The moment most of you have been waiting for! The birth of this story's Starco child!

I know some people are hoping for multiple kids, but they are only going to have one child in this tale.

Later tonight the next page of my art for this story will go up! The page has actually been finished since August but I couldn't post it since it featured the Starco baby on it, all following pages will be released similarly so nothing gets spoiled.


After a long week of work, the Earthni royal council could destress and have fun with the bi-weekly council game night. A large cardboard square sat in the center of the table, the rest of the council members waited in anticipation for Elias to roll the dice. With a careful throw, the tiny cubes landed on the table and all of them landed on the same side.

All seven of them jumped out of their seats and shouted "YAHTZEE!" loudly before sitting back down…all except the queen who stood completely still and sweated nervously.

"…my water just broke…"

OXOXOXOX

Minutes later and Star and Marco had portaled to the nearest hospital, Star was quickly admitted and now sat in her hospital room. Her frantic husband was pacing outside in the hallway, his fingers texting a message to their closest family and friends "Its happening! The baby is coming! Get to Sacred Corazon hospital ASAP!" he pushed the send button and tried to catch his breath.

"WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER!?"

Marco nearly had a heart attack when the roaring voice snuck up behind him "OH SH-RIVER?! How did you get here so fast?!"

"I was right down the hall when I got your phone message." River pointed over his shoulder, answering one question and raising another "Why were you in the hospital?"

OXOXOXOX

"I don't need to be here, I'm perfectly fine!"

"Sir there is a large harpoon impaled straight through your chest!"

The doctor was indeed right, River sat on an examination table with a massive harpoon sticking out of his front and back torso. The old king was completely unconcerned with the major injury "It's only one harpoon!"

OXOXOXOX

Back in the present, the sound of smoke detectors echoed from near the elevator "Looks like Tom's here." Marco rolled his eyes, even if his portal fire didn't do any more harm than a few scorch marks, the king of the underworld would always set off fire alarms whenever he made an entrance like that. Distantly he could hear Tom apologizing to the hospital staff while the sound of his voice got closer.

Seconds later the rulers of the underworld came around the corner, Tom ran to Marco as fast as he could while Janna casually strolled behind "We came as soon as we heard, how's it going so far?" Tom asked.

"Well-""WHY DOES THIS HURT SO MUCH!?" Star screamed from behind the door, Marco poked his head into the room to check on her, a blast of light emanated from the room followed by Star sheepishly saying "Oops, sorry Marco…" her husband shut the door and turned back to face his father-in-law and friends, his face singed and a tiny flame burned at the tip of his hair "Honestly, she's doing better than I expected.

OXOXOXOX

It wasn't long until the rest of the people Marco texted arrived, his parents and Mariposa came first followed by Moon, Eclipsa and her family, Kelly and finally…

"YO WHERE IS MY BFF AND MY GODDAUGHTER!?"

Fashionably late as always, Pony Head made her entrance into the hospital ward. Mrs. Diaz shushed the levitating head and gave her a stern look "You can't yell like that in the hospital, there are other patients that need rest!"

"Oh right, yes of course." Pony rattled, not paying much attention "But I need to know how my girl is! I came as soon as I got the text." "But Marco sent that out over two hours ago." Eclipsa pointed out "Yeah…but I had to do my hair and makeup, and then Seahorse was late and I don't trust my sisters to look after Gina so I had to drag that boy back to the castle to take care of his daughter."

The door to Star's room opened once more and Marco stepped out for another break, he had been going back and forth between sitting with everyone and helping his wife through labor. He noticed the late addition to the group and greeted her tiredly "Hey Pony He-""King Turd you gotta tell me all the deets?! Let me in so I can see my bestie!" the floating queen tried to push past him and into the room.

While Marco was busy trying to rein in Pony Head, everyone else talked amongst themselves. The two youngest of the group, Meteora and Mariposa found themselves bored as they listened to their families talk, their moms and Moon compared stories of when they gave birth, making the two uncomfortable when they went into details. A small growl emitted from Mariposa's stomach, Meteora's followed after "Why couldn't the baby start coming after we ate dinner?" the brunette girl groaned, her purple-haired friend just responded with a noise.

Meteora pulled herself out of her chair and went over to her mother's side "Mom, me and Mari are hungry! Can we go raid the cafeteria?" the half monster kid asked. Eclipsa fondly patted her on the head "Not yet sweetheart, but I saw a snack machine two hallways over." The former queen reached into her hat and pulled out her stash of quarters for just such an occasion "Come right back after you get something and no mischief." Her daughter rolled her eyes "Mom, when do I ever get into mischief?" she tried to sound innocent, her mother didn't buy it "The emu incident last week at school." "There is no proof I was anywhere near the boys bathroom when that happened!"

Meteora grabbed the change from her mom and pulled her companion from her seat as they strolled off down the corridor. The girls came upon the vending machines as they walked by the bathrooms, Mariposa grabbed half of the quarters from Meteora and stood in front of the drink machine while the other took the snack one "This feels so weird." Mariposa muttered "What are you talking about; we get stuff from these all the time." Meteora responded.

"No, I mean, I'm gonna be an aunt in a few hours. I don't know any other eleven years olds that are aunts." Mariposa clarified.

"Blame the age gap between you and your brother; I hope the baby doesn't end up being a dork like him." Meteora pressed the buttons and selected her snacks, chips, peanut butter cups and snookers bars dropped from their spots and fell to the bottom of the machine.

Mariposa playfully grinned at her friend "So then am I a dork too?" "Nope, thankfully you were spared from your brother's dork genes. Good thing you had my influence." Meteora smirked, covertly sticking her tail inside the bottom slot of the vending machine and tried to grab a free bag of cookies.

"Oh yes, the princess of trouble is a perfect role model." Mariposa rolled her eyes, lightly slapping the tail and forcing it to retreat back outside. Meteora scowled "First of all, you know I hate being called a princess, and second I don't cause trouble, I just make life more fun."

With their snacks in hand the two began heading back "I can't wait to meet the baby, I hope she comes out soon!" Mariposa eagerly hoped, Meteora couldn't hold back a smile when she saw her best friend so excited "We might be in for a long night, we're gonna need more candy than this." Without a word, Mariposa lifted two cans of coffee from the pile of drinks she held, Meteora grabbed one with her tail and read the back "Extra caffeine for doctors that never sleep. Yep, that'll do it."

When the girls came back, they were greeted by Kelly and Janna who were on their way to the bathroom "You girls get something good?" Kelly asked. The two held up the coffee cans and walked past them, Kelly snickered "Oh that will not end well for their parents." She expected Janna to be laughing with her, but instead the queen of the Underworld was lost in her own thoughts "Earthni to Janna, are you listening?"

"Hm?" Janna snapped her head up and turned to Kelly "What's up Janna, you've been quiet for a while now." "I feel like there's something important I was supposed to do but I can't remember what it was for the life of me." Janna answered, before shrugging nonchalantly "Eh, it'll come to me."

OXOXOXOX

Time ticked by slower and slower by the hour, it was past midnight now, which meant the baby would be born on May 19th now rather than the 18th. Mariposa and Meteora had fallen asleep only minutes ago after a massive caffeine high, while the adults did their best to stay awake until the baby was born.

Coming out of the delivery room for the umpteenth time, Marco wordlessly walked past his family and took the stairs up to the roof for some fresh air. While he wanted some time to breathe on his own, he was pleased to find Tom also on the roof as he leaned over the balcony. The king of Earthni wordlessly approached one of his best friends and began to stare over the balcony as well.

"So…on a scale from one to Marco, how nervous are you?" Tom broke the ice.

"I'm definitely a Marco." The brunette man chuckled lightly, feeling the weight on his shoulders lift ever so slightly "This is different from anything else that's ever happened to me, Star and I are bringing a new life into this world. I have…so many questions!"

Putting a hand to his chin, Tom got into a thinking pose "Well I mean technically you two already brought a life into this world, but I can't really compare a baby to a unicorn-dragon hybrid can I?"

"No, no you can't." Marco replied "Hank didn't need us to care and raise them into a healthy kid with a good moral understanding of right and wrong. But our daughter will…"

"Hey, you and Star are going to be awesome parents! You already had plenty of practice with your sister and those tadpoles, and if she's anything like the two of you she'll turn out incredible." Tom reassured his best friend, patting a hand onto his shoulder. Although speaking of the soon-to-be-born baby, Tom realized something "Come to think of it, did you two pick out a name yet?"

Marco smiled "Yep, I came up with dozens actually! But Star only had to hear like three before she insisted on one of the names; she seemed really surprised to hear it actually."

"Really? What is it?" Tom asked.

Before Marco could open his mouth to answer, a loud sound echoed from his pocket 'SPACE UNICORN SORARING THROUGH THE STARS~' Marco frantically reached for the phone and read the text.

"It's time!"

OXOXOXOX

'Why? Why was this so painful?!'

Star thought to herself over and over as she screamed at the top of her lungs. The twenty-six year old queen of Earthni was red in the face after hours of trying to deliver her daughter. Keeping her magic from lashing out had also taken a strain on her body, the doctor's assured her it would only be another few minutes and then she could get some much needed rest.

"Star!" Marco threw open the doors and hurried to her side, holding her hand with both of his for comfort "I've got you." He firmly stated, his chocolate eyes sending her heart aflutter.

It was all a blur to Star for the next five minutes; she could hardly hear anything over the sound of her own screams. She could feel Marco's touch and prayed she didn't crush his hand with her iron grip. Everything started happening so fast…and then she heard another scream…no, not a scream, crying.

Before Star could understand what was happening, the doctor approached her and Marco with something wrapped in a bundle "Congratulations, it's a girl." The cries quieted down as Star took the bundle into her arms, staring down at the tiny face that poked out of the blanket.

Her skin tone matched her mother while the tiny tuff of hair on her head was the same shade of brown as her fathers, for the moment her eyes were closed, leaving the parents guessing which of their eye colors she inherited. What stood out the most however, were the eight-pointed stars on the baby's cheeks, a bright red like the moon's her father bore. Star was momentarily stunned to see the marks, and then her face broke into an enormous smile as tears escaped her eyes "…Hi sweetie…I'm…I'm your mom…" Star really had no idea what to say.

Marco's face mimicked Star's as he leaned in close, wrapping one arm around his wife and the other around his daughter "A-and I'm your-your dad…" Marco was similarly tongue-tied. With a large yawn the baby slowly opened her eyes, blue like her mother's. She gave the tiniest of smiles to her parents before closing her eyes once more.

The tears wouldn't stop falling for the new parents; they turned to each other with shimmering eyes and held their daughter tighter "Star, can we have a thousand babies?" Marco asked, feeling nothing but sheer happiness. With a light chuckle, Star responded in a tired tone "Only if you can carry them in your body for nine months."

"I'm sorry to interrupt-"the doctor approached "But have you decided on a name for the little one?"

With a nod to each other, Star and Marco answered simultaneously "Soluna, Soluna Butterfly."

While the doctor finished the birth certificate, the couple turned their full attention to their daughter once more "I can't believe it Star…we're parents!" Marco exclaimed ecstatically. His wife grinned as her dropped her finger to Soluna's nose, giving it a tiny 'boop'.

Out of the corner of her eye, Star could see a bunch of heads peering into the room "Hey Soluna, you've got company." The queen gestured for everyone to come in. The room filled up quickly (with Globgor shrinking to sit on his wife's shoulder to save space.) as they all crowded around to meet the tiny princess. Moon and River held her first, with Moon commenting on her cheek emblems, a sign that Soluna already has magic. Marco's parents held her next, before letting Mariposa hold her newborn niece. Eclipsa and Globgor were next, even Meteora was happy to hold the baby for a moment. Their friends held her next, well except for Pony Head who couldn't hold her, so she settled with nuzzling Soluna while Kelly held her.

With everyone so joyful over the new arrival, Tom couldn't help but shed a tear from his eye "Man, I can't wait to be a dad someday."

One of the nurses heard this and smiled happily "Well you only have eight more months to wait."

Tom stopped, staring at the nurse in confusion "Um, what?"

"Oh Queen Janna was here a few days ago, she thought she had caught a virus but I had her take a pregnancy test, it was positive." The nurse answered, seemingly not aware that Tom didn't know yet.

His jaw practically dropped to the floor as he looked his wife in the eyes, begging for confirmation. Janna merely slapped a hand against her forehead "Oh that's what I forgot to do!" she casually remarked, continuing on in the same casual tone "Honey, I'm pregnant." She said as easily as someone would answer a phone call.

Tom promptly fainted.