The Tale of Three
Chapter 51
Mewmans and Monsters, part 1
Three hundred and fifteen years ago...the height of the Fifth Monster-Mewman war.
It was a beautiful day in Mewni.
The three moons hung proudly in the sky. The birds were singing in the trees, even if those songs were quickly silenced by someone throwing rocks at the poor creatures. And there was a nice breeze flowing through the fields, fields that were bright green with grass and no other color.
Except for one. A deep crimson that suddenly oozed onto the lush stalks, staining them for all time and ensuring that nothing there would ever grow again as the ground was tainted with monster and Mewman blood.
Blood...that was only getting more spilt by the second.
"Keep going! Push them back! No quarter given!" Solaria Butterfly screamed to her knights, swinging her wand, which had taken the shape of a flaming blade, every which way as she cut through another pack of monsters. The bodies fell but she didn't even look at them, merely jumping over the corpses to further attack the enemy. She took a moment to look around her, smiling widely when she saw that her knights were steadily pushing the enemy back. Not as well as her, but still. Progress was being made. The enemy was being beaten. The day was surely already won.
In the distance, she saw one of the monster generals, a large red monster that was watching the whole dismal affair, the look on his face growing more and more worried with each passing second. Good. Once he became truly terrified and ran, he would be easy prey for Solaria. One quick burst of speed, a swing of the sword, and it was all over.
At least for this battle. There would be battles, there would always be other battles, at least until the monsters were made extinct. Then this land would be theirs. All of theirs.
"Almost there…" She said to herself. "Almost there...just a little further!"
But then, at the last moment, a giant foot slammed in front of her, resulting in a wave of dirt and dust throwing her back. She growled and shielded her face, before landing on her feet. Furious, she looked up and saw a monster that towered over the entire battlefield.
"Where did you come from…" She mumbled, before grinning again. It didn't matter. She had killed monsters like this before. Just more meat for the grinder. A grinder that was never satiated. The monster spotted her and raised its fist in the air, preparing to smash her, the one who had slain so many of its kin. Solaria barely even flinched. Typical monster behavior. They never learned from their mistakes. The survivors never understood that doing the same thing over and over doesn't work…
Although that was only because there were usually no survivors, and any that did survive were too traumatized to even talk.
But anyway, back to the battle. Solaria leaped in the air the second the fist came down, narrowly avoiding being squashed. She landed on the creature's arm and then began running up it, sticking her blade into its flesh and leaving a deep, long gash as she moved ahead. The monster clearly took exception to this, roaring in pain as it attempted to hit her with its other hands. A futile gesture. The second its hand came close, Solaria swung her blade and swiftly cut off three of its fingers. Blood poured like a river out of the wound, drenching three knights and two monsters who were unfortunate enough to be standing beneath the behemoth at the time. Solaria wasn't even aware of this. The second the monster pulled its hand back she was right back at it, running up its arm until she reached the shoulder. It pawed at her with its injured hand, even in its current mangled condition, and Solaria couldn't help but feel the smallest bit of respect for the beast, to keep going even after-
'No.' She thought. 'What are you thinking? Respect? For this vile creature? Give me a break. The only thing this beast deserves is my wand striking its brain and ending its miserable existence. This creature would be better dead than alive! Never respect the enemy! Only destroy them! That is the way of a Mewman warrior!'
At the very instant she thought this, Solaira reached the shoulder and leaped into the air again, before landing on its head. The monster attempted to grab her again, but the Queen was too fast, raising her sword high and then slamming it deep into its skull. The beast then let out an ungodly screech as the boiling blade impacted its brain, and it started stumbling around, crushing several of its companions underfoot. Solaria was about to press in deeper to finish it off, before she noticed that it was suddenly moving towards her side of the battlefield. If she killed it now, it would fall over and crush dozens of her knights...not a good time for anyone. She grit her teeth, knowing that she had to keep this thing alive a little bit longer.
"Wrong way, beast!" She shouted, moving the hilt of the sword backward. Like she was operating a joystick, the monster suddenly halted and then started walking backwards, seemingly unable to control its action. The sword burrowed into its brain was now effectively a controller...and the moment Solaria realized this, a sickening grin spread across her face. Perhaps this creature wasn't completely useless. Perhaps she could end this battle by turning the monsters' own ultimate weapon against them!
Which is exactly what she did next. She used the sword to turn the monster around and then thrust it forward. It charged right into the thick of the monster army, its feet squashing dozens underfoot while its leg, as thick and large as tree trunks, battered others aside and sent them flying through the air. The monsters on the ground were practically helpless to stop this, not wanting to hurt their own comrade, even if there was no hope for their survival.
Meanwhile, Solaria was having the time of her life. Adrenaline pumped through her entire body as she effectively rode the monster like a giant armored warnicorn, steering it every which way as she decimated the monster army. And this scene, with her smashing through every defense the monsters had with one of their one comrades, was all the incentive they needed for them to cut and run. The monsters all turned and ran simultaneously, as if they were of one mind. But Solaria didn't stop. She chased after them, even after hearing the shouts of her knights on the ground telling her to stop, that they had already won. But she didn't hear any of it. Just the screams of the monsters below, just the-
"Okay, stop!"
With a small jump, Eclipsa Butterfly halted mid-syllable and looked at her daughter, who was staring at her like she had a fuse loose.
"Oh? Yes? What's wrong?" Eclipsa asked, giving her a soft smile m. "Is there something you don't like about the story?"
"...Yeah, actually," Meteora said, once again rubbing the back of her head. "I'm wondering how any of this is relevant to how you met my dad. I mean, I know this Solaria person is your mom and all that, but why do you have to go into so much detail about her killing all these monsters?"
"I didn't think you would mind." Eclipsa shrugged. "You seek to be very well accustomed to violence, so I didn't think you would be bothered about it that much."
"I'm not, I'm just wondering how it's important to the story," Meteora said. "Like, is there something that happens during this battle that leads to you finding my father, or…?"
"There is, actually," Eclipsa said.
"Oh."
"..."
"...Then...carry on, I guess?" Meteora said sheepishly. "Sorry, I just felt at first that this was getting unnecessary."
"No, it's alright, I get it. But I'm just telling you what my mother told me about the battle. It's a story I remember quite vividly." Eclipsa said, before coughing. "Anyway...so…"
-Just the screams of the monsters below her, just the crunching sounds as their bones were smashed to bloody bits. It was brutal to witness...but for her, it was pure euphoria. Then she saw him. The leader of this battle. The one monster standing their ground. He saw her coming, and finally turned around to flee when he realized that he wouldn't be winning this battle, but he stood no chance as Solaria was on him in a second, and she felt a part of her life come to completion as he was stepped on by the giant monster she stood on, crushed like so many others.
And then finally, she stopped. There were barely any monsters left fleeing-maybe half a dozen. But she would be somewhat merciful just this once. Because they were going to spread tales of this. Tales of what she did and how all monsters should fear her. It would only serve to make the next battle even more glorious.
But now it was time for this one to end. So she let go of her sword and then stomped on it with her boot, sending it even deeper into the head until the hilt of the wand hit the skull. The monster roared one last time before finally falling quiet, and then it fell. Solaria yanked her weapon out and jumped at the last second, landing perfectly on the ground. The monster hit a second later, resulting in a cloud of dust and blood engulfing her. But she was not bothered in the slightest. One did not come to war to be clean. If anything, the filth on her would only serve to show others how fiercely she had fought, and inspire them to do the same.
But then, she turned tail and began walking back towards her side of the battlefield, the monster bodies packed ten high in some places. It all brought a smile to her face. Later tonight they would be burned, a fate too kind for them. Oh, how much she could wish to tear their hearts out, to rip off their heads, to snap all their spines in half over and over again...but that would come another day. For now...she had to get back to her knights. Surely they were finishing off any survivors.
Although what she saw next filled her heart with so much rage that she nearly exploded on the spot. Her knights, the knights that had followed her into battle so many times...were taking a prisoner! One of the monsters had not yet died from their wounds, and they were strapping chains to its wrists! Solaria stared at them from afar, her mouth agape, wondering where she had gone wrong. And then, with the speed of a raging bull, she ran over, her footsteps literally causing the ground to quake. Her knights turned their heads towards their queen, knew they were fucked, but there was nothing left they could do about it. Solaria stopped a few feet from them, looking from the monster, to them, and then back to the monster.
"What...is...THIS?!" She screeched, making everybody flinch back. "Could one of you disloyal morons please explain to me why this filthy creature is still alive?! I thought I gave you an order! No quarter given! No prisoners taken! Yet here you are, taking a prisoner! What possessed you to do such a thing?!"
"I...um…" One of the knights said, her face looking like she was paralyzed with fear.
"Spit it out!" Solaria roared. "Spit it out and-"
"We thought it would be best to take this one prisoner, my Queen!" Another knight said, his voice shaking. "He claims to be an informant for the monster army. And that if we let him live...he can tell us many things. Things that will help us in future battles."
"For the love of Mewni…" Solaria groaned, "turning off" her wand and putting it back on her belt. "Have you all learned nothing? That monster is almost certainly lying to you! They are just trying to get you to spare them on nothing more than a statement! How could all of you be so naive?"
"But...my Queen…" One of the knights said. "Your daughter, the princess, ordered us to do as such."
"..."
"..."
"What."
"Your daughter." The knight repeated. "Princess Eclipsa. She ordered us to take some monster prisoners because she was worried that one day, and I am quoting her, this is not a personal thought, that you would "bite off more than you could chew". I believe she was worried that eventually, if we don't gain info about the enemy beforehand and just charged into each battle, that eventually we would lose." He gulped. "So she ordered us to take prisoners and we did as such."
"She did that…?"
"Yes."
"I see…" Queen Solaria said, before turning around, seemingly thinking to herself. The knights stood by nervously, sweat rolling down their brows as they wondered what was about to happen next. Solaria wouldn't kill them for something like this, but that didn't mean punishment as a whole wasn't out of the equation. If she took her anger out from this situation on them…
Which was as far as their thoughts managed to get before Solaira ignited her sword/wand and swung it at the group. They all screeched and ducked down to avoid the weapon, realizing only a second too late that she wasn't aiming for them. The head of the monster they captured fell to the ground, its body falling only a moment later. The knights slowly rose back to their original height, before Solaria smirked at them.
"Go back to your quarters." She ordered. "Now."
And in a flash, the knights all ran back to their side of the battlefield like their lives depended on it, which it very well may. None of them looked back, and Solaria groaned. She had seen this before. Her daughter clearly wasn't a fan of all the killings that she was doing. She didn't like training to kill the despicable creatures. One might even say that she was fond of them. (Solaria almost threw up at the thought.) Truly, this situation must be rectified immediately. Solaria turned her sword off again and then headed for her private military tent on the far side of their makeshift base, where she knew her daughter would be…
Eclipsa knew it was coming. She knew that her mother was coming here, and she was going to get one heck of a talking to. She shouldn't have done that. She shouldn't have told those knights to find and spare one monster under the guise of taking prisoners. She knew that it would end badly as she was giving them the order, so why did she do it?
The Princess sighed. Because she had to. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she didn't have the same merciless bloodlust as her mother. She hated seeing all the violence in this war, the endless carnage and pointless slaughters. All of it just blended into one big mess in her dreams, but when she was awake, when her mother forced her to see all of it…
Well, it usually wasn't that fun. But it happened nonetheless. And there was nothing she could do to prevent it.
Especially not now. Because she had really done it this time. She couldn't imagine what kind of punishment her mother would come up for her...once she had found her playing her with a monster child that had stumbled out of the forest into their camp, and was somehow not noticed by anybody. Eclipsa met with the girl, and the two formed a brief and shaky friendship, telling each other about who they were and what they liked to do.
Brief being the operative word. Because Solaria found them and dragged the two in front of everybody. To say she was livid was an understatement. Eclipsa had never seen her so angry before, and still hadn't to this day after that event. She shoved the monster girl, no more than ten, to the ground and handed Eclipsa a small knife. Then she told her to stab the girl to death. That this was a fate all monsters deserved, no matter the age. No matter the type. As long as Solaria lived, the monsters would die until there was nothing left.
Eclipsa took the knife in her hands, every part of her body shaking. The monster girl, shivering and gagged because she wouldn't stop screaming, looked up at her with tears in her eyes. Eclipsa knew that this time she couldn't just put down the knife. Solaria wouldn't let her. And there was definitely nothing she could do to save the monster girl. She was dead the second she stepped out of the forest. Now it was in Eclipsa's hands, literally, to decide who would kill her.
And she wasn't going to let her mother do it.
No matter what.
After that moment, Eclipsa didn't remember much. Perhaps she blocked out the memory? Or it was just so traumatizing at the time that she fainted on the spot. Regardless, when her vision came back to her and everything stopped being blurry, she could see the knife on her ground, blood staining her hands, and a small body just a few feet from her. Then a hand on her shoulder. She looked up, and saw her mother, smiling warmly at her.
"Good job." She mouthed. And that was the last thing she could recall before her vision faded again and she woke up in her bed.
So yeah.
Perhaps she would give her a similar punishment. Or maybe something even worse, which Eclipsa didn't even dare to think about. But whatever was going to happen, it was going to happen soon, so she knew that she better-
"Eclipsa!" A voice from behind her shouted, and the Princess gulped before slowly turning round, seeing her mother standing before her. Her fists were clenched up, her face was as red as a tomato, and she was shaking uncontrollably out of rage.
Good.
She wasn't that angry.
"Em...Hello, mother." Eclipsa said innocently. "How was the battle?"
"The battle was fine. Many monsters died and great victories and celebrations were had by all." Solaria scoffed, before approaching the girl. "However, there is a problem, one I'm sure you're aware of. A group of knights captured a monster and told me that you were the one who ordered them to do so! Going directly against my orders to kill every monster we see! No matter who they are!"
"I...thought it would help us!" Eclipsa lied. "You can't just kill every enemy and expect to win a war that way, mom. Eventually, they'll realize that your tactics are laughably predictable and come up with a way to blindside you! We need information unless they're planning anything! What if you go out into battle one day, fall into a trap, and never come back? I would be left to rule! And I would have no idea how to win a war!"
"A trap? Please." Solaria said. "A thousand monsters or a hundred thousand, no amount of the vile creatures could overcome me. My wand cuts through them and their armor like butter. It did, it has, it will. I probably could have won that entire battle by myself if I wanted to!"
"...Do you really believe that?"
"Absolutely." Solaria quickly answered, before setting a hand on Eclipsa's shoulder and giving her a warm smile. "Listen to me, Eclipsa. I know you're worried about me. If I sent you into battle I would be worried sick about you too. But I can handle myself! The kingdom can handle itself! Even our knights are worth a minor mention! The monsters are running scared and soon we'll have driven the majority of them from our lands. Then we'll hunt them down to extinction. Mewni will finally be ours, as it should be."
"Our lands?" Eclipsa echoed, before shaking her head. "But...didn't we take over theirs in order to make our kingdom in the first place? Mewman settlers, after all! We settled here! They were here originally! We just...stole everything from them and you're pretending like we were always here to begin with!"
"We may as well be!" Solaria said, her smile fading off her face as quickly as it came. "Yes. Perhaps we did "settle" here. But in the early days when we were starting to reproduce and grow our population, the monsters nearly wiped us out when they first found us! Every child of Mewni knows this story! The monsters have always been our enemy! If anything...this is out of self-defense more than it ever was for revenge!"
'But you're wrong.' Eclipsa thought furiously, resisting the urge to scream this at her mother. Because every child of "Mewni" didn't know that story. The monster children had one quite different. In her brief conversation with the monster girl her mother had ordered her to kill, Eclipsa learned that the monster's version of the tale went a little something like this:
Many years ago, Mewmans started settling the lands by building houses, growing crops, etc, etc. all very practical stuff. However, it soon became clear that they were not very good at it. The Mewman terrain and weather was much harsher than whatever land they had sailed in from, and they didn't know how to handle themselves. Houses collapsed about once a week, and only one-fourth of the crops they grew actually grew successfully. And although they tried to use the wand...they had just gotten it, and it was taking some getting used to.
The monsters, who had watched these new visitors from afar with curiosity, saw that they were having trouble. The scouts told their king, who decided that they must be on good terms with these new arrivals. No point in fighting them if there was no incentive to. And a good way to start would be to teach them how to properly grow food, make houses, and survive.
So that's what they did. Or attempted to do, at least. But once they showed themselves, the Mewmans treated the monster like...well, monsters. They were chased off on sight by a storm of thrown rocks, and the monsters beat a hasty retreat, confusion racking their brains as they wondered why they had been attacked. They had never encountered another species that was so...aggressive.
They reported this back to the king, who noticed that the scouts he sent had weapons on them. Small knives, nothing more, but still. Weapons. So he said that those weapons must be why the strange aggressive beings reacted as they did. They assumed it had all been some kind of pre-emptive strike.
"Go back there." He instructed them. "But this time, do not carry any weapons, wear your smiles, and make sure that everything you do is in a friendly manner. We can still salvage this. There is no reason our species and whatever theirs is shouldn't be able to coexist."
So, the monsters went back to the Mewman village with no weapons, wearing their smiles. They expected the Mewmans to show friendliness this time. They expected apologies and gifts, signing of contracts that would bring peace and stability between the two races.
This is not what happened.
The Mewmans were ready. They knew their "attackers" would return, and prepared for it. The second the monsters got near the village they were hit with a barrage of arrows. Most of the monsters the King had sent were naturally armored ones, just in case something else went wrong, which of course it did. So they fended off these arrows easily enough, the leader among them attempting to shout that they didn't mean to fight.
However, before he could get his words out, he was struck in the throat with a flying knife. The monsters looked on in shock as he started bleeding vigorously before dropping dead to the ground, and whipped around to see who had done such a thing. There they saw the first queen of Mewni, a pile of knives beside her, using the spell that would later be known as Levitato to throw the weapons at them. The monsters were horrified. They didn't know why the Mewmans were attacking them. But that didn't matter in the slightest. Seeing their terror, the Mewmans that had been hiding in wait for an opportunity to ambush attacked. They came from every direction, primitive tools and sharpened sticks in their hands. All their knives had clearly been given to the one with the wand, although that didn't matter. Under assault by a force of this magnitude…
Truthfully, compared to the monsters in terms of physical might, they were nothing. The group had already lost one of their comrades. The truth had become clear. The Mewmans did not wish to make peace. They might never wish to make peace. The only thing they could do now was fight back, if they hoped to make it out of their alive. A rage that had never been unleashed in their lives boiled up inside them as they readied themselves. They offered the Mewmans help. They offered them hospitality. And this is how they were repaid? With death and sneak attacks?
Such an insult could not go unpunished. And the second the monsters decided to turn the tables, it was a thoroughly one-sided battle. The Mewmans had their little weapons and ferocity on their side, but that meant nothing when compared to the monster's natural strength. The second the first Mewman got close, one of the monsters snatched the stone club they had and bashed them over the head with it, killing them before they even hit the ground. The rest of the Mewmans that reached their targets first suffered similar fates, and the ones behind them, too filled with anger to realize what was about to happen, died as well. By the time the fourth "wave" had been killed, the ramble finally realized that they were outmatched. The monsters had picked them apart like nothing. They hardly even broke a sweat. The Queen then ordered everyone to move away, while raising another knife.
But the monsters were not going to let this happen. In a case of poetic justice, one of them grabbed the knife of their fallen brother's throat and whipped it at the Queen, making it go straight into her shoulder. The wand fell from her hand, and although the monsters had every opportunity right then and there to run over and steal it, they didn't. They simply looked at the now cowering and crying Mewmans before running back to whence they came.
The girl later told Eclipsa that those four monsters lost sleep and even contemplated suicide later on, when they realized just how much of a mistake it was to not take the wand. Just how much they could have changed with that one decision, and Eclipsa saw no reason to disagree.
After that, the monsters, soaked in blood and carrying their dead friend, went back to the king and once again told them what had happened. He was shocked, but understood, at least. These new settlers...they had made their choice. They were the enemy. However, even if this was the case, the King said that the monsters would not drive them away unless they were attacked first. To prove that his people were better than these new beings.
So that was how things were. Until, of course, the Mewmans attacked again. And anyone can guess what happened at that point.
To say that young Eclipsa was disturbed by this story was an understatement. For one, it made a lot more historical sense than the version of the story that she had been told by her mother. For another, it put into perspective just how much of her species' "history" was probably just propaganda to make her look good. In fact, she wondered about this monster version of the story. Did any Mewman other than her know it? Or had it been completely lost to time, making everyone believe in the version she had been taught?
All these questions and more came to her mind at the time, but she didn't get to discuss it any further with the monster girl, because a moment later her mother barged into the room, and well, you know what happened next. This memory of the girl telling her what had happened was fresh in Eclipsa's mind after her mother claimed it was all in self-defense, and the Princess hoped that the flashback she just had didn't take too long.
"Self-defense?" She finally said. "But didn't...we still instigate this war? Would the monsters even have done anything if we had just left them alone?"
"Of course they would," Solaria said. "They would slit all our throats in our sleep. They see us as a threat to their entire existence, which is true. But for this reason, they will stop at nothing to wipe us all out. And for that reason, we must kill them all before they can accomplish it. As for your ideas of making peace…" She shook her head and sighed again. "Monsters go berserk on sight whenever they see a Mewman, Eclipsa. If you walked out to their camp, they wouldn't bother taking you prisoner. They would chop you into little pieces on sight and then serve you as a stew. They don't wish for peace because the word means nothing to them. It doesn't even translate to their ears."
'Again, more lies.' Eclipsa thought, gritting her teeth. How dare...how dare her mother act like this, claiming that monsters' hatred of Mewmans was hereditary or some nonsense like that. 'They don't even hate us!' She thought. 'They're just afraid of us, and for good reason! They only attack our camps because of people like you, mom! If you and all your war-crazy generals didn't exist, if you could contain your bloodlust that's as bad as your claims about monsters for just one second, then this war wouldn't be necessary! You're the ones who attack the opposite species on sight, not the monsters! You've turned into a monster yourself!'
But of course, she couldn't really say those things. Her mother would go nothing short of ballistic. She might actually lock Eclipsa up as punishment, or expect her with the wand to ensure that the monsters hadn't used some sort of kind control on her. And even if she didn't do any of those things, it wouldn't matter. Eclipsa knew. Solaria was the kind of person who would never change their mind.
And they both knew it.
But.
But!
"But...are you sure there's no other way?" Eclipsa asked.
"One hundred percent sure," Solaria replied. "Now listen, Eclipsa. What you did is not as bad as some things you've done in the past...but you still protected a monster life, even if by taking them prisoner. You're going to have to be punished."
"..."
"So here's what I want you to do," Solaria said. "The battlefield a few hundred meters away. It's messy and covered in corpses. Normally, we'd rest the day after the battle and then burn all the corpses later by stacking them in a pile. But here I think we should get a bit of a head start. Eclipsa, I want you to go out there and start making a pile out of all the monster bodies. Limbs, torsos, heads, any soldier you can find. Just pick it all up and pile it up. That's all you have to do!"
"...What does this even teach me?!" Eclipsa asked incredulously, raising her voice somewhat and then immediately regretting it.
"This isn't supposed to teach you anything. Not this time." Solaria said. "But you know what else is still out there that we haven't finished cleaning up? The fallen bodies of our brothers and sisters who were killed. Maybe that can be your lesson. You can go out there and see those bodies, the wounds the monsters inflicted on them."
'And also see ten times the amount of bodies on their side, most courtesy of you…' Eclipsa thought, before speaking again. "I...fine. Fine. I'll go. I'll go right now."
She then left the tent in a hurry, knowing that there was little point in arguing further with her mother and not wanting to talk to her for a single second more. Besides...this wasn't too bad, all things considered. It would break her heart, but she could handle this punishment. It might just make her a bit nauseous.
And so after about five minutes of walking, she had reached the battlefield. Her mother certainly hadn't been lying. Bodies were strewn everywhere, most of them monsters, obviously, but a few Mewman ones as well, although most of those had already been picked up and carried out by a few knights who were also wandering the battlefield, looking for them. Eclipsa huffed and moved forward, and more forward, and then a little bit more, hoping to go far enough where she wouldn't easily be seen by anyone, so she could do this job as lazily as possible. Although this came with its own drawbacks.
This part of the battlefield was the worst. It had the most corpses. The most blood. The worst smell. It was just...worse overall. If Hell on Mewni was ever a reality, then this battlefield must have served as the concept. Eclipsa felt like she was going to vomit after just a minute, and began to wonder if she should go back, even if there were others there and she would have to actually do her mother's horrible task.
In fact, that's exactly what she was going to do. She could barely take it a second more. But first, she knew that there was something else she had to do before she left.
Before the monster girl died, as she was being dragged away by her mother's bodyguards, she must have known what was going to happen to her. How her fate was inevitable by this point. And so she started singing. But it wasn't a normal song. It was a funeral song. Likely meant to honor those that had died or were about to die. And since no other monster was in the area...the girl was probably singing it for herself. Eclipsa cried all night long when she realized this, but she did memorize the song word for word from just that one time, even if it was in a different language.
So she cleared her throat, closed her eyes, and began. It was a sorrowful, mournful tune, like no other language Mewmans had made up. It was nearly impossible for her to pronounce some of the words in the first place, due to the vast difference in vocal cords. But still. Eclipsa tried. The full song was five minutes long, and by the time she was finished, she was crying again. She sniffed, and then turned to leave, wondering how many more times she would have to sing that, and if eventually, she would be the only sentient being that could even remember-
"You know...for a Mewman...that wasn't half bad."
With a gasp, Eclipsa whipped around to see the source of the voice that had nearly given her a heart attack. Judging by the way they said "Mewman", it was almost certainly a monster, and she hoped she would have time to explain before they buried an ax in her skull…
But…
There was no one there. Just the same battlefield. Just the same bodies. It was like she had said those words to herself. She tilted her head and then looked around frantically, wondering if she was going crazy.
"Down here." The voice suddenly said again, and Eclipsa froze before doing as the voice recommended, riveting her eye to the ground. And there, in front of her, lying in the middle of a giant footprint, was a red monster wearing a suit of spiked armor, with his hair tied behind him. He wasn't the largest monster Eclipsa had ever seen, but he was one of the most muscular, with arms as thick as her head was wide. Obviously, even though she held no contempt towards monsters, Eclipsa was reluctant to approach the being. If he was the only survivor, it wasn't a stretch to say that he might try to lure her in to take revenge.
She was empathetic, not stupid.
"Umm...hello." She said, quickly looking behind her to ensure that no one was watching. But no. She was still alone out here. "Why are you here?"
"What do you mean?" The monster asked. "I was sent into battle, and that crazy lady with the shining sword made one of my monsters step on me. She must have assumed I was dead…" He groaned and stretched his limbs out, before sitting up. Eclipsa took a few more steps backward. Even if he wasn't on his feet, the monster's eyes were now at her level. "...But I'm made of sturdier stuff."
'A glowing sword? Oh, mother, what did you do this time…' Eclipsa thought, before realizing that that wasn't a question she wanted an answer to. "Uh...well...what I meant was why haven't you left? Before I showed up, no one else was out here. It's just you and me now. You can run away if you want."
"Run away you say? Well, I was..." Globgor said, before staring the Princess down and standing up fully. Eclipsa gulped and backed away even further, thoroughly intimidated by the monster. He was at least twice her height, and then some. "But now, why would I want to do that?
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is...you seem to be a lot nicer than other Mewmans I've seen. But we're still on opposite sides of the war." Globgor pointed out. "So what's stopping me from killing your right now because I've been ordered to? What passing this opportunity up?"
'Shit.' Eclipsa thought. 'I should have seen this coming. Fell right into it. Stupid, stupid, stupid. How could you forget this, Eclipsa? Just because some monsters like that girl don't care about the war, that doesn't mean every monster doesn't! Some are just as bad as my mother, in fact! Damn it! I shouldn't even have gotten this close...but once again my compassion put me in danger. But maybe I can talk my way out of this…'
"Because." She started. "Look around you. It's just you and me here. There are no knights. There are no other monsters. Neither of our superiors are here. There's no one to force us to fight, so what reason do we have to do just that? We can't just walk away and pretend this never happened."
"You make a point." The monster admitted. "But you've overlooked one little detail. When it comes to superiors...there aren't many monsters who are mine. My name is King Globgor, little girl. And I don't know if you're moronically brave or just plain stupid, possibly both, but approaching me was one of the biggest mistakes in your life."
"...That shouldn't make a difference," Eclipsa said quickly knowing that her words were the only way out of this. There was no doubt that he could outrun her in a second, and if she tried to fight him? He could bring her to the ground with a literal flick of her fingers. There was absolutely no chance. As for calling out for her mother...assuming she would even hear it, but the time she got there this "Globgor" would have snapped her neck. "You know, for the life of me, I can't understand why any living being would truly want to fight. I understand those who fight because they are following orders, or those that are fighting to protect the things they care about, but not, never those who fight for the mere thrill of it, like some of the knights or Queen Solaria...or you, apparently. Are you...truly like that?"
"Am I like that? One of those bloodthirsty creatures that just can't wait to leap into battle?" Globgor asked rhetorically. "No. No, I am not. But don't breathe a sigh of relief just yet. I may not be a "monster"..." He chuckled. "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to let you go and let an opportunity like this slip away. A normal Mewman girl is worth nothing to your side...but the daughter of the queen herself? Yeah, I think we may get somewhere with that."
Eclipsa flinched at these words, shocked beyond belief that Globgor somehow managed to figure out her identity like that. But she still tried to remain calm. However he figured it out, it was possible she might be able to convince him otherwise…
"What are you talking about?" She asked. "You really think that the daughter of the queen would be let into the battlefield like this? Even after the fight is over? I'm sure the Queen is much more protective of her daughter than that-"
"Don't lie to me." Globgor sighed. "First off, the clothes you're wearing wouldn't be worn by some random Mewman peasant. Knowing our enemies' culture was one of the first things I made sure all of my subordinates learned before they started the war. You have to know your enemy to win...even the parts that may seem pointless to learn about. Secondly, why would a random Mewman girl even be let out here? Your kind might savor in the blood of monsters, but this is still a battlefield and they don't have time for any distractions. They wouldn't just let some random girl in here...unless that girl wasn't so random, and was in fact royalty." He took a final step towards Eclipsa, and in terror, she fell to the ground, the blood from the numerous bodies surrounding her soaking into her dress. "And finally, your initial reaction told me everything I needed to know anyway. You were very good at hiding it, but you couldn't hide that one tiny flinch, as well as your nervous expression. That's when I knew for sure."
'Dammit.' Eclipsa thought. 'He saw right through me. He saw...all of it. What do I even…?'
"Umm…" She started, her voice noticeably trembling even though she hadn't said anything yet. "Perhaps we could find another-"
"Sorry," Globgor said, before he took a step forward and looked over her. "But I'm not going to give you the opportunity to talk me out of this...and again, I can't pass this up."
And that was the last thing Eclipsa heard before the monster reared his fist back and collided with her head. Stars exploded across the girl's vision, and that was all she saw before it turned entirely to black.
"..."
"..."
"...So you're telling me...that during your first encounter...dad kidnapped you?!"
"Well, what were you expecting?" Eclipsa asked, almost in a disappointed way. "This was still a war, sweetie. You didn't really think that this was going to be a love at first sight sort of thing, did you? You knew what your father had done in battles. Some of those things would amount to horrendous war crimes on Earth. He wasn't always like he is now...there's a reason, after all, that everyone was terrified of him even hundreds of years after the war ended."
"I suppose…" Meteora responded, before sighing. "But seriously. That's brutal. Talk about a first impression."
"Yes, well, I was young and mostly stupid. Or at least naive." Eclipsa said. "I had never really met a monster up close like that who wanted to cause harm to me. The only ones I had seen up to that point were random ones who had wandered into our camp and didn't wish to cause us harm, like that girl…"
"..."
"..."
"...But anyways," Eclipsa said, shaking her head. "I just didn't expect him to be hostile like that. But honestly, I'm grateful I didn't run. If I hadn't, we wouldn't have fallen in love, had you, and come to this point right now. I'd have probably been forced into my mother's ideology and become a ruthless killer like her...and with how powerful I was at magic, I think Mewni would have been devoid of monsters in a year or two. My mother preferred to get up close and personal with the extermination. If I was in charge and wished for it, I likely would have taken a quicker and more…" She shuddered "...efficient route."
"I see…" Meteora responded, knowing full well what she meant by that, as she had been taught of the various genocides throughout human history by Jenkins. And that was just one species doing it to themselves. She couldn't imagine what it would be like if it was two separate ones. "But...uh...on that unfortunate note, how did you go from this to falling in love?"
"Well, that's just the next part of our story," Eclipsa said, before shifting in her seat. "Now let's see...ah, yes, when I woke up I was treated to a rather unfortunate sight…"
The first thing Eclipsa realized when she woke up was that she couldn't move. Well, not completely, at least. She could jiggle her arms and legs somewhat, but other than that they were restrained by materials that felt like some kind of stone chain. Like someone had actually taken the time to carve a chain out of solid rock. She wasn't blindfolded, however, as she felt no material covering her eyes. Rather, it was as if she was simply suspended in complete darkness, and thus the Princess assumed that wherever she was, it was devoid of light to the fullest.
Other than those facts, however, she didn't get much. Her head was throbbing, she was sitting down, and the floor beneath her also felt like stone. She was obviously in some sort of dungeon, which was no surprise considering that her last memory before this was of that Globgor knocking her out.
"Stupid stupid stupid…" She mumbled, berating herself as the painful (literally) memory came back to her. How could she be so foolish? Again, naivety had struck in the worst possible way, captured by the enemy, by a monster that showed no interest in making peace. She didn't know what fate awaited her, but she had a decent idea. If the monster did even a tenth to Mewman prisoners what her own kind did to monsters…
Well, she'd either be executed in a few minutes, tortured to death for entertainment, or forced to face off against a heavily armed monster warrior armed with nothing but the smallest of blades. Just to see how long she would last.
Just to name a few. Or perhaps irony would strike and she would be killed by a little monster girl, forced by others of her ilk to do so. It was almost a fate perfectly befitting her...but she shook those thoughts away. Throughout her life, Eclipsa knew that most of her mother's advice was pure nonsense...but there was one thing she said that stuck with her. Never, ever, surrender your life in a situation. Do not give up hope and let yourself be killed. Fight until there is nothing left to fight with. And Eclipsa intended to do just that. To think that being killed by a monster was a fate fit for her, to think that it would be better if she was killed that way as some sort of redemption, was a dangerous thought train that she couldn't allow herself to go down. She gulped and lifted her head, desperate to focus on anything else.
But unfortunately, there still wasn't much to focus on. She couldn't hear anything inside her cell, assuming it was a cell, and the darkness prevented her from entertaining herself in a more traditional way. All she could do was sit and wait, and think to herself.
'Mother will come for me.' She thought. 'For once, I'll actually be glad to see her. Once she catches wind of what's happened to me, she'll force the entire MHC to help find me. I'll probably get out of here in a matter of hours…'
Five hours later…
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Oh, come on!"
Five MORE hours later…
Eclipsa didn't know what she was expecting anymore. It had been almost half a day since she had woken up...she thought, at least, and still, nobody had visited her cell. Not with food, not with water, not even to interrogate her. She was tired, she was hungry, and she really needed to use the bathroom. But no opportunity had presented itself for any of those things, and she began to wonder if the monsters just planned to leave her down here to starve to death.
And when that awful thought crossed her mind, she pulled in her restraints again, attempting to tear them out. Truth be told, she hasn't actually struggled against them after the first time right after she woke up, for fear that if she did attempt to escape, someone would come in and beat her for daring to try such a thing. But if those monsters were going to let her die anyway…
Well, she couldn't afford to wait. She tugged on the chains as hard as she could, ignoring the marks she was making in her hands that would certainly bruise later. The pain didn't bother her in the slightest. Faced with the possibility of a slow, agonizing death by starvation, she was able to push past the signals her body was telling her.
But not for long, it would seem. Eventually, it reached a point where her hands were starting to bleed, and she realized that the only way she was going to get out of these chains was if she ripped her thumb (and a good chunk of her hand) off entirely to allow her to slip free. As that was not a very appealing option, she figured that maybe she could wait a little while longer to see if anyone was coming for her.
And finally, those efforts paid off.
Because after one more hour, as she was slipping into unconsciousness once again, she was startled awake by the sound of a door opening and closing in the distance. A giant shape illuminated by a candle made its way towards her, and she scrunched her body up as much as she possibly could in some attempt to defend herself. Eventually, the shape revealed itself, and a large cage with crisscrossing bars surrounding her, showing that the person carrying the light was none other than Globgor himself, staring down at her with what looked like pity.
"You." She seethed, attempting to stand before the chains forced her back down. She had tried to hide her contempt for the monster, but it was impossible. After everything she had just gone through, the endless boredom and the constant splitting headache, she was not pleased to see him. She was happy that someone had finally shown up, just not him. "Let me out of here!"
"I can't do that, unfortunately," Globgor replied, setting the lantern he carried on the ground. "For the same reason that I took you here in the first place. You are a very valuable hostage, you know. The Princess of Mewni...I wonder what your mother will do to get you back."
"That's exactly why you should let me go." Eclipsa pointed out. "If you value your lives at all, you should release me immediately. My mother will not negotiate with you. When she finds out that you took me she will come here and kill every last monster she sees, probably making sure to torture a good amount of them first. You have to let me go, because a bloodbath like that is a sight I would rather avoid."
"Your mother can try…" Globgor said. "But this place is pretty well hidden. Undetectable from magic, and impossible to see with the naked eye, no matter how strong. She could tear apart the entire dimension looking for you, and she still wouldn't find this place."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Eclipsa said. "But even if that's the case, you should still let me go. Do you think she was bad before? You think she was showing even a tenth of her ferocity in battle? She wasn't even angry all those times. Now she won't bother with slicing you all to pieces with that sword. She'll just use her wand to vaporize entire armies, villages, whatever of monsters at once before moving on. Until she's either found me, or until she's killed herself."
"Really? Well, that's good." Globgor said. "Because we do have a plan to finally take her out. And before you ask about it, no, I'm not going to give you any more details. But it will work, and her coming for you is precisely what we're counting on. All we have to do is let the pieces fall into place, and she'll do all the work for us."
"...No. No, you can't kill her!" Eclipsa protested, even though she greatly doubted that whatever plan they had would even work. "If you hurt my mother-"
"Why do you care?" Globgor asked. "Don't you hate her?"
"I don't hate her, I just...hold on," Eclipsa said. "How would you even be aware of what I feel for her?"
"Easy. The way you talked back when we first met, as well as right now." Globgor explained. "You didn't want to kill me. You didn't want to fight me, which is the exact opposite of the kind of person your mother is. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out that you two don't see eye to eye, which I'm sure isn't helping with what I'm going to assume is an already strained relationship. Not to mention the fact that you spoke with fear in your tone just a moment ago, which shows that you think of her more as a "monster" than your mother. Just another person to be afraid of…"
"I'm not afraid of her. It's just what you said. We don't always see eye to eye." Eclipsa mumbled. "But that doesn't mean I want you to kill her! I may not like it when she tries to turn me into a mini version of herself, but I don't...want her to get hurt."
"..Well, doesn't matter either way. We're still gonna take her down and you don't have a say in it." Globgor said. "Frankly, I'm not entirely sure why I told you this in the first place. Guess I just wanted some kind of reaction…"
"...Can't we at least-"
"Talk this out?" Globgor interjected. "Is that what you were about to say? Because the answer is no. I'm sure you would love to try and talk things out, but my kind have tried time and time again to make peace with your people. And each time the ambassadors we send to you are sent back with their livers in their mouths. We've had enough peace talks, which weren't even talks at all. You Mewmans have made your position clear. We monsters are just defending ourselves." He sighed. "But of course, you won't believe that, since you were told a butchered version of how our kinds originally met…"
"That's not true. I know what the truth is." Eclipsa said, making Globgor raise an eyebrow in surprise. "Your King heard of us when we first came to these lands. He sent emissaries. We attacked them. You thought it was a misunderstanding because you had weapons, so you sent more that weren't armed. We attacked again and you defended yourselves, injuring and killing several Mewmans in the process. You went back to your King, and that was how this whole stupid war began!" She then took a breath, while Globgor stared at her in mild shock. "So you see? I do know the truth. And I believe that one because that sort of thing is exactly what we Mewmans would do. You monsters were never the bad guys...we just forced you to become ones."
"...How do you know that tale?" Globgor asked, tilting his head at the girl. "It's only ever told to monster children because we assumed that Mewmans would never believe it. How did you hear about it?"
"I-" Eclipsa started, before slamming her mouth shut and immediately regretting what she just said. No, there was no way in a million days she could tell him how she learned of this. How would he even react to that? He probably wouldn't understand that her mother made her kill that girl, and instead blame her for not taking a stand. She couldn't tell him about that. It would be suicide. But maybe...if she left a few things out…?
"I learned about it...from a monster child." She said. "I was by myself one day, and she had wandered into our camp from the forest. Maybe she was just curious, maybe she didn't know the danger, I'm still not sure. But she came to our camp and came across me. We started talking, and eventually, she told the monster version of the story of how our two races met. I thought it was interesting, and asked her to explain more, but before she could we were interrupted by a group of guards. I managed to distract them long enough for her to get away." She sighed. "I never saw her again, but...I'm glad she did what she did. It helped me see the truth."
"...Oh really…" Globgor said, and Eclipsa felt like she just made a mistake. "Well, that's a nice story. What did this girl look like, by the way? I don't think any type of monster, even a child, would be foolish enough to just walk into a Mewman camp like that…"
"She had a large frill on her head, with green skin, scales, and a tail that was a cross between a lizard and a mongoose," Eclipsa said, remembering every detail quite vividly. "I think, at least. It was a long time ago…"
"How long ago?"
"About three years. When I was ten years old." Eclipsa replied. "But still, you're-"
"You...you're lying," Globgor interjected, his voice filled with so much venom that Eclipsa wouldn't be surprised if he decided to rip her head off right then and there. "...That's not true. What you just said...that's a lie, isn't it?"
"What are you talking about?" Eclipsa asked. "It really was three years ago. What reason would I have to lie about something like-"
"Not that." Globgor spat. "The fact that she managed to get away. Approximately three years ago, a monster child disappeared into thin air from one of our villages. One that fits the exact description you just gave me. She went off by herself into the woods one day, and she never came back. We searched everywhere, even going into your people's territory, but we never did find her. It was a mystery for us all...until now.'
'Oh fuck.' Eclipsa thought, thinking of no other phrase that could best describe what she was thinking at the moment. 'Ohshitohshitohshit-'
"But I guess we finally figured it out." Globgor continued. "She didn't get away, did she? Those guards found her and killed her. Or maybe...you did it, and everything you've been saying up until now had been nothing but a facade. A mask. Pretending to be innocent so we wouldn't kill you." He sighed. "That's it, isn't it? That's who you are?"
"Wha-NO!" Eclipsa shouted, before regretting it as that had come out a little bit louder than she expected. "No, I promise you I'm not like that! I'm not like my mother or any other Mewman! I truly don't want to fight any of you! I just want peace, but they're the ones preventing it! I've tried to make her listen, but-"
"Okay, be quiet." Globgor snapped. "...Fine. Whatever. Maybe you aren't like the rest. But that little girl. The truth. Now. Tell me what happened. What really happened."
"I…"
"Do it, or I have no reason to believe that you aren't a heartless killer like your mother, and that I should just kill you right now and get it over with," Globgor said.
"...Okay. Okay, I'll tell you everything." Eclipsa said. And then it all came out. Her mother finding her with the monster girl. Forcing her to kill her. The blackout she had and then waking up to the terrible scene. All of it. She left out no detail, and by the end, she was sure that Globgor was going to rip her head off right then and there.
But instead, he walked towards her, grabbed the chains that connected her arms to the wall, and ripped them away. Then he did the same to her legs, effectively freeing her. Eclipsa blinked in shock at this action, wondering what was going on.
"Well done," Globgor said. "Now get up and follow me."
"...What?" Eclipsa said, getting to her feet and almost falling over immediately afterward. "Why? Why did you…?"
"We wanted to see if you were like your mother or not," Globgor said. "You aren't. Your confession proves that well enough. But…" He glared at her. "Don't think we're just going to let you go or something. If you were like her, we would have tortured any information we wanted to know about if you. But since you're not...we're going to do the monster method of interrogation."
"...Then...where are we going?"
"Why, that's quite simple," Globgor replied. "You're going to your new home. Among none other than the monsters you want to make peace with."
"..."
"..."
"...WHAT?!"
End Chapter 51
A/N: I think this chapter, out of all of them, is one of my favorites. It's a lot of fun imagining what the past queens are like, and writing for Solaria was definitely the best part of this chapter. Her thoughts are simple when it comes to monsters, but entertaining nonetheless.
And this will likely be a two part...segment, I suppose, after which we'll return to the main story. I suppose you could call it a bit of a break between all the endless confusing time travel and Voice and magic stuff that we normally have. Don't worry. Soon we'll return to our regularly scheduled mess of a fanfic. But for now, please enjoy these.
But thank you for reading, and please PM me or leave a review if you have any questions or comments.