AUTHOR'S NOTE: Credit for the opening scene goes to my collaborator.
Disclaimers will be at the bottom.
Star vs. the Flashpoint Paradox
Chapter 1: Day One
The sun's rays seeped through the blinds, hitting Star's eyes and forcing her to wake up. The princess of Mewni slowly opened her eyes and instantly saw that something was greatly amiss. She jolted up from her bed and took in the sights of her room around her. There was just one problem: this wasn't her room. Gone was her tower and her magical items along with it. Instead, the blonde found herself in a room similar to Marco's bedroom. At first she assumed that she was casting spells in her sleep again and ended up in her crush's bedroom by accident. However, upon closer inspection of the room, she could clearly see some differences from this room and Marco's.
For starters, the walls were mostly bare, save for a few posters that once hung in Star's room, such as the band she had come to adore in this world. There was a wooden dresser where her wand sat, still without her spell book or Glossaryck there as well. It was then that she noticed that something was very off about her wand. She quickly got up and hurried over to it to see that her wand was completely dead. She cried out in horror at the sight of now dead object that had been in her family for generations. What would her mother say if she found out? Even more so, what would her people say if they discovered that their future ruler had let their most powerful defense against hordes of evil be drained of power all because she forgot to recharge it? Again!
Her cries did not go unheard, for she heard the door being flung open, which was then followed by the sound of heavy footsteps rushing to her side.
"Star, what's wrong!?" Marco's voice asked from the doorway in a panicked tone.
"Oh Marco, it's terrible!" Star wept. "My-my wand...it's dead!"
"Uh, Star, your wand's been dead ever since you came to Earth, remember?" her friend pointed out.
"What are you talking about?" she asked in a confused tone as she turned to face him. "I used the wand yester-what the-!?"
Star's train of thought instantly derailed when she saw what Marco was wearing. His red hoodie and black skinny jeans had been replaced by a military uniform. He wore a bullet-proof vest over his attire that had a large combat knife strapped to it and a pair of tan boots. Strapped to his side was a hosteled pistol and a tan cap on his head that had the insignia of G.I. Joe on it.
"Uh, why are you wearing that uniform?" she questioned.
"Because it was issued to me?" Marco slowly answered, clearly confused.
"Like, through the mail or something?" Star furthered.
"No, ever since I joined the G.I. Joes," he corrected.
"Wait, hold up!" the hyperactive girl nearly shouted. "You did what now!? Why didn't you tell me about this!?"
"Star, I've been a Joe ever since we met," Marco informed her as he reminding her. "What's gotten into you today?"
"What's gotten into me!?" Star defended sharply. "You're the one decided to run off and join the army! Did you even tell your parents!? Or Jackie for that matter!?"
A mixed look of shock, anger and confusion came over her friend's face when he heard those words.
"Okay, two things," Marco began. "One, who's Jackie? And two, you know my parents were killed in that bombing by Cobra before I enlisted."
Star was taken aback when she heard that. Granted, in the back of her mind she briefly enjoyed the idea of Marco not knowing who his girlfriend was, but that thought was almost instantly snuffed out when she heard that Marco's parents had perished.
"How did that even happen?" she asked "I saw them yesterday before I went on that mission with the Infinity League."
"The Infinity what?" her friend asked. "Star, you're not making any sense...well, more so then usual, that is."
"I'm not making sense!?" Star shot back defensively. "You just told me that your parents are dead, you don't know who Jackie is and you joined the G.I. Joes and you think I'm not making sense!?"
"Okay, look, it's clear that you're not feeling well," the young solider said in a much calmer tone. "Is this some sort of Mewnan disease or something?"
"No, this is a 'Marco's being crazy and upsetting Star' thing!" the princess exclaimed furiously.
"Upsetting yo-" Marco began before stopping himself. "Oh, I think what this is about. I'm so sorry Star, I completely forgot. Fortunately, I got something that might make it up to you."
The young solider then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small red box before opening it up to reveal a silver necklace with a half a heart on it with Marco's name written on it. In that moment, all of Star's fears and anger seemed to vanish without a trace as the love of her life put his gift around her neck.
"You like it?" he asked before showing his necklace that had Star's name on it. "Now we can be together, even when I'm with the Joes."
"It's beautiful," Star answered, still awestruck by the gift. "Thank you, Marco."
"Happy late six-month anniversary, baby," he answered.
Before Star could question what he had meant by that, her friend suddenly leaned forward and kissed her deeply on the lips. At first, Star's initial reaction was to jerk her back and push the boy away, but she found herself kissing back. She couldn't deny that this was what her heart wanted and kissing Marco felt right to her. But as they continued to kiss, she had to remind herself that this wrong. Marco may not remember who Jackie was, but she still thought as though she was hurting both her and the boy she loved. So, with a heavy sigh, she slowly pushed him away.
"Are you okay, honey?" Marco questioned with concern. "Look, I know it's been hard to adjust living on Earth ever since your home was destroyed, bu-"
"What?" Star interrupted. "What do you mean by that?"
"Don't you remember?" Marco began somberly. "Your parents sent you here to hide from the Irkens when they invaded Mewni. Queen Tak gave the orders to Grand Commander Zim to use their weapon, the Terminus Station, to scorch the surface of the planet just as you made it here. Your mother managed to damage the battle station and left it dead in Mewni's orbit before she died. She saved you Star. She saved us all."
Star's mind couldn't process a single word that her apparent lover had just said. The Irkens attacking Mewni, Queen Tak and Grand Commander Zim, none of it made sense. She refused to believe that her people had been wiped out. She had to see it for herself. Without another word, she pulled out her pair of dimensional scissors and cut open a portal for herself.
"Wait, Star, what the hell are you doing!?" Marco asked frightfully.
"I'm getting some answers," she said sternly. "Because something is wrong and I'm going to find out why!"
Before Marco could stop her, Star stepped into the portal and closed it behind her. The young solider, shocked and saddened by this course of action, had no idea what had come over his lover and now had no way of going of chasing after her. What was almost as bad as seeing the women he loved run off in a fit of hysterics though was that now he had to call his commanding officer and the Joe's headquarters, and he already knew that the General wasn't going to be pleased by his report. He took out his cell phone and made a direct call to his leader, already dreading what he was going to say to him.
"Sir, Corporal Marco Diaz, reporting in," he began.
"Go ahead, Corporal," the general's voice acknowledged.
"It's Star, sir," the young Joe said. "She took her scissors and went back to Mewni."
"Why did she do that?" the voice questioned before adding. "And more importantly, why the hell didn't you stop her!?"
"Star was acting strange when she woke up today," Marco explained. "It was like she completely forgot our time together."
An audible growl of frustration came from the other end of the line.
"Corporal Diaz, I gave you one simple task: watch over the last Mewnan," he began irritably. "I have enough on my plate with Cobra and the Irkens trying to take over what parts of the world they haven't blown up yet while at the same time trying to keep these super-freaks that keep popping up on our soil at bay. What I don't have time for, however, is your incompetence in watching over a single alien that you decided to sleep with! I gave you a house to keep her in and yet you still couldn't keep that girl under your roof! It goes without saying that I'm very disappointed in you."
"I understand, General," Marco accepted shamefully. "I will accept any punishment you see fit, sir."
"You're lucky I'm running low on Joes or I'd have you work kitchen duty until the day you died," the general informed him. "Return to base at once. I'm calling what Joes we have left for a mission briefing."
"What about Star?" Marco questioned. "We can't just leave her!"
"She'll come back, Corporal" the general assured him. "The only thing she'll find on Mewni is death."
"Understood, General Pines," the Joe replied before hanging up.
While that was going on, a portal opened in what remained of Mewni before Star stepped out of it and, much to her shock, had seen that what Marco had told her was in fact true. The skies were that of a blood red color, the luscious landscapes were completely scorched, the palace was in ruins and all around the princess were the skeletal remains of multiple Mewnans, monsters and Irkens as far as the eye can see. Completely speechless and horrified at the sight before her, Star immediately ran towards what remained of the royal palace in a vain attempt to find her parents.
"Mom! Dad!" she shouted as she entered the building, dashing towards the throne room. The walls of the palace were scorched and deteriorated beyond repair, more skeletons of the royal guards and more Irkens laid on the floors of the hallways and it was becoming more and more apparent that only death would await the young princess once she made it to the throne room, yet she still held on to some hope that that would not be the case.
However, once she reached the throne room, any and all hope she had were instantly crushed upon seeing the sight that beheld her. In the middle of the remains of multiple guards, soldiers and Irkens were two skeletons, one male and one female, the rusted crowns of both King and Queen Butterfly laying beside them.
"No..." was all the princess could say, tears starting to well up in her eyes as she approached the skeletal remains of her parents. She then kneeled down and picked up her mother's crown as she began to sob quietly.
"Th-this can't be real," she said in between sobs. "This-this has to be a dream!"
Star proceeded to drop the crown and started to pinch her arm, desperately trying to awaken from what she assumed was a nightmare she was having, but it was to no avail.
"Wake up, Star!" she said to herself. "Wake up!...Please, wake up..."
Suddenly, without warning, a large clock hand popped into existence, spinning three hundred and sixty degrees clockwise to open a blue portal. Gasping in surprise and fright, Star instinctively grabbed her wand and pointed it at the portal.
"Rainbow fist punch!" she called out, only for nothing to happen. She then shook her wand up and down to try and get the spell to work only for her eyes to widen upon remembering that the wand was dead. Without the wand to back her up, she proceeded to get into a fighting stance as something emerged from the portal.
What now floated in front of Star was a hooded, ghostly figure with no legs and what appeared to be a small grandfather clock embedded in his chest and stomach. He also carried a staff with what looked like a stop watch on the tip of it.
"I assure you, Princess Butterfly, this is no dream," he said as Star slowly got out of her fighting stance, remembering one time when Danny had told her of some of his adventures and had described a very similar figure to her.
"Wait a minute," she started. "You're-"
"Clockwork, master of time," the ghost finished for her as he faded to the form of himself as an old man. "I see that Daniel has informed you about me."
"What are you doing here?" the princess of Mewni asked. "If this isn't a dream, then what's going on?"
"The timestream has been drastically changed," Clockwork answered as he faded into the form of himself as an infant. "Someone has traveled back in time and changed something in the past, creating this new timeline you awoke to. All that I know though is that you are connected to this in some way."
Hearing this caused Star's eyes to widen in shock and horror. This was all in fact very real and not some nightmare she was having. Her parents were really dead and her home has been completely destroyed.
"Wha-what could have possibly caused everything to change like this, though?" she asked, trying to muster up the will to speak. "How could changing one thing lead to all of this?"
"Tell me, Star, have you ever heard of a concept called 'the Butterfly Effect?'" Clockwork asked as he reverted back to his original form.
"What?" Star asked. "What does caterpillars turning into butterflies have to do with any of this?"
Her response caused the master of time to place a hand on his forehead in annoyance while he reverted to his infant form.
"Of course you wouldn't know of it, you're fourteen and from another dimension," he said. "No, the Butterfly Effect states that small actions could lead to large affects. Meaning that any shift in the spacetime continuum, no matter how minor, could lead to massive, even chaotic consequences in the future."
"Wait, hold on, you're the master of time, right?" Star asked, a thought coming to her head. "If what you're saying is true, can't you just go back and fix it?"
"No," Clockwork bluntly answered.
"Wha-why not!?" Star shouted.
"Because I'm using all of my power to ensure that the temporal disturbances that formed from this don't do any more damage than they already have," Clockwork answered as he reverted to his older form. "If they go unchecked, they could very well wipe this entire universe from existence. It appears as though it is up to you to fix this."
"But how?" the princess asked.
"It's a possibility that, like yourself, whoever caused this will have memories of the previous timeline," Clockwork answered as he faded to his original form. "You need to find who did this and get him or her to go back to the past and fix all of this."
"I-I can't do this by myself though," Star somberly said as she fell to her knees. "I..."
Suddenly, a thought came to her mind.
"Danny," she said. "Danny experienced something similar to this a while back, maybe he can help!"
With that, the young princess got back on her feet and grabbed her scissors, cutting a portal in front of her.
"I would advise you to tread carefully, Star," Clockwork warned, catching her attention. "With this new timeline, there are new dangers as well, so expect anything to happen."
With a nod of acknowledgement, Star stepped through the portal as Clockwork opened another portal back to the Ghost Zone to continue his efforts in preventing the universe from being destroyed.
Meanwhile, in Amity Park, Indiana, the ghostly form of a girl wearing a gothic rocker attire flew backwards into a billboard that would normally welcome travelers into the city with open arms, but now simply said 'Amity Park,' with spray paint that said 'abandon all hope, ye who enter' instead of 'life is good.' The impact the ghost made caused several cracks to form in the already deteriorated billboard as she roughly fell onto the roof of the building it stood on with a painful grunt. She then proceeded to grab her weapon, a guitar, as she saw her attacker flying towards her.
The one after her was a middle aged, fairly built man with an obvious five o'clock shadow and wearing a mostly black jumpsuit with a white belt, gloves and boots. His short hair was snow white and his eyes were green, glowing with ecto energy and giving off a hate filled look to the ghost bellow him. The girl then strummed a note onto her guitar, causing a wave of spectral energy to be sent towards her adversary, but the man proceeded to split into three duplicates of himself, the stream going through the one on the right and causing it to disappear, giving him the chance to fire a powerful blast of ecto energy from his right hand which destroyed the guitar.
Now without a weapon, the ghost attempted to get back on her feet when the man landed hard on his feet in front of her. In a final, desperate attempt to harm him, the rocker ghost attempted to throw a punch at him, only for him to catch her fist and grab her by the neck, forcing her against the billboard as she struggled to free herself.
"Talk, Ember!" he shouted in a somewhat gravely voice. "Where is your boss hiding this time? Where's Plasmius!?"
Much to his slight surprise, rather than cower before him and let slip where this 'Plasmius' was, Ember started to laugh in a mocking manner at him.
"You really are as dumb as you look, aren't you, dipstick?" she asked. "You really think Plasmius would tell us where she was hiding and risk you finding out? Face it, you don't have a chance in stopping her, so why don't you just do me a favor and go to Hell?"
Practically snarling in anger, the man tossed Ember against a metal support beam. She then struggled once again to get back on her feet when she noticed her attacker grabbing something. Something that resembled a thermos.
"You first," he said before opening the device. The thermos then proceeded to glow a hellish orange as a portal opened inside of it, displaying a land of fire and brimstone before the ghost. Only now did Ember realize the mistake she made as the device started to suck her towards it. Petrified, she grasped onto the support beam to try and prevent herself from being pulled to the portal, but the man retaliated by firing another ecto blast at her hand, forcing her to let go and sending her screaming into the portal before it closed.
DISCLAIMER: Star vs. the Forces of Evil and Gravity Falls are owned by Disney, Danny Phantom and Invader Zim are owned by Nickelodeon and G.I. Joe is owned by Hasbro.