering and sapphire-like blue eyes. He nodded happily and the two, their hands still intertwined, looked forwards as a bright orange portal manifested itself just before the gatehouse.
The portal remained still for a few moments, it's swirling magical vortex illuminating the nearby space with a pale orange light and it's edges sparking away slightly as the mass of magical energy span in it's place. However soon enough a figure made it's way through, the first guest to arrive at the meeting was Hekapoo, as if the bright orange portal hadn't already given the appearance of the portal master of the magical high commission away. She smiled her signature mischievous grin as she laid eyes upon the royal couple, giving a small wave which each of them returned with a smile of their own.
Hekapoo wasn't alone however and after a few seconds came the mumbling and consistently nervously paranoid cystalline body of Rhombulous. The two snakes which functioned as his hands holding up a crystal ball which displayed the image of Omnitraxus who could be clearly heard giving constant warnings for the crystalline creature to be careful. A nagging that was obviously starting to take it's toll as he temporarily lost his cool for a second. "Shut up Omni! I'm not gonna drop your stupid ball!" he yelled at the face inside the clear crystal. This outburst was met with scorn by Hekapoo who wheeled round in an instant and yelled at Rhombulus "Hey! You wanna maybe try keeping it civil you two? This isn't us showing up for a casual chat yknow!" she warned which caused both of them to stop arguing immediately.
As Hekapoo turned back to continue her walk up the road, Rhombulus couldn't stop himself from taking the opportunity to voice his opinion once more. "..Jerk.." he muttered under his breath, a voice which Hekapoo immediately picked up on and it caused her to look back at him in anger, her eyes narrowed as she stared him down. Rhombulus gulped nervously and Hekapoo simply pointed at him and, with a harsh tone as if punishing a child, yelled "You're in the time out corner when we get in there, 30 minutes!".
Rhombulus stomped towards the castle in a huff "That's not fair!" he grumbled, clearly not learning his lesson about muttering under his breath and Hekepoo just responded by scolding him again "One hour! Wanna try for two?" she threatened. This threat finally shut the crystalline being up and he carried the crystal ball into Butterfly Castle with a child-like expression of anger. Marco and Star looked on at the exchange between the commission members with an amused smirk on each of their faces. Hekapoo approached them and apologised for Rhombulus. "He's been acting like this ever since imprisoning monsters without proper cause became illegal, he just needs to get a hobby or something I think" she said with a shrug as she followed behind the other commission members to enter the castle.
A few moments after the Magical high commission members had arrived, in what had been a argumentative and undignified fashion, the next portal had appeared at the gates of Butterfly castle. This one acted in a similar fashion to Hekapoo's, however the magical energy that formed the gateway was now blue, indicating it had been cut with a plain old, regular pair of dimensional scissors. After a few seconds a young couple stepped through the portal, one of them dressed in a long, flowing crimson-red dress with a beautiful and finely stitched, golden trim on it's outer edges. From the bottom of the skirt of the dress the golden trim seemed to trail upwards in shapes which looked like golden flames which climbed up the dress to around her ankle level. She also wore a small, golden crown with an oval cut Sunstone in it's centre which glowed brightly in the golden sunlight that shone down onto it.
The other sported a slim, black military uniform which had red silk sewn over the hems of the outfit, not only disguising the sewing marks of the uniform but also adding a nice contrast to the dark ensemble. On his chest was pinned a small series of highly polished medals with multi-coloured ribbons denoting different honours and recognitions that he had earned over the years, especially in his own part in the great war for Mewni. On his right shoulder was a golden weave which sat, pinned to the uniform as a form of epilate as an aguillette trailed down from it, under his right arm and reaching a low point just below his chest before rising back up and pinned into place just onto his uniform's lapel.
It couldn't be more obvious to Star and Marco that this was the arrival of the King and Queen of the Grand Lucitor Union, Tom and Tamia. Marco drew his own sword with his right hand and drew it across his front until the flat of the blade was positioned just in front of his nose with his hand gripping the handle at his chest height. He then brought the sword down as his arm rested by his side, elbow at a perfect right angle in order to display the weapon clearly before he commanded to the troops below. "Palace Guard! Draw swords!".
In an instant every guard lining the beautifully laid out red carpet drew their swords, revealing the highly polished steel blades that had been previously hidden in their holsters and copied the Knight Commander of Mewni's movements he had taken to draw his own weapon, resting in the same position as Marco and awaiting the next command that they had all drilled numerous times before. Marco cleared his throat and spoke once more in a loud, commanding tone that was rarely heard from the normally friendly, if not slightly safety obsessed, Knight of Mewni.
"Palace Guard! Present! Arms!" he commanded and immediately the guard, with simultaneous movements as if they possessed a single mind and will, moved their swords so that the flat of the blade covered their noses as the tip of the weapon pointed skywards. Gripping the handle of the weapon close to their chests with straight arms, holding this position for a grand total of five seconds before all at once returning to their previous position. They held firm in this position as they awaited what they knew would be the final command before the Lucitor couple could be allowed to carry on.
"Palace Guard! Return! Swords!" Marco commanded, prompting the guards to move the tips of their swords smartly to the top of the scabbards, slowly lowering the blade into the scabbard until only an inch or so of steel remained visible. Once all had achieved this, a mighty crack was heard as they all at once sent the last inch of steel into place and their weapons had been fully stowed. They then let go of the grips and returned their now empty hands to the previous position of attention.
With that small ceremony out of the way, Tom and Tamia walked across the red carpet and up towards the castle entrance. The two couples greeted each other with an embrace as their close friendship made itself clear immediately. After a few seconds they all broke away and Tom was the first to speak "So for real, wanna clue us in on this announcement huh?" he said with a sly smile, secretly only asking to see if he had one his and Tamia's little bet. Marco and Star shook their heads however. "Sorry Tom" came Star's voice with a giggle as she could see the small look of disappointment on his face. "All in good time".
Tamia giggled, knowing exactly why Tom had asked so quickly "Nice try hun, let's just go inside and wait patiently huh?" she said as she hooked her arm through his and began to tug at him to enter the castle with her. Tom sighed, defeated "Fine, but just cause you know I'm right" he says as the pair head through the doors and into the awaiting castle. Marco and Star remained and once more faced the gate, Star whispered over to Marco "Good job Diaz" with a flirty smile which made Marco chuckle, "Thanks Star, just one more to go huh?" he joked but was slightly surprised when he spotted the look of concern on his girlfriend's face. "Errm..Star? Everything okay?" he asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. She smiled lightly but in a low voice said "Maybe...don't do it when Ponyhead shows up..she's not big on ceremony anyway and..well you know what her mood has been like". Marco was saddened a little by Star's concern for her oldest friend, but knew exactly what Star was talking about, most everyone in Mewni did.
"Okay Star, If you think it's best" he reassured her with a smile which she returned before planting a quick kiss to his cheek. "Thanks Marco". Just as their conversation concluded another portal opened wide, yet again this one was blue and had clearly been created with a typical pair of dimensional scissors. "Speak of the devil" Marco muttered to himself earning a small prod from Star, who for her part was trying not to giggle at the comment as Ponyhead appeared at from inside the portal.
Two years hadn't done much to change her appearance, she had gotten slightly bigger as she slowly began to grow towards her father's size, but she was still nowhere close to that. She was now around half of Marco's height as she floated above the ground. She wore a near blank expression, certainly a far cry from the Ponyhead before Helvete had shown up. That previous confidence and obnoxious tendency had been replaced by grief and anger most of the time across those two years. It was clear she was attempting to simply get through today and definitely did not want to be there.
As instructed, Marco did not make any commands of the guard and Ponyhead, after waiting patiently for a little while, muttered something out of earshot before floating over to greet the couple. "Hey Pony, you doing okay?" Star asked with a kind and sympathetic tone towards her friend as she held her arms out to embrace her. Ponyhead refused the hug flatly, "Hey gurl" she greeted before narrowing her eyes at Marco "Earth turd" she said in a dismissive voice, certainly not uncommon for Ponyhead, especially nowadays, but the insult still annoyed Marco alot. It seemed to him like Ponyhead was never going to accept that he and Star were together, not that she had any say in the matter.
"Pony please be nice, it's going to be a good day" Star asked with a small, hopeful smile as she pleaded slightly with the floating head. Ponyhead rolled her eyes "Yeah sure gurl, It'll be a good day when Earth turd goes home" she uttered in a harsh voice before entering the castle in a sour mood. Marco tightened his fist, a look of hurt and anger coming across his face. But Star quickly managed to soothe him by placing his hand in her own and squeezing lightly. "It's only for today Marco...I'm sorry she's still like that towards you but, can you not get into a fight? Please? For me?" she pleaded with puppy eyes up towards her beloved. 'Damn' Marco thought as his anger faded away and he unclenched his fist, his face softening 'I need to learn to resist those eyes somehow' he made a mental note.
"Okay Star...I'll try" he promised with a look of resignation on his face. "But I just don't see why she's still like this? We've been together nearly 5 years!" he complained. His complaints were met with an understanding nod from Star. "I know Marco, I hate it too but she's going through a rough time right now, it's like mum said, she lost more than any of us" she reassured him with sad eyes as she kept her grip on his hand, interlocking her fingers with his. Marco didn't quite buy Star's reasoning but decided for her sake not to press the issue and just nodded with a small smile as he looked into her love-filled eyes.
"Cmon, lets go inside, we got an announcement to make after all" she said as she kissed his cheek and began to pull him inside with a happy smile. Marco rolled his eyes at her enthusiasm and chuckled as she dragged him into the castle and they both made their way into the meeting room. Once inside the couple was met with a oddly silent room, the tension could be cut with a knife as everyone looked nervous as it was extraordinarily clear that Ponyhead was yet again in an extremely bad mood and noone wanted to really start an argument.
Eclipsa and Globgor had already been sitting in the room at the left corner of the long table which centred the private meeting room. The walls of the room were fairly plain and unlike most of the castle had little decoration to allow for the meetings to take place in an atmosphere of concentration. The only things on the wall were a diamond shaped mirror which was used to phone individuals who could not attend physically whichever meeting was taking place that day and a large piece of glass which could be written on using magic to jot down key points or other notes from the meeting itself.
Tom and Tamia had sat themselves down across from Globgor and Eclipsa, sharing a friendly smile with the pair as they did so, but all four had kept quiet since Ponyhead had entered and sat in the near left corner of the table, making sure to put a chair's worth of distance between her and the others. Hekapoo was sat next to Tamia on the other side and Omnitraxus was positioned in the centre of the table inside his crystal ball so that he could easily view everything should he need to. Rhombulus was sat on a small stool facing the far corner of the room, his arms folded as Hekapoo's punishment for his earlier outburst was being enforced.
Star and Marco took their own places, Marco sitting to Star's right as she took her place at the head of the table, the glass panel on the wall behind her, as she prepared to take charge of the meeting. "Okay" she said, attempting to bring some cheer into the room despite the clear nervousness of all those involved "Let's get this started shall we?" she continued with a small, nervous smile while keeping an eye on Ponyhead who was staring daggers towards Marco.
Star sighed, this was going to be a long meeting wasn't it? "First things first, Security of Mewni" Star began as she flipped to the first page of a leatherbound notebook simply marked with 'Meeting Notes' She marked the date at the top of the page and then entitled the first page with the words 'Security concerns'. "Hekapoo, what have you got?" she asks to the Portal master of the high commission who's little orange flame at the top of her head illuminated the area around her with a gentle glow as she spoke in a casual and admittedly rather bored voice. "Not a lot, Although whoever keeps using their dimensional scissors to dump their garbage kindly stop, It's not what they're supposed to be used for" she warned.
At that point Rhombulus called over from the time-out corner with an accusing "Yeah! Who's dumping garbage in the neverzone!?" he yelled with confidence until Hekapoo, with narrowed eyes and an accusing, very angry gaze and a monotone voice simply responded "I never said the garbage had been dumped in the Neverzone". Rhombulus' eye went wide as he realised that he should've kept his mouth shut. Hekapoo walked over to him and extended her hand "Hand them over" she demanded, looking down on him like a parent would to a disobedient child. With a grumble Rhombulus handed over his dimensional scissors which Hekapoo placed into the pocket of her fiery, orange dress.
She walked back to her spot at the meeting table and took her seat "That's two hours in the time out corner by the way, and you can have these back when I say so" she called over with a monotone voice. The crystalline being grumbled under his breath and turned to face the corner again. "Okay so, now that that's solved, lets move onto Tom and Tamia, anything happening in the Lucitor Union?" Star asked awkwardly, attempting to quickly divert attention from what just happened.
Tom and Tamia exchanged a look, both knowing what they wanted to ask. "Errm, We'll be honest Star.." Tom began before Tamia burst out with a loud and overexcited "What's your and Marco's announcement!?" as she slammed her hands on the table and eased up to look closer at the couple, it almost seemed like her eyes were sparkling with excitement. The whole room was silent for a moment. Most everyone staring at Tamia with a mixture of confused expressions, except for Tom who placed his left hand over his face. Tamia then realised how odd that had just looked and slowly sank back down into her chair, a small voice emitting from her lips with a soft "Sorry..I just..got kinda excited is all".
Ponyhead huffed, Tamia's outburst clearly had annoyed her and this didn't go unnoticed by Tom who narrowed his eyes at the moody queen of the Ponyhead's. But she didn't back down from Tom's glare and in a snarky and accusing tone spat out "What!? You got something to say Lucitor!?" she spoke with a narrow glare of her own. But as Tom was about to reply, a look of anger crossing his face, Star's voice scolded the floating pony. "Pony! There's no need for that, we're all friends here!" Star's own expression was saddened by Ponyhead's outburst, she'd tried so hard to help Ponyhead with her loss but she couldn't keep allowing her to take this attitude with everyone.
Ponyhead's glare then turned to Star "Gurl, I already told you, Me and my Kingdom ain't friends with no Lucitors!" she made clear in an unfeeling and harsh tone "Now just get on with your announcement or whatever so I can go home and not have to look at them" she finished, looking away and closing her eyes with a "Hmmpf" of disgust at the conversation. Star immediately noticed the looks of disgust towards Ponyhead, including the one from Marco, he was clearly furious with how she was acting and Star knew that he probably wouldn't tolerate much more so she decided not to press the issue.
"Okay, well, In that case seeing as how noone can be patient till the end of the meeting" She said with a small smile, taking Marco's hand as everyone else aside from Ponyhead leaned closer in anticipation of the announcement. "Me and Marco have decided on a date for our wedding" She said with a gleeful smile. Tamia immediately stood and cheered happily before extending her hand out towards Tom. "I told you so, cough it up" she teased in victory.
Tom produced a small bag that jingled with the sound of golden coins and placed it in Tamia's palm "You got lucky, my guess was perfectly possible" he mumbled in a voice that was clearly sore at losing the bet. Marco and Star looked bemused at this with Marco being the one to speak up "What did you think we were gonna say Tom?" he questioned the Lucitor king who's face produced a light blush from the embarrassing thing he thought it would be. Tamia laughed, still in victory mode and immediately answered on Tom's behalf "He thought Star was pregnant" she giggled as she jingled the bag of coins happily in her palm.
Star and Marco exchanged a look, both of them flushing red before looking away, their hands however remained intertwined. "oooooh..errm, right yeah...no errm..not yet" Star awkwardly answered, drawing a chuckle from most at the table. Ponyhead however was not amused by any of this and was about to say something when she caught Marco's gaze for a moment. His eyes were like steel as they met hers and he subtly shook his head, almost warning her not to say another word. She huffed in disapproval but did obey and kept her opinions to herself for now.
"So, when is the date Star?" Eclipsa asked, a proud, almost motherly smile plastered across her face with small dots of happy tears in the corners of her eyes. Marco and Star chuckled as they looked towards their long time mentor, watching as she left her seat and ran up to enclose them both in a warm, loving hug which the pair eagerly returned. "Oh you two have grown up so much, I remember when you were both just teenagers hoping that one liked the other!" she claimed with joy as those happy tears flowed freely. Globgor chuckled at his wife as he watched from his chair, she could be overly dramatic at times.
Star and Marco laughed happily as they remembered the days when they had first gotten together. Everything seemed like so long ago now, their first date, Marco learning magic, their battle with Tom. All of it had faded into memory as the last few years had been the most eventful and memorable time of their lives. They broke off their hug with Eclipsa "It's this time next week, some of the preparations have already been made, which brings us too" Star happily began walking over towards Tom and Tamia as she said this, followed by Marco until they stood just in front of the couple.
Marco Started off first "Tom, I want you to be the best man at the wedding" he asked with a smile towards the Lucitor King. Tom smiled happily and gratefully, the two had originally started off as nothing more than rivals, but over the years the pair had grown to the closest of friends who had each other's back through thick and thin. Marco couldn't have asked a better person quite frankly. "Yeah of course man! You know I'd never pass up that opportunity!" Tom yelled as he got up to hug his friend, Marco returned the gesture with a cheerful smile.
Star then looked down to Tamia and said simply "Well, Marco has his best man, I still need a maid of honour" she said with a telling smile. Tamia smiled back and nodded with a happy tear falling from her cheek as the two also shared a hug. The happy moment between the two couples was soon interrupted however by a disgruntled and near furious Ponyhead who interjected with a hostile "What about me!? We've discussed me being your maid of honour since you were like 6 B-fly!?". Ponyhead looked fiercely angry but the telltale shimmer in her eyes showed what was obvious heartbreak.
Star sighed, having a feeling that this was coming, what Ponyhead said wasn't untrue after all. "Look, Pony, I'm sorry but the way you've been acting lately, especially today and the fact that you've never ever approved of me and Marco being together even though it's more than obvious that we love each other...I just didn't see why you should be my maid of honour, you can still be a bridesmaid but.." Star didn't even get to finish her difficult and sympathetic explanation when Ponyhead exploded into a fit of rage.
"Of course I don't approve of Earth-turd! But I was gonna put up with him as long as you were happy B-Fly! But whatever! I know when I'm not wanted, I hope your wedding sucks without me!" Ponyhead raged before bursting out of the room and making her way out of the castle in a fit. The room was somewhat quiet after that, noone wanting to break the silence.
That was until Marco saw small tears trailing down her cheeks. He enveloped his fiancé in a tight, comforting hug, her head nestling into his shoulder as she gently let her tears flow. Marco, then commanded with an anger to his voice "Everybody out! We'll continue the meeting in a few minutes, Me and Star just need a few minutes alone okay?" Noone argued with the order, understanding the anger in the knight's voice completely and they all quickly but quietly made their way from the room, closing the door behind them.
Marco gently ran his hand down Star's long and soft hair which cascaded like a waterfall of purest gold down her back to the small of her back as he comforted his soon-to-be wife. Her small whimpers muffled by his shoulder which was becoming admittedly rather damp by now. "Hey Star, don't worry yourself about Ponyhead okay? I know she has her problems with me and...well in general..but I know she didn't mean what she said okay? She'll come around" He attempted to reassure her, although he wasn't sure of that last part himself, Ponyhead had seemed not just angry..she seemed kinda heartbroken.
Star, still muffled by her boyfriend's shoulder and with a voice wreathed in sadness on what should have been a happy day for them both asked "But what if she doesn't?". Marco thought about this for a moment, then nodded as resolve took him and he broke his hug with Star, now staring into her blue, tear soaked and saddened eyes as she gazed into his with a mixture of love and hurt. "Then it'll be her loss when we have the happiest day of our lives and her own stubbornness keeps her from experiencing it with us" he said with a serious tone before planting a small kiss on Star's forehead.
After he broke the kiss he looked into her eyes again and continued "Star I love you more than anything else in this world or any other, we've been through more than most experience in a lifetime and I still want to go through much much more with you. All I've ever needed in my life ever since you turned up is you, I promise you that no matter what happens, I'll always love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you" his speech was filled with love and heartfelt sincerity as he spoke. If Star hadn't already been crying before she certainly would be now as she drew herself up to plant a loving and passionate kiss on the knight's lips.
The kiss lasted for a few seconds before the couple broke away. "Marco you're super corny sometimes" Star teased before resting her head on his chest "And I love you for it" she whispered gently, a smile finally making it's way to her face. Marco smiled too, if nothing else, he always knew how to make Star feel better. "You ready to finish this meeting?" he asked gently, casually playing with Star's hair as he did so. Star giggled lightly "A few more minutes, let me just enjoy this" she said, closing her eyes as she listened to his heartbeat.
