Star sat in her Mewni Bedroom, and Marco and her sister sat on her bed across from her. Star was studying the page she swiped from the library.
"Ok, so I have MANY questions about what happened yesterday,"Marco said.
"He's not wrong." Star's sister pointed out.
"If you guys care so much, introduce yourselves. I'm trying to figure this out." Star said, banging her head on the mattress. Marco turned to the girl, who had her hand stuck out.
"I'm Nova Butterfly."
"I'm Marco." Nova nodded at him. She was wearing a pastel green dress with a peter pan collar and tights, her hair tied back in a white ribbon.
They shook hands and turned back to Star.
"What is that?" Marco asked, swiping the page from Star.
"Wait, no!"
"Star! You stole this from the library, didn't you?"
"No-ok maybe I did."
"Star! So on top of cleaving our family heirloom, you ripped a page out of a sacred book in the library."
"You didn't mention the treason."
"Do I need to?"
"That's fair." Marco butted in.
"Ok guys, I'm trying to figure this out-" Star said, and Nova checked her phone.
"Guys- I gotta go."
"Where?" Marco asked, trying to look over Star's shoulder.
"It's nothing. I'll be back in about an hour or so." Nova said, ducking out.
"Should we follow her or what?" Marco asked.
"Oh yeah we're totally following her." Star said, getting up and slinging her backpack on her shoulder.
They followed her around the corner and through hallways, before Nova pulled out a sleek pair of dimensional scissors, black and pastel blue. She opened a portal and stepped through it, her fists clenched. Star and Marco walked through, the portal closing right behind them. Nova had her cloak on, the back fluttering in the wind that whipped Star's hair around, and getting it caught in branches and brush as they followed Nova through the forest. Star eventually pulled her hair back, the magic causing a slight sound which made Nova put her head up, alert. Marco glared at Star and she glared at him, hiding behind a pine tree. Nova shook it off and headed forward, emerging from the woods into a clearing, which revealed mountains and rocks. The monster temple was ahead,and Nova parted a curtain of vines to create an opening, and she walked through. Marco and Star followed, right on her heels. Nova turned around, the wand beginning to charge up.
"Revelation haze." She whispered, surrounding herself in fog, and bringing Star and Marco into view.
"Why are you following me?" She asked.
"Where are you going?"
"Why are you following me?"
"Uh...well, we'll get out of your way before you report us and get us beheaded." Marco grabbed Star and turned away, beginning to bolt.
"Wait."
"What do you want from us?"
"Just hear me out."
"Are you going to Toffee?"
"No. He ran for the hills."
"Meteora?"
"She ran with Toffee. I'm spying on them. They might have found the remains of the Septarian army. They're planning something, and I want to see it."
"But- won't they catch you?"
"Not this way. Come on." Nova led them into the monster temple, looming in front of them. Nova sat in the middle of the floor, kneeling.
"Be quiet. I'll need to concentrate."
"No problem. We'll be quieter than mice."
"Good."
Nova picked up her wand and held it up in the air.
"I summon the all-seeing eye,
To tear a hole into the sky.
Reveal to me that which is hidden.
Unveil to me what is forbidden."
The yellow eye rose in the air, bordered by purple flames. Nova took a deep breath and looked up to the spell. Toffee sat at the head of the table, Meteora sitting on a chair at the foot.
"You think kidnapping those royal brats will help?" Meteora asked, applying make-up.
"Do you have any suggestions? It'll bring Moon right to us, knowing her little angels are in the hands of the same person who killed Queen Comet."
"Even the illegitimate one?"
"Your Mother never loved you less because you weren't born of her husband, why should this be any different?"
"She loved me more because my father wasn't who she was forced to marry. Moon had free will, married that...barbarian, and had a child with someone more...dignified."
"The legitimate one is the heir, although she's younger, and not half as powerful, not to mention the potential. It's a shame, isn't it?"
"They're both the same to me, let's just overthrow Moon the old fashioned way."
"And how are we supposed to do that? She has guards around every corner of Mewni these days, we'd both have lost our heads within an hour."
"Not this again. Toffee, we need to get what's ours and you're-"
The flames extinguished and the glow faded, leaving Star, Nova, and Marco in the abandoned temple.
"They're planning something." Nova said at last, breaking the tension.
"Whatever it is, it won't be good."
"We have to tell your Mom." Marco said.
"No. She'll be safer if she's in the dark. If she finds out, she'll put Mewni on lockdown. We'll be locked up with Glossaryck and you'll be sent back to Earth."
"So how are we going to explain all of this at the trial?" Star asked.
"We don't. She'll never know." Nova shrugged.
"She will." Star said.
"Our Mother has a way of seeing things nobody else sees." Nova said, looking into the crystal of the wand, before checking the time.
"We're going to be late for dinner.
Half an hour later they sat at Dinner, Moon at the head, Nova on one side and Star and Marco on the other.
"Mom, why did you never tell us about Meteora?" Star asked, picking at her corn.
"Meteora? Oh goodness Star she's long dead- a good thing really."
"No she's not. I met her."
"Star, I always knew you were a bit strange but this is delusional."
"It's Miss Heinous, Mom. She's Meteora."
"Star, even if that were true, it would never matter. You're distantly related to Meteora, and that's it. She was a monster, you have no monster blood."
"But she's still alive Mom. And what about Celena? She was half demon, half Lucitor."
"Meteora was the result of Eclipsa. Eclipsa ran off with a monster, leaving her wand, family, and kingdom. Meteora was an...illegitimate child."
"You're the one to say something about illegitimate children." Nova said.
"Will someone care to explain this to me?" Marco asked, and it burst out in fighting.
"Star, you're being an immature child-"
"Mom, listen, Meteora is still alive! This means something!"
"Star, you're insane if you think tracking down Meteora is worth it. Besides, why do we even want to make contact with Meteora? She's a MONSTER!" Moon screamed, but looked to the side, at the glowing red portal.
Obnitraxus Prime, Rhombulus, Lekmet, and of course, Hekapoo, came out of the portal.
"There!" Hekapoo pointed at Nova, who ducked.
"What is this?"
"We're in the middle of something here."
"Well we don't care, we detected her. King River issued a search for her." Hekapoo said.
"How many times must I tell you? River isn't the king anymore."
"He's still a Mewni royal, we're obligated to carry it through. Now come on Nova, I don't like this any more than you do."
"How did you find me anyway?"
"We tracked your scissor usage."
"Dang it. What does he want with me anyway?"
"I don't know. It's not my business. Now come on."
"Hekapoo, what do you think you're doing?"
"Taking her to King River. He ordered a search."
"My goodness, nothing of the sort will happen. If he doesn't like her, he can come get her himself."
"Don't jinx it!"
"Alright guys, this really isn't nessacary. Go back to your dimensions already."
"You know we can't do that." Hekapoo said.
"I forbid it. I said, Go back to your respective dimensions already."
"What do you want us to do? He'll kill us if we go back empty handed." Rhombulus said, and he had a point.
"As I've already expressed, I want you to go back to your dimensions." Moon said, and Hekapoo looked at Obnitraxus, who looked at Lekmet, who looked at Rhombulus. Hekapoo nodded, and pressed the button of a remote. The room filled up with steam, and something exploded. If you were there you couldn't see through the mist. You would be able to hear portals opening and things being crystallized and broken. Nova screamed and grasped for her scissors. She opened a portal and tripped over something running into it, knocking it into the portal with her. Nova fell flat on her face on a stone floor, the stones in decorative circular patterns. Marco stood up, and helped Nova up.
"What happened?" Nova asked.
"You tripped over me and sent us both flying into this portal?" Nova didn't respond to that and stepped onto an inner circle of carved stone, and the cracks between the stone started glowing light blue, sending Marco and Nova into the air, until it stopped, but it was still glowing.
"Where are we?"
"It's a temple of some sort." Nova ran her hand along the cracks of the walls, until she came to a circle cut in half. She pried them open, creating a doorway. They walked through, into a smaller, darker version of the room before. A pedestal rose in the inner circle, and a door opened. Nova walked through it, Marco following her.
It opened into Mewni, the castle 2 years prior.
"What is this?"
"It's a memory." Nova answered, grasping to remember every second of the memory.
Star and Nova had been 12. It seemed odd to her that only 2 years ago she was 12 years old.
River was mad. He was trashing the library, throwing books across the room, flipping tables and chairs, and screaming at Moon.
"How could you let this happen?!"
"I was ridiculed because of this!"
"That's no excuse to do something like this Moon, I can't-"
"Mom, why are you and Dad fighting?" Star asked.
"Star, Sweetie, go outside."
"Mom, what's going on?"
"Go outside. Now." Moon snapped. Even when she was cold, stiff, official, Queen Moon the Undaunted, she'd never snapped at her children. One of them was the reason they were fighting, oblivious to the girl. The moment the girls left, River went berserk. He threw vases and more books, before he turned to Moon, who was fuming. Last but the opposite of the least, River snatched a spear from a knight's armour next to a bookshelf, and threw it at the portrait, scratching Nova's face out. This was the nail in the coffin for Moon.
"Get out! Now!"
"Fine by me!" River stormed out, throwing the spear into a taxidermy on his way out. Moon sat on a loveseat and bit her lip.
Meanwhile, Nova and Star went outside. Nova borrowed the book of spells and her Mother's wand and began her own volume of spells, and Star went out and tamed a wild warnicorn. River left them, like that.
Nova was slowly pulled out of the memory and back into the temple, the fact the memory was just that- a memory.
"What happened?" Marco asked.
"It's complicated."
"Well sure. Lots of things are." Nova opened the door and got out, and grabbed her discarded Dimensional scissors and opened a portal to Mewni. Marco stopped her, putting a hand onto her shoulder.
"W-what happened?"
"Piece together the puzzle pieces already."
"Puzzle pieces?"
"Oh fine. None of your business anyway." Nova said, turning away. Marco grabbed her arm.
"You're not King River's daughter, aren't you?"
"River is not the king. Not anymore."
"So I was right."
"It's none of your business. I'm going home." Nova ripped herself out of Marco's grip and stormed into the portal.