Kingsley

Chapter 4

A Ball of Royal Brats

It was exactly one hour before the ball when Moon's nerves kicked in. She'd been ping-ponging between excitement and fear for the event all week. However, it seemed like this time the fear was there to stay. Although, Moon had overcome her struggle with dancing thanks to Toffee, another dozen or so worries had arose as the week went on. What if the girls made fun of her dress. What if she tripped and fell into the refreshment table. What if they all took one look at her and thought she was not fit to be princess, let alone queen.

Toffee tried soothing every little fear that came up with his cool, logical attitude. He'd seen her dress and assured her it was beautiful. He'd insisted on chaperoning the event and specifically station himself by the refreshment table. So, if she did fall, he'd be there to catch her. Unfortunately, the last was a fear that he could not find a solution for. People, especially people around Moon's age, tended to make snap decisions about other people and cling to them, rather childishly.

Which is why Moon remained nervous as she stood on the other side of the ballroom doors, waiting to make her grand entrance. Her stalling minutes were running out quickly and for a desperate moment she honestly considered making a break for it. It was all too overwhelming. However, Moon took a few deep breaths and tried rationalizing. When she walked through those doors, she wouldn't be alone. Toffee would be there. River would also be there, despite the fact her parents thought the Johansens' weren't real royalty. He was one of her only friends and Moon knew he would support her no matter what.

One of the doormen coughed, deliberately, trying to get Moon's attention, and she refocused her gaze back on the doors. She gave him a curt, rigid nod, which he relayed to his partner. It was time to move forward.

The doors were opened and Moon was met by every royal from the most exclusive dimensions allied with Mewni. Everyone stared at Moon as she made her first stiff steps into the ballroom, while she was not expected to acknowledge any of them. However, her acknowledgment did fall on a face amongst the blurred crowd. Although, maybe not the oldest creature in the room, he held himself tall and seemed the most grownup. Toffee smiled at her and gestured for her to continue on with what they had practiced. Moon took exactly five steps forward, before she spoke to the audience of her peers,

"Good evening. I'm Princess Moon Butterfly." she smiled. "As the future queen, I welcome you all to Mewni. Please enjoy the festivities to your heart's desire."

Everyone applauded her. Well, everyone, except any of the Ponyheads. But, as a band of floating heads, they were legit. They still whinnied in approval of her introduction. Moon was finally able to be assimilated into the crowd unnoticed. She was about to go find River, when she was suddenly approached by a girl with dark red hair and spiked horns. The girl was accompanied by what appeared to be a cosmic skull with antlers, trapped in a little crystal ball, and a creature whose head was a rhombus-shaped crystal.

"Good evening, princess. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." the girl said, with a curtsy. "I'm Heckapoo and I'll be a part of the Magical High Commission when you ascend to being queen."

"It's nice to meet you." Moon replied.

"I also brought Omni and Rhombulus with me," Heckapoo added. She presented the crystal ball with the skull in it and it waved a galactic hand in greeting. "Omnitraxus Prime can't leave space time, unless there's an emergency, so I brought a crystal ball for him to meet you. He and High Chancellor Lekmet should make up the rest of your council, if everything goes to plan."

"What about him?" Moon asked, curiously, referring to her other escort. He attempted to shake her hand. However, Moon quickly noticed that he had hissing snakes instead of hands, or even hand-shaped crystals. She still shook one to be polite, but inside she was screaming.

"Rhombulus? He's not a member. He looks after the Chancellor and wants to freeze my brother in crystal for being evil, so I brought him with me." Heckapoo replied. Moon was baffled by the blatant honesty and what they were planning on doing. She wanted to freak out, however, Toffee's voice was in her head. He was telling her to act calm and be a lady, no matter what shocking information had just been dropped on her.

"I would appreciate it if no one was crystalized at my ball, thank you." Moon smiled. She was trying a new kind, but authoritative, voice of a ruler.

"Trust me, you'll change your mind once you've met him." Heckapoo groaned. As if on cue, a boy put his arm over her shoulder. He didn't look anything like his sister, or even a demon, for that matter. Dark brown hair, pale complexion, turquoise-green eyes.

"Giving me a glowing introduction, sister of mine." the boy grinned.

"You know it, dear brother." Heckapoo answered, sarcastically. "Princess, allow me to introduce my brother, Lucifer. Heir to the Underworld and—number one tool of our dimension!"

"Heckapoo!" he shouted. She stuck out her tongue and slapped him on the back of his head with a fiery hand.

"You just got Heckapoo-d, son!" she exclaimed, running into the crowd. Rhombulus hovered for a moment, looking unsure about what to do. He wanted to crystalize Lucifer, but Moon was in his way.

"Be lucky the princess has requested no one be crystalized this evening…" Rhombulus muttered, before sauntering off after Heckapoo.

"Are you alright?" Moon asked Lucifer, rushing to his side.

"Yeah. How's the bald spot looking? Is it noticeable?" he asked. She looked and on the back of his dark brown hair was a scolding patch of skin.

"Extremely." she replied, being a little too blunt and honest with him.

"I guess I'll make a trend of it somehow."

"Why are they so mean to you?"

"I have a bit of a temper and they think that makes me evil, or at least Rhombulus thinks that makes me evil. I don't know how my sister feels exactly." Lucifer answered.

"Have you tried apologizing?"

"It's kind of difficult to apologize when she's got reins over her own dimension and won't let anyone else in."

"She does?" Moon replied, looking perplexed. She'd never heard of someone owning their own dimension before. Even she, as queen, would not own all of Mewni.

"Surely, you know of her legacy. My sister is a profoundly gifted magic user and the creator of dimensional scissors." Lucifer inquired, looking at her quizzically.

"Real—I mean, of course."

"As a kid, she always had to make her own lefty scissors. Then, one day, she cut right through the universe and ended up in Septarsis." he explained. "Today, she's honed the craft and someday it'll be the primary system of transportation between worlds."

"Remarkable…" Moon added, in clear amazement. Her gaze found Heckapoo across the room and she just couldn't believe she had so much power. No wonder she was headed for the magic commission.

"I'm sure she's nothing compared to you, princess. The Butterfly's magic is legendary." Lucifer exclaimed, eyeing Moon with peaked interest. "Perhaps, you might be able to show me something with your wand."

"I—I—I—" Moon stammered. Glossaryck had taught her a little bit and she could do lots of things, but she was still only less than a year into her training. She couldn't do anything on par with what someone like him, or Heckapoo, could do.

"I'm sorry, your highness. I'm afraid the princess is not allowed to display her magic to the public until after her coronation." a voice answered for her. Moon turned around to find Toffee had abandoned his position at the refreshment table. How long ago exactly, she was not sure of. But, apparently, he'd been there long enough to hear the tail end of their conversation.

"Well, well, well, Toffee. I didn't expect to see you here." Lucifer smiled, sounding saccharine and sweet. However, he was just over the line of sounding totally fake and it did not go unnoticed. "Although, I'd heard you left Septarsis to service the future queen, I couldn't believe it."

"It was a difficult decision." Toffee stated, simply.

"I do hope it's only temporary. The Underworld might not want to continue its alliance with Mewni, if you're the kind of filth the royal family chooses to associate with." Lucifer snapped, losing a little of what little composure he had. He turned to take leave, before he completely lost it and started making a scene. "I bid you adieu, fair princess. Maybe next time we can meet without a traitorous, monster of a third wheel in our way."

"He's as subtle as ever." Toffee scoffed, as him and Moon watch Lucifer stroll back into the crowd.

"Toffee! It was going well. Why'd you have to butt in and scare him off?" Moon snapped at him. Despite the fact he'd just saved her from having to display her subpar magic, he'd also just frightened off a potential friend.

"Believe me, it was not my intention to scare him off." he added, trying to sound uninterested. However, when Toffee had seen her talking with Lucifer, something had come over him. A disturbing urge to intervene. "He is, after all, your parent's top choice for your husband—"

"Excuse me?" Moon snapped at once.

"A marriage-based alliance would unify Mewni with the Underworld and together take the final blow towards the monster race, driving them into extinction." Toffee explained, a little slower for her to understand.

"Including you?"

"Certainly, if Lucifer has anything to do with it."

"Nope. Not happening." she replied, cutting him off again. Moon was enraged by the coolness in his voice as Toffee said such horrible things. "I mean, he seems nice and I can't vouch for the future. But, if marrying him means your death, I don't want to marry someone like that."

"Then, you risk losing the alliance entirely and leave Mewni vulnerable to future wars." Toffee insisted. Although, he was speaking more wretched truths, it was only to fight off a small grateful smile growing on his face. He was secretly pleased that she didn't want to marry someone who would kill him and the monster race. She was progressing rather smoothly. "It's simple politics, Moon. As queen, these are the types of decisions you'll have to make."

Moon frowned, clearly finding yet another reason why she did not want to be queen, and Toffee felt slightly guilty for being the clear cause to her distress.

"—but, not today. Look, we can worry about that bridge when we get there. Why don't we just try not to think about the future for a while and have a little fun, okay?"

She nodded in agreement, perking up a little. Toffee grinned too and returned to his former position. As soon as she walked off to go find new people and start socializing more, the music got slower.

Oh no…

The dreadful moment she'd been waiting for had arrived at last. It would be the first slow dance of the evening. Couples twirled together, and Moon was soon left on the sidelines without anyone. She looked for someone free, but even River already had a dance partner. He was dancing with a tall girl across the room. She had a curly fro of hair and wasn't smiling at him, but regardless had chosen him for a partner. Moon had prepared herself for the possibility of trampling all over some poor boy's feet, but not for not having one to begin with. She had never felt so miserable and rejected. Everyone was looking at her between intervals that were not spent looking at their partners. The crown princess of Mewni was alone at her own ball. Then, suddenly, someone grabbed her hand. Moon looked up to find Toffee was pulling her forward, towards the middle of the dancefloor. She was struck silent, by the jolt of electricity that had passed between them, and her body just seemed to move on without her. The others stopped to talk and whisper. They cleared the floor and created a big circle around them. They were admittedly a beautiful, bewitching sight to behold.

Their gazes were locked onto each other and it was as if they were back in her room listening to VHS tapes with poor audio quality. Completely alone together. There was no one else, but Toffee.

The song ended and Moon returned to being surrounded by people. Toffee was about to take leave and go back to being an odd decoration in the room, when suddenly he was struck on the back of the head by some kind of pastry. The room snickered, but Toffee didn't react other than attempting to wipe it off the back of his head. Then, came another aimed at his face. Confections flew around the room, until Toffee was not the only target.

Mayhem ensued and food was thrown everywhere. Moon tried to be a lady and get it all to stop, but after River and Prince Ponyhead threw a couple pies at her she lost herself in the madness. It was a few minutes of chucking things with Heckapoo and Rhombulus, who she had teamed up with to get back at River, before Moon realized someone was missing. Toffee had left the room completely. It just dawned on her that all of this started as an act of hate against him and, instead of going up against it, she'd encouraged it by joining in. She was about remove her wand from her pocket and attempt to stop everything, but all she could grab was more silky fabric. Moon did not even have time to panic to the fact her wand was missing. A loud voice boomed above the flying food and attacking war cries,

"That is enough!"

The food instantly stopped. Everyone froze, except for the speaker with the commanding voice. By the inflection of authority, Moon had assumed her mother had heard the commotion and had come to put an end to the chaos. However, it was not the queen who had spoken. Moon looked back to see the girl River had been dancing with. She was holding a glittery golden wand, wrapped with black thorny vines. It only took Moon a second to realize that was her wand, even though it looked completely different, and that everyone had not stopped of their own free will. She had forced them all to stop. The girl turned towards Moon with a wicked sort of smile.

"Hello, dear cousin. We meet at last."

"Who are you?"

"Azkadellia Butterfly, rightful queen of Mewni."

"No, you—"

She rubbed a hand across her cheek and revealed a dark clover, which made Moon gasp and the rest of the crowd murmur.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you, a real Butterfly woman always covers up her cheeks at parties." she sneered, pompously. "Clearly, this evening, you have displayed that you are not fit to be queen. Not only do you have no decorum, or elegance, but you allowed the most powerful heirloom of the Butterfly family to be stolen with such ease."

Moon was stunned silent. She clearly didn't have any arguments to retort with, so Azkadellia threw her a bone. She literally tossed the wand up in the air and Moon ran to catch it. The wand transformed back to into her own crystal heart as she caught it in her hands.

"You're lucky I'm giving it back. A real thief wouldn't."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because I want to be queen, obviously. I'm officially announcing my candidacy." Azkadellia replied.

"It's not an election." a voice shouted, in objection. Toffee reappeared in the crowd and made his way towards the growing conflict to mediate. Azkadellia scowled, but Moon grew a gracious expression that he had returned. "Moon is the only candidate for queen."

"I'm surprised someone like you would forget a law," Azkadellia laughed, cruelly. "But, then again, you're just a monster in a fancy suit pretending to be Mewman."

With only a few sentences, she had managed what it had taken self-proclaimed rebel Moon Butterfly weeks to do. Make him angry…

Toffee was ready for attack, however, Moon grabbed his wrist.

"Toffee, don't!" Moon exclaimed, trying to speak as quietly as she could so no one would notice him about to attack. However, everyone saw him snarl at the girl with a low growl and look at her with a longing maliciousness. The glowing, vicious eyes turned on Moon when she dared to grab him, but she didn't back down and she didn't let him go. After a moment, he returned back to normal and thankfully Moon's new enemy had been too busy monologuing to noticed the monster had changed at all.

"—The law clearly states if a Mewni princess, or queen, proves she is unfit for her title, she will be exiled from Mewni and her crown will be given to the next eligible lady of the family." she explained, haughtily.

"Is it really true, Toffee?" Moon inquired. Did he really forget to tell her something so important in all their lessons?

"She's right…"

The crowd murmured louder than ever at the exciting gossip and Moon found herself even more overwhelmed then she had been entering the ballroom initially. Finally, after a heart-wrenching minute, she hiked up her dress and made a mad dash for the exit.

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