Manfred walked off in a dazed state as Star Inhaled and exhaled slowly getting her bearings. 'Oh ye Gods I'm still not sure what just happened.' Star thought to herself as the uncomfortable feeling inside of her continued to slosh around conflicting with her feeling of triumph. She had just controlled her 'attack' and had shown up one of the most powerful men in the Kingdom of Mewni with everyone laughing him down… yet she didn't feel as triumphant as she should have. Her confusing feelings were cut short however by Ponyhead's voice.

"BOOM gurl, you put that wannabe charming in his place big time!" Star looked to see Ponyhead and Penelope with big smiles as Penelope responded.

"That slap that probably scarred his pretty face, that punch, that insult, what Prince Lucitor did, being called a toddler, the excluding from courting you… why do I still feel unsatisfied for some reason?" Ponyhead scoffed at that as she responded.

"Because Star was holdin back. She should have kicked him in the jam-bags and then Narwhal blasted him with her magic in addition to everything else." As the two talked Star felt a hand on her shoulder turning to see Alexis with a concerned face.

"You ok Star?" Star smiled with the uncomfortable feelings settling down a little bit as she responded.

"Yeah, I am now." Ponyhead spoke up again.

"Oh you were more than ok you were awesome. Oh and demon turd was as well I guess… say where is he?" At that a new voice spoke up, Darren's.

"Demon turd? What conversation did I just walk into?" Penelope giggled and offered her hand for Darren to kiss, 'Had to keep things appropriate it seems.' Star thought to herself, as she replied.

"Oh we were talking about how Prince Lucitor cut Montague down to size after Star did." Darren chuckled as he replied.

"Yeah that was pretty awesome, and well deserved. I did see Prince Lucitor though; he was leaving with his parents. And I think his dad wasn't happy." Star rolled her eyes as she spoke up.

"Seriously, is Tom asking me instead of me asking him to dance THAT big of a deal!? We resolved this issue between us and my parents hold no grudges; and for that matter Tom's mom seemed rather happy as well." At this Penelope spoke up again.

"So… just a question but… are you and Tom…" Star went to answer but Alexis responded first.

"No and Star can testify that Tom agreed that they should remain just friends. Forget the stories you heard of him, he's actually a pretty chill guy now. In fact he has a girlfriend who comes from earth." Penelope and Darren ohh'd at the piece of gossip. "Well regardless, I'm glad the wannabe 'Prince Charming' Montague was cut down to size; honestly he always gave me the creeps when my parents experimented with him courting me." Everyone blinked in shock turning towards Alexis with Star speaking up.

"Wait you dated Montague once?" Alexis nodded with Ponyhead snorting and flipping her mane.

"Well I never believed in the 'Prince Charming' idea in the first place ya know what I'm sayin?" Everyone nodded at that. "The closest thing that I could find to that is earth turd and he's still a turd, a charming one but still. Speaking of which bold move on his part to laugh at you spurnin Montague B-fly." Penelope and Darren looked confused as Alexis filled them in.

"She is referring to Marco or as you would know him Sir Shadow Slayer." They both nodded in understanding. "Say where is Marco wasn't he with your dad?" Star nodded speaking up.

"Oh I think I saw my dad tell him som…" Her words died on her mouth when she turned and saw a group of noble girls having surrounded Marco. "…" Everyone in her group turned and saw what was going on with Penelope giggling at this before speaking.

"Well he seems a might bit popular." Darren chuckled and spoke up.

"Well kind of hard to blame them given what I've heard of him. Are the stories about him tru… Princess?" Star had closed her eyes and was calming herself down as best she could.

'Remember, we aren't officially dating so this is natural… right?' Star knew Marco would never cheat on her but seeing all those pretty girls move in on him… she just got jealous. She could feel the jealousy like a dagger in her heart as the prettier girls surrounded him. When she opened her eyes her friends were talking with each other to the side Penelope and Darren clearly confused at Star's behavior and Alexis trying to keep Ponyhead quite about something. What finally got to her was when Marco tried to move away Sophia grabbed onto his arm with the image of the two looking… strangely natural. It irked her at how well the two of them looked together for some reason hitting her with jealousy again. When she saw Marco's nervous face glancing in her direction however Star snapped out of it and spoke up.

"Excuse me everyone I think Marco wants to speak with me." Star immediately moved on over with her friends looking at each other for a second before following. "Hey Marco!" Star put a little bounce into her step as she walked over with everyone looking at her. Almost immediately the women curtseyed to the princess with Sophia doing the same while still holding onto Marco. "What are you doing down here?" Marco went to speak but Sophia cut him off.

"Oh he just wanted to entertain us did he not?" The girls giggled with Star getting a slight tick on her forehead before Marco responded.

"Actually his majesty sent me here to look after St- the princess." The crowd looked at him in confusion. "Well do you think his majesty would just ignore what had just happened to his daughter?" Ponyhead replied to that as Star's friends appeared.

"Oh B-fly can handle herself, she showed that off rather nicely." The agreement from the crowd of girls was bit more subdued and restrained compared to Star's group as Marco replied exaggerating his voice a little.

"I do as the king commands and nothing can sway me from my duty." 'Omg Marco you're such a dork.' Star giggled to herself but fell silent when she saw the crowd of girls giggled as well. 'Dang it why do you have to be so adorkable?' Star thought to herself as Marco tried pulling away from Sophia. "So if its not too much trouble…" Sophia pulled him in closer speaking up.

"Oh it's no trouble at all to be graced with the princess's presence is it not?" She turned towards Star with a questioning eye as Star tried to respond.

"Well I… um…" Star suddenly found herself a might bit flustered as Sophia almost shamelessly pushed herself into Marco, by royalty standards at least. Her hesitation seemed to have been interpreted as acceptance by the crowd with Sophia cutting off something Marco planned on saying.

"See it's no issue at all. So Marco you didn't answer my question from earlier, what is life like on earth? I have heard your customs are very different." Marco, caught up in everything hesitated to respond prompting Star to shake off her insecurity and speak up a bit more forcibly.

"Actually the event with… Montague has me a bit flustered. He tried doing more than just… kiss me." As her words trailed off a universal look of shock emerged on the girls faces with even Sophia getting a shocked look as Marco spoke up visibly controlling his anger.

"That cur. If that is the case then I must escort you to a better environment my lady." He almost forcibly detached himself from Sophia and took Star's arm in his. "My apologies but we must be going ladies; duty calls." Marco bowed to them before leading Star away with Sophia speaking up.

"Wait." Marco turned to have a piece of paper given to him. "In case if you wish to entertain us in the future; we are still interested in your world after all." The crowd nodded with Ponyhead speaking up.

"Gurls I've been to earth, ain't much interestin there." Marco nodded and would have pulled Star out of there if Star hadn't been pulling him out of there. Once they got clear of the crowds a good distance and got outside of the Ballroom Marco spoke to Star quietly.

"Sorry Star, they were waiting like a pride of lions for me." Star nodded as Marco opened the piece of paper seeing mirror numbers. "Oooookay…" Star pulled out her wand and set fire to the paper making it burn to ashes. "So who was the blond girl who was all grabby?" Star shuddered for a second before answering.

"Sophia Rose of House Rose." Marco nodded before remembering something.

"Wait, Rose. As in faking an initiation into the garden sisters and muzzling you to leave you in a cold damp basement Rose?" Star nodded with Marco shivering in anger again. "Seriously what is wrong with the nobility in your country? Did Montague actually try to molest you as well?!" Star put a hand on his shoulder stopping him.

"Marco, please no." Marco looked at her as Star showed that despite her actions earlier she still felt uncomfortable. "You're only going to make things worse if you go after him." Marco nodded calming down speaking up after a few seconds.

"Are you ok Star?" Star went to say she was ok but stopped at the look in Marco's eyes. 'I can't lie to him.' Star thought to herself before answering.

"I feel… dirty. He didn't just kiss me he was rubbing his hands all over me and… tried to stick his tongue in my mouth." She could see Marco repressing his anger seemingly whispering 'cold as ice' to himself. "Can we just go home?" Marco nodded as he reached for the scissors only to be stopped by Moon's voice.

"Star sweetie, are you ok?" They looked up to see Moon, Buff Frog, and Butler approaching them with Star moving away from Marco and getting in a big group hug with them speaking up.

"I'm alright mom, I'm ok now." Buff Frog spoke up at this.

"Next time this happens I don't care what anyone says, I'm beating pretty boy to a pulp!" Marco nodded in agreement to that as Moon spoke up.

"Well it won't happen again, that boy is not getting within speaking distance of my daughter." They broke apart with Star speaking up.

"Can I just go home now everyone?" After a brief silence Butler pulled out a pair of scissors and opened a portal.

"To your residence on earth my lady." Star nodded going to step through the portal with Buff Frog speaking up.

"Hoodie boy, keep Star safe." Marco replied to that as he stepped through with Star.

"Toffee gave me an order to do so; I actually have no choice this time." Everyone chuckled at that as they stepped through back home with the portal closing up. "Well there is one silver lining you didn't think of yet." Star looked at Marco confused. "Pretty boy isn't so 'pretty' anymore." He made a slashing motion with his hand prompting Star to actually chuckle.

"Yeah, imagine him hitting on a girl and having to explain to her where he got those scars even though everyone probably will know about it." They both chuckled at that as Star faked her voice. "'Oh where did you get those my lord?'" Star leaned in close to Marco as he answered faking Montague's voice.

"'Oh it was rather bad, there I was not reading the situation right and struck too hard like an idiot.'" They both laughed at that. "'Well guess the phrase goes, 'Play stupid games win stupid prizes.''" They both laughed pretty hard at that one with them quieting down after a little while. "So, what now?" Star tapped her finger on her chin a second before speaking.

"Weeeell, you could fix me some nachos and put on a tv show like Avatar the Last Airbender." Marco did an exaggerated bow towards Star.

"As my lady wishes so I shalt comply." Star giggled and pulled Marco's face up to hers before kissing him.

"Oh lay off squire we're not on Mewni." They both laughed before parting ways and getting ready for the evening.

"What the hell were you thinking by doing that?!" Dave spoke sharply to his son as Wrathmeilor and The Hippie watched in concern with Tom replying.

"Do you know how stupid this conflict is man!?"

"Of course it was stupid you were the one who started this whole mess!"

"Well I fixed it with Star, the least you could do is make nice with The Butterflys like I made nice with…"

"And look like whipped currs!?" Tom flinched as his father's voice took on a second tone like Tom took when he was mad. Despite appearances Dave was in fact a full blooded demon, and a particularly dangerous variety known as an Asmondeus. Tom stared down his father bravely despite potential implications as his father ranted. "Ever since The War of Moonlight Shadow The Butterflys have been growing bolder and bolder in their claims with their power more and more justified. And what's more everyone LOVES Moon Butterfly, even our own subjects! We rule through strength of arms because it is how we have ALWAYS ruled this land but now YOU ARE WEAKENING US! We need people to fear us because it is the only way our kingdom is truly safe and secure and you ruined that not just by tonight but by also losing your temper and hurting the princess Star!" At that Tom's anger finally got the better of him with his eyes going white and flames leaping off of him as he yelled back.

"WELL WHO IGNORED MY ISSUES WHEN I NEEDED HELP AND LET THEM REACH TO THIS POINT!?" At this Dave also fully lost it and assumed his own demonic form: a bat-winged coal skinned entity with flaming red eyes (literal flames) with ram's and sheep's horns and almost comically long claws.

"DON'T YELL AT ME BOY! WE WERE HELPING YOU BUT NO ONE HAS HAD ANGER ISSUES AS BAD AS YOU FOR GENERATIONS!" As the two demons stared each other down ready to go to blows The Hippie spoke up to Wrathmeilor.

"Wait, can't you just wipe the floor with both of these guys?" Wrathmeilor face palmed at being worried in the first place and stepped forward grabbing the two and slamming them together with a resounding THUD. Both Tom and Dave fell to the floor with Dave returning to his Mewman form as Wrathmeilor spoke up in her mumbling demon speech.

"Will you two cut it out." She turned towards Tom. "Tom I get that we didn't do what we fully needed to do but we lacked information and your father is right; in this day and age we need to look strong lest we invite rebellion from our own subjects, many of whom were never so loyal." Tom went to answer but nodded begrudgingly acknowledging that a typical demon's loyalty was fickle. "But that was the only thing you got right." She turned towards Dave now looking annoyed. "Seriously, despite his sudden rebellious streak you are acting more childish then him. Tom is at least taking steps to fix what went wrong even if it's less than ideal, what are you doing?! Shouldn't a friendship with the Butterfly's be top priority as their corn shipments are vital to our kingdom's survival? By doing this you could be alienating them at a particularly dangerous time!" Dave looked at his wife in disbelief for a second before replying.

"You're… defending his actions?" Wrathmeilor folded her arms in annoyance tapping her foot to push her point home. "What do you think the rest of the family will say about this? Do you think they will be even remotely understanding about this?" At this the Hippie spoke up.

"Well most of them will pitch a fit but calm down quickly because, due to an arrogant detachment from the world, they will find a way to make it look like they are on top even if it sounds like denial." The family looked at him in confused shock. "What, you family is rather detached from reality, and the fact that some of them are *ahem* keeping their bloodlines particularly pure if you will is not helping." Wrathmeilor and Dave looked at each other in concern as Tom shuddered having that reality forced on him again. "And to blatantly change the subject, of those that will not just ignore this most will actually support Tom rebuilding the relationship with Mewni even if it's for the wrong reasons; notably hoping for a marriage between Tom and Star down the road." Wrathmeilor nodded and spoke up.

"That is true, the younglings that are proactive are rather practical when it comes to these things. And papa Relicor just doesn't care about this pride nonsense anymore as he just wants to secure our future." Dave spoke up at that.

"Well… guess you are right damnit." He folded his arms and rolled his eyes towards Tom. "Perhaps we could try to make up for lost ground… and if Star has forgiven you it would be the perfect chance to…" Tom cut him off.

"No." The three looked at him in shock as he continued. "Star made it EXPLICITLY clear that we would never be a thing and good luck convincing her parents to work around that." Dave seemed annoyed as Wrathmeilor spoke up.

"Perhaps he's right and that shouldn't be our priority; after all heirs are going to be produced by both sides and the future has many possibilities." Dave struggled to look for an argument with Wrathmeilor continuing. "Although we can try something else when it comes to preparing for the future." She nodded to The Hippie who spoke up.

"Indeed, this one was actually presented by your son which, I rejected at first, but came to the conclusion that it was a good idea. Moon and Toffee are gaining many of their ideas from earth which has been advancing rather rapidly in the last few centuries, especially the last few decades. Star went to earth and is learning their subjects as of now… perhaps Tom should as well." Dave tried wrapping his head around this and turned towards Tom who now spoke up.

"I mean you've taught me most of what ruling The Underworld is so why not try to expand to new horizons." Dave seemed conflicted about this, mostly because he was still miffed about the earlier arguments, as Wrathmeilor spoke up.

"That's a wonderful idea." Dave looked at her again in shock. "My boy is going to another world to learn and make new friends, I love it." She picked Tom up and hugged him as a molten tear slide out of her eye. "It seems like only yesterday you wanted to bring that hell hound home you found in the street." Tom blushed speaking up.

"Mom really, that again?" As that happened the molten tear fell landing right next to the Hippie splashing him slightly as he spoke up.

"So with all that your majesties I… is something cooking, it smells good." Looks into a nearby mirror seeing himself on fire. "Oh I'm on fire." He double took at that. "FIRE!" He began running around with Tom and Wrathmeilor trying to put him out. "Oh eh oh hot hot hot hot hot… but it's a dry heat."

Montague idly rubbed at his face a little with his father speaking sharply to him.

"Stop rubbing it, you're only going to make it worse; like you did this evening. We'll be lucky if Moon allows you within the same room as her daughter now." Montague turned towards his father with annoyance in his gaze as he replied.

"I was told the princess was a compliant entity how was I supposed to know she would react like this."

"You've never met a girl who rejected you before have you?" The two turned to see Sophia walk into the room with a surgeon right behind her going for Montague who spoke up.

"Finally you're here. Make the stitching small." The surgeon nodded as Montague turned towards Sophia. "What are you defending her actions? Do you actually like her now?" Sophia chuckled in a cold detached manner as she replied.

"That mud-blood freak, not in a million years. But you seem to not understand how women think still." She walked over to a window looking out over the nighttime Mewni. "I tried sending the signal that you should be cautious but you ignored me big time. Something's up with the princess, I could tell that with our interactions tonight. She's less… fearful." Lord Hatter rubbed his chin in thought as he replied.

"That is interesting news. The princess is growing a backbone." Montague winced as the stitching took place speaking up as best he could.

"So what now with the way pieces are falling into place?" Sophia chuckled and turned towards him with a crooked grin on her face.

"It's that Marco boy, I'm fairly certain he's having an influence on her. In the past if I took a guy from her she wouldn't have put up a fuss but now she exaggerated what you did to her in order to get Marco away from me." Lord Hatter glanced at Sophia with concern in his eyes.

"How close were they?" Sophia spoke up hesitantly.

"I'm not sure; but they are close friends I have no doubt about that. We will need to deal with him eventually lest he strengthen Star's backbone." Montague nodded getting a clucking from the surgeon who aligned his face again to continue stitching. "Is there a contingency plan for this?" Lord Hatter nodded with a sigh.

"Yes, but we'll need to pull all the stops out. Montague, you're going to be watched like a hawk by everyone and you will need to convince them to convince Moon to let you back in." Montague nodded begrudgingly and replied as the surgeon shock his head in exasperation.

"Not the first hole I've dug myself out of. But we should keep an eye on Marco and the princess, mayhaps there's something more going on between those two." Sophia nodded a smile forming again as Lord Hatter spoke up quickly.

"Use caution there, slandering the name of the princess herself is a risky proposition at the best of times." They all nodded as the surgeon continued his work thinking to himself.

'Nobility, when will they learn the world is changing irrevocably.'

"Toffee there you are." Toffee turned to see Moon come through the door to their private bedroom, specifically the sitting area below the bed area. "Where were you?" Toffee looked down away from Moon speaking up.

"Assessing the situation." Moon paused in letting her hair down as Toffee's voice took on a tone… the one he used for only one situation. Moon and Toffee's marriage was by all means a match made in heaven, but even heaven had one sore point; one where Moon and Toffee could not compromise on. "Moon, I know we've been over this before…"

"Then you know my opinion still stands." Toffee looked at Moon as her voice took on a cold tone with him. "We can't blame everyone for the actions of one bad apple." Toffee's eyes narrowed as he replied.

"Did you feel the reactions in the room? Did you feel the joy many felt as that boy took advantage of our daughter?" Moon's eyes narrowed as well as she replied.

"They're scared Toffee, they're hoping for a place in the future of Mewni that I wish to give to them. Have they not suffered enough?" Toffee turned towards Moon now his tone not changing.

"They have suffered, and they wave it in front of you as an excuse for their recent actions." Moon took a deep breath in and out before replying.

"We need to bury the hatchet Toffee… and we can't do that if we are pushing them to turn against each other in order to make the future easier for us." They stared each other down for the longest time before Toffee nodded signaling he was done arguing this point for now.

"You've led me this far with no issues; I will trust your judgment." Moon sighed knowing this was going to come back up again and it was not going to get easier. "It's late, we should get to bed ourselves." His tone changed to concern. "Is Star alright?" Moon nodded the tension relaxing as she replied.

"Yes, Marco is with her. She even addressed earth as her home." Moon giggled hooking an arm with Toffee. "As Marco is taking care of her perhaps you should take care of me? *hmmmm*" Moon raised an eyebrow at Toffee who smiled and chuckled scooping Moon up in a bridal position.

"As the queen commands." They both giggled kissing each other as they moved up to the sleeping area.

Star snuggled up next to Marco purring contently as he combed her hair just to comb it. 'He actually likes doing that for some reason. Don't know why but I don't care.' Star popped another nacho in her mouth snuggling in closer if that was even possible with Marco chuckling. Star then broke the content silence they had as the episode ended looking up at Marco.

"Thank you for always being there for me. I just felt like I needed to say it." Marco nodded as he replied.

"I know what you mean. You're the best thing that has ever happened to me." They both kissed each other softly with Star speaking up.

"Say, I want to try something with you." Marco looked at her in confusion as she kissed him again except this time it felt forceful making Marco blink in confusion.

'Wha-what is going…' Marco's thought was interrupted as Star parted his lips French kissing him now. 'Wait should Star be doing this? Montague was just several hours ag- oh oh oh GOD that feels good.' Marco arms wrapped around Star pulling them close together with Star falling on top of him. 'So good.' Marco felt his brain turn to mush as Star's long tongue wriggled around inside his mouth outclassing his by a long shot. Star pulled back after a second speaking to Marco.

"Sorry this is so sudden, I want to get Montague's taste off my mouth. Am I doing it right?" Marco groaned and raised a thumb up in response making Star giggle. "Alright then, back too it." She resumed their kiss as they held each other close and, while going no further, they both felt their relationship get stronger that night for multiple reasons.

WH: Ahhh, the focus has been on Star and Marco quite a bit, perhaps I should delve into some other people's stories for the next one eh? *Everyone else shrugging in the background.*

Janna: Well you are the author man.

WH: *Rolling his eyes* No matter. Next time we've got a mighty big order of 'Squid Lo Mein' let's see if anyone can stomach it. Oh and it's time for...

Audience: Guest Reviews.

Shiranai Atsune: yay, you still love it! Means I'm doign something right.

The Opininator: Interesting projections for the future buuuuut it's going to be a bit more complicated then that. Happy new year and I wish I could get the chapters out faster. Glad you love it. :3

Guest 1: Kelly and Tad were going to be next chapter but I've got SO MUCH to deal with so it's going to be the episode after the next one. And yes I have something good in mind... I think.

All other guests: I finally made it, thank you fro sticking with me. ;)