Chapter 7- The Dominoes Fall

Ponyhead Kingdom-Early Morning

Dawn broke above the pink-clouded landscape of the Ponyhead Kingdom. The clouds that formed the floor of this skyward realm twinkled and shone with the unobscured sunlight that bounced off of them. Most of the kingdom was waking up and going through their morning routines, the night guards were relieved from their duties and returned down from the walls to eat and get their own sleep.

In a tower bedroom in the Ponyhead castle, the current Heir to the throne Princess Lilacia Ponyhead was still awake, having never slept that night as per usual. She was once again binging on one of her Korean drama shows that she adored. Her eyes were affixed to the screen and any slight noise caused her to jitter with adjitation at the disturbance to her show.

All was going fine until she started to hear movement through the halls, accompanied by yells and shouts. She huffed in annoyance and shouted from her bed "Hey, Keep it down you're disturbing my show!". Usually she'd hear a reply to this statement that went something along the lines of "My apologies princess, we'll go somewhere else". However this time the noise was unaffected by her complaints.

The Princess once again groaned with annoyance and floated up from her bed, as she made her way to the door she suddenly heard a voice that stopped her. "What do you mean you don't recognize them!?" It was the voice of her father, King Ponyhead, and it sounded full of concern "We have records of every army and bandit in Mewni just how in the hell can this one be different!?" his voice came again, obviously being directed to one of the castle guards.

The Princess opened the door to be greeted by the face of her father as well as one of the tower guards that had been reporting to him. "Daddy, what's going on?" Ponhead asked curiously with a look of worry in her eyes, she'd never seen her father this stressed out before.

King Ponyhead dismissed the guard and turned to face his daughter "Oh nothing pumpkin, everything's fine" He lied as he tried to keep up a fake expression of calm. It didn't work very well and Ponyhead could see right through his poor effort.

She huffed and looked at her father with an annoyed expression on her face as she spoke "Daddy you're not a very good liar, now tell me the truth" She said this in a whiny sort of tone, much like a child who was begging a parent for a toy during a shopping trip. King Ponyhead sighed loudly, he didn't expect to get away from it that easily, all of his daughters were very good at seeing through him, much to his dismay.

"Okay pumpkin, you win" he sighed as he hung his head slightly lower with defeat "There's an army camped outside the castle some ways off, we don't recognize their flags and we don't know what they want, we've sent a messenger and we're waiting for a response" He said with deep concern in his voice.

Ponyhead surged some magic through her horn, creating a purple spiral up through it and showing she was ready to fight "Let me deal with them daddy, they're interrupting my show and I will not be watching re-runs here!" she yelled with the tone of a spoiled child.

King Ponyhead countered however "No!" He commanded, causing Ponyhead to back down and cease the magic in her horn. She drew back a little, her father rarely spoke to her as commanding as that "I'm sorry pumpkin but I won't risk my little girl in a fight, much less with someone we know nothing about" He said as he lowered his tone and tried to be soothing in his words.

Princess Ponyhead attempted to protest but was met with no give from her father "Please pumpkin, just go back into your room, I'm sure this'll all be done soon enough anyway" her father said in a caring tone. Ponyhead huffed slightly but she obeyed and closed the door behind her.

King Ponyhead sighed exhaustedly "An army at the gates or dealing with my daughters, I don't know which is worse some days" he muttered to himself as a guard approached him, a panicked and fearful look in his eyes.

"You're majesty, anouther force has appeared next to the unknown army, its bad my liege, it's really really bad!" The guard shouted as his panic-stricken eyes looked up towards his king.

The King attempted to calm his soldier and spoke as calmly as he could manage under the circumstances."Whoa now son, please calm yourself, now tell me do we at least recognize the other force?". The guard nodded lightly but the look of fear and concern never left his eyes. "Well then speak up man, who are we facing here!?" The king demanded as he looked down upon the soldier.

The solider stuttered as he spoke but finally his terrified voice broke through to utter a single clear sentence to his king. "I...It's The Lucitors your Majesty".

Hekapoo's Dimension

Star and Marco stepped through the portal into Hekapoo's castle. A mighty space it was, with a pool of lava in it's centre illuminating the place and several workstations geared towards manufacture of different sections of dimensional scissors. On the wall was a strange looking map with thousands of interconnected circles and names which was incomprehensible to the couple. Above it were simply the words "Dimensional Map" and Marco noted a scorch mark on one of the circles, he could still barely make out the writing under the mark "Helios".

In the far corner of the room, at one of the workstations, stood a hard at work Hekapoo who was clearly constructing a new pair of scissors, although the couple couldn't see them for her standing in the way of their view. Hekapoo turned her head to look behind her and gasped at the sight of the couple. She quickly threw a covering over her work and turned to face the pair with a nervous expression.

"Hey guys, what are you doing showing up all unannounced and stuff" Hekapoo was not used to being caught off guard and was quite bad at pretending that she hadn't just hidden her work from the couple. Star and Marco looked at her skeptically. Eventually Star broke the silence.

"ERM Hekapoo, what's that ya got there?" she asked as her eyes narrowed towards the workstation. Hekapoo nervously laughed and scratched the back of her head "Oh yknow just a boring old set of dimensional scissors for one of the knights, nothing important, you'd be bored by them to be honest" She spoke unusually fast and with a nervous tone to her voice as it was clear she was trying to hide her work form the couple.

"Then why're you so nervous?" Star asked before a sly smile formed across her face "Is it for a special someone?" She teased as Hekapoo became more uncomfortable with the line of questioning. Hekapoo blushed lightly and shook her head as her flame brightened "No, no, no" she protested, drawing a giggle from the couple. Hekapoo then sighed and said defeated "If you must know its a surprise for you two, but its not done yet so you can't see, you happy now?".

Star and Marco looked stunned at first at the admission but then Star's eyes twinkled as she put her hands to her cheeks. "Awh Hekapoo, that's so sweet" she said happily, drawing another light blush from Hekapoo at the embarrassment of the situation. She then shook the blush away and turned a little more serious.

"Okay that's all well and good but seriously what are you here for, this wasn't just a flying visit to see what I was doing was it?" she asked before pointing at Marco "And aren't you supposed to be investigating the attack on the Rich Pigeon Kingdom!?" she accused as Marco drew back slightly.

Marco composed himself and spoke calmly "That's precisely what we're here for, we need to ask you about something". Hekapoo was taken back, she looked a tad offended "Okay I know the kingdom was burned down but you're not about to say I did it are you!?" she said a little angry at the pair.

Marco threw his hands up and attempted to calm Hekapoo "No, that's not what we're doing" he said before he pulled out the scrap with the flag design on it "I came to ask if you recognize this?" he said as he handed the scrap to Hekapoo. Hekapoo studied the flag for a second before saying "Yeah, its the scrap the solider gave you at the wreckage of the Rich Pigeon Kingdom, what of it?" she asked Marco skeptically.

Marco shook his head at the response "No I mean do you recognize the design, we found out whose flag it is but by rights if it really is who we think then you should recognize the flag" he said as he pushed the flagscrap back towards Hekapoo.

Hekapoo studied the scrap closer and then gasped slightly before responding fearfully "This is the flag of the monster tribe Eclipsa's husband was the head of". Star and Marco looked at each other questioningly "Are you sure?" asked Star.

Hekapoo nodded with concern in her eyes. "I'm positive Star, He never used it while the tribe lived in Mewni, but when I re-opened the lost connection to the Helios Dimension I found the ruins of the kingdom" her eyes welled up as she spoke "The kingdom was broken and scattered, houses and her famous blacksmiths and factories burned to nothing, and the castle and royal family were slaughtered, the only evidence I found of the cuplrit was in the centre of the town square, draped over a statue of the King at the time, King Fornax, was this flag" She looked up towards the couple with seriousness in her eyes, a hate and an anger that they had never seen before "Eclipsa even admitted during the trial that she'd attacked Helios, there was no other possibility, it had to have been Globgor".

Marco and Star were stunned at Hekapoo's words but nodded "Thank you Hekapoo, you've been a big help, we'll start tracking down the culprit" Marco said, they turned to walk away but Hekapoo called out to them "If you find him, don't show any mercy, he isn't called Globgor the Merciless for nothing you know!" she cried out. Marco turned and nodded before the couple stepped through the portal back into his office.

Marco's Office-Butterfly Castle

Star and Marco emerged from the Portal, as it closed behind them Star asked quietly "So just who did it?" Marco turned to face the girl as she continued "Eclipsa says it was Helvete's flag, Hekapoo says it was Globgor's and King Shastacan says it was Helios', I'm confused Marco". Marco nodded and said with a sigh "You and me both Star, but the common link is the Helios dimension, seems we'll have to go there and investigate" he said as he once again readied is dimensional scissors.

Just before Marco could cut the portal however, a messenger burst into the office. "Princess Star, Sir Marco thank Mewni you're here I have an urgent message from the Ponyhead Kingdom" yelled the messenger as he tried to catch his breath. Marco tried to calm the man before asking "What do they want?".

The messenger, now having caught his breath, straightened himself up before saying worriedly "They request assistance Sir, they're under attack".

Ponyhead Kingdom-2 Hours Earlier

General Kahchi looked through his binoculars at the Ponyhead Kingdom and scoffed "Well that scout wasn't joking, seems the defenders are panicked at our mere presence, however that wall is quite impressive I must say, clearly they must've had good leadership at one point" He muttered to himself as he was approached by another general in a different uniform being flanked by two guards.

Kahchi, without directing his gaze away from the binoculars, stated plainly "You're late". The other general gave a salute and bowed his head lightly towards Kahchi.

"My apologies Sir, it's been a while since we last mobilized our forces in any significant way, we are not as efficient in the ways of warfare as Helios" he said apologetically as Kahchi lowered his binoculars and turned to face him.

"Well, at least tell me what I call you, seeing as how our states are due to work together it only seems fitting I know who my partner is in all of this" he spoke as he eyed the general up and down, clearly inspecting his uniform and looking less than impressed at the state of it.

"Sir, My name is General Jeong of the Lucitor Imperial Army, I have been assigned to assist you in the occupation of the Ponyhead Kingdom" he said proudly with yet another salute. Kahchi tiredly returned the salute and said plainly "I didn't need your life story General, only your title".

Kahchi opened up a map on a table set up in front of him and directed Jeong to look down towards it. Upon the map was the battle plan for the capture of the Ponyhead Kingdom with lines, division names and timings written across it. It was complex at first glance to say the least.

"Right" Kahchi began "Your armies are to provide support for the main push, they are to flank the kingdom and head towards the guard barracks over here" he pointed to a spot on the map to which Jeong nodded "You are also to cut off the rear avenue of escape by positioning your forces on a line from the captured barracks to the central farmlands here" he spoke as he pointed out another building on the map towards the rear of the Ponyhead kingdom.

Once again Jeong nodded at the plan before turning to see the serious face of Kahchi who spoke in a deadly tone towards the general "Now this is important, not a single soldier, royal or citizen must be allowed to flee, we still require the element of surprise here and if Mewni's forces arrive here we will be in for a much harder fight understood?". The general nodded, slightly fearful of the man stood before him.

"Good, I like it when men understand their orders first time" said Kahchi with a half-smile, "Our artillery will shatter their walls and break their will to fight before we engage properly so this should be a simple, by the numbers, fight as far as we're concerned" He said with his half-smile turning into a devious grin.

The two generals then looked out towards their armies taking up positions on the cloud hills, they then noticed a Ponyhead soldier, unarmed rushing forward to meet them. "A messenger, perhaps they seek terms?" Jeong said as he eyed the messenger.

"That seems to be the case yes" said Kahchi as he raised his hand and extended a finger towards the messenger. "Unfortunately for him, my government isn't willing to listen to terms" he said as a condensed beam of fire shot towards the messenger, killing the Ponyhead soldier instantly. Jeong looked slightly shocked at the action, turning towards Kahchi "He was unarmed, what was the point in that!?" he demanded appalled at the action.

Footsteps were heard behind the two and a voice called out "You can't be sympathetic towards your enemy in times of war general, I certainly wasn't shown any by Mewni". The men turned and Emperor Helvete was stood behind them. Both generals saluted and Kahchi enquired "Your imperial majesty, I was under the impression you wouldn't come today".

Helvete turned to his general and returned the salute before speaking. "I wanted to see our new weapons in action, our engineers worked so hard on them after all" he said plainly before looking towards the Ponyhead Kingdom "Not to mention that I have a strange feeling about this battle, King Ponyhead is a powerful magic user and may be able to make contact with Mewni, I want to be here in case a chance for a decent challenge presents itself" he said smiling devilishly from ear to ear.

"Now then General, Kindly give the order" he spoke calmly as Kahchi nodded.

"Yes my Liege" Kahchi spoke before turning towards his artillery commanders, he cleared his throat and then shouted a single word "Fire!".

A/N: So begins the battle for the Ponyhead Kingdom. Just a small note here, I go back to my job today and wrote this on the train there. Hence chapter creation might become a bit more spaced out due to free time, but not to worry I shall update as much as I can. Until next time guys :)