Greetings, all. My pen name is FungusDungus000, and today I present to you a tragic tale, one that shamefully wasn't fully expanded upon in the original series. This story revolves around the disappearance of Queen Eclipsa, and how it affected her monster love, Globgor. You've heard the stories of the Crusher of Skulls, the Plucker of Limbs, the monster who devoured King Shastacan and battled the Magic High Commission. But my friends, you haven't been told the entire truth...until now...
Side Note: Some of you may recognize me from my other works, "The Mysterious Maroon" and "Maroon and the Earth-Ni Protectors." Neither of those are required prerequisites for this fanfic; It's a standalone story, just as it should be. If you haven't read them, you by no means have to, but fair warning; a certain dramatic reveal in Book One of Earth-Ni Protectors WILL be spoiled if you read this before it. But if you don't prefer the exploits of Earth-Ni's superheroes, then you have nothing to worry about.
Anyways, enjoy this brand-new tale, as it's on a day that's special for two reasons; It's the one-year anniversary of my account, and the two-year anniversary of Cornonation! Happy (or sad, depending on how you look at it) reading, true believers!
"PRINCE OF DARKNESS"
ACT ONE: VORACIOUS VENGEANCE
One fateful evening, inside the newly-furnished nursery of an ancient monster temple, history was made with the birth of a Butterfly.
Eclipsa Butterfly, the proclaimed "Queen of Darkness" who fled her kingdom to elope with a monster, was lying wearily upon a cushioned cot. She had spent the past six hours in labor, and was still reeling from the aftershock. However, all the pain of giving birth was worth it, when she first laid eyes upon her precious newborn babe.
This was no ordinary child; She was an adorable baby girl with pale skin, pointy ears with reddish-purple tips, a tuft of light purple hair, and an adorable little tail with a fluffy tuft on its end. But her most remarkable feature were the teal, clover-shaped marks on both of her cheeks; The mark of the Butterfly lineage.
Eclipsa's daughter shivered and let out a soft sneeze, then began to cry. To comfort her, Eclipsa swaddled the child in a soft blanket, and held her close. The baby sniffled, and opened her eyes for the first time; Those bright magenta eyes with slit, cat-like pupils left her mother simply breathless.
"There, there, darling, It's alright. Mommy's here." Eclipsa calmly spoke to her newborn, who cooed softly. Then, she moved her tail for the first time, and slowly curled it around her mother's index finger. Eclipsa's heart simply melted from that simple gesture of affection; This had to be one of the happiest times in her entire life.
"Oh, my sweet little Meteora. Welcome to the world." She cooed, with a proud smile on her face. However, her happy expression faded when she remembered the one gray cloud that sullied her joyous moment. "If only your Daddy could see you..."
Unfortunately, Eclipsa's husband Globgor, the size-shifting king of monsters, was currently away on a diplomatic mission; A secluded monster tribe in the far reaches of Mewni needed persuasion to join their campaign for peace. He didn't want to do it so late into his wife's pregnancy, but the runaway queen convinced him; After all, they both wanted their daughter to live in a peaceful realm...
"Worry not, my Queen. We've sent a messenger to inform Lord Globgor." One of the temple aides notified, making her smile faintly.
"Don't worry, sweetie. You'll meet your Papa soon enough." Eclipsa slowly rocked her little princess back and forth and sang a soothing lullaby, until she drifted off to sleep. After lovingly holding her for a few more minutes, Eclipsa softly placed the baby girl in her crib, then tucked her in for a good night's sleep...
Unfortunately, the story does not end here, nor does it end well. In the dead of the night, Queen Eclipsa rested in the master bedroom, while Meteora continued to sleep soundly in her crib. But unbeknownst to the Butterflies, a sinister storm was brewing outside; Legions of royal mewman knights on foot and on Warnicorns were menacingly marching towards the temple of their enemies.
In addition to the regular soldiers, who wielded swords, spears, torches and shields, there was a squadron of magically-enhanced Solarian Warriors; These dangerously brave and powerful troopers were led by the first of their kind; Mina Loveberry. While her expression read as stoic and determined, she felt conflicted inside. On one hand, the enemy was a supposedly evil queen who betrayed her kingdom and practiced dark magic; But conversely, it was the only daughter of the late Queen Solaria, her sister-in-arms and lifelong ally...
At the back of the formation were four of the five members of the Magic High Commission; Rhombulus, Lekmet, Hekapoo, and Omnitraxus Prime. Due to the dark nature of Eclipsa's spells, they had a rocky relationship with the reigning queen, which only worsened when she fled the kingdom. Further behind of the quartet of mystical powerhouses was the invading force's figurehead leader; A stout and portly man clothed in a fancy blue outfit, with a powdered wig and a golden crown. This rather repugnant fellow was Shastacan Spiderbite, Eclipsa's mewman husband betrothed by royal law, and he was simply seething with vitriolic contempt.
"Knights of the Butterfly Kingdom! The treasonous queen Eclipsa defied our matrimonial bond, and abandoned me for a monster!" Shastacan rallied. "And not just any monster; The barbaric, bloodthirsty beast known as Globgor! Crusher of Skulls, Plucker of Limbs, Prince of DARKNESS!"
Resounding shouts and jeers erupted at the mere mention of the monster king's name. To the mewmans, he had an infamous reputation as a man-eating brute; Despite his true gentle nature, that notion wasn't exactly false.
"Valorous warriors! Today, we lay siege to that temple, and show my traitorous wife the consequences for communing with monsters!" The king exclaimed; It was rather easy for him to act high and mighty on the battlefield, since he wasn't the one doing the fighting.
"DEATH TO ALL MONSTERS!" Mina furiously shouted, as she raised her pulsating Solarian sword into the air. All the other soldiers did the same, and repeated after her. The army began to charge towards the temple, with the High Commission following close behind. Tonight, the fate of Mewni was going to change forever...
As the sun rose in a land not so far away, the earth and stones shuddered and quaked; Globgor was on the move! After Eclipsa's messenger informed the monster king of his daughter's birth, he ceased the negotiations, and started hurrying home to be with his family once again. However, his overabundance of excitement caused him to nearly trample a tribe of nomadic cyclopses.
"Hey, watch where you're going!" One of the nomads squawked, as she shook her fist in frustration.
"Sorry! I'm a dad now, I gotta see my newborn daughter!" Globgor apologized in a huff, without even looking back at the people he nearly squished. While he was usually more careful, the only thing on his mind right now was re-uniting with his lovely wife, and meeting little Meteora for the very first time.
Unfortunately, his jovial mood quickly soured when he laid eyes upon a gut-wrenching sight; While he was gone, the ancient temple he called home had been attacked!
"No, no, NO!" The monster king hurriedly rushed to the Monster Temple, and reverted to his regular size. Globgor entered the building, and saw the telltale signs of an intense battle; Dried blood on the floors, slash marks on the walls, and the priceless artifacts of his people desecrated, broken or burned to ash. But strangely enough, there were no corpses in sight, be they monster or mewman...
Now, Globgor was truly terrified. Not for him, but for his ill-fated family, who were surely in the temple at the time of the attack. He frantically called out the name of his wife over and over, as he searched each and every room of the castle. Alas, Queen Eclipsa was nowhere to be found, nor was Meteora, or any of the residing monsters; It was like they all vanished overnight.
Today, the monster king's worst nightmare had come true; He was scared and alone in his ravaged castle, and the two people he loved most in the world were unjustly robbed from him...
Two days had passed, but Globgor hadn't given up on his Darkest Star. He summoned hundreds of monsters from all over Mewni to his castle, for the sole purpose of helping him find his missing wife and child. Currently, he was solemnly sitting upon his throne, where a slender, green-skinned monster with two horns on his head was reporting some troubling news...
"Our scouts have searched the neighboring regions for your family, but they found no trace of them. I'm terribly sorry." The horned advisor sincerely spoke.
"Well, keep searching! They have to be somewhere!" Globgor refuted.
"It will be done, my lord." The aide bowed respectfully, and left his superior alone. With each passing day, Globgor had become increasingly anxious towards the fate of his family. After all, the love of a mewman and a monster was an unspeakable taboo; Because of their forbidden romance, both he and Eclipsa had no shortage of enemies on both sides...
All of a sudden, the throne room doors were thrust open, and a fellowship of familiar monsters entered the king's domain. The leader of the group was an imposing, statuesque reptilian; He had scaly green skin, a long tail, and a snout like a crocodile, lined with rows of razor-sharp teeth. His piercing eyes were amber-orange, and upon his head was a tuft of snow-white hair. This mysterious warrior was clothed in striking black armor decorated with the teeth, ribs and finger bones of his enemies, and a huge mace made from metal and bone rested in a holster on his back. These frightening features made him a truly terrifying sight to behold...
"Well, well. The Prince of Darkness, alone on his throne."
Globgor's two pairs of eyes widened, and he winced when he heard that familiarly grim, foreboding voice. It was his most bitter rival, the violent extremist who opposed his peaceful ideals at every turn, a ruthless killer feared by mewman and monster alike; Seth of Septarsis.
"Seth! I told you never to come to this temple." Globgor snarled vitriolically. After his relationship with Eclipsa turned romantic, the prince exiled Seth from his faction of the monster army, fearing he would try to kill the mewman queen.
Seth was far from alone in his rival's temple. He was accompanied by his most devout disciples; Five fellow Septarians of various colors and builds, all clad in armor and wielding various weapons. Together, this pack of deadly lizards were known as the Dreaded Beasts; Radical militants whose goal was to destroy all mewmans, and any kingdoms who allied with them.
"You should be happier to see us, Lord Globgor. After all, we know what happened to your wife and daughter."
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM?" Globgor angrily shouted, then doubled in size and glared down at the Dreaded Beasts, his fangs bared and his claws exposed. Due to Seth's notorious hatred for mewmankind, he was a prime suspect for the Butterflies' sudden disappearance.
The five Septarian underlings trembled at such an imposing sight, but Seth was unfazed by the size-shifter's display of power. Instead, he just sneered and shook his head.
"We didn't do anything to your precious mewman family. But Shastacan did..."
To Globgor, that name was poison. According to Eclipsa, he was a hateful man with a repugnant personality, one who despised monsters and anything to do with them. A look of horror fell upon Globgor's face, and he became dead silent as the horrible possibilities of his family's fate swirled in his mind like a raging storm.
"Shastacan found out about your little affair with the Queen, and he wasn't happy about it." Seth spoke.
"W-what did he do?" Globgor worriedly choked out.
"He was furious with Eclipsa for choosing a monster over him, and the fact that she had a CHILD with you only stoked his anger. So, he laid siege to the temple to capture the queen, then had her punished accordingly."
Globgor gasped in horror when he heard the Septarian's statement. He could hardly believe what he heard, but he knew all too well how often things like this happened. In mewman societies, anyone who saw monsters as friends was considered a traitor.
"The king had your wife executed as slowly and painfully as possible, in front of the ENTIRE kingdom, to make an example of monster-lovers like her! And when she finally perished, he did the same to your poor, helpless child..."
Globgor snapped when he heard what Shastacan allegedly did, and let out a ferocious roar fueled by fiery rage, equivalent to the fury of a thousand suns. When he was done, he shrunk down and began hopelessly crying, due to the tragic deaths of his cherished wife and daughter. As Globgor sobbed in agony, Seth and his Septarian disciples stared him down.
"The truth is, the mewmans won't accept us as equals. You can treat them with all the kindness you can give, but they'll never do the same to us..."
Globgor didn't respond to the Beasts; He only continued to weep in despair. As of now, he was completely emotionally destroyed.
"The Prince of Darkness, crying like a spoiled child. Some king." One of the Septarians rudely scoffed. Mere moments later, he was knocked through a wall by the enlarged fist of the infuriated size-shifter. Seth paid no attention to his uncouth underling's remark, and looked down at Globgor with a dignified expression.
"However, you can avenge their untimely deaths. My disciples and I plan to raze the Spiderbite Kingdom, as retribution for their heinous actions. I ask that you and your army support us, and enact righteous justice upon Shastacan and his wretched followers." Seth persuasively offered. Globgor got up to his feet, and looked the Septarian in his fiery orange eyes.
"Join us, and become what those reprobates will fear for generations; A Dreaded Beast..." On a regular day, Globgor would reject his offer and banish him from the temple once more. But now, his cherished family was gone; He had nothing to lose. The size-shifter growled deeply, and shook Seth's hand, sealing the deal between the monster lords.
"Excellent. Those savage Spiderbites will rue the day they trifled with the Prince of Darkness, and the Dreaded Beasts..." The Septarian general snarled. Globgor's despair slowly turned to red-hot fury; He was going to make Shastacan pay for the atrocities against his family, even though what he was told wasn't exactly the truth...
As night fell, dark forces crept through the Forest of Unlikely Spider Bites; Those woods were the domain of the Spiderbite Kingdom, one of the Butterflies' closest allies. A pair of watchmen in a guard tower were the first to spot the massive monster army marching towards the kingdom. It was a frighteningly massive militia, with a myriad of monster species; Droves of beast men, slimes, trolls, ogres, and even demon mercenaries were all on the warpath!
Then, the forest's trees began to creak and crack, until they all fell like sticks as the army's imposing leader rose up from out of nowhere, his towering height increasing by the second. The infuriated size-shifter bellowed ferociously, striking terror into the hearts of his doomed enemies.
"It's the Prince of Darkness!" One of the guards cried. "We're under attack!"
"Sound the alarm!" The other ordered. The first guard blew into a mouthpiece that sounded a blaring horn, alerting the entire kingdom to the oncoming invasion.
The denizens of Spiderbite Village shrieked and scrambled for safety, as legions of monsters stormed the streets. The two guards in the tower readied their bows and fired arrows at the invaders, but the soldiers froze in fear when they heard a loud, discordant screech coming from the skies.
Flying in the air was a terrible beast that seemed to come from the Underworld itself; An enormous serpentine dragon with coal-black scales, bloodshot yellow eyes, jaws full of serrated teeth, and mighty, bat-like wings tipped with clawed fingers. To make matters worse, it was saddled up and piloted by an even scarier master. This monstrous creature was a lindwyvern named Darkwraith, the snarling war steed of Seth and his Dreaded Beasts.
The archers' arrows snapped and shattered when they made contact with Darkwraith's scaly hide. Mere seconds later, the lindwyvern lashed out at the tower with its tail, destroying it and killing the guards inside. The creature then landed on the ground, and its six riders dismounted it.
"Loot the village, then burn it to the ground! Show NO mercy to those murderous wretches!" Seth fiercely commanded, rallying his lizard lieutenants to charge into battle. The Dreaded Beasts charged into the heart of town, and began slaughtering the kingdom's subjects with relish, as their underlings ransacked peoples' houses. However, Globgor ignored all the carnage unfolding in the village; His only focus was on Spiderbite Castle...
The enraged giant shook the earth with every step, as he stomped towards the kingdom's castle. According to Seth's intel, Shastacan was staying here while the Spiderbite king and queen were on a diplomatic visit to an allied kingdom. Thus, the repulsive monarch was alone against the monster whose family he destroyed.
However, getting to the castle was no easy task. Thanks to the guards' early warning, a defense force had mobilized on top of the castle walls. There were two catapults manned by expert gunners, as well as ten crossbow-wielding archers; Five on the left, and five. on the right.
The catapult operators launched two heavy boulders towards the approaching monster lord. One of them was headed straight for Globgor's head, but he shrunk himself a few meters shorter to avoid it; Then, he enlarged his arm to catch the second boulder, and hurled it back at its sender, crushing the catapult and its operator.
"Fire!" The captain of the guards shouted. The archers shot crossbow bolts at the massive monster, but he reacted quickly, and shrank to the size of a mouse. Thanks to his minuscule stature, Globgor landed on the ground with nary an injury, and scurried across the dark forest floor.
"He disappeared!" One of the archers exclaimed.
"He's a size-shifter, you morons! That means he can-" Without warning, Globgor grew to back to his enormous height, towering over the castle gate. He let out a menacing snarl, and slammed his powerful arms through the castle's walls, breaking through the solid stone as if it was merely butter. The ramparts collapsed, taking the guards out with them; With the castle defenseless, it was finally time for the monster king to avenge his family...
Inside the throne room of Spiderbite Castle, King Shastacan was cowering upon his elder brother's throne, as armored soldiers with spears and swords stood guard at his side.
"Oh, this is dreadful! This never would have happened if I married a proper queen!" The king griped. All of a sudden, the entire castle began to crumble and quake, when the castle roof was ripped wide open with little effort.
"SHASTACAN!" Globgor bellowed, his foreboding voice burning with white-hot fury. His monstrous outburst of anger frightened everyone in the room, especially the one who wronged him most.
"G-g-guards! Kill that miserable wretch!" The cowardly crowned cad commanded, as he shuddered with trepidation. The royal guards all ran towards Globgor, and three of them threw their spears at him, piercing his flesh and spilling his blood. The size-shifting warlord let out a pained howl, and retaliated with extreme prejudice; The guards were smashed, crushed, and thrown out of the castle like ragdolls, until only was left.
"You monster!" Shastacan tremblingly pointed an accusing finger at his foe.
"You're the monster! You TORTURED Eclipsa in front of the whole kingdom! You MURDERED my newborn daughter!"
"I did no such things, you slobbering savage!" Angered, Globgor roared and slammed his fist through the wooden floor, causing the wretch to stumble onto his back.
"LIAR!"
"You never loved the queen, anyways! You can't even feel love." The Spiderbite monarch scathingly snarled. "You only wanted to poison the royal bloodline with your heinous spawn! Luckily, I had her disposed of..."
Globgor's heart shattered when he heard the king's last remark; He had the audacity to confirm that the Butterflies' disappearance was his doing. Enraged, the Dreaded Beast reached out, and caught Shastacan in his bone-breaking grip. The mewman cried out in pain and tried to break free of his captor's clutches, but resistance was futile.
"Unhand me, you hideous ogre! If we hadn't come for Eclipsa, you would surely have EATEN her!" King Shastacan furiously spat. Globgor gasped at such a ludicrous accusation; While it was true he'd eaten mewmans in his wartime youth, he gave that up when he met his true love; He'd sooner eat a poisonous plant than his Darkest Star. But an insult as acerbic as that couldn't go unpunished; If it was a man-eater that murderer wanted, then so be it.
Globgor threw Shastacan high up into the air, and the king screamed his lungs out in complete and total terror. The size-shifter grew even larger, and opened his toothy maw to "catch" his most hated foe. Seconds later, the monarch fell to his much-deserved demise.
CRUNCH!
A single bone-crushing bite was all it took to kill the callous king. As raw, red blood dripped from the monster's lips, the familiar taste of mewman flesh brought back unpleasant memories of a darker time; A time where he was known by a moniker that struck terror into the hearts of his enemies: "The Prince of Darkness."
Once the initial shock of reverting to his carnivorous ways wore off, Globgor turned around to face the grievous havoc being caused in the village; The entire kingdom had been burned to the ground by the monster army's torches, and the hellish flames of the demonic winged mercenaries. Innocent townsfolk were being slaughtered in droves, if they hadn't already been eaten by the dragon Darkwraith. Although the gruesome sights sickened Globgor, he shook it off; This was what the kingdom deserved for killing his Darkest Star, and his precious little princess...
As the brutal battle began to die down, the massacre's true mastermind stood atop a hill. While polishing his blood-stained mace, he watched the scorching flames of war dance as they consumed Spiderbite Village. Globgor had lost his family, and Shastacan lost his life; The only winner of this cruel conflict was Seth.
"One down, five to go..." Seth sneered. While he was pleased that one of Mewni's ruling kingdoms was all but ash and ruins, his work was far from over. As he surveilled the area, his five Septarian disciples approached him.
"You were right, my lord; Globgor was a useful ally." One of the lizard lieutenants remarked.
"Is, not was. We still need him around for the rest of our mission." The warlord corrected. "And with those deplorable Butterflies gone, there's nothing holding him back from his true destiny..."
While Globgor's voracious vengeance was finally complete, Seth's lifelong crusade against mewmankind was far from over...
In the aftermath of the infernal invasion, the entire monster army celebrated their victory in the temple's dining hall. There was feasting and drinking, song and dance, and thrilling war stories were told all night. However, a certain forlorn king distanced himself from all the macabre merriment and mirth, to seek some much-needed solitude.
With misty eyes and an aching heart, Globgor stood alone in the nursery of his newborn daughter. In the palm of his hand were two tiny homemade dolls, made in the likeness of him and his wife. He gently placed his deceased daughter's dolls in their tiny toy castle, then sat down and sighed shakily.
If he could repeat the day his daughter was born, he'd abandon his mission and run straight for the temple; If he did, perhaps he could've saved his family from their tragic fate. But alas, he had to live knowing the two people he cherished most were now victims of Mewni's barbaric bigotry. Globgor then weakly whimpered, and began to cry once more. While Shastacan's demise was well-deserved, his death did nothing to heal the monster's heart. He could kill every mewman in the land, and even slay the High Commission himself, but it would never bring his family back...
And that, my friends, is the somber end to Act One. It was incredibly depressing, but hey; The title of this story isn't "Prince of Lightness." However, this tragic tale is far from over; Stay tuned for Act Two, in which our broken hero takes a trip down memory lane...
Bonus: If you're enjoying this story, check out the "Monster" animatic by Art of Rhues. It's an incredibly well-made music video set to the titular song from "Frozen: The Musical," and chronicles Eclipsa during the MHC's invasion of the Monster Temple. It was a big inspiration for this story, and fits perfectly in the narrative. So do Fungus a favor, and give it a watch!
Until next time, I'm FungusDungus000 and this is Prince of Darkness...