Alright, so! First actual chapter! Finals sure are relentless, aren't they? Well, I won't take much of you guys time reading this Author's note, so!
retrogunner7 - Thank you! You can definetly expect more, indeed.
GuestreviewIforgottoapprove - Yes, Moon will definetly meet the Diazes, they're all in Echo Creek after all, aren't they?
With all said, here's the first chapter! Star vs The Forces of Evil belong to Daron, and Disney. Please don't sue me.
Chapter 1 - Home away from Home
Moon was ready for everything.
She, admittedly, wasn't really someone to travel across the multiverse. In fact, she would find a better use of her time to study about the past queens, Mewnian History, and listen to her mother's counsels regarding how to rule; this didn't make her many friends from other dimensions, or in Mewni really.
No, she was not a nerd. She was responsible!
So, being told she was moving to another dimension, far from Mewni, even if she was aware it was somehow similar, she prepared for the worse; after all, places like the Underworld and the Cloud Kingdom were part of Mewni..and fundamentally different.
A dark, brooding, twisted jungle, where she would have to explore ruins of the ancient civilization of this plane, and lead the survivors? Or perhaps, maybe, a sunken kingdom, the name being ironic when compared to the original descendants, where she would learn to live the way of the sunkeys, and decipher the mystery of the "true surface…"
Perhaps a lava sea separating islands of each other, chained together only with chains, and she's dropped in the most distant one, having to find a way to reach civilization with nothing but her wits and resilience.
Regardless of what comes, she'll be ready. She's Moon Butterfly, Princess of Mewni, and she'll not bow down for no monster nor struggle!
…
...
Or perhaps it's just a normal looking, if slightly odd Mewni. She is both disappointed her wild fantasies weren't true, and curious of where did they came from in the first place.
Figures.
Echo Creek was, honestly ...pleasantly looking, not really much different from Mewni carriage stopped at a small hill, overlooking the city itself; From the distance, Moon saw the small houses being a bigger part of the landscape,the young princess wondering how rich the rulers of this dimension must be, to build them with bricks rather than wood, even though as far as Moon's eye can see, there is plenty of woods around, with taller, rectangular buildings, kind of bland-looking, she can't lie...
Black roads seem to dot the scenario, and the further Moon's eye goes, the transition from small quiet neighborhood to taller, rectangular buildings in the distance takes shape...ah, this must be the residential distract, and the other must be the Kingdom one...However, one question does rise from her, as she analyzes the size of the buildings in the "Royal" district.
"Odd." She hummed a bit, turning to the carriage driver, crossing her arms and tilting her head. I thought Mother said there was no Magic on this...Earth."
She turned, one eye raised towards her carriage driver.
"How so, Princess?" The driver spoke, raising an eyebrow and unfolding a piece of paper.
"Well, I was told when I was sen-...relocated to this plane, that was a magicless dimension, somehow, nor had it any monsters or magical entity. Yet, these roads are...covered in this kind of black soil, and those buildings are way too big to have been risen with only manual labor..."
Clacking her tongue, she moves down the hill, getting near the street closest to the hill she currently stopping by the walkway, and looking down the pavement, before looking to the rest of the road, one eyebrow raised, as the driver finally unfolded the piece of paper
"This pathway...the...walkway on the side of this road, these rocks are cut to perfection! And this...substance on the road is something akin to solid tar. And I'm seeing carriages being pulled, but *without* the vehicles! Without magic, all of this sounds completely impractical! Are you sure we've come to the right dimension? "
"Perhaps they're simply using other methods." He yawns, rubbing the back of his head "Don't the sprites in the Pixie Kingdom use windbags to propel their carriages, or something?"
"Yes, but they use magic to capture the wind." She scratches her head, slightly confused.
Soon enough Moon was in theory mode, rubbing her chin with her index and thumb, dozens of theories already writing themselves in the young princess' head: Perhaps some creature spew some sort of...tar, maybe? Anyway, for now tar, they spew it in this dimension on their roads? Doesn't explain the perfectly cut stone, however...Ah, perhaps a mold is pushed against the rocks, and they use some manner of...succion? But, then again, how strong would the workers need to be to carry it all the way from the Quarry and on EACH place near the road?
That would have gone for quite a while before a second throat cleaning interrupting her thoughts, spooking her a bit. "You back with us, Princess?" The driver says, getting her attention and nodding in confirmation as the heiress turned to him. With another cough, and holding the piece of paper for her, he started speaking again.
"Your mother wants to filter through the guards to be sure to pick a bodyguard for you, which is why for now you'll have to fly solo."
"Fly...solo?"
"You know...by yourself."
"Oh!" She looks away, hiding a blush of embarrassment, fidgeting slightly. "O-of course, haha…"
The driver can't help but laugh at the heiress' awkwardness, before speaking again , voice still carrying some mirth, yet worry
"Don't forget to call your mother, Princess. I know you're still upset, but..."
"I know. That will be all I suppose" She cuts off, turning away. "Send mother the news I've arrived safely, and good fortunes for her efforts to bring peace to Mewni."
She winces a bit, not that the driver is seeing...that was rude, but she's frankly...tired of this; the sooner the topic dies, the sooner she can start letting it sink in.
"...very well. Good luck, Princess Moon."
And with that, she heard the sound of the dimensional scissors, a carriage moving, and a portal opening and closing.
…
...
Welp, no time like the present! It's time for Moon to leave her mother's wings, and fly solo! It's the dream of every princess to one day be free of her parents pressure, and make their own decisions!
Really, she should be happy, ecstatic even!
She'll make new friends, new experiences, get a completely new perspective!
She'll return with knowledge, ideas, and philosophies to enrich her own kingdom, and her rule as a future Queen of Mewni!
Yes, anytime she'll do the figurative first step in her life on Earth.
Anytime now.
Aaaaanytime.
"You're still there, princess?" Glossaryck says, as his head pops out of the book under Moon's arm.
For her whole life, she'll never admit she got spooked by Glossaryck' voice. He...simply broke her concentration. And created the root near her foot, to specifically trip her as a prank, as a jest; she also, definitely, did not scream like a little kid.
No one ever believed her.
Inspecting up close, it seems these carriages use some sort of fuel, much like the Pixie Kingdom uses wind, indeed. She's not sure how it really works, but it seems a plausible theory as she notices the smoke it releases that it, indeed, uses some sort of fuel; Another observation is that earthians are similar to Mewnians, even in style of attire!
Albeit they seem to really like putting symbols and words on the front and back of it, in more casual looking clothing, that makes absolutely no sense to her.
Also, the language! Another surprise it seems, as she could perfectly understand what they were saying! That threw away dozens of contingency plans she already had in her mind for translating her intentions to the natives.
The streets, too, were arguably more organized than her home, and the fact they've a pathway for people, separating riders from travellers on the road was actually very smart! She added that in her annotations, using the spellbook and it's attached enchanted feather.
After a while, Glossaryck, who was laying down on the blank page, raising the eyebrow to either Moon's disregard to the attention she's bringing, or a intentional obliviousness, mostly likely on the topic on the whole "carrying around a giant sized book in the middle of the street effortlessly, and also writing on it."
"Not that I judge the content of who writes this book" He mentions almost absently-minded, yawning, and rolling, and laying on the page like a bed, eyes closed "but I hardly think comments about the possibility of walkways on Mewni's streets is going to be content the future readers will be overly interested in."
"Neither is an entire page on drawing of balls, but it's kept anyway." She replies, not even looking up from her point of view.
Thankfully she was already prepared for his...oddities beforehand, from her mother's stories. She will be sure not to indulge them.
"Okay, first of all" Glossaryck raises his index finger, pointing at Moon while rolling to lay on the center of the book. "Even if for a very short time, Dirrhennia was still a heir to the Mewni throne, and I will not take off any page of any Queen, regardless of the time of their reign, nor content; I didn't take Eclipsa, I surely wouldn't take her"
"But it's still useless, isn't it"
"Yes but it's a historical landmark, in its own way. At least useful for that"
"So, my "silly" annotations are much like that!" She finalized, in a smug fashion, spinning her feather...and just getting a little of paint on her face.
"Useless?"
"What, No! They're…!" She prepares to rant, when she noticed both her outburst, and the stares she was getting...before clearing her throat, and standing straighter, acting as nothing happened "It's a historical landmark."
"Whatever you say, Princess." He says, almost amused, and reappears, sitting by the edge of the book, legs crossed. "Sooo...what's the big plan?"
Glad of the change of the topic, she closes the book enthusiastically...before her eyes widen and she mutters an embarrassed apology to Glossaryck's head, that pops in between the pages with an unamused expression.
"Mother told me to go to a school, so I'll simply pick one!" She raises her index finger up, and closes her eyes with a practiced smile "Certainly, there must be a school that fits my profile, so I'll blend easily amongst Eart- I...I mean, Creekian society."
"Wouldn't it be simpler to simply pick the closest one, however?"
Moon rolls her eyes, taking a breath, and Glossaryck can already feel his eyes doing the same "As a future heir of Mewni, I must have nothing short of the greatest education this dimension can provide if it is to be my home for this year; I simply cannot settle for less!"
Her blind stride turns fruitful as she comes to face a school that, even if Glossaryck's knowledge of Earth wasn't that great, definitely didn't look like the usual school normal children would go, he couldn't help but grin in amusement out of the scenario he can already imagine.
"And you plan to simply say you're a Princess of an alternate dimension called Mewni, your parents can't come because they're currently dealing with a war between Mewnians and Monsters, two species they certainly have never heard about, shove the treasure on their chest and tell them to apply you."
To her credit, Moon did look away a bit in embarrassment.
"Well, if you word it out that way, it does sound silly, but I'm certain I can explain myself very well. Those talking lessons with Sir Silvertongue will certainly not be wasted, you'll see."
With a slightly more nervous trek, she tightens the grip on book under her arm, and step towards what was going to be her new School, "Richies School for Rich Kids."
What can go wrong?
Wait, she shouldn't have sa-
"You can't do that to me, I'm a Princess! Royalty, I'll make sure you will have your knight title removed!" The Princess tries to break from the tight hold on her arms by two security guards, clear mix of amusement and exasperation sculpted in their expressions
"Our "king" was the one that wanted you out, "Princess.""
"Then tell him this is no way to treat a dignitary of a Kingdom!" She speaks, decour be damned.
The guards decide to completely disregard any other point she might be making, and to the credit of their patience, and possibly to avoid any lawsuit, simply drop her off on the other side of the gate, and after making sure her oversized book and wooden chest were dropped alongside her, they closed the marbled, gold-detailed gate with a loud clang.
"By the way "Princess", that wouldn't be able to even pay a week in this school." The guard scoffs, "Either return with your actual parents, or go play pretend somewhere else."
And they walk away, leaving Moon to fume, and the other kids to openly giggle at her. That quickly changed when she turned to them, and suddenly those selfsame kids suddenly felt like going anywhere but near the crazily dressed teen.
With that being done, she takes a deep breath. "Recompose yourself Moon. You're a princess. Heir to the throne. You're above that." Closing her eyes, and exhaling for the last time, she pats her dress of the dust, adjusting the Butterfly pin in the neck, she picks up the gold chest and the book, and starts heading down the street.
"Told you that wouldn't work." He says, still within the book.
"It was, admittedly, not a smart judgement. It's their loss, after all, however; I'll be certain to put down a very negative opinion on them when I become queen; let's see them getting any other clients."
"This is not Mewni, I hardly think your input will matter very much, Princess."
"Then I just need to start diplomatic relationships with Echo Creek, and make it faithful allies of Mewni, so my word matters."
"Then you would openly start diplomatic relationship with a realm, completely unaware of the concepts of dimensions and magic, cause a complete shock and awe, simply to spite a school that had a very good reason to not believe your word on a very fundamental ground?"
"I've made my case crystal clear, they just wouldn't listen."
"You've repeated "like", at least 20 times."
Moon raised the Book to her eye level, eye twitching "If you could give me any suggestion, instead of simply poking fun at my expense, Glossaryck, that would be very much appreciated."
Glossaryck looks at her for a moment, rubbing his chin with...his foot?
She said she would not indulge it, she will not indulge it!
"Nah. You got this". And with that, he returned to the book "Ah, don't forget we'll have practice lessons tonight!"
"Wait, come back here, you!" She kept trying to browse through the pages, but he wouldn't appear. "Releasing a sigh, she closed the book again, and got her belongings, and continued her search. "There has to be a place that will take me in, there has to!"
Her quest for a school took her a good chunk of the afternoon, in between asking random people about schools in Echo Creek, asking directions, asking them to explain said directions, and what a "boulevard" was even supposed to be like, she finally reached where she was. Her hair was disheveled, she was sure her dress got torn on a bush, and her feet hurt, but she finally reached a place that, most likely would take it in.
Echo Creek Academy. A school for normal teenagers of Echo Creek, and particularly receptive of transfer students; the concept not being completely stranger for Moon, and she silently sighed in relief and in frustration for not thinking of that before.
It was a silly thought in retrospect, Earth was most likely a singular kingdom from her impression of Echo Creek, why would they have school for nobility, this city must simply be a smaller one; the logic is sound, her mother most likely wouldn't want people to know about her stay, in case the monsters spies got wind of it, and she supposed she should have asked more, instead of just brooding the entirety of the day. She can faintly hear Glossaryck's giggles in the background, and she dutifully decided to ignore.
Eventually, after asking around, she got a meeting with the headmaster: An old looking man, wearing a suit that was clearly too big for him, for starters. On the walls were pictures of a muscular men flexing, and winking at whoever is looking, and trophies for "Beach Stud", "Bodybuilder 1981", "Surfing Championship 1982", so and so, all these pictures and trophies having a signature of one "Gustav Chad Hasseltrumpf". Moon, for a moment, blinks at him. The headmaster's ghost of a frown speaks louder than any sentence could, and she decides wisely to pull the reins on that thought.
She really doesn't need another school rejecting her.
"So...Moon Butterfly, right?" He glances up from a folder, looking her up and down.
"Yes sir." She nods, hands held together upfront, looking directly at his eyes.
"Transfer student from...Mewni. Never heard of it." He gazes, a bit suspiciously…
"It's...quite far. Small city, I'm not surprised you don't know, hahaha…" She giggles slightly, hiding her mouth behind her hand, keeping her dignified posture.
Even if internally she was sweating buckets. Well, not literally sweating, it was a figure of expre-
"Well. Do you have any documentation t-" The Headmaster was interrupted as, with a loud thump, a healthy pile of golden materials thunks down on his desk. His eyes widen as he looks between the jewelry, gold coins and treasure and between the "Princess", who simply stands there with a blank expression, holding another small amount of treasure on her hand, her treasure chest on the floor. The faux staring contest takes at least two minutes, before the Headmaster spoke, clearing his throat.
"Give me that other handful, and I'll even fake your documents."
"Thank you, Sir Chad."
"Please, call me Gustav. Please do, I hate that middle name."
She couldn't help this time but grin toothily.
"You know, normally I would say that endorsing the practice of corruption is very un-queenlike, but...I don't really care, very clever."
"Why thank you, Sir Glossaryck" Moon eagerly speaks, pocketing her completely legitimate documents and registration papers on her baggage, wearing a small grin.
"Well, with your education issue solved, the problem of a place to stay persists…" He scratches his chin, looking fairly disinterested "Perhaps you can pull a Cecilia an-"
"That will not be necessary, Glossaryck. I've already got a place in mind, in fact." She replies, her timid smile widening by an inch with giddy thoughts of surprising her smart-mouthed mentor with her foresight giving a little bit of step in her surprisingly tired body.
"Oh, do you?" He turns to her, eyebrows raised just slightly in curiosity.
"Yes. I do remember a spell Mother told me about replicating a room that has emotional connection to a person, right?"
"Yes, but it does take a fair bit of your energy, and of course, no offense…" Glossaryck does a look-over on her tired, but satisfied expression, and slightly dirtied dress "But you look like a breeze can knock you over."
"While I am quite tired, I think that you and I will surely end up delaying our magic lessons for the next day in the state of my situation, then it is in the best of our interest to guarantee a safe location for both of us, and a comfort zone for me to be able to practice better, hmm?"
Glossaryck seems to think a bit, before nodding. "Fair point, but I'm not carrying you if you pass out because of exhaustion.
"A princess knows very much her limits, Glossaryck."
"Repeating only what you've learnt in Princess school doesn't really make it a reality, Moon."
She walks a little slower, processing both the...odd barb, as well as the fact that for a first, Glossaryck called her Moon. She turns to look at her shoulder again, but Glossaryck isn't there anymore. With a snort, she continues heading down the street for quite a while, enjoying the silence.
Concrete buildings give way to residential houses, until a particular lot the Princess stops. She nods, and holding the book, opens it. "We're here, Glossaryck."
He looks around, inspecting the area; It's clearly on one of Echo Creek's many hills, overlooking the city. It seemed to be a small, park-like area, seemingly abandoned for quite a while. There is some junk laying, thankfully mostly electronics or metallic matter rather than actual trash, some abandoned, rotting wood benches, as well a rusty-looking children's park; The grass is clearly overgrown, reaching past Moon's shoes, dandelions being a sight every once in awhile on the landscape
The main building seems to be where the public restroom is, and that one actually looks like someone looked after it compared to the rest, with windows being boarded with planks instead of simply left broken, the cleaner looking wall bricks, and wooden planks also covering part of the roof which, Glossaryck assumes, were lacking or collapsed.
Past the restroom and the rusted playground, there's a metal fence, paved on cracked concrete, where Moon sees a good part of Echo Creek, including its setting sun. She spent an entire day on Earth so far; No monsters, no nobles trying to court her hand, no soldiers, no tension...Moon takes a deep breath, releasing it in a single burst, face frozen in a half-smile, as she lays herself against the metal railing.
"The air smells different, but in a pleasant way...you know, Glossaryck, I think I could actually-"
Her thoughts are broken as she releases a small gasp, and desperately tries to balances herself, hands waving, as the metal railing gives way, sliding down the hill before hitting a road. She manages to stop herself just short of the cliff-side, taking deep breaths.
"Okay. This place really, really needs some safety tapes, ancestors be damned!"
She calms herself, wiping her forehead. Stretching herself, she puts a hand on her hip, and the other she picks her holstered wand, pointing at the spot the rusted playground is.
"Alright Glossaryck, what's the spell for casting my tower…?"
"That would be "Sparkle Glitter Bomb Expand", Princess."
"...that is a very odd name."
"I don't tell the Princesses how they name their spells, Princess."
"Fair enough. Alright, focus…"
Moon picks up the wand with both hands, eyes closed in concentration. Her hair rises a bit, and her cheek marks emit a faint glow as she powers up her magic, and with a sudden movement, her eyes are open again.
"Sparkle Glitter Bomb Expand!"
She points to the Rusted Park, and the effect is instantaneous. From the sand, a tower bursts from the ground, throwing debris and rusted pieces of metal in all directions, thankfully none near her, and a very familiar and lovely tower rises; She has to say, it's definitely spotless, as the spell copied the dark, rock bricks cut from Mewni's mountain itself, as well as the rectangular windows; the topmost having the brass balcony she loved to enter to watch the Sunrise in Mewni...and now she'll use to watch the Sunrise on Earth! The floor level is as modest, having only a simple wooden door with her name.
She would need to cut down the grass around her tower, maybe plant some orchids? Oh, the thought of prettying up this place...and possibly making it less of a safety hazard makes her almost forget the events of the past day!
"Well, what do you think Glossaryck. Fairly well done, for someone that casted it for the first time, right?" She turns to Glossaryck, almost smugly, before she notices he isn't looking specifically at her, instead in the direction of the street; confused, she turns, before she loses all color on her face. Standing there, is another girl, roughly her height it seems, and she looks in complete surprise, her groceries long since dropped on the floor.
"Oh, cornbiscuit-"
"WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MY ART PIECE?"
Hope you enjoyed the chapter, CH 2 coming somewhere between the minute you finished reading this, to the moment I post it.
Have a good week :D
