OP: Where is that Hippie, he should have been here 1 week ago. *Sees a door open out of thin air*

SN: There you are. We need to gt this hunt started. *sees that the hippie is wearing formal dancing clothes.* Um, you're hunting in that?

WH: Oh no, change of plans. In a now deleted author's note I asked for some help and had a change in plans. Tonight I'm going to a dance and tomorrow we hunt. See you later. *walks off leaving the trio staring after me in confusion*

Janna: Well, guess I need to get into position for whatever he has in store for me.

SN: Indeed. Enjoy the episode folks despite the change in plans.

"So wait, Voodoo is not a magic practice?" JanJak chuckled at Ferguson's question while Janna spoke up.

"No, that's actually Hoodoo. Voodoo in its purest sense is actually a religion very similar to African and American Shamanism with Christian influences." Ferguson nodded dumbly at Janna's words.

They were currently in Janna's basement which also served as her room by her own request to her parents. There were shelves around the room containing various books on subjects such as Literature, History, Fantasy, Role-playing guide books, Occult, Religion, Wiccan spell books, Survival guides, Criminal behavior, and even several on Erotica which still made Ferguson a bit uneasy given their new relationship. Some of the shelves also held various ingredients in jars and vials marked appropriately with scientific calculations of amounts. Along one shelf there were strings of herbal ingredients drying or waiting to be ground up for storage and usage next to scented candles Janna sometimes used for convenience. In one corner next to her bed was a tarantula, centipede, Praying mantis, and scorpion in separate tanks who were watching them with surprising interest considering they were only bugs. Decorations were not that commonplace although a throw rug with a pentagram was in the center of the room, several skull candle holders were scattered about, a coffin was in one corner also doubling as where JanJak slept, and an old Iron cauldron hanging on a tripod stand was normally right next to it but was now in the center of the room. 'Basically, Janna's style.' Ferguson thought to himself as JanJak spoke up in his gravelly Jamaican accent.

"Now we be doin a simple gatherin spell to collect magic into physical form to be stored for later usage. Now you two remember why we collect da magic in da first place?" The duo nodded and spoke up at the same time.

"Some spells require more magic then can be drawn upon in this world where it runs thin. So you need to gather it for when you need to use especially powerful spells." They looked at each other with Ferguson blushing slightly as Janna smirked before speaking.

"Getting in synch are we lover boy?" She blew some air into his ear making him rub it chuckling at the ad-hoc flirting while JanJak spoke up again.

"Save de lovin for later, I be needin your help for dis one." The nodded as JanJak through some powder into the cauldron making an eerie bluish black fire spring forth in it and began speaking in Jamaican Patois. "Come to me mighty winds, Waves of sea and sky, Let them flow around and towards us, Bring us the magic that lives." Janna and Ferguson got into positions like a monk meditating and spoke in shaky Jamaican Patois.

"Flow like the free essence you are, Through our realm of power, Grant us the gift of being in your presence, So we might fell your power." As they did so the cauldron's fire turned whiter with a strange swirling emerging in the air.

JanJak pulled out a stoppered gourd and held it over the fire seemingly collecting the fire into it when it turned white enough. Whenever JanJak hissed at the kids one of them would through a handful of powder into the cauldron making the fire spark up for a second. They did this for about three times but upon the fourth handful of powder the cauldron began to turn a sickly green color that spread fast. The duo looked up to JanJak questioningly but grew alarmed when his skeletal face turned panicked and he immediately stoppered the gourd.

"Well dat can't be gud!" As if to push his point home the fire collapsed into the cauldron and started bubbling like tar. "Get me da baking soda, we need to cancel dis out before…" To late the fluid turned into a bubble that burst sending out a pulse of energy that knocked them back and sent Janna's room into disarray. As they collected themselves from the sudden glitch Ferguson spoke up.

"What the hell was that?!" JanJak stood up speaking slowly.

"Somethin be wrong wit da winds of magic itself. Dis does not bod well for anyone in a world where magic be important. Thankfully since we are in a world were magic be not important nothin will happen because of dis, except for a pulse of energy goin around." Janna rubbed her chin thinking that there should be something affected by this still… *beep beep*. Ferguson looked at his watch and his eyes went wide standing up.

"Are we going to the dance tonight, cause if so I need to get moving now." Janna chuckled at Ferguson's words and took him slightly off guard with her reaction.

"Yes actually. Parents have been invited to join in and I want to go simply to finally see Star's parents; especially after that little glimpse we had of her dad over Marco's mirror. Don't expect to stay long if they aren't there though, I have better plans in mind." Ferguson nodded and hesitated about to ask something before Janna spoke up again. "And don't worry about Bon Bon's séance, that's coming up in several weeks' time." Ferguson gave her a thumbs up and ran up the stairs with Janna turning back to JanJak who was looking a might bit worried over the cauldron and felt a surprising pang of worry over what had just happened.

'Well, aside from bad implications with magic overall, what's the worst that could happen?'

Star flipped her wand with a self-satisfied smirk as Glossarick flew back into the book looking impressed at Star yet again. He had said for yet another session how well along Star was coming in terms of magic usage, well ahead of what she should be. Of course it somewhat annoyed her that he rarely set out actual classes, like once every fortnight, but that was a minor issue. She had found something she was actually good at and that was important to her life as a ruler of Mewni. Of course that thought went by the wayside as she turned to her closet and opened it up looking at her formal clothing. Normally she didn't pay much interest to that but today she was going to the end of year school dance which just so happened to be taking place on the last day of school. Normally she wasn't into these big gatherings but the thought of going with Marco and company just made her feel bubbly in a way she hadn't felt in… well ever.

She rummaged through them going past her normal grey and black dress that she normally wore and instead focused on an aquamarine dress with purple highlights. She pulled it out watching it sparkle in the light and giggling at the thought of tonight. She turned towards the mirror in her room and gazed at her hair and debated to herself which type of hairstyle would go best with it; should she even put it up or just let it flow back like an extra add on to her cloths. She put her wand up to her hair and poofed it making it take the form of a ponytail prompting her to shake her head. She poofed it again making it take the form of her family's traditional heart shape. She shook her head again and poofed it into two pigtails just before a strange whump of energy flowed past her taking her off guard. Looking around she blinked in confusion before shrugging and pointing the wand at her head again. Too late she saw the gem had taken on a greenish glow and as she poofed it an unrestrained wave of chaotic magic shot out with a flash of green goo knocking her to the ground. As she got up feeling surprisingly sore from the blast she took one look in the mirror… and screamed.

Marco hummed applying deodorant to himself in the bathroom as he prepared for the evening. Tonight he was being meticulous about his appearance as the parents of the kids had been invited to join in by Lancer to interact. Nacho batted at the towel around his waist with Marco pulling it up so Nacho wouldn't get a good grip on it and yank it off. After wrestling for a second Nacho relented and sat to the side looking a little bored as Marco pulled out a bottle of cologne and sprayed it in the air knowing Star loved this scent. As he went to walk into it however a strange wave of energy passed by making Nacho screech in alarm and run for Marco getting tangled up in his legs. Naturally Marco fell headfirst to the ground getting his butt stuck up in the cloud of cologne as he fell down. After laying there a few seconds he stood up and picked up Nacho with annoyance in his voice.

"Seriously Nacho, why do you do that stuff?" Nacho twitched looking around in a panic before turning back to Marco and putting on an apologetic look. "Just got your fur up in a frazzle again huh? Well that's o…" Terrified screaming came from Star's room prompting Marco to drop Nacho and ran full tilt to Star's only in a towel opening the door. "Star I heard screaming, is every-" He froze as he took in the sight of Star before him who was trying to use her wand on herself.

Star's image had changed in some not so subtle ways mostly around the facial area and her hair. Her hair looked a bit frazzled and was done into two side braids that hung limply on either side of her face a darker grey color than usual. Her face had a severe case of acne now with her teeth looking a bit out of shape and encased in a pair of hefty braces. Her eyes now looked watery and were a straight up shade of grey with very little in terms of green flickering within them. Star also had these strange discolored portions of skin that looked like genuine scales over parts of her face and exposed skin on other parts of her body. Star didn't seem to realize he was there for a minute as she tried using magic on her face and failing to do anything in the slightest. The minute she finally noticed Marco she began crying and fell to her knees dropping her wand.

"I messed up. I just wanted to see which hair style was right, not do this!" She pointed to herself with Marco coming in and rubbing her head speaking softly.

"Star it's ok."

"No its not! This is something I'm supposed to be really good at and I can't even get do a simple hair spell without making myself even uglier than usual." Marco winced at Star's self-bereavement and pulled her into a hug as he spoke.

"You were not ugly Star and you are not ugly now. In fact you look cute in a dorky fashion right now." Nacho stepped up beside them sniffing at Star cautiously as she replied pulling back to look at Marco's face.

"Wait, really. *sniff* You aren't just saying that to make me feel better?" Marco leaned in to softly kiss Star with him replying.

"I would never do…" His comforting was halted however when Nacho hissed at Star and leapt backwards with his hair on end and the snake tail going wild in fear. "What the fu…" Before Marco was finished Angie and Raphael came into the room with Raphael speaking.

"Star we heard scream… oh." They paused to fully assess the situation as Star gripped onto Marco again shivering slightly at Nacho's reaction. "What happened and for that matter what is going on here?!" Marco blinked in dull shock at Nacho's reaction and spoke softly.

"I need to call Star's parents."

Marco was sitting in a fine looking suit in the living room fidgeting slightly as he glanced over at Toffee who looked as calm and collected as he usually did at first glance. When Toffee glanced over at Marco though he could see worry in Toffee's eyes as he spoke.

"I would say you did the right thing by contacting us; if Moonpie is still up there dealing with whatever happened to Star this must be serious." Marco nodded dumbly as they went back to waiting. After a little while longer Moon finally came down the stairs with Marco standing up and speaking.

"Is Star going to be alright?" Moon looked at Marco in concern before sighing and replying.

"Star will be alright, the magic only got skin deep." Marco let out a sigh of relief as Moon continued. "However I can clearly detect corrupted magic causing this change in her appearance. How the bloody hell she got corrupted magic when doing something as simple as this I have no idea." Toffee raised an eyebrow and turned towards Marco speaking slowly.

"Do remember anything happening like this before or anything environmentally out of the ordinary before this happened?" Marco took a few breaths before answering.

"Well her… magic did come out weird when she felt threatened enough to have her ptsd act up. But I can't think of anyth…" He thought for a second and blinked in realization. "Right before this happened there was a whump of energy that scared Nacho. Maybe that messed with her wand." Toffee nodded thoughtfully as Moon sighed hanging her head before speaking.

"Well that's not going to help us much. And what's more we are not going to be relying on Glossarick this time; he claims this will just go away on its own in a few days and since it's not threatening Star it's not worth the bother of finding a way." Toffee spoke up at that.

"So he's just being a prick again." Marco blinked in shock at this as Toffee did not seem to be the type to curse at all.

"Yes, maybe." Moon spoke nodding her head. "The big thing here since Star is safe from any further influences is her confidence which has been done a serious blow. As for tonight's dance… she was really looking forward to it and frankly so was I. I wanted to see how many friends she had made and how far she has come since we sent her…" Moon sniffed at this with Toffee immediately standing up and going to comfort her. "Star has come so far and now she's hiding because she doesn't want anyone to see her as 'uglier than usual'. My baby still thinks she's an inadequate ugly beast despite multiple friends and a loving boyfriend." She grabbed onto Toffee crying for a second as Marco stood there awkwardly as he watched an adult cry in front of him. He knew this kind of stuff could happen but seeing it for the very first time really hit hard especially since it was Queen Moon, a sweet caring person who seemed like she was on top of everything. As Marco watched them a thought suddenly came into his mind that might not help undo Star's spell but perhaps make her… more comfortable.

"Um, Moon?" Moon and Toffee looked to him in confusion. "If you can't undo that spell is there a chance you could duplicate it?" The parents blinked in confusion at this with Moon responding.

"What good would it do to cast the same spell again Marco?" Marco's eyes by chance locked with Toffee's eyes with him seeing a determination in them that made Toffee actually blink in disbelief as he spoke.

"Are you seriously considering what I think you are Marco?" Marco nodded with Moon looking back and forth in confusion. "My boy… that won't guarantee Star will want to go." Marco spoke again.

"I know, I just want to make her feel less self-aware about herself." Moon finally seemed to grasp what was going on and turned to Marco in shock.

"You want me to cast that spell on you?!" Marco nodded with Toffee giving him a look of respect. "If I do so I might not be able to undo it and it could take up to a week for it to wear off, likely longer then what Star will have it for."

"I don't care. I went through an awkward stage before and I don't want Star to go through this alone." Toffee outright chuckled at this to everyone's surprise and spoke to no one.

"And they say white knights don't exist anymore. Moon, I do believe this lad isn't going to back down at this point." Moon looked at both of them for a moment before nodding and turning towards Marco.

"Alright, I'll do it for you. I'll even see if I can 'synch-up' your and Star's changes so that when one of you goes back to normal the other one will, but no promises there." Marco nodded as Moon waved a hand in Marco's direction and let out some magic towards him that he could feel change his appearance leaving him surprisingly sore.

Star sat on her balcony popping a zit that had felt painful and sighed in slight relief. She felt depressed over her lack of competence and her changed appearance. Yes her mom had said it was likely not her fault given the nature of the magic but she could have done SOMETHING differently; she did know how to do magic well right? As for her appearance she usually felt no shame for it anymore but this… this reminded her too much of her 'awkward years' where her body went through some drastic changes as her Mewman and Septarian biology's almost clashed with each other. This had been a rather depressing experience for her as it had come right after her breakup with Tom and dredged up some painful memories of being forever alone as she had gone from 'passable' to 'pretty bad' in her own eyes. And all this just before the end of year school dance which she didn't feel like going to now for… obvious reasons. She felt a tear escape one eye and trickle down her face as she heard her door open.

"Not now, I want to be alone."

"Star, you don't have to be alone and its not right for you to be alone." Star blinked at Marco's voice and turned around becoming even more shocked at what she saw.

Marco was still wearing his cloths for the evening dance but they now looked limp on a now much more scrawny frame in his upper body and had a bow-tie instead of a normal tie for some reason. His face now had a bad case of acne as well complemented by a pair of glasses on his face that seemed to actually be needed unlike his phd glasses. His hair also seemed to be an oily mess like he had not showered in days hanging limply above his face. Star stared at him in shock before speaking.

"Wha… happened to you?" Marco chuckled slightly and spoke up.

"I didn't want you to go through this alone despite the fact that these changes are only skin deep and temporary." Star raised an eyebrow in suspicion at him which he seemed ready for. "I didn't do this to convince you to go to the dance; I just wanted you to not go through this alone, ok." He waked over to Star grasping her hands in his. "You want to call tonight off fine; we can just eat nachos and watch a movie you haven't seen yet. If you want to just play computer games or read while I brush your hair fine. What do you want to do?" He looked at her with earnestness that made Star tear up for a second before grabbing onto him and bawling her eyes out as he just stood there and held her close.

"Wha… what did I do *sniff sob* to deserve you!?" Star cried for a little while longer as Marco responded softly.

"By being you." After a while Star finished crying and pulled back slightly. "So, can I get out of this monkey suit and make us some Nachos now."

"No." Marco blinked in confusion at this as Star smiled. "I still wanna go to the dance tonight as all my friends will be there." Marco smiled and spoke softly.

"As my lady wishes so shall her knight comply." Star chuckled at this and playfully punched his arm.

"Hey don't go overt on me. You are my knight and boyfriend but that's just excessive. Go wait downstairs; I'll be there in a minute." Marco smiled knowing this crisis had passed as he left the room.

"Well hijo ease up there, you are setting the bar pretty high here for the rest of us men." Angie chuckled at Raphael's joke with Toffee even chuckling and speaking.

"As impressed as I am with you he does have a point. Now I need to be worried about Moon's gaze straying to a younger model." He jabbed verbally at his wife who rolled her eyes as she responded.

"Oh so quick to assume as much. Besides, he wouldn't want an old lady like me; even if it were allowed by the earth laws on 'consent'." Marco chuckled as the adults joked a little bit as they waited for Star to come down.

He personally was still looking forward to tonight despite his awkward appearance since he had heard a rumor that he and Star were going to be crowned 'most popular couple' by the school for tonight. 'Well won't this make for an interesting night when people see a pair of stereotypical dorks are their favorite couple.' He thought in amusement. As he finished that thought the parents looked up and gave a sigh in appreciation prompting Marco to look up. At the top of the stairs Star was standing wearing a sparkling aquamarine dress with purple highlights that seemed to make her eyes glow a faint purplish-green color he loved. It seemed to even make the dorky aspects of her make her even more attractive than usual making him just stand there and stare at her in awe. She came down the stairs slowly and moved to stand right in front of him staring at him with equal entrancement as they reached out taking each other's hands. After a few seconds of this they heard movement from the parent's side prompting them to look and double take in shock seeing their parents record this incident like they had of Marco feeding Star pancakes.

"Don't move, I need to get this just right." Raphael drew quickly with Star and Marco looking at each other out of the corner of their eyes before stepping apart with Star speaking.

"So um… when do we need to be there?" Toffee pulled out a pocket watch checking it quickly before speaking.

"Well not for half an hour at the very least, you seem to be overly eager." Everyone chuckled with Star sniffing the air for a second and bending down towards Marco's butt. "Um, Star…" Star pulled back up and spoke with everyone slightly concerned.

"How did you know that was one of my favorite scents Marco?" The parents all turned to Marco who began sweating profusely as he spoke.

"Yeah… about what just happened…"

Did I do a good job? I've kind of been having trouble writing recently and I don't know if I did good enough this time around, ike several times before. Regardless let's get this engine moving again and start pumping out chapters.