Aflame

Chapter 25

The Beginning of the End

Eclipsa has a lot on her hands right now.

First off, there was her plan to take down Bren that involved the town square, an idea that she had just recently thought of thanks to Meteora. It was risky, it was idiotic, and it was almost sure to fail...but in terms of plans to take the bastard down, it was all they had at the moment, so it would have to do.

And then there was the other thing going on. The news that the government had abandoned Earthni had finally reached the public. So far, there had been no protests or riots as far as she knew, although that was probably only because everyone was sitting at home shell-shocked, or crying in a corner. It was a lot to take in, after all. These people had been counting on outside help for so long, were so desperate for the military to roll in and show Bren who's boss...and now that hope had been cruelly ripped away from them, leaving only an empty hole. Eclipsa didn't have a plan for this at the moment, although Globgor said that he would come up with a solution.

And then there was the other other thing going on. Marco had called earlier, and informed her that it was impossible to leave the town. He and Angie attempted to do so a short while ago, only to be attacked by missiles that were definitely fired by the military. They barely escaped with their lives, and judging by the way Marco kept asking Eclipsa to repeat herself, they might have been left with some hearing damage as well. And after he started describing all the destroyed cars and ambulances, that's when it was Eclipsa's turn to break down. She stumbled against a wall, almost failing to keep herself upright. Because she knew what this meant. All those dozens of people who had left in those ambulances...and the dozens more who attempted to flee the town...were gone. There was nothing left, and this would only bring the death toll up higher.

But she had to remain strong. This was no time to mourn. Now was the time to strike back. Eclipsa told Marco that she had a plan for defeating Bren and outlined it, and although Marco agreed that it was indeed extremely risky and idiotic, he also agreed that it was pretty much all they had at the moment. So he told her that he'd help any way he could. Eclipsa thanked him, told him that she had to finish working out all the details, and then hung up.

Which left her to finish her plan alone. Which was this.

Before all of this started, the Council had a small meeting on how they should hold Stump day, since it fell on Christmas Day and that would interfere with the humans' celebration, and people might not like that. Eclipsa simply suggested that they have Stump day at the beginning of December instead of the end (all the Royals had been forced to adopt the Earth calendar), so that way, they could still celebrate in the appropriate month and time of year, while also not making any of the humans angry.

And while December was still a while away, Eclipsa figured that perhaps she could convince the Council to hold the Stump day celebration just a little early. Say...a week from now. That would give them plenty of time to prepare. Prepare to take down Bren once and for all. Because anyone with half a brain at this point knew Bren would be interested in Stump Day. A celebration with that many people, in one place? Perfect opportunity for killing and making more chaos.

Only it wouldn't be a bunch of random people from the town. No, it would not be civilians that would be celebrating that day. It would be knights. Guards. Bannermans. Even squires, disguised as civilians. The real civilians would be kept attracted to the food stalls that Eclipsa would set up a short distance away, chock-full with the personal stashes of some of the Royals. Foods that were almost impossible to get even at the fanciest restaurants. Those would be set up in the stalls, and because it already looked like there was going to be a shortage soon, Eclipsa was sure that almost every member of the townsfolk would be at the stalls instead of at the town square, which is where the trap would be set.

Now, this is where the plan really came into action. Bren loved a big reveal. Eclipsa knew that. His constant monologues and brags about how he wants the Council to try and stop him was proof enough of his ego. He wouldn't pass up an opportunity to make an entrance like this, not in a million years. So there he would be, at the town center, where a large pedestal would lay. Eclipsa would show up, prepare to give a speech or two...and then bam, Bren would no doubt storm the stage, give a little announcement to the people of Earthni, who he likely assumed would be too scared to do anything, now that he was standing right in front of them. (Probably with Tom.)

Only they weren't the normal people of Earthni, but the knights, containing an ungodly amount of bows and arrows under their clothes. All at once, they would reveal them and fire at Tom, aiming for his legs and arms, so that he wouldn't die but couldn't cause any more harm. And then with all the speed or a rampaging warnicorn, they would fire at Bren next, just aiming for...everywhere. Even if he was repossessed at that point for whatever reason and had toughened skin again, it wouldn't be enough to stop the arrows. They were designed by the most skillful blacksmiths in the history of Mewni, able to turn something as simple as say, a spoon, into the deadliest weapon a person ever held in their hands. That many arrows traveling that fast...Bren would never be able to move out of the way in time. He would be struck, and he would fall.

But of course, this would not be the end. As proven with Marco, the Fire-god had the ability to resurrect people, so it wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that this attack wouldn't kill him or even hurt him that much, only incapacitate him for a short while. Which is why they would also bring some cables and ropes and all that to tie him up with. But this is where phase 2 of the plan came in. Janna, of course. She had her spells. She told Eclipsa about the spell that could rid the influence of the Fire-god from a person's body. All they had to do was use it on Bren, wait until he was back to his "old" self, and then they would finally capture him properly, trial him, and most likely sentence him to death within the first few minutes.

Public execution, of course, as it was probably one of the only ways the citizens were going to feel any kind of victory after all this. Their great foe, murdered right in front of them. A common practice on Mewni, and one that used to be common on Earth. Nobody would be raising any complaints.

That's it. That was her plan.

Of course, there was the problem about what they should do after. There were still many things to take care of, after all. One of which was the government. That barricade of missiles and death they had placed around the town would still prevent them from leaving normally. But, of course, at that point, they would have Tom, which made this problem very easy to solve. Tom could just walk over and blast a few trucks or something to scare everybody off, and once they left that would prove to the government that Bren was no longer alive.

And Eclipsa expected that a delegation would arrive soon...which would be greeted very cordially with a punch to the face and then a meeting or two. And this meeting would be extremely important, as Eclipsa had made a list of demands. One, full medical and economic support is sent to Earthni, as well as rebuilding crews to fix everything. Nobody in Earthni will pay anything for the rebuilding, and the government will have to get all the money from their own pocket. Two, everything about their deal with Bren, Demon Magic, and all that is announced to the outside world, and they will have to deal with the backlash. Betraying their own people was no small crime, and Eclipsa would make sure that every single person on the planet knew what they did, all for the selfish promise of power.

And three...there was no option three that Eclipsa could think of right now. But she knew there would be one. Those two things were not good enough. After all the injustices, after all the death and pain and hurt...she wanted to hurt them. And while this was not like her, neither was planning a public execution. But like everyone else at this point, she was done and just wanted this to end. Bren wouldn't surrender or ever give up, whether he was possessed or not. And he was much too dangerous to keep imprisoned. He simply had to go.

And she knew that that was a fact that everyone would agree on.

But after the info got out, using the threat of Tom just like Bren did (did this make them hypocrites? Was it playing dirty? Most certainly, but as stated before, Eclipsa was finished attempting to find peaceful ways to settle this whole debate), things would hopefully go back to normal. With the money problem taken care of, as well as rebuilding underway, Earthni could hopefully be transformed into what it was always meant to be. A haven. A place where all three species could coexist. Without any fear of persecution.

And Eclipsa would damn well make sure that nobody like Bren could ever show up again. She didn't care what policies she would have to enact to do it, but she was never letting someone harm Earthni or her citizens like that ever again. They would mourn and bury the dead, and put up memorials. That's all that could truly be done in that regard. But now they had to look towards the future, and find ways to prevent events that would require further memorials.

Of course, the big problem with all of this was figuring out how to tell all the knights, the Royals, Janna, etc, etc, without Bren finding out. Eyes everywhere, after all. They would have to find an insanely secure spot for the Council meeting where they discussed this plan, and even then they'd have to be careful. Maybe not even talk at all, just write down things and pass notes around the table. Tedious and repetitive, yes, but necessary at a time like this. If Bren caught wind of their plan to capture him beforehand, then they would all be doomed.

And then it hit her.

The perfect place to hold a meeting.

A place that Eclipsa knew for a fact didn't have any cameras, or microphones, or anything of the sort that would allow Bren to listen from so far away. And she knew this because she had a team of humans trained for this kind of thing sweep the entire structure top to bottom, days earlier.

The former Magic Sanctuary.

And she knew what the Royals were going to say when she told them all to meet there. Are you insane?! Isn't that Bren's base?! Have you completely lost it this time, Eclipsa?!

But deep down, she knew it was the perfect place. For starters, again, there were no cameras or microphones, as presumably, the rules of Bren's religion to the Fire-god forbade such things being placed in holy structures. Two, it was the place he would least expect them to go. To make a meeting about your plan when the enemy was right on your doorstep was one thing, but doing it right in the middle of their base? Bren would never expect it, and he wouldn't bother checking the structure if he started wondering where all the Royals had gone.

And third of all…again, there was no third option that Eclipsa would think of. But the ones she already had were good enough for her. And yes, just like her plan to use the town square and Stump day as a way to capture Bren, this was an extremely risky and idiotic move, but very much worth it if it paid off in the end. She just had to make sure that she knew exactly what she was going to say beforehand, with no deviations, no interruptions, nothing like that that would prolong the meeting. Because if Bren suddenly arrived and found them all there…

Well, he wouldn't be much of a match if it was all of them, even with Tom and especially if the Johansen Royals were present, but Eclipsa was sure that he'd flee and then come back with a horde of demons to chase them all out. So they also had to schedule it at a time that he would be least likely to arrive. The very middle of the night...or extremely early in the morning. Nothing the Royals would be fond of, but soon they would understand. It was all or nothing at this point, and if getting up super early or not sleeping at all was the price of living, then Eclipsa knew they would pay it.

But as usual, she had to come up with plans on top of plans for this one. How to get everyone there without anyone noticing. How to hold the meeting so that she could explain her entire idea for the Stump day trap and still keep it as fast as possible so that everyone could leave as soon as possible. And, making sure Star and Marco were there. They had to be present. This was a no-brainer. Star was still the one Bren wanted in the end, after all, and so she had to be in the town square, possibly on the stage with Eclipsa, or Bren might just ignore the whole thing altogether and keep his sights focused on her. Eclipsa had to figure out a way to get her out of the hospital, which shouldn't be too hard, if she wasn't still heavily injured.

That…would cause problems. But again, something they would just have to deal with.

And as for Marco, he was a problem because he might not even care about such a meeting, rather intending to stay home and do nothing like he had been doing for a few days. But just like Star, he had to be up on that stage as well. If Star appeared without Marco by her side, after so long of being apart from him in a place that wasn't a single room, then Bren might get suspicious and assume something was up. So he had to come too. Which, of course, he would be unhappy about, but if Eclipsa could handle all the Royals throwing a hissy fit at her then she could handle Marco throwing one. Even if her relationship with him was a hundred times stronger than it was with any of them.


"I still can't believe she managed to convince all of us to do this."

"You have to admit, it was a pretty good presentation. And she was right when she said that this was really the only place we had left to go that we knew for a fact wasn't bugged. And also...it's pretty warm. Honestly kinda cozy in here…"

"Really? That's what you're focused on? How cozy and nice it feels? Should I go get you a blanket and some hot chocolate as well? Even everything out for you?"

"...Would you?"

"...Screw off."

And that was the sum total of the conversation between the Jaggy King and the Johansen King, both of whom, along with many, many others, were standing in the Fire Sanctuary, waiting around for Eclipsa to arrive. It had been a full twenty-four hours since she had successfully managed to convince them all to gather here, and they all did so, in the middle of the night, as planned. One look around the room and any fool could tell that none of them were happy to be awake right now. Obviously, of course, but tensions were high, and soon a shouting match might occur if someone didn't take charge.

Which no one was doing, because Eclipsa was still outside, preparing herself for the speech she was about to give that would outline her plan. Globgor was with her, helping her along, and as for Star and Marco? Well, one of them was inside, and the other was watching the whole event on a phone/video call held by Marco, thanks to a computer that the hospital had supplied. Janna was there as well, leaning against a wall and chewing what looked like an entire back of bubble gum. Surprisingly, she didn't look tired in the slightest, and also had a look in her eyes that spoke that she had something to say of her own.

As for the rest, as mentioned, tensions were high and minor arguments were everywhere. They all knew why they were here, to listen to Eclipsa's final plan to exterminate Bren, and they knew why they had to be here, in this place, at this time, but they didn't mean none of them weren't grumpy about it. More than a few were already half-asleep again, laying down on the floor in the most comfortable position they could put themselves in.

As for the Sanctuary itself, it was the same. Marco noted how it was the exact same in appearance since when he last saw it, and he began wondering if Bren even frequented this place that often, or just stuck to the Underworld where it was safer. It was still beautiful, as it always had been, and there was a small part of him that hoped that by the end of all of this, the Sanctuary wouldn't be destroyed. Bren may be an evil and vengeful piece of shit, but Marco has to admit that if he had designed this place all by himself then he had good taste in interior design, at least.

But nobody else seemed to care about how pretty it all was. There were chairs set up around a large table that they had dragged in, and a few people were sitting in them. Shawn was sitting on a stool in a corner, glancing down nervously at his typewriter like it was about to burst into flames. But after what happened to the last one in the meeting that Bren crashed, Marco didn't blame him.

However, right at that time, the doors to the Sanctuary swung open and Eclipsa entered with Globgor, causing all eyes to turn her way. Some were angry, most were annoyed, and all of them were tired and had bags under them. But not a single person said a word. Rather, anyone who wasn't sitting down walked over to the table and did so, and Eclipsa and Globgor followed their example, taking their seats a moment later, as one of the knights that Eclipsa had there for protection closed the doors.

For a moment, no one spoke. This was the pattern in all of the meetings, but this time, as mentioned before, tensions were insanely high. Eclipsa was usually the first to speak, but it hadn't become uncommon for other people to speak up first if something was greatly bothering them. But this time was different. They all wanted to say something, but they were choosing to wait until the person who had called them all here spoke first. Shawn's fingers hovered above his typewriter, preparing to write down whatever craziness the Royals were about to say this time. After so many meetings, he had started getting used to it, although there were a few times where he had to pause and go over what had just been said, trying to confirm that that had just happened.

"...Thank you all for coming," Eclipsa said. "And I know I shouldn't thank you, due to the fact that attendance to this meeting was mandatory, but I do appreciate you all waking up at this hour and coming down here so we could all have this meeting."

"You better." Someone mumbled, which was probably Ponyhead. "I was in the middle of watching a marathon of my favorite show. Now I gotta go back and rewind the whole thing. It's ridiculous."

Definitely Ponyhead.

"Yes, well, some things are more important at the moment," Eclipsa said. "Now, I should get straight to the point, as we shouldn't be staying in this place any longer than we have to. As I told you all in my explanation of why you should come here, I have devised a plan to capture Bren with minimum damage to the town and the civilians. It's risky, and the odds of success are very low, but as you all know, we are in a tight corner and now we will take whatever chances we can get to beat him. So I ask that no one interrupt while I am explaining it, and any suggestions or complaints, of which I believe there will be many, be saved until the end. Does everyone understand?"

All the Royals in the room exchanged glances before nodding slightly, and Eclipsa sighed.

"Good. Now…"

And then she went off. Explaining every detail of her plan, not leaving a single thing out. The Stump Day festival. The knights dressed up as civilians. The stalls that would be used to distract the real civilians. Star and herself being used as bait onstage. Bren appearing and being captured, and then hopefully executed. And as Eclipsa went on with this, she could very clearly see everyone's reaction to it in their expressions.

Some of the Royals seemed intrigued, as if they also thought this plan had a chance of succeeding, even with victory as slim as it was. Five of them had simply bored expressions that a person done with it all would have, showing that they didn't care about the plan, and would go along with whatever Eclipsa had to offer. And the rest? They seemed to be on the fence. Gritting their teeth nervously, tapping their fingers against the table, and leaning back in their chairs with a sigh. There was only one unique reaction throughout the whole crowd, and that was from Marco, who very clearly had an angry expression after Eclipsa said that Star would be used to lure Bren in. But then the aforementioned princess whispered something to her boyfriend, and that seemed to calm him down. For the most part.

After that, there was a ten-second pause. Eclipsa was waiting for the first criticism to come in. Surely they would have a problem with this. It would never work. It was much too risky. They couldn't do this, Bren could figure out what we're doing and turn the tables on us. And on and on and on. That was what the Queen expected to hear next.

But surprisingly, what she really heard was something quite different.

"Huh…" Buff Frog said, emitting a low grumbling noise. "I like this plan. I call for a vote."

"A vote?" Moon asked. "This early?"

"Yes." Buff Frog said. "I have seen many plans in my lifetime. Many, many plans. During Mewman-monster war, monsters constantly came up with crazy ways to win. Most failed. But some worked. And a few that worked were as crazy as this plan. So yes, it is early to call for a formal vote. But I would like to use my personal experience for this. Risky, yes. Suicidal? Quite possibly. But a chance of success? It is there. So I say...all in favor of Eclipsa's plan, say "Aye"!"

Nobody said Aye. In fact, most everyone turned away from Buff Frog after he said this, shaking their heads.

"I...think it needs some tweaking." King Ponyhead said. "You say that it is too risky and suicidal. Is there any way we can make it less risky and suicidal?"

"Oh, stop your complaining," Star said from the phone. "It's not like you're actually going to be out there. You'll be in no danger at all. Eclipsa is just asking for your permission to use any knights or soldiers or guards you might have. You can sit back and watch it all happen from the cushiness of your bedroom. Simple as that."

"But asking for all those guards is the problem." King Ponyhead said. "It will leave us Royals undefended if Bren decides to attack. He wants you, Butterfly, but I think he would like to have us taken out of the picture as well. With all our guards in the town square, what happens if Bren sends some demons after us? We'll be left helpless!"

"Speak for yourself." The Johansen King mumbled. "I'm worth ten of my bodyguards. As far as I'm concerned, they're only there for aesthetic purposes."

"That's good for you, but not all of us have that same level of strength," Penelope added. "And even if we employ the giant spiders we have roaming around the castle, they'll be crushed like bugs against those demons. And then we'll be next."

"I don't see how that's my problem." The Johansen King said. "In my personal opinion, if a Royal is not strong enough on their own to defend against an attacker, then they should not be in that position in the first place. It is disgraceful. That day, in the meeting that Bren crashed, I was almost hoping that Bren would actually drop you out of that window. At least such weakness would leave the Council and make the rest of us stronger."

"E-EXCUSE ME?!" King Spiderbite gasped. "How...how dare! How dare you say that about my daughter! I should walk over there and drop you into one of these fire pits right now! Let's see where your great strength gets you when you're burning alive!"

"I can take it." The Johansen King said. "Far better than you can. I will admit, I always disliked you Spiderbites. Always covered in rashes and spots. Allowing yourselves to be constantly bitten by such lowly creatures. It makes me-"

"Can you please shut the hell up?" Marco interjected calmly, and all eyes were on him. "God, where did this come from?! And didn't any of you hear what Eclipsa said at the beginning of all this? We only have so much time to talk here! We shouldn't be wasting it on how strong somebody is or any petty secret loathes!"

"Hold your tongue, boy." The Johansen King said. "This is not a matter to concern yourself-."

"I don't see why it shouldn't be. I mean like, come on!" Marco exclaimed. "Are we seriously fighting amongst ourselves right now? When we have the entire government and Bren trying to kill us? This is the last thing we need. And again, Eclipsa said we don't have much time. So if what you're saying doesn't have anything to add to the conversation, then shut up or I'll walk over there and staple your mouth shut!"

"Do you even have a stapler?"

"No, but I do have twenty dollars in my pocket, and I'm sure that's more than enough to bribe Janna to give me one. And I know she has one." Marco said, pointing towards the aforementioned girl, who thought about it for a moment and then nodded her head in agreement. The Johansen King, however, looked far from being ready to back down.

"How dare you, you worthless little-"

"Shut up." Eclipsa interrupted. "Marco is, as per usual, entirely correct. I understand that it is three in the morning, and we are all grumpy and tired and looking for something to hate, but if you do not have anything to add, then you will be removed from the meeting. Do you understand?"

"...Yes." The Johansen King muttered, shooting simultaneous murderous glances at both the Spiderbites and Marco.

"Good," Eclipsa said. "Now, answering King Ponyhead's earlier question. We will not be taking all of your guards. You will still be left with a few to defend yourselves with. Although I do recommend that anyone who does not wish to directly partake in the capture of Bren...because I know there will be a few, stay in the safe rooms located unearth their castles. Then when it's all over, we will contact you and inform you as such. After that, we will start rebuilding and doing what we can to take care of other problems. Also, before anyone asks about the "other problems" hi, I am still working out a full solution when it comes to that. I have a few ideas, but overall, we're going to need more."

"Mm." Ponyhead hummed. "You know, if we still need money, which I know we do, maybe we could put the Ponyhead show back on the air, which you got rid of. I promise that I will only keep fifty percent of the revenue for myself and the rest you can keep to-"

"I'm not putting that show back on, especially since you and that show are one of the main reasons we don't have any money in the first place," Eclipsa replied. "Taking it all to spread your show across the country...you are still not out of the woods when it comes to that, by the way. If we miraculously survive all this, you will be punished."

"We'll see about that," Ponyhead grumbled.

"I suppose we shall," Eclipsa said. "But she does bring up a point for the money. I was planning on forcing the US government to give us all the money we need for repairs as well as compensation, or else we would tell the entire world what they let transpire here."

"Hold on," Moon said. "We're not telling the world that the government allowed Bren to commit these atrocities?"

"Not unless they don't give in to our demands," Eclipsa said. "But yes, if they give us everything we want, we will do our best to remain silent. My original plan was to tell everyone anyway, but on the way here, I thought it out...and decided to change a few things."

"That's ridiculous," Moon said. "That would be letting them get away with this. We have to tell every single person on the planet what happened here. Only then will we actually have a chance to get-"

"No." Eclipsa disagreed. "Think about it. This is our trump card. The one thing that will make them do whatever we ask for. The one thing that will save this town. If this plan succeeds, if we beat Bren, then they lose. No Demon Magic for them. We can hide all the books in the Underworld where they can never get to them, and that will be the end of that. And then we will have the advantage. Our information. We can likely use Demon Magic to get rid of that troublesome barrier currently surrounding the town, and then use Tom the same way Bren did: As a way to threaten them."

"Wait, wait, wait," Janna said. "You want to use Tom as a tool? Just like Bren did? Using him to threaten people and all that nonsense? Because...I don't think he's going to like that. If he gets free of Bren's control, and we get his parents back, then I don't think the first thing he's going to want to do is get slapped with the same mission that Bren put him on before. He will likely just flat-out refuse, or heck, cut himself off from all of us for failing to take into account how he would feel about the whole thing. That...that's not a good idea, Eclipsa. If we're going with the threatening route, then I can whip up tons of Demon Magic spells to get us there. But using Tom...no. I don't think we should."

"I...suppose you do make a point. I guess I hadn't thought of that." Eclipsa said. "I just assumed he would want to take revenge so much on the people who did this to his parents and his friends that he would do almost anything to get that revenge."

"You're not helping your case." Janna sighed. "But listen. Long story short, we can't use Tom. It's a terrible idea. But...if we do manage to successfully scare them like Bren did, then what? We just tell them our demands, and if they don't do what we say, then we'll put what they did to us on the internet or something?"

"That would be the process of events, yes," Eclipsa said. "Hopefully it will be enough. And we will hang this over their heads until the day Earthni has fallen due to nothing but time. Although there is still a very large problem with this plan. Managing to convince the townsfolk, all of them, to keep quiet as well."

"I did wonder about that." Marco chimed in. "Thank to whoever told the news station that all of Earthni is cut off from the world, the entire town now knows the big secret. Your plan to blackmail the government is a decent one, Eclipsa, but...I don't think you'll manage to convince even half of the remaining townsfolk to never say a word about this. The second all our tweets and posts and whatever is allowed in the outside world again, there's going to be a few thousand in the first hour cataloging everything that's happened here and how the government let it happen. Hell, I'm sure people are writing those posts already, waiting for that moment."

"I'm honestly confused how no one figured it out before," Janna said. "I mean, we should have gotten aid a single day after that demon attack, and we didn't. Just found it odd how not a single one of the townsfolk brought that up."

"That is an interesting point, but not vital at the moment," Eclipsa said. "But yes, even after we beat Bren, we will likely have to wait a short while before we begin negotiations. We must give ourselves time to plan everything out. Make sure that everything goes exactly how we want it to."

"When has that ever happened?" Star asked, before sighing. "Sorry for interrupting, but I feel like this information never getting out to help us with blackmail is an impossibility. Even if you somehow managed to convince ninety-nine percent of the townsfolk to keep their mouths shut, the remaining one percent will blab about it all day long. Which is why...I think I have a solution."

"A solution? Really?" Eclipsa asked. "What is it?"

"We tell people to keep their mouths shut. But only for a while." Star said. "We blackmail the government like you suggested, get them to give us everything we need, and the second we get all the money rebuilding materials and whatnot, we release the information anyway. After that, they'll be too busy from the public backlash to try and focus on punishing us. We get what we want, and they get what they deserve. Simple as that."

"...I like this plan," Janna said, grinning widely. "Any way I can help out? Because all of this is just music to my ears."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Eclipsa said. "That is an interesting plan, but I feel like things might go a little bit better if-"

"Hey, hey, hey," Ponyhead interjected. "Okay, this has all been a very interesting conversation, but it's been doing nothing but going in circles, and I actually have something to say that contributes to the meeting. I know, it's shocking, but I do."

"...Very well," Eclipsa said, looking slightly peeved. "But make it quick."

"Fine," Ponyhead responded. "So...I think you guys are getting a little too revenge happy when it comes to the government. Have you forgotten the whole reason they're doing this in the first place? Why they let this happen and why they're blocking any outside signals from reaching the rest of the world?"

"Because they want Demon Magic for themselves?" Marco replied.

"No, Earthturd." Ponyhead sighed, rolling her eyes. "It's because Bren came into the office of that White House or whatever and threatened to kill everybody if they didn't do what he said. And for extra insurance, he made the Demon Magic deal so they wouldn't try to betray him or anything like that. They didn't want to do this at first. That little white-haired creep made them. And I'm pretty sure he killed a few people over there already to make a point. So...yeah." She scoffed. "I get why you're angry, but I think you all need to chill a bit here. Maybe just try to punish the ones at the top who agreed to the Demon Magic deal, instead of the whole damn parade, yeah?"

"..."

"..."

"...That...actually makes some sense," Eclipsa admitted. "I suppose I did forget about that part. But getting only the ones at the top might not be possible. When joined together by anger, a large group of people will become nothing short of a mob. If this information gets out to everyone, then the world will want, as you put it, the "whole parade" to pay for this, not just the ones at the top."

"Oh, blah," Ponyhead said. "Give me a break. You can, you know, just tell everyone that only the ones at the top allowed it. Heck, I'm betting that they are not only the ones who made the deal, but are the only ones that even know about it at all! Bren probably ordered the higher-ups to keep quiet about the deal until it was finished. No point in letting more people know about it than what's necessary."

"True," Eclipsa said. "But...so your plan is-"

"Tell the people outside that most of the government were only doing this out of fear," Ponyhead explained. "The higher-ups are the ones people should be angry at. They'll be thrown out of office, and replaced with more competent people. The deal will be off, Bren will be dead, the ones in the government that are guilty will be in jail, we'll get what we want following your plan from earlier, and we all live happily ever after until the next threat arrives and screws up everything again. So there. That's my plan."

"...I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually agree with her," Marco said. "Combined with Eclipsa's, this sounds like a plan that could work, one that won't end with any more excess bloodshed."

"I…" Eclipsa started, before passing and thinking about. She had to admit. Ponyhead's plan was a decent one, and Marco was right. Combined with hers, things may turn out better than she expected. The government still needed people to run it after all. And with only the higher-ups taken away, that wouldn't be a concern. Most everyone would get what they want.

It was actually such a decent plan that Eclipsa couldn't believe it had come out of Ponyhead's mouth.

But...there was no but. This was a plan that could work. Since it only came into effect after they succeeded with the previous plans, they wouldn't have to alter any of the ones that they had already made involving Bren's capture. That was set in stone. And more, so it would make them look kind and forgiving, as anyone with common sense would want the entire government punished, but if they only find a small portion of it then they would look good in comparison.

And also, they were still short on time, so Eclipsa decided that she was just going to agree with this plan so they could keep going and hopefully finish the meeting.

"Very well." She said. "I agree with this plan. If we manage to defeat Bren, I shall have it put into action."

"Wait, seriously?" Ponyhead asked. "Dang. I did not expect you to go along with that. Guess I'm better than I thought."

"Oh, I doubt that…" Eclipsa said, before sighing again. "But now that that is taken care of, there is one last thing that needs mentioning before we all leave," Eclipsa announced. "Several times during this meeting you've heard us mention a barrier surrounding the town, and I do not doubt that many of you are wondering what we're talking about."

"I think I already know," Moon said. "I've been hearing plenty of rumors lately, and I think that this barrier is a military blockade sent in by the government to prevent any of us from leaving, correct?"

"...That is correct, yes," Eclipsa admitted. "In fact, that is exactly what is happening. Marco and his mother discovered recently that the government has set up a large blockade completely crawling with soldiers, and apparently with rocket launchers that destroy anything or anyone who decides to get too close to the edge of the town."

"Yeah, and we just barely escaped," Marco said. "Unfortunately, the same can't be said of the other crashed cars we saw. One of which was an ambulance. Probably carrying a few of the people we sent out of town to get treatment at other places."

"Hold on…" River said. "Then that means….everyone who has attempted to leave the town...all the people in those ambulances...they're…"

"Dead, yes." Marco sighed. "Which, of course, will only make things worse when the townsfolk find out. I got my mother to steer people trying to leave away, and I think she may have used a different excuse than the truth...but this is going to get out eventually. People are going to start leaving in droves, and like me and my mom, someone is going to make it back and tell everyone what they saw out there. This could just...ruin everything. We'll take the blame, and-"

"Will we, though?" Ponyhead asked. "I mean, how is any of this our fault? We didn't know that barrier was there. We couldn't have. This one isn't on us."

"Yes, but I'm sure the townsfolk won't see it that way," Eclipsa said. "But the death toll…" She leaned back in her chair and frowned. "That many ambulances...not to count the number of people that have probably tried to flee...you know, I would be more horrified, but I think at this point I've grown almost numb to it. And that...that horrifies me, if nothing else."

"I get what you mean," Marco said. "Normally, hearing about this would probably make me vomit on the spot. But now, it's almost like business as usual around here."

"Pft. You humans are so soft." The Johansen king said. "Shying away from a little blood. On Mewni, entire rivers were colored red for days because of some battles. So much blood that fields became infected by it, so rooted in the soil that nothing grew there for generations. Yes, all those people dying is a tragedy, but you need to get more used to it. Which is why I'm happy to see...that you apparently have."

"Whoop-de freakin do," Marco said. "But don't talk about humans being soft. Less than a hundred years ago some wars decimated entire cities with a single weapon, huge machines designed only for...oh, why am I talking about this? You already know that…"

"Indeed. Shame more of those weapons were not used. It would have been quite the sight to see."

"If you were looking directly at the blast, you wouldn't be seeing much of anything afterwards…" Marco mumbled. "But okay. Should we tell the townsfolk about the barrier? I mean, we should, obviously, but are we going to include the fact they're everyone that left died, or should we just leave it for them to figure out on their own?"

"I'm not sure," Eclipsa said. "As I mentioned, they will blame us for this in some way. I think that is inevitable. I believe the best choice of action would be to tell them the entire story. No more lying or partially withholding the truth. We want them to trust us, and refusing to inform them of everything that is happening will not make that happen."

"True," Marco said. "So then, we'll meet up somewhere later to discuss how we're going to combine your plan and Ponyhead's plan, and we're also going to announce to the townsfolk about the barrier, sparing no details. Correct?"

"Correct," Eclipsa said. "A risk all, but one we have to take. But as for the barrier itself...Marco, you were there. Is it possible that there is a way to fight back? To somehow reach it and try to disable whatever weapons they're using?"

"Honestly? Probably not." Marco said. "They have searchlights, missiles, and I'm sure the dust storm that came out of nowhere was also conjured up by them. And even if we get close enough that they can't fire the missiles, in all likelihood we'll be met with a hailstorm of bullets."

"I see," Eclipsa said, sounding greatly disappointed. "They couldn't have surrounded the entire town though, could they have? Some areas would be extremely hard to guard...much less do it twenty-four seven."

"True, but those areas are also the areas that are the hardest to leave from. The tallest peaks of the Jaggy Mountains, the edge of the Forest of Certain Death, all that sort of stuff. They don't need to guard those places because they all already have natural deterrents."

"We'll see about that. I'm going to send a group of knights to the mountains and see if it is truly guarded or not." Eclipsa said. "Surprisingly, as long as you're well prepared, it isn't that dangerous. You just have to know what you're walking into."

"Fair enough," Marco said. "But if they do get out of the town...what then?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Eclipsa admitted. "I think we could have them attack the places that do have barriers from behind, steal their weapons, and use them to take out the rest...but that is a bad idea for many obvious reasons. And also, I'd rather not hurt the soldiers there if I don't have to."

"Wait, seriously?" Marco asked. "But they're the ones that are, like, killing everyone. They have killed a lot of people."

"Yes," Eclipsa said. "But I believe that they're not doing this because they want to. I'm not even sure if they've been fully informed of the situation with Bren, just that they were told to kill anyone trying to leave the town under penalty of death."

"So you're saying we shouldn't kill them because they're just following orders?" Moon asked.

"Is that a problem?"

"...Maybe," Moon said. "This is something to discuss more later. I know that most of our ethics should have been thrown out the window by now, but this is certainly a complicated issue."

"Yes. It is." Eclipsa agreed, before sighing again. "And...I think that does it. We still have much more to talk about, but as for right now, it would be best if we leave. We have already exceeded the time limit I set, after all. Everyone grab your chairs, head back to your carriages, and go home. This meeting...is over."

"Huh. I think that was the shortest meeting yet." Ponyhead said. "But why do we have to grab these chairs? Why don't you get the people who set them up to do that for you?"

"Because we're trying to leave as soon as possible, and this is the quickest way to do things," Eclipsa explained. "Also, a free folding chair. So there."

"Hmm. Okay, that's fair." Ponyhead said, picking up the chair with her mouth. "There's a lot of things I could do with this chair…"

"Glad you agree," Eclipsa said. "Now, everyone else, follow her example and leave. This will be talked more about later in letters I send to you, but as for now, goodbye."

After that, it was like a school bell had been rung, with everybody getting up out of their chairs before grabbing them and hastily departing. One of the nearby knights took the table they had brought in, and in no more than a minute the entire Sanctuary was empty. Eclipsa was the last to leave, shutting the door behind them. The Royals all went back to their carriages, carefully parked right next to the lake, and drove off one at a time. The only ones who remained were Eclipsa, Globgor, Moon, River, Janna, and Marco, five of whom get like one of them had something important to say.

"That went well," Eclipsa said to the group. "I only hope that everything went as planned, and Bren wasn't listening in. If he did, then we're all doomed."

"Maybe we should come up with some backup plans then," Star said from Marco's phone. "You know. Just in case things go terribly wrong. Only the six of us will know about it. No one else."

"Hmm…I might be able to come up with something," Janna said. "But knowing Bren's track record, he probably had a backup plan just in case we have one. And then a backup plan…for his backup plan."

"Then we'll just keep going down the line until one of us cracks," Star said. "But I have a question. One that wasn't addressed. How are we gonna convince the townsfolk to attend a Stump Day celebration in the middle of all of this? They don't want a Stump day. They want money, food, and revenge. And now that the big secret is out, well, one of the big secrets, they're going to want out. Which...is not possible. And once they hear about that, things will take a turn for the worst. Like, heck! Do we even have enough food to throw a Stump Day celebration? I know you said the Royals have a stash, this plan doesn't work, and we can't get that barrier out of the way, we'll be out of like...a lot of stuff!"

"We may be out of a few things, but don't forget." River chimed in. "We still have acres and acres of corn. Enough to feed thousands of people for weeks on end!"

"Unless you want them to get sick, they're going to need a better diet than just corn," Janna said. "I mean, it would work at first, but how long can you convince everyone to keep doing it? Your corn is good, but too much if anything over a long period of time, and anyone would get tired of it in the end."

"It doesn't need to last forever," Moon said. "Just long enough to take care of this. But...while we are on the topic of food running out...how are those grocery stores actually doing? Are they empty, or are there still things on the shelves?"

"Still things on the shelves. Although mostly it's only discount stuff or food that not many people enjoy." Marco said. "Most of the "good stuff" has been taken. And it won't be long before the bad stuff is too. So yeah. I predict that it'll last maybe a few days. Possibly even less if people realize just how fast those stores are emptying. And all that's even assuming that the employees who work there will even show up, and instead choose to be at home with their families."

"That brings up another question," Moon said. "In terms of people showing up to work, doing their jobs, all that...how productive are the townsfolk being? I understand that many shops were damaged in the demon attack and the explosion to the point where they are currently dangerous to even go inside, but how about the rest?"

"From what I've seen, it's about fifty-fifty," Marco said. "I've heard that wages have been cut back a lot, but some people are still going to work simply to take their minds off all the chaos. As you saw, everyone who worked at the hospital was there, and I think the same goes for the fire department and whatever's left of the police...but things like simple restaurants or shops have taken massive hits when it comes to staff."

"Unfortunate," Eclipsa said. "I'd make a law informing everything that going to work was mandatory at a time like this, but I think that would only cause further outrage. So...I think the best way to solve this problem is simply to not interfere. Once this is all over and everyone is safe, people will go back to their jobs. But for now, let's not force them to do so."

"Agreed. Although speaking of outrage…" He mumbled. "Eclipsa is the only one who knows about this, but I think all of you should as well. All those riots we've been biting our fingernails over? Waiting anxiously to happen? They're already here. There was a mob outside the Monster Temple earlier this week."

"What? Seriously?" Star asked. "What were they angry about? Because honestly, that could be a lot of things…"

"Failure to protect the town," Globgor said. "Led by some Mewman I've never seen before in my life. I tried to make them go away peacefully, but they just wouldn't budge. And then I did something I sorta regret. Meteora and Eclipsa were inside, and I was worried that the mob might escalate and storm the Temple, which could lead to them getting hurt...and I wasn't going to let that happen. After they claimed that they were going to get rid of the Royals and start their own kingdom, I...I told them they the government had abandoned Earthni."

"You did what?!" Just about everyone there said, a shocked expression on all their faces. Every Janna looked surprised.

"I know. I know. It was stupid. I was stupid." Globgor said. "But I thought it was the best way to get them to stop. I asked them how they planned to defeat Bren, how they planned to solve all the town's problems, and how they planned to deal with the government. They responded with silence, which pretty much showed that they had no idea what they were doing long term. After that, most of them left, although their leader took some...convincing."

"Why did you...no. No, doesn't matter now. There's no point in berating you at the moment. We have enough to handle without punishing each other." Moon said. "But does this mean that one of them was the person who leaked that news to the….news? Unless it was someone who already knew, but that was a very small list, according to my knowledge."

"Yeah. And the only person I could see doing that for any reason is Janna, but…" Marco stated, before looking over at her. "The person in the security footage was running like a maniac, which is impossible for a person who's supposed to be on crutches."

"Yup," Janna said. "Impossible. Although I can't even think of a reason why I would do it. I've done some stupid things in the past, but I would never do anything as dumb as that."

"Then...it had to be one of them," Marco said. "Globgor, do you remember who was in that crowd?"

"Only two people," Globgor said. "Their leader, and a woman who works at the mayor's office. But other than that, I can't recall any of their faces. So...it might actually be impossible to figure out who did this unless they come up and confess."

"Terrific. I suppose we'll have to deal with that later." Eclipsa said. "One last thing before we leave, however. About our trip to the Underworld to obtain Tom's parents. We're going to need to combine that plan with the two we already have going on."

"Not a problem. We can fit it in easily." Janna said. "Remember, Bren is going to be on Earthni when all the fireworks start, not in the Underworld. We can simultaneously take him down there and rescue Tom's parents. Just sneak in, knock out any demons we see, and get them out. Then once Tom sees that his parents are safe...there goes Bren's protection. But we will need a large team to get down there. Which means sacrificing a good amount of knights from the Stump Day celebration so they can help with the Underworld mission."

"That won't be too hard," Globgor said. "And if needed, I might be able to convince a few...specific organizations to help us. Like the assassins guild. They're perfect at sneaking around, and thus would be perfect for this mission. The only problem would be finding the proper money to pay them…"

"We can give them an IOU," Janna said. "And promise them double their original payment once we get the money we need. But there is also something I think I should add. The mission to the Underworld? I need to be there as well."

"What? You can't...you are in no condition to be going on that mission." Eclipsa said. "No offense, Janna, but the knights can't rescue Tom's parents if they're spending half their time protecting you. And since they'll have to be sneaky, they might have to just carry you around...since your crutches make a lot of noise. I'm sorry, Janna, but I don't think you going down there is a good idea. And I'm sure your parents would agree."

"Oh, come on!" Janna said. "Yes, I'm injured and it's going to be a while before I'm healed. But I know Demon Magic, by the way. I could still be useful. And I'm more knowledgeable about the Underworld than any of you. Tom has shown me all sorts of stuff in the six months since Earthni became a thing. I may be pretty vulnerable, but that doesn't mean I'm useless."

"I'm not saying you're useless. But the fact that you know Demon Magic and most of our info about the Underworld is one of the reasons why you're not going." Eclipsa explained. "You're too valuable an asset to lose, and we don't want to put you in harm's way. For goodness sake, I was on the fence about whether I should allow you to come to this meeting, since Bren might show up and start killing us! Especially since you're one of the people that he would likely attack first."

"...Ugh," Janna said. "You know I could just go down there myself and you wouldn't be able to stop me, right? I could go home, make a portal to the Underworld the same time you go, and then intervene with the mission myself."

"What would you even do down there?" Marco asked, before Eclipsa could speak up again to voice more complaints. "You have Demon Magic. But you'll need to carry a lot of materials to make a portal back, not to mention all the preparation, to cast any rituals or stuff like that. Just how do you intend to do that, and again, what do you intend to do?"

"...That's private," Janna said. "I'm sorry, but with what I'm doing, I can't inform any of you about it. It's too risky. Bren might capture one of your and torture you for information, and if he learns about what I'm doing then we're all screwed."

"Now hold on-!"

"But…" Janna said. "I will inform you that it involves the finger I picked up. Remember that? When the knights beat Bren to a bloody paste? He lost a finger back then, and picked it up. I've been messing with it a bit. Tinkering with it. Trying to figure out a few things."

"What could you possibly figure out from doing that?" Marco asked. "Other than knowing why his blood is blue. Which I've been wondering about myself…"

"No, I'm not trying to find out anything about that," Janna said. "And again, I can't tell you. But I'll let you know that if every other plan fails, then this is what will save the day. And it has a very small chance for failure, as long as I'm the only one who knows about it. There's nothing Bren can do to stop the endgame of this plan."

"...Well, if this isn't the vaguest thing I've heard in my entire life. Even for you, this is something, Janna." Star quipped. "But Bren is not going to torture us for information. If he wanted to do that, he would have already at the start of all this. You know how he is. He believes there's nothing we know that he doesn't also know. That's why this plan is a good idea. That's why we held it here. You can tell us, Janna. As long as we're alone, and it's just us, I'm positive that Bren won't find out until it's "too late"."

"..."

"..."

"...Sorry, but I still can't," Janna said, resulting in an annoyed sigh from everyone else. "I made a promise. To someone who is very good at convincing people to keep their promises."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Marco asked. "Oh god, Janna, what did you get mixed up in now? That makes it sound like you made a deal with the mafia or something."

"Not this time. Although they are pretty chill, as long as you start off on their good side." Janna said. "But no. This is someone much more dangerous. But they're also an enemy of the Fire-god. They don't like him any more than we do. Which is why...the plan centers around them. And this is another reason why I can't tell you. This plan has two parts. One that involves the finger, and one that involves this person. And if the Fire-god learns that this person is coming, then it's over."

"...Okay, but, Janna, you still have to-"

"No, let me handle this," Eclipsa said. "Janna. This person you speak of...are you sure that they are on our side?"

"They're not on our side. They're on their own side, which is currently the anti-Fire-god side." Janna explained. "But, they won't hurt us. They don't have a reason to. All they want is that big orange bastard in the sky. No one else. You won't have to worry about being attacked by another enemy."

"And the thing you're doing with the finger...are you positive that it will help with taking down Bren?"

"Assuming all my predictions and theories are correct, yes," Janna said. "If they're not, then I can still improvise and work something out. That whole thing is taken care of, trust me."

"I see," Eclipsa said. "Then...I suppose you don't have to tell us what it is you're planning."

"What?" Moon said. "But what if this is-"

"No, she's right," Globgor interjected. "If this truly needs to be kept a secret for it to work, then we shouldn't intervene. We should just let Janna do...whatever it is she's doing, and focus on our own plans for the moment."

"Seriously?" Star said. "So after all that...we're just going to let this go?"

"Yes," Eclipsa said bluntly.

"...Fine." Star sighed, getting the feeling that there was no arguing with this. "So does this mean Janna is going to the Underworld with the knights now? To complete her little secret task?"

"That...perhaps," Eclipsa said, glancing over at Janna, who smiled and shrugged. "There will obviously have to be many alterations to the plan for that to happen, but if what she's talking about does indeed bring about the end of all this...yes, she will go. With as many precautions as we can come up with."

"Fantastic. And I'm still stuck in here." Star said. "How is that even possible? The doctors keep saying I need rest, yet I've been in the hospital longer than Janna, with injuries less severe than hers!"

"Just yesterday you were mentioning how you shouldn't be leaving because of the pain spikes." Marco pointed out.

"True, but I'm just wondering how long this is going to last," Star said. "Although my question, Janna, is still relevant. You broke like almost a dozen bones! I broke one or two. How are you out there after a few days, constantly walking around in crutches and looking healthy as can be, while I'm in here, eating this?" She then held up a tray of food to the camera, displaying the same slop that she had shown Marco and Angie.

"Because most of your injuries are internal ones that aren't obvious, and mine are external ones that were spotted almost immediately," Janna said. "Also, you walked around for like an hour and a half after you received them, which I'm sure didn't do you any good. Whereas I just laid in a heap, unmoving, until help arrived. Long story short...you'd probably already be out of there, if you had immediately gone to the hospital after Angie found you."

"Pft. More important things going on at that moment." Star mumbled.

"Getting back to the point..." Eclipsa said. "I think it's time we all left. We've been standing here for long enough."

"True," Janna said, before hobbling away.

"Wait, where are you going?" Eclipsa asked. "I drove you here, aren't I driving you back?"

"Nah!" Janna called out. "There's something I've got to do first. One day, you'll understand." And with that, she slunk off into the bushes and disappeared under a curtain of darkness, the sound of her crutches ceasing the second she was out of view.

"Well, that's ominous," Moon said, before turning to the small carriage that she had River had parked nearby. "Although we shall now take our leave as well. I hope to see you all again soon."

"Yeah...Bye, mom." Star said.

"Goodbye, Star," Moon replied, and then she and River climbed on to the carriage and left without saying another word, the single Warnicorn attached to the front pulling them off into the night.

"Well...I think we're going to go as well." Marco announced. "My mom is probably wondering why I'm taking so long, and she's going to start worrying if I stay here for much longer."

"True. And I'm leaving as well." Star said, before waving goodbye. "Bye, all of you. And Eclipsa, I want you to try and make an excuse to the doctors to get me out of here soon. At least before this plan of yours goes down. I know I'm going to get out anyway to be used as, ahem, bait or whatever, but I'd like to do a few things before that."

"I'll try, Sweetie. Goodbye." Eclipsa replied.

"Bye," Star said, and then a second later the screen went dark, signaling her departure. Marco shoved his phone in his pocket and then walked away down the path, towards his mother's car which was waiting at the start of the forest. (She would have driven it all the way down here like everyone else, but the various rocks scattered about surely would have broken a few things. Also, she was in a rental car.)

"Bye, you guys." He said, giving them a small wave before stopping. "And by the way, where do I fit into this whole thing?"

"Eh...I didn't really find a place for you, to be honest." Eclipsa said. "Also…" She coughed before lowering her voice. "I thought you would be satisfied just staying at home and doing nothing."

"Wouldn't we all…" Marco mumbled, knowing exactly what that she meant by that. "But no. I may be a bit of a shut-in right now, thanks to all those damn nightmares and visions, but if this involves using Star as bait, then I want in. Maybe I could stand next to her on that stage. Bren hates me as well. Get some extra insurance. For reasons for him to show up."

"That may be possible…" Eclipsa said. "Alright. I'll see what I can work out when it comes to that. But I can't promise anything. Everything about this has to be perfect, and we can have no loose ends. Understand?"

"I understand," Marco said, and with that, he walked away into the dark, quite similarly to how Janna did it no more than a few minutes ago. And then it was just Eclipsa and Globgor standing alone, the faint sound of crickets being the only thing they heard.

"...Should we just go as well?" Globgor said.

"Yes. Let's." Eclipsa agreed, and then they entered their carriage and rode away, leaving the Sanctuary abandoned and empty once more.


Stump Day was a long way away.

And yes, while a week was usually not that long a time, it was in Earthni with all the...complications going on. Eclipsa and the other Royals had made an announcement the day after their meeting, informing the citizens of Earthni that leaving the town was no longer allowed. Predictably, they were not happy with this order, with some of the townsfolk picking things up to throw it at them, until a glare from a nearby knight told them that it was not a good idea. They left hastily after this, returning to the Monster Temple as fast as they could. Again, this reaction had been predictable. They knew the townsfolk were going to be angry. Especially since they claimed they couldn't explain why nobody was allowed to leave.

Which, of course, might just make them want to leave even more. Eclipsa wondered if she would have to put up her own barrier around the edge, just to make sure nobody left. But until then, she just had to hope that these people heeded her warning and didn't do anything stupid.

Which was a lot to hope on. But when it came to the citizens, hope was all they had in store. Once they got back to the Monster Temple, Eclipsa couldn't help but immediately return to the kitchen, taking a seat and letting her face flop into the table, all the while groaning like a zombie. Globgor followed her into the room, his hands behind his back as he tried to think of a way to comfort her.

"So…" He started. "I'd say that went relatively well. Nobody stormed the stage, for one thing."

"If not storming the stage is what constitutes as "well" these days, then we need to do something to fix that," Eclipsa said, raising her head slightly as Meteora crawled into the room, sensing that someone was in a bad mood. "Those people would have been out for blood if we didn't get out of there. I only wish Star could have done that speech. You remember the one she did the same day Marco died. That crowd quieted down in a way I could never get it to…"

"Don't say that. You've always been great at speeches." Globgor said, pulling up a chair and sitting next to his wife. "It's just that this is a really hard group of people to convince. So, maybe Star can perform better speeches than you, but that doesn't mean anything. Almost anyone would fail to calm down a crowd like that. It's nothing to get upset over."

"It's not just that," Eclipsa said, stating the obvious. "There has been something that has been stuck in my head for a while now, and by a while I mean yesterday. Say by some miracle that this plan and Ponyhead's plan and whatever Janna is planning all goes perfectly. Bren is defeated, the government gives us what we want, and...whatever Janna is doing also gets done. But even if all that happens, will people still want us as leaders? Some of them make very good points. We are taking embarrassingly long to solve this problem, even if we've been doing our best. More than a thousand people have died, even more now that we know everyone who left the town is a corpse on the side of the road, and we are still not telling the townsfolk the full truth of what is happening, even if it is for their sake. Just...will they still accept us? Will they still think we are good enough to be the leaders of Earthni?"

"They're going to have to," Globgor said. "And if they don't think so, then I'll just say the same thing to them that I said to the angry mob that was outside of the Temple a few days ago. They won't know what to do after they kick us out. They don't know how to lead a single Kingdom, much less several all at the same time. Any society they try to create will fail, and that is the plain truth."

"I wonder about that…" Eclipsa said. "Although there is something else I noticed as well. At the meeting yesterday, was there a certain absence that you noticed? Someone that was supposed to be there for all of those meetings, but wasn't?"

"I…" Globgor said, his mind going back to the meeting and the people that were in it. "No, I think I saw everyone there. All the representatives from the major Kingdoms, along with Buff Frog, Marco, and...oh." He mumbled, the answer hitting him in the face. "The Mayor. The Mayor wasn't there."

"Exactly," Eclipsa said. "And like you, I only noticed it a little too late, after the meeting was already over. A little embarrassing, considering that he is one half of the ruling duumvirate in this town, but he wasn't there. And nobody else noticed either. I can only assume that they were so focused on what we were saying… or that they simply didn't care."

"Probably," Globgor said. "But what does this mean, exactly? I know you sent him a phone call. Maybe he just forgot about the meeting? Or fell asleep, and he's just a really deep sleeper?"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. I notified him three times beforehand." Eclipsa said. "There is no way in a million days that he would have forgotten about this meeting with notifications like that. No, he missed it on purpose. I only wish I knew why…"

"...Hopefully, we're just looking too deep into this," Globgor said. "Like, worst-case scenario, he's working with Bren now, best-case scenario, he just wanted a break from all of this and couldn't stand the thought of having to go to another meeting."

"The latter isn't an excuse in any way," Eclipsa said. "And the former...no, I don't think he's working with Bren. If he was, he'd actually be at that meeting, before going home and telling his master everything we talked about."

"That's true," Globgor said, before a curious expression crossed his face. "But if we're going by that logic...do you think a member of the Council is already in league with him? It's definitely possible."

"I...I don't want to think about that." Eclipsa said. "But I can't imagine those people working with Bren. Most of them hate him to the core, and wouldn't do his bidding even if he had a gun to their head."

"Yeah, but if he had a gun to the heads of their family…"

"..."

"..."

"No more of that," Eclipsa said. "We're already dealing with one uncomfortable conversation, we do not need another."

"That's fair," Globgor said. "But really, I don't think the Mayor not being there is something we have to worry about that much. I'll call him later and ask him why he was absent, and if he gives a good enough excuse, and if I can find evidence for that excuse, then we'll just let the whole thing go. No need to make something like this bigger than it should be."

"True," Eclipsa said. "Although I think I should be the one to call him. If I remember correctly, you told me that one of the people that were in that mob works at the Mayor's office…"

"Worked." Globgor corrected. "I called them soon after and told them what happened. They told me they actually fired her a while ago for making anti-monster remarks." He sighed. "Which just confirms my suspicions that it was that entire mob that was anti-monster, not just the leader…"

"Oh Lordy, not this again," Eclipsa said. "I thought we would be mostly done with anti-monster sentiment after the death of Mina's final followers, but I guess not. Don't these people realize what is going on right now? That there are more important things to worry about than whatever imaginary threat monsters pose that they made up?"

"It wouldn't seem so," Globgor said. "Although I talked a bit to Star and Marco about this before the meeting started. Star's suggestion was to simply kick any anti-monster supported out of Earthni once this was all over, because "we and nobody else should have to deal with that crap anymore. No public protests, no people yelling in the streets, we're just going to round them all up and give them the boot". Those were her exact words, and honestly, I'm not sure whether to agree with them or not."

"That would violate a few amendments that we have to follow now," Eclipsa said. "Particularly the first one."

"Yeah, I said that to her as well, but then she pointed out that since the government has betrayed Earthni and pretty much abandoned it, we shouldn't have to follow their rules anymore," Globgor explained. "And that is an excellent point, all things considered."

"Possibly," Eclipsa said. "Depends on how you define excellent. But as for her idea of kicking everyone out...maybe. At this point, maybe. It would certainly solve things. Show people that we now have a zero-tolerance law on monster hatred. And pretty much every person who lives in this town doesn't care about monsters being dangerous or not anymore. The humans stopped being scared once they saw that they're very much benevolent, and most of the Mewmans only joined Mina because they wanted their homes back. And now that we have merged with Earth, they got all the space they could ever need."

"Yeah, I know," Globgor said. "But…"

"Yes, there is still that one percent," Eclipsa said. "But as I mentioned, Star's solution might be the best one. I do not want someone like Mina to rise up again, this time with followers that are capable of flipping a light switch."

"That reminds me," Globgor mumbled. "What happened to Manfred? I know we let him go because he told us everything, but do we know where he is now?"

"Not sure," Eclipsa said. "Although I do know that it's far, far away from here. I assume he got out before the barrier was set up, like most of the members of the various criminal gangs in Echo Creek."

"Oh yeah...I forgot about that." Globgor mumbled. "Janna told us a while back that her friend whose name I can't remember, this guy who was in charge of the knitting underworld or something, skipped town along with a bunch of other people. All those gangs knew about Bren beforehand, and...huh." He then looked away, out the window. "Actually, that brings up a few questions. Why would they know about him? According to Manfred and what we already know, Bren only operated with Mina from afar and the literal Underworld before revealing himself. Who told all those gangs that he, or at least someone, was in town and they should all get out as fast as possible?"

"It's possible Bren may have tried to recruit them to do his bidding," Eclipsa suggested. "And when one gang said no, and he probably killed them, the rest heard about it and left."

"I wonder why he would want to recruit those criminals to his side when he has an entire army of demons…"

"Eyes and ears everywhere, I assume," Eclipsa said. "Demons would stand out. The humans in those gangs? Not so much. He probably wanted them for information and spying. Not much else."

"I suppose," Globgor said. "Although now that he claims to have cameras and audio jacks everywhere, that makes recruiting people for that kind of pointless."

"...Then I don't know," Eclipsa said. "Either way, it's impossible to know now. They're all gone and there's no way to contact them."

"...Are we sure about that?" Globgor asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I think we can still contact them," Globgor said. "Janna has connections with these people. Or at least one. I think it's possible that she could...call them or whatever, using the phone numbers I'm sure they gave her, and ask them what they know."

"Assuming a signal could even get out of the town's boundaries now..." Eclipsa started. "What would that accomplish? We already know what the gangs know, and what they know is nothing. They were just aware that someone dangerous was in town, someone that they wouldn't be able to handle, and that they should leave. Nothing else."

"That was only one gang," Globgor said. "The others might know more, and Janna could use her connection with that one gang and ask them to try and get in contact with the others, so then we can ask them questions and see if they have any useful information."

"But what would they know?"

"Anything," Globgor said. "Anything they know could be useful. And it's not like it would hurt. All we need to do is ask Janna to call them. If they refuse to give us any info, no harm done. If they give us info, they might give us something that could be useful. Either way, no one dies, and no one gets hurt. There's no reason as to why we shouldn't do it."

"That is true," Eclipsa said. "But I doubt those gangs will give us any information. If Bren finds out they were talking to us, he might very well track them down and...actually, scratch that, he will definitely track them down and kill them."

"And how is he ever going to know that we called them? We searched the entire Temple. There are no cameras or hidden audio devices anywhere now." Globgor said. "And I'm positive Janna did the same with her own house. He may have an odd ability to know when people have done things they're "not supposed to", but he isn't omniscient either."

"No, but the Fire-god is." Eclipsa pointed out. "We shouldn't even be talking like this here. Janna cast a spell to seal the Temple from his gaze a while back, but she used Demon Magic. And considering the Fire-god created Demon Magic, I don't have high hopes on how reliable it is when it comes to stopping him."

Globgor sighed. "Eclipsa…"

"I know. I'm being pessimistic again." Eclipsa said. "But everything I'm saying is the truth. We can't afford to not be deathly careful. One wrong word, one slip of the tongue...this whole thing could come crashing in on its head."

"With a mindset like that…" Globgor started. "Do you even truly believe that our plan will work?"

"In all honesty? Likely not." Eclipsa said. "We're taking the biggest gamble of our lives here. Everything has to play out so that it ends in our favor, if we even hope to have a chance of winning. And the odds of that happening are astronomically low. Even if one thing goes wrong, then it could easily cause a chain reaction resulting in the deaths of us all." She groaned. "There is something I didn't tell you, however. Where this plan came from. Who gave me the idea."

"What are you talking about?" Globgor asked. "I thought you came up with this all by yourself."

"Most of it, yes, but it only came to mind because of Meteora," Eclipsa said, pointing at the baby, which was currently gnawing on an entire loaf of bread. "She pointed at the town square that day, and I realized what I had to do. I'm still not sure if this is what she intended, or if it was something else entirely. But regardless, she knew. She knew what to do."

"...Are you sure that wasn't just a total coincidence?" Globgor asked with full skepticism. "How could she possibly "know what to do"? It's not like she's been listening in on our meetings or something."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Globgor said bluntly.

"...Okay," Eclipsa said. "Fine. Maybe she didn't know what to do. But she was definitely trying to tell me something. You should have been there. She was pointing right at the town square. Even if she wasn't thinking of the plan I came up with...she was thinking of something."

They then both looked simultaneously at Meteora, who paused her chewing when she realized that both of her parents were now staring at her. After a few moments, she went back to her loaf of bread, with not a care in the world.

"Right," Globgor said. "Anyways, if we're done coming up with theories, I think we should be focusing on our plan again. Did you take my suggestion into account? The one I mentioned on the way back here?"

"About you going to the Underworld as a secret weapon? Yes, I have." Eclipsa said. "But I still think you shouldn't go. If you aren't there for the Stump day celebration, Bren might get suspicious and not fall for the bait. We need everyone there that would be there in an actual celebration, no exceptions. And I know you mentioned that your ability to grow gigantic would be of great assistance if things went...wrong, but still. It would be taking too much of a risk."

"I understand," Globgor said. "But we're letting Janna go?"

"...I suppose so, if what she says is true." Eclipsa sighed. "It won't be easy, and as I told her, we will have to place a guard around her, but if she does have a weapon that can end this and ensure victory, then we shouldn't just stand by and refuse to let her help. We need everyone we can get on this. And if they're willingly offering to help...then that's even better."

"Makes sense," Globgor said, before leaning back in his chair. "There's something I don't understand though. She can't talk about it to anyone because she's afraid that Bren will capture us and torture us for information...I don't think that's what she's afraid of. If Bren was going to do that, he would have done it at the start. Heck, he had a perfect opportunity with Marco, but he was content to just kill him instead of kidnapping him. Bren...Bren would not run around snatching us in our sleep just for a few facts. That's not like him."

"I have to agree with you on that," Eclipsa said. "Janna was lying there, I could tell. I didn't point it out because that would lead to another argument...but she was lying. I've been around her enough to tell."

"But why?" Globgor asked. "Maybe she just didn't trust us? Or thought one of us was in league with Bren or the Fire-god?"

"Please. If anyone in that meeting would be "in league with them", it would be her." Globgor said. "She wouldn't start going around accusing people. She's already suspicious enough on her own."

"Yeah, that's true," Globgor said, before leaning back again. "Okay. Changing topics. The bombs we found in those buildings that we planned to detonate on the hill of flags. We need to talk about that. None of the Royals brought it up at the meeting, and you haven't mentioned it either, so how are we with that?"

"We're still in the process of moving all the bombs. I believe we should be done with that by the end of today." Eclipsa said. "After that, we can move them to the hill and blow them up, maybe one at a time if we can get them to do that."

"Sounds good," Globgor said, before putting a hand to his chin. "Hey, do you think-"

"No, we can't use the bombs to get rid of the barrier around the town," Eclipsa said. "If we are going to attack that barrier in any way, I want to do it with the method that would result in the least amount of casualties. There's already been too much death."

"Eclipsa...that may be the method that results in the least amount of casualties." Globgor pointed out.

"Even so," Eclipsa said. "It's not happening. The bombs will be taken to the hill and detonated before the end of the week, and that is final."

"...Okay," Globgor said, not wanting to argue over this. He then got up and started to walk away, but turned around at the last second. "I'm going to go put Meteora to her nap, but...if things go bad...should we have a contingency plan in place so that she manages to escape from all of this?"

"Yes. And I think I already have one in mind." Eclipsa said. "We give her to the Diazes."

"And…?"

"And that's as far as I've gotten." Eclipsa sighed.

"Understood," Globgor said, before picking up Meteora and walking into the other room. Eclipsa watched him leave silently before setting her head down on the table once again, and at this rate, it would have an indent in it.

"You're going to make it through this." She promised. "No matter what."


"Almost there...almost done...just a few more drops...just a few more tests..."

"I still don't fully get why you're resorting to this. That place is nothing but an empty void now, consumed by darkness. If you go there, you'll die instantly. It's not like the normal void between dimensions. This is...something quite different."

"Yes, I know," Janna responded with a sigh, making the final touches to her secret project. She was up in her room, with all the windows and doors closed, and her visitor was making several comments that she could frankly do without. "As you've mentioned several times. But don't worry. I have a plan. I know how the darkness works. And I also know how to counter it."

"There are very few ways to counter such a force." The visitor claimed. "Once something is taken by it, it can never be retrieved. Not even by someone like me or the Fire-god. It is a force older than the omniverse. It was made before the omniverse. In the infinite nothing, before creation. It was all there was. And...it's been quite adamant lately in trying to regain that position."

"Sucks," Janna said. "Just tell god or whatever to deal with it. They made all of this, surely they care enough to try and prevent its destruction."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Absolutely not," Janna said. "But at this point, is anyone sure of anything? I know even you are having doubts at this point."

"Fair enough." The visitor said. "But this game you're playing is high-stakes. If you let the darkness into this dimension, if you let the portal you're opening become unstable for even a millisecond, it'll already be too late. The darkness will seep through and consume this entire world in no less than twenty-four hours, as it has done billions of times before."

"Thanks for the confidence boost," Janna said sarcastically. "I needed that."

"I am merely stating the facts."

"Sometimes it's just best to keep your mouth shut," Janna replied. "But whatever. I won't let the portal get unstable. One second is all I need for this to work after all. You know what I'm doing with this darkness. The book Tom gave me...it showed up how to use it. How to wield it...how to turn it into a weapon."

"Yes...and I hope you know what you're doing as you claim. For both our sakes." The visitor said. "You won't be able to contain that sort of energy for long in any container, never mind the one you're going to use. If you want to use that finger...you're going to have to do it fast. And besides, your "weapon" won't actually kill him. The amount of darkness that you will be able to capture with that finger won't be enough. It'll only wound him slightly."

"Isn't that the point?" Janna asked. "Wound him so you can slide in and finish him, getting your revenge and whatnot?"

"It is not as simple as that. Once he realizes what you've done, there will be a half-second period where I will have to step away to avoid being contaminated by the darkness itself. I cannot promise your safety in that half-second. But he will almost certainly try to kill you...and will likely succeed."

"Don't worry about that," Janna said. "As usual, I have a backup plan or two."

"Of course." The visitor sighed. "But after he is killed...assuming this somehow all goes well...would you like me to demolish that Sanctuary of his as well? It wasn't part of our original deal, but it wouldn't be going too out of the way, so I was just wondering."

"No, it's okay. You can leave it up." Janna said. "I expect the Council to make a few renovations to that place anyway. Restore it to how it usually was and tear out all the fire stuff. Or maybe they'll just leave it in there. Even if the whole thing is dedicated to a god we both hate, I have to admit, it's pretty stunning to looking. Very nice aesthetic."

"The best temples usually are. I just wish I knew how he managed to build it in such a short amount of time. Six months is certainly not long enough to remake the entire thing and put in all those add-ons alone."

"Magic, probably. Lots and lots of Demon Magic." Janna assumed. "But there is something I have to know. Assuming he doesn't kill me, and this whole finger thing works, how are you going to kill him? He said it himself, a fight between two gods could rip the entire solar system in half. How exactly do you plan to take him out and keep the planet relatively intact?"

"Easy." The visitor said. "The finger will wound him, but also weaken him enough that I hardly have to use anything to destroy him. A simple blast of energy, powerful enough to destroy maybe only a small city, should be enough to do the job. And I will be placing a shield around him after I fire it, meaning that everything inside the shield, which will only be him, will be vaporized. And everything outside? Perfectly safe."

"That's a relief," Janna said, who expected it to be much more complicated. "So after that, we'll just go with Eclipsa's plan, make the government do what we want...and then everything will but totally not really go back to normal again."

"Things will never be normal around here again." "The visitor quipped. "The second the barricade around the town vanishes and the government stops being a bunch of pricks, I do not doubt that many people will leave the town. They will not want to risk something like this happening again. Bren is only one person with a god on his side. Angry for his dimension being destroyed. Many, many other worlds were decimated by the dimension of magic crumbling to pieces. And while Bren may be one the only ones with a god on his side who cares, that's not to say that there are no other ways to travel between dimensions. If someone else figures out that Star is responsible...it'll be Bren all over again. And Eclipsa's promise for someone like him to never happen again will mean nothing."

"I know," Janna said. "Honestly, I'm surprised someone didn't show up sooner. But I think that's a good sign. Even if someone else does decide to come along, I severely doubt that they will have the planning prowess Bren does. It'll just be one or two guys, really annoyed with what we've done, and then we'll just kill them or whatever. Problem solved."

"You make it sound so simple."

"That's the point," Janna said. "Listen. I had the feeling that this kind of thing was inevitable. Someone like Bren coming along, all pissy for what the destruction of magic did...I was honestly waiting for it. Now, I never assumed that it would get this bad, and I suppose that's kind of on me...but this is honestly just the stuff that we have to deal with. Everything has consequences, and destroying an entire dimension? Hoo-boy. We should be happy that Bren is all we've gotten so far. Imagine if we had to suddenly fight a war against two or even three different people, all with their own gods to back them up. We wouldn't last a day."

"If Bren wanted it, you wouldn't have lasted a day to begin with." The visitor said. "But you do make a point. You will have to evolve yourself to survive this. Toughen yourself. Bren is only the first threat coming your way. And assuming you defeat him, he will be far from the last. In fact, I already know of some who would likely be planning revenge against you...if they knew who had done it."

"Something to deal with later, I suppose. Maybe we can use Demon Magic to get to whatever dimension they're in and take care of them before they become a problem." Janna suggested. "Would certainly solve a few things."

"But only a few."

"Yeah. True." Janna agreed. "Okay. I think this is just about done. I just performed all the necessary rituals, so this finger should be ready to harness all that energy." She then held the aforementioned finger in the air like it was a legendary ancient relic, with imaginary shine lines starting to come off of it. "With this, we can catch the Fire-god in the Underworld and allow you to take him down once and for all. Then all Eclipsa has to do is allow her knight army to finally kill Bren, stick his head on a stake outside of town, and that'll be the end of that."

"Yes...after you take care of all the commotion going on in the Underworld." The visitor said. "You do remember that half of the demons down there like what Bren is doing. Even if you kill him and we get rid of the Fire-god, the Underworld will still need fixing. Another war might happen, who knows."

"Not another." Janna scoffed. "What's been happening here was no war. Our battle with Bren has just been a tit-for-tat slapfight. Don't call it a war. All this has been is a simple exchange of bullets."

"You stole that from somewhere, didn't you?"

"Hell yes, I did." Janna proudly admitted. "But don't blame me. All the best lines are taken. I just worked with what I got. But anyway...yeah. The Underworld will have to be dealt with even after all this is finished. Worse comes to worst, the problems down there spill up here. And we do not need more demons right now. But I think the best option is to just let Tom deal with it. No demon can compare to him besides his mother. He'll just fly around and blast some of them with fireballs until they agree to stop being obnoxious. Problem solved." She sighed. "And if I remember correctly, that's how problems are settled in the Underworld all the time."

"Well, let us hope that things are that easy. Or you can hope, at least." The visitor said. "After I get my revenge on the Fire-god, I'll stick around for a few days to make sure that everything is in place as a courtesy, but after that, I'm leaving this dimension for good. You humans are just too much for me to handle on a long-term basis."

"I think you mean I'm too much for you to handle," Janna said, smirking. "But I didn't expect you to stick around. As long as you help us get rid of our enemies in the end, I'll be satisfied."

"You better."

"I will."

"You BETTER."

"..."

"..."

"...Okay," Janna said, just the slightest hint of nervousness in her voice. "Now then, let's put this in the proper containment chamber."

She then reached for a jar sitting on the edge of her desk and dropped the finger into it, before sealing it with the lid. She then carried the jar over to her mini-fridge and shoved it into the bottom shelf, before slamming the door.

"There. Safe and sound." Janna said. "That cold should keep it from decomposing just enough so that it still works when I need it to."

"It best. I'd preserve it myself, but I'm not going anywhere near that thing now with the rituals you just performed on it."

"Ha! Imagine that." Janna snorted. "A god won't even come within fifty feet of this finger, but me, a regular human, is totally fine with it."

"I wouldn't describe you as regular. And say that to the rubber gloves and metal prongs you were just holding a minute ago."

"Touché," Janna said. "But regardless, it's ready. All we have to do is wait for the proper date, and then this whole thing will be blown wide open."

One

Week

Later

A hurried frenzy was taking place across Earthni as the date of the Underworld incursion and Stump Day crept closer and closer. When the Stump Day celebration was announced one day after the claim that nobody was allowed to leave, many of the townsfolk were greatly confused. A Stump Day celebration? Here? Now? In the middle of this great crisis? But yes, this is what Eclipsa said, and soon pamphlets were passed out explaining to everybody what they had to do. Which was simply to attend. The Royals were breaking out their food stashes, and the news of that made it as if there was no anger in the air to begin with. Now people were happy. Now people were getting excited. They didn't have much food right now, but then they get the news that soon everyone will receive a royal feast? It seemed too good to be true.

But "too good to be true" was not what seemed to be happening, at least from their eyes. Eclipsa had ordered all the knights to set up stalls as fast as possible. And in less than a few days everything was in place. The stage. The stalls. The crappy decorations. Even a giant model of the Stump, almost as big as a house. It was, to be frank, very impressive, given how little time they had had to prepare for it. But this was the start of their final plan, and Eclipsa knew everything had to be perfect. Everything has to be ready so that nothing could be left out. For the celebration, all they needed now was to set out the food, and for people to arrive.

Which was certainly due to happen. As mentioned, people were getting giddy and excited. It was exactly how Eclipsa planned. The promise of such a feast and a celebration had practically wiped all the bad memories of everything that had happened over the past few days from their minds. And while this was rather convenient, Eclipsa wasn't complaining. She only assumed that almost none of these people had been happy in the past few days for even a moment, so the possibility that something like this could happen made them take what they could get, no matter how oddly-timed or out of place it felt.

There were still problems, however, because nothing went one hundred percent right anymore. Whispers were going around the town that this was some sort of ploy, some sort of way for the royals to get everyone's mind off the horrors plaguing their town so that everyone would love the Council again, and not those riots.

And while this was partially true, Eclipsa knew that if more people started adopting this mindset, then it could have catastrophic results. So she sent out a little rumor of her own. She had a person mention near one of these people that the Royals were actually afraid of the Stump, due to the fact that it had attacked them one year ago for not believing in it hard enough. (Again, completely true.) People needed to come to this celebration, otherwise, the Stump would come back and kill them. And that was enough for these people to promptly shut their traps, for fear of a simple lump of wood.

Yes, this was a dirty trick, but Eclipsa had no time to deal with such things. Keeping the incursion a secret was hard enough. All the Royals and the knights seemed to be doing a decent enough job of keeping it that way, but all it took was one slip of the tongue for the whole thing to fall on its head.

And then that head would split open, and every plan, every backup plan, every single thing they had come up with in the past few days would come pouring out for all the world to see. So yeah. A situation that she would greatly like to avoid.

There was also the problem of the barrier. Nobody had attempted to go outside the town since the announcement, as far as Eclipsa knew, so the civilians weren't a problem. What was a problem was that there was a possibility that they would be attacked soon by it. When Angie and Marco managed to escape, this little incident was almost certainly reported to the one up top, who almost certainly reported to Bren that the townsfolk now knew about the military blockade shutting them in. (Not true, but a lie like this was as deadly as the truth any part of the week.) And Bren, of course, wouldn't be happy. There was a good chance that when he found out about the Stump Day celebration, he might order the military or his demon army to crash it, all in a petty fit of rage. Since their plan required him coming alone, this would screw it's all up and make their efforts worthless.

So they just had to rely on his ego and hope it was big enough that he wouldn't show up with any support. Because if he brought even one of those giant demons, what would happen?

Devastation. And with the number of people going to that event (everyone), the death toll would be in the tens of thousands this time. Even if they managed to get Bren after all that, it didn't make a difference if everyone was dead. Earthni was nothing without its citizens, and if they all died or got up and left, then the only thing that would remain is a worthless ghost town.

With the only inhabitants being kings and queens, ruling over nothing but ash.

All these thoughts had accompanied Eclipsa as she made the long journey to the forest of certain death, where the Underworld incursion was set to begin. They decided it would be best if they left at this point, because nobody with common sense would dare enter it. The whole thing had been sealed off months ago, and it was forbidden to enter. Which again, made it the perfect place to begin their incursion.

And why, you ask, didn't they hold the meeting here? Well, because the forest of certain death was still, ahem, the forest of certain death, and nobody wanted to deal with what would happen next if a giant spider suddenly dropped out of the trees and captured someone. Something that had happened to quite a few visitors in the past…

But no amount of spiders could possibly make it through the knights that were currently stationed in the middle of the forest, waiting for orders and for their queen to arrive. There were already several corpses of the creatures lying about, fallen by their blades. The rest seemed to get the message, and after a few of them had been killed, no more spiders showed up to attack.

There were, however, plenty of hellishly large insects, which were proving to be quite a nuisance. Eclipsa was still on her way as the carriage she was in carefully maneuvered through the forest's tight "road", if it could even be called such a thing, so their arrival was going to take a little longer than expected. In said carriage was Eclipsa, of course, Globgor, and Janna, who had a large backpack filled with who knows what. Janna also had one of the smuggest expressions on her face known to man, and Eclipsa wasn't sure if it was because she had been allowed to actually come along with the knights on this mission, or if it was for some other unknown reason. But regardless, the three of them were on their way, and there was no turning back now. Silence had filled the inside of the vehicle, until Globgor asked a question that really should have been brought up at an earlier point.

"Janna." He began. "Is there anything else you need for this mission besides a few knights to escort you? Anything at all?"

"No," Janna said. "Just get me inside the Lucitor castle, give me some knights for protection, and we'll be all set. The rest you can leave to me."

"I hope so," Globgor said. "That discussion with your parents lasted over an hour. You should have heard some of the things they promised to do to us if you didn't come back. If you have a sense of sadism, I think you got it from them."

"I think my indifference to most things would be what I inherited from my parents," Janna said. "But I did hear it. And yeah, they aren't lying about some of those things. But again, you don't need to worry. I'll come back safe and sound. And even if I die…" She paused and then trailed off, before smiling even wider. "Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. But you two don't have to worry about a thing. I can take care of myself down there. I know the layout of the entire castle by memory alone."

"Let's hope you are telling the truth," Eclipsa said. "And this secret plan of yours. Is there anything we need to do up here to help it come to fruition?"

"No, as I've mentioned numerous times," Janna said. "Once I get what I need down there, your job should be a lot easier."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Janna paused for a moment before shrugging. "You'll see. But just know this. If I suddenly appear and tell you that we need to get everyone out of the area, you do that and anything I tell you to do with no hesitation. I know you're the queen, and you're the boss around here, but if something goes wrong with my plan then you will have to do what I say so nobody dies."

"..."

"Can you promise to do that for me?"

"...Suddenly having second thoughts about letting you come along," Eclipsa said. "What part of your plan going wrong could possibly require the entire town to evacuate? In case you haven't noticed, there's nowhere to evacuate to. We're unable to leave Earthni. The best we'll be able to do is hole everyone up underneath one of the castles in the Royals' private shelters or something."

"Then just do that while I remedy the situation as best I can," Janna replied. "Which probably still won't do much, but it would be all I got at that point." She sighed. "I wish I could let you know just how many risks I'm taking with this. Risk to myself, to you guys, hell, to everyone on the entire damn planet. Maybe the entire dimension. But as I told you, I can't. I'm sorry. I really wish I could talk, but when it comes to this, certain things are outside even my control."

"The more you tell us about this plan of yours and why you aren't allowed to speak about it, the more it sounds like the same thing Marco went through," Eclipsa said. "He was not and is still not permitted to tell anyone what he and the Fire-god spoke about after he died, and this is sounding quite a lot like what you're going through. You can't tell us because of circumstances outside your control? Janna, I'm not accusing you of anything, I'm just pointing out that this is sounding a little odd. Did you get...tied up in something that you're now unable to escape from?"

"I suppose that's one way of looking at it." Janna sighed. "But not really. I can escape at any time. It's just that if I did, I wouldn't be able to complete this plan. And since that's the whole point...I'm just making it sound like I can't escape. But really, I'm not in danger here. At least not yet."

"I sure hope so," Globgor said. "And Janna, when this is all over, I do expect a full explanation of everything. Assuming you'll be allowed to give us one."

"Oh, I will. You don't have to worry about that." Janna said. "Trust me. When this is over, I'll give you all the explanations you ever need."

"Good. And an excellent stopping point." Eclipsa said, looking out the window of the carriage. "Because we're here."

Janna looked as well, and saw that the queen was correct. They had arrived. There was a clearing in the distance, and Janna could see a large group of knights standing in it, with several bodies of giant spiders littering the same area. The carriage stopped a few seconds later, and all three of them climbed out, Eclipsa wincing at the sight of the piles of corpses.

"Bow before the Queen and our mission!" One of the knights said, and instantly the entire crowd took a knee, lowering their heads. Janna raised an eyebrow at this, as she had very rarely seen any knights do this in the presence of Eclipsa since Earthni became a thing. But she supposed that that was what a mission got you. The knights hadn't been doing much of anything lately besides the one time they beat up on Bren, so to finally be given a task that remained them of how things used to be?

She could only imagine the sense of nostalgia that was shooting through them right now.

"At ease," Eclipsa said, and all the knights returned to their standing position. "Royal knights of Mewni. This is it. This could very well be your final mission. This fight, this battle, will determine the fate of not only this town, but the fate of everyone who lives in it. Their lives are all in your hands now. You know your mission. You know your targets. You have been given specific instructions. But first...is there anyone here who is having second thoughts, and does not want to go?" She asked. "You will not be punished for this. You will simply be allowed to leave. I am saying this because there is a very real chance you will die down there. You will be fighting demons. Creatures that revel in chaos and fire. Under Bren's command, they will not see you as people. They will simply see you as something to tear apart. Therefore, if anyone wants to leave, they are welcome to do so."

"..."

Nobody moved. Just like Eclipsa suspected they would (n't). She was telling the truth, in that any knight who wanted to leave would be allowed to with no penalty, but still. She wanted to make sure one final time. However, these were the knights of Mewni. Most of

them were veterans of several wars by this point. They had seen more blood and care in a week than most would see in a lifetime, or even several lifetimes. They did not care for fear. If they died, so be it.

It was all part of the job.

"I see," Eclipsa said. "In that case, everyone cluster together so we can begin the portal ritual. As you have been informed, Janna Ordania will be accompanying you, so please keep an eye on her. She will be doing...something that will greatly contribute to our victory, and the knights that have already been assigned to protect her know what to do."

A brief murmuring came from the knights, as they all wondered for the hundredth time what Janna was doing there. When they had first been told that she was coming along, there was a great deal of confusion, even more so when Eclipsa informed them that even she didn't know what Janna was going to be doing. But their queen had ordered it, so the knights were going to do it. If this random human girl needed to be protected, then they would guard her with their life as best they could.

And Eclipsa's only comment on this attitude was wishing the knights back at that bar had it, so she wouldn't have had to beg them to come with her.

But back in the present, all the knights moved away, and Janna began the necessary preparations. She took two entire buckets of red paint out of her backpack as well as a brush and began painting the forest floor, so masterful with her work that each stroke could qualify as a separate work of art. In no less than five minutes the circle was complete, and she pulled three objects out of her backpack. A plush demon that she had gotten from a toy store, a vial of blood from a specific person (you know which one), and a photo with her and Tom, which she noticeably had trouble setting down. But after it was done, she stood in the middle and signaled the rest to come in as well, and the knights followed and grouped together.

"Eclipsa," Janna said. "We're all ready. On your command."

"Good," Eclipsa said. "All of you. Remember this. Simply find Tom's parents, find Janna, and then leave as fast as possible. Do not attempt to find Bren so you can kill him. Everyone up here will be doing that. Understand?"

"What if we run into him?" Someone asked.

"...Then you run, and alert the others. The mission will be branded as a failure." Eclipsa sighed. "But I have faith in all of you. Now go, and do your duty to Mewni and Earth."

She then nodded at Janna, who nodded back.

"Okay, everyone." She announced. "Three…"

The knights all shifted in place.

"Two…"

Their fists clenched up, and some of them shut their eyes as they waited for the inevitable wall of flame to consume them.

"One!" Janna yelled, and she threw her hands up in the air. The now-glowing circle suddenly exploded with fire that shot high into the air and the sky, enveloping the fires in an instant. Eclipsa took a few steps back, before her inner voice reminded her that the fire was harmless. After a few seconds, the tower vanished, and all that was left was a smoldering circle in the ground.

And Eclipsa and Globgor were left alone.

"So…" The latter began. "Guess we better make the final preparations for the festivities."

"Correct," Eclipsa said, before turning around towards the carriage. "Let's end this already."

A/N: And thus begins the final countdown to the early Stump Day celebration...

But I know this chapter likely seemed kinda fast-paced compared to the previous ones, with Eclipsa's plan being revealed at the start and then...the start of it occurring at the end. But frankly, I don't see any reason why I should procrastinate this moment any longer. It's been a long time coming, and next chapter it'll finally be here. I don't know how many chapters are left in this fic...but it's probably going to be five or less. Depending on how I want to space the events of the Underworld incursion, the Stump Day celebration, and...what comes after that.

But, until next time.