It was a peaceful morning in the Butterfly Kingdom, the sun hadn't fully come up yet and the royal family was still fast asleep. Yesterday was a particularly frantic day full of preparation for today's events, the commotion dealing with some of the other royal families didn't help as the Queen was always trying her best to make the party appealing to everyone.
While the other Queen was in more of the habit of picking out her next big prank for the event much to the displeasure of an very annoyed Queen Of The Underworld. The ball itself had been a tradition only for 21 years, and now it was reaching it's 22nd much to the annoyance of it's princess.
She could be found in her room that looked as if a tornado had hit it, her face buried in a pillow and waiting for that dreaded alarm to wake her up at 6 am. Her shoulder length bluish hair was a mess and so were her sheets, but she was accustomed to moving in her sleep, she was only thankful her other mom was kind enough to not take videos and pictures of her.
The Princess dreaded the alarm clock, or time in general, every minute that passed by was just another minute towards being the next queen of Mewni. Or in this case, another minute closer to the ball that would surely kill her if nothing else would.
Those were enough to make her angry, but the sudden beeping of a monster themed alarm clock that made horrible snarling noises to wake the princess up was a close second.
SNAARRRRRLLLLLL
A hand reached out from the covers and shut off the alarm before reaching out to grab the magic wand that sat nearby, a small wand. it was purple with a red jewel on one end, and a flower petaled end that held a large light purple egg shape with a beautiful pink jeweled hart on the center, blue butterfly wings and a head could be seen coming out of the egg section, and the wand's rod had a decorate blue stripe with a pink diamond on the center.
The girl tried to get up to get dressed, but found she had no motivation to do so and resumed planting her face on the pillow, if she could she would sleep all day in here. No fancy parties, no embarrassing presentation of magic, no itchy dresses, no-
"SKYLER!", a voice could be heard from the other side of the door, "C'mon and get up sweetie, we have to get ready to greet our guests!". Sky groaned and managed to at least take her face off of the covers, licking her lips and rubbing her eyes, "Ok mom!".
Sky waited for her mother's foosteps to leave and forced herself off the bed and into her wardrobe. On any normal day she'd wear something colorful and causal and pick out a monster hat to match, but apparently monster hats were "Too Causal" for the StarLight Ball.
Or at least, too casual for Queen Star, her mother.
Sky stared at her collection of monster hats, all ones she created herself, and grumbled as she was forced to ignore them and pick out some fancy regal dress instead. She almost wondered if maybe she could sneak something in, like her alligator boots but she was sure her mom would perform a thorough examination to make sure she looked presentable.
Cool Queen Star, first Queen to tackle monster rights and bring monsters and mewmans together, the most gifted and talented queen in centuries, remembered as a freaking rebel princess, and she couldn't even let her daughter wear ONE thing that made her feel like Sky today.
"Wonder where that "Rebel" attitude went?", sky mumbled, pulling out a short ruffled blue dress with gold stars and looking it over. Today was going to suck, she was sure of it, but then again on the plus side she wasn't the only one forced up today. She smiled happily at the thought of Judas's brother Landon being forced into a suit, he was probably just as unhappy as she was. No doubt Judas was already ready for today's events considering his attitude towards being a perfect prince, but Landon shared Sky's mutual dislike of being forced into boring royal meetings.
Then again, they were both 15 while Judas was 17, I guess being 1 year away from your coronation to become king will do that to you.
Sky silently hoped otherwise, nothing beat sleeping in and wearing comfortable fingerless gloves with tacky decorative patterns. She quickly got out of her nightgown and put on the dress, and then added some stockings, a ribbon around her neck tied in the back, and mary janes with gold stars before walking to the mirror.
"Man, I must have been tireeedddd.", She reached up to feel all the knots in her dark blueish hair and grumbled, " I wonder if mom would notice the knots if I tied my hair up?". She thought more a moment, considering the idea, then voted against it and grabbed a hair brush to yank out all the knots.
After practically ripping out her hair, she was officially done with making herself look nice the old fashioned way, she aimed her wand at her face and let it blast her. Her hair was tied in a small bun and she breathed heavily after the aftermath of using magic on herself, it wasn't liked by her mom but honestly sky would take this over brushing anyday.
Sky took a moments and felt up to touch one of her purple spade cheekmarks gently, before sighing and heading out the door, wand in hand.
The Starlight Ball was a fairly new event, created by Queen Star in her first year as Mewni's leader. It was tradition where all the royal families celebrated another year of Monster's becoming friends instead of enemies, and it was a event where all the kingdoms shared their traditions with each other.
It wasn't boring per say, no Sky had been to much duller events in her life, but she couldn't ignore the elephant in the room. She only got her wand a year ago to finally start with her magic, and she knew full well her mothers would want her to put on a display for the rest of the guests.
Which might sound fun, if you weren't Princess Sky, daughter of the most famous and powerful Queen on Mewni, and the worst princess ever at magic. Sky was constantly thinking of what she could perform, she had a fair share of spells she made herself that she could perform, but even those spells weren't great.
When her mom got that wand, she could blasts narwhals, take on a mewberty form, travel through portals, and rebirth the entire realm of magic before she was 15. And here was Sky, 15, and still unable to perform her own bubble charm perfectly without it popping every minute.
She loved her mom, she did, but did she literally have any idea what standards she'd leave for the next generation of Butterflies?
Sky walked past the kitchen and snagging an apple from one of the fruit bowls and made her way into the ballroom where things were still being set up, it still looked pretty nice, with a mixture of Butterfly decor, but also ones from the other branching kingdoms.
She took a bite of her apple and yawned, maybe she could sneak out of the castle for awhile before the guests arrived? Anything would be more exciting then sitting here, and at least i'd give her more time to work on her spells so she wouldn't totally look like an idiot. She glanced around and tried to take an exit before being yanked back by an older woman with the same colored blue hair, Sky tried not to look suspicious, but honestly no one got much past Queen Janna.
No one was ever sure a Queen was something that suited Janna, Sky always could tell the Mewmans were always questioning her ways and probably thought she was a loose canon. Not that Sky was surprised, her mom was very unpredictable and did some of the strangest things as Queen. Putting her pranks aside, she had no problem discussing inappropriate things during meetings, breaking into forbidden areas, and messing around alot with the magical objects mewni held.
She lacked a lot of ground, but one thing for certain, she did intimidate people.
"Sky, you heading out?", Sky almost chocked on her apple, "Mom!? I-I uh...". Sky fumbled around for an excuse when she noticed her mom was still wearing casual clothing and not any stupid fancy outfits as she usually did for these parties, "-Uh...Mom? Why you still in jeans?".
Janna grinned, "Cause i'm the queen and i'll wear what I want right now, now no changing the subject. You were heading out weren't you?", She looked so smug, and Sky grumbled, "Yeah fine, i hate getting up at 6 and doing nothing for hours till anything happens! I just want to head out for a bit.". Janna shrugged, "Fair enough, i wasn't too keen on being dragged out of bed either. When your mom wants to make a party great, you know she'll take any step to do so...even if it's getting up hours beforehand...".
"I don't even get why i can't even head out", Sky complained to her mother, taking another bite out of her apple, "What does mom expect me to do at this time anyway? It's not exactly like I have chores or get to plan the party!".
Janna chuckled, "Hey, we're a family, when one suffers, we all must suffer together. But honestly Star probably just wants to keep an eye on you, that or...make sure you don't ruin another dress.". Sky stared down at her dress, Janna wasn't wrong, her last three dresses got ruined because she either ruined them thanks to spells, or went and got herself involved in a fight.
Sky was sure one day her mom would give her a leash just to make sure she didn't get in any more trouble then she already did when she wasn't looking. Her mother patted her shoulder, "But hey, i'm also your mom, you can head out if you want...just don't have too much fun without me ok?".
Sky grinned and rolled her eyes, "Ok mom, i'll be back in time for the ball i promise ok? love ya!". Sky never felt so eager to leave as she darted outside to enjoy some fresh air and some quiet for once, Janna waved and shook her head with a smile, "That's my girl...".
"Piranha pillow blast!", a pink aura extended from her wand and blasted the field in front of her.
She at least needed 3 really impressive spells to show off, ones even Prince Ponyhead wouldn't turned his snooty nose at. Unfortunately Sky grumbled further as her pillow fishes who were supposed to be soft but deadly only shot out one regular piranha , who flopped around in the grass before sky zapped it back in her wand.
Honestly was she even sure her mom actually fixed this stupid wand when she claimed she broke it a lot in the past? Cause as far as Sky was concerned it was broken. Sky had thought of other reasons, but they weren't ones she wanted to think about, and last thing she wanted was for the butterfly kingdom to treat her half-humanness as what ruined the butterfly line.
Sky could do some spells, she wasn't magicless, but her lack of skills were unmistakable in comparison to her mother and grandmother.
She had to perform magic, she had to figure this out before the party started.
She held her wand up again, "Canine-".
"SKY! PRINCESS SKY!", Sky jumped and turned around to see a servant run up to her, out of breath. She felt her heart stop, did her Mom find out she left the castle? Was she in serious trouble? Ugh, why did she ever trust her other mom? She was like putty to Queen Sta-.
"Princess Sky, We have a problem, Prince Angelus is once again in the village scaring people and-". Sky, at the mention of the prince's name, let out a huge groan, "REALLY? I've kicked him out five times this week! What the hecky heck is he doing this time?". The servant mumbled nervously, "My lady, he's webbing the homes and making it hard for people to get in and out of them...". She tapped her foot impatiently, "And how come the head of the guards can't get rid of him this time?"
"Miss Jackie got called for something and the rest of the guards are in no fit state to take him...", She gave him a look of disapproval, "So basically you're saying you got me because Angel's not worth the effort for anyone else to get rid of him?"
"Eh, more or less my lady. Although frankly you seem much better with him then most of the guards.."
Sky took a deep breath, " Ugh fine, back to doing the dirty work again...", so much for heading out to relax and focus on tonight.
She summoned a cloud and climbed aboard, the servant hoped on with her and they made it to the town center in no time flat. He was still shaking as they came across the prince but Sky as usual was unfazed at the sight of the monster prince. Angelus was stubborn, it didn't matter how many times Sky had to kick him out for scaring and terrorizing the kingdom, he just kept on coming back. Sky at this point was sure the only reasons her mother didn't do anything worse to him was because he was monster royalty and she still held guilt over the mistreatment of his family from her ancestors.
Well, in Sky's head, he was getting it off too easy. Yeah not all monsters were bad, but this little rat sure was, and him being a prince didn't change that. Angel was in the process of webbing another house when he saw Sky, and his brows furrowed.
Angel was...a spider prince, or in other words his species is related to spiders. It could be seen in his face, his four dark eyes with red pupils, his reddish pink skin with dark markings, his sharp teeth, his light to the point of almost being white pink hair, but especially the fact that out of his back sprouted four spider legs he used to move made him eerie and more of a threat. He stopped what he was doing to carry himself over to her, landing on his two normal legs right in front of her and crossing his arms like a scolding mother.
"Sky Butterfly..."
"Angel Arachford...", Sky said, "How many times do I have to tell you to stop coming here and kick you back to your own kingdom before you'll actually listen to anything I said? I'm getting real tired of beating your sorry butt and i'm surprised you aren't either since the more you keep coming here and making me deal with you the more you make yourself look like a jerk then actually do anything for your cause..".
He snorted, "I wouldn't keep coming back here if you and your mothers cared about me and my people at all. I thought you were supposed to be the generation that treats all monsters fairly are you not?". Sky clutched her fist, "We do, just not monsters who put our freaking people in danger for reasons that don't make sense!". He growled, "So you don't actually care that Queen Moon almost got my species to near extinction? Or that my land is mostly owned by the Spiderbites?".
"That's not what I-UGH", She rubbed her face, "Oh, this is pointless, can't we just talk this out so I can leave? One bug person to another?". Angel looked offended, placing his hand to his chest like a drama queen "I'm an arachnid.". Sky was sure under different circumstances she'd punch out his perfect pointy teeth, but her Mom always told her fighting should be a last resort. Maybe she was getting too riled up over him, but after days of him taking rash actions to make the Queens help him with problems that weren't their fault, and kicking him out, no one could blame Sky for being so short-tempered with the monster prince.
Sky looked at all the buildings surrounding her, covered in sticky webs and sighed. "Look, are you going to leave peacefully this time or are we gonna have to fight again? Personally my mom would kill me if i ruined another dress thanks to you...". He snarled, "I'm not leaving till I get my way Princess Butterfly, The arachmen were wrongly treated by queen moon and i'm not leaving till your family pays for what they've done to my kingdom...".
Sky groaned, "So...I guess that means I have to drag you out huh? Look, I REALLY hate fighting you dude, I know you have problems, but we're doing all we can here. If you want us to bring your people back from the dead you're in the wrong kingdom..". She held her wand out and the spider prince looked unfazed, he was also getting too used to this, "My people deserve justice Sky, and i'm not leaving till Queen Star gives me that justice...".
She closed her eyes and aimed directly at him,"Bubble Prison blast!", a onslaught of bubbles shot out of the wand and surrounded the prince, encasing him in a large pink bubble. Sky carefully opened her eyes to see er work, the spell was supposed to last for an hour before popping and the prisoner inside was supposed to be frozen, but since Sky was the castor and the universe hates her, the bubble popped in seconds and the prince fell back on the ground.
Fantastic.
Angel shot web at her using his own magic and she ducked, so much for not getting involved in another fight. "For the record, you shot first!", He shouted, using his long legs to host his body up more, as intimidating as he was, those legs were one of his clear weaknesses. Sky aimed her wand again, "Lavish Licorice winder!", long stands of candy shot out of the wand and before the prince could react his back legs were tied together and toppled him over and into the dirt. He grumbled, but he still had his humanoid arms and legs and picked himself up, standing on his non-disturbing legs and throwing another spell from his hands at Sky, this one hitting her wand and sticking it onto a nearby store.
"HEY!", Sky protested while the prince struggled to free his legs from the tight and delicious rope trapping them together. He could probably walk on his legs and still fight, but his trapped legs only made him topple over trying to drag them around, he suck his teeth into the rope and began chewing. She almost wanted to smile, "You're so pathetic, you come all the way out here to scare my family and you lose to freaking licorice? Angel, just go home, this is a waste of our time."
He stopped chewing his rope and struggled to stand up properly on his normal legs, trying to find an angle where his tied up insect legs wouldn't take him off balance, "I am not leaving here without getting what I want! Today is a day of Monster Independence and I'm not going another year till the Butterfly's PAY!". He struggled to make his way over to her and shot another web at her, missing with ease, he got close enough to throw a punch but it was only too easy for Sky to step out of his way so he could fall down and pick himself up again.
Sky rolled her eyes and instead of going to get her trapped wand to just end this, she walked over to the prince and pulled something she had hidden in her dress and aimed it at him. "Look, I'll give you a chance to go quietly, no more violence, no more attacking innocents, and when you leave i might just remove the candy on your legs...".
Angelus immediately stopped his struggling to stare at the strange device, "and what exactly is that?". She turned it on, and it made a strange humming noise, "an earth wand, Mom 2 gave it to me recently, apparently it's called a Taser, and it's really painful. But also good for situations like this.". Angel didn't move, " You don't scare me miss butterfly, not your butterfly magic, nor your earth magic, my honor and love for my people is greater then my fear of what your family would do to me, I-"
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Angelus collapsed on the ground as Sky zapped him, "I'm sorry dude...". He twitched in pain, "I-I'll b-be back...", the princess sighed and put her earth wand away before heading over to untangle her real wand. Frankly she just wished her moms would talk to him so this cycle of her taking him down would just end already, they clearly knew he kept coming by to make protests, but all he gets is a personal ban from any royal events and nothing else and she's forced to pick up after him every time he shows up. She looked away from him, "My Moms are too easy on you, you know that right? Too easy on you for someone who puts their people in danger. I personally think my mom's off her rocker if she thinks you'll someday just...stop, but if she's going easy on you as queen, maybe you should take this outing she's giving you before she's forced to do worse...".
He blinked at her with all four of his eyes, "It's not my fault she's t-too scared to face judgement for her family, or t-too scared to punish me because she feels bad for me...I don't want to be pitied, I want to be respected. But instead all I get is you to throw me out...!". Sky shook her head, still untangling her wand "We can't change the past, we can only help better the future, when are you ever going to get that through your skull and stop blaming people who aren't at fault?".
Some royals guards walked up and help cut her wand free of the web before carefully picking up the pained prince, He kept making winces in pain and Sky almost regretted shocking him at all before taking a good look at the damage surrounding her he caused, doors blocked, people trapped, he could've really hurt someone here. Regardless she walked up to the guards who were carrying them and stopped them, "Hey, uh, request? Be gentle with him, take one of the carriages to his kingdom so he can lie down on something soft, tell his parents he came back again and was webbing everything. Oh and if they ask, the pain he's in doesn't last forever, just have him lie down for awhile, maybe get some ice...that junk."
"Yes Princess!", Sky crossed her arms as she watched the prince be carried off. The prince stared at her with a thoughtful and pained face , and sky took that as his way of saying "Thanks", and she gave him a meek wave as he got out of her sight. Frankly, she was also being too easy on him, but then again he is in pain, and he is still a teen, he's only about a year older then her. Just another stupid kid going through some things. She shook it off before she got too sad, after all he didn't want any pity, right?
The guards were already cleaning off the webbing he added to the buildings, and citizens were finally calming down from the scary event. Angel had never hurt anyone, and Sky knew that, he stood by the code of fighting only for self defense and despite his habit of...webbing others, no one was ever seriously hurt. However, he sure made the citizens uneasy when he showed up, and Sky couldn't blame them. He just wanted to get his way by scaring others and nothing else.
Kid was all bark and no bite.
She knew soon her mom would hear about this, and it was probably best to get back to the castle but then she felt a buzzing coming from her dress, her compact. Geez, did the news already travel that fast to her mom? Or did she hear that she skipped out before the party started. Sky was about to prepare herself for either choice when she saw her mom wasn't the one who was calling.
Judas was.
The princess felt a sigh of relief before picking up and seeing a purple skinned brunette on the other end. "Hey uh...good timing, I just got done taking care of some...stuff.", Judas was rubbing a towel over his ram-like horns, "Angel came by?". Her brows furrowed, "How'd you know?", and the hybrid prince shrugged as he switched to cleaning his other horn sticking out of his dark hair. "Lucky guess, but honestly considering today's events this felt like something he'd crash."
Sky looked around and started walking out of the town and back up to the castle, talking to the lucitor prince as she kept an eye out for her parents. "He's a pain, he webbed up the entire town practically and of course they send me to tell him to leave...cause it's not like our own trained military can take down a 16-year old teen who seems to know only one spell!", her tone of voice became more angry and Judas chewed on his bottom lip a little. "Hey, at least they're giving you some real practice for your spells, and for self defense?". Sky rolled her eyes, "Says the guy who actually knows how to use magic, I have a hard time getting half my spells right and I keep getting sent out to fight the same kid who just won't give up. I had to use my earth wand on him to-"
Judas frowned at the mention of his friend's earth wand, "Wait, Sky did you taze him?", she avoided his gaze and Judas immediately knew what that meant. "SKY?!", She rolled her eyes, "Well, he stripped away my wand and I needed to get him down so he couldn't escape! He'll be fine!". Then she remembered his winces of pain and her face strained as the demon on the other end face-palmed, "Sky...". She opened the door to the castle and stepped inside, "Look, he's gonna be ok..."
He groaned again, "Sky, i thought we agreed next time he showed up you'd incapacitate him...without hurting him!? Do you have any idea how much taser's hurt?". She clenched her teeth, "I'm guessing alot? Look I tried the bubbling spell and it didn't work, I had to do something before he got out of his bonds!". The demon continued to face palm, " Look, I think he needs to grow up as much as you do, but I just hope your parents and his parents are still cool now that THIS is a thing."
"Well, Mom's been helping their kingdom since her rule and they also aren't fans of their son wanting my grandmother's head on a platter , so...maybe?", The demon removed his hand from his face and closed his three red eyes, taking a breath to relax. "Just, I hope someday you two come to a compromise and manage to work things out without throwing punches at each other? Like, he's not going the best way about it but there's no denying your family messed his people up.". Sky frowned, "Yeah, I know...you don't need to remind me my family kinda sucked". He grabbed a comb and starting pulling it through his dark hair, avoiding the horns, "But anyways, I didn't call to talk about Angel, I wanted to let you know we're coming over very soon, Mom wants us to be the first ones there and hey, we can talk more there."
Sky leaned against a wall, shooting glares to the servants giving her looks as they rushed past in a desperate attempt to get everything ready. "Well, we're about finished setting up, so I guess it's ok to come over...", She didn't hide the irritable tone in her voice, as soon as any guests showed up, her time to get a spell right was gone. Judas must have been paying attention too, cause after he finished fixing his hair, he crossed his arms with a knowing smile, "You don't have any spells picked out...do you?".
"Shhhhhhhh", She put her finger to her mouth and looked for any sign of her mom, "Look, it's fine, i'll just make something up on the spot...". Her friend on the line rolled all three of his eyes, "Sky, I told you to pick out your spells weeks ago, you really procrastinated this long?". The princess grumbled, "Look, we can't all be you and be pretty much born to lead, I was busy...doing other princess stuff.". Judas brushed off his suit, "That's a fancy way of saying "I hung out with Melanie and got into fights".
"Look, it's fine...".
"Skyyy..." he let out another sigh of complete irritation, before he heard some shouting in background of the castle, his parents. "We'll talk more about this when I get there ok? just for now keep your wand close and wait for me. Cya soon?", She waved, "Bye jude." Her mirror switched off and she placed it back in her pocket, "SKY!", brilliant timing as usual queen Star came around the corner to hug her daughter. She wore an elorate and fancy blue gown and her golden hair was all tied up in bun, she held her daughter tight in her arms.
"Sweetie, you look so pretty! I heard Angel came by again, don't worry, I called his parents and they'll talk to him again. But thank you for convincing him to leave, again.", Sky reluctantly hugged her mother back, "You're welcome mom...". Star disbanded their hug and giggled, "Ooo this year is gonna be great! I already have such big plans! I can't wait to see what Tom and Marco a- oops, i mean, what King and Queen Lucitor are bringing this year! They've been keeping it secret from me for months now and I swear they've been laughing behind my back about it.".
Sky shrugged, "Probably another demon artifact, they always bring a new one. But as long as it's not another magical beating heart i'll be fine...". Her mom nodded, "Yeah true, but I think King Thomas has learned what's safer to bring to these parties over time, he learns from his mistakes fast. But hey, that reminds me, what spells are you planning on showing off for your magical presentation?".
Sky bit her lip, searching through her head for an excuse, "It's a surprise?". Star smiled wider, "Oooo, I love a good surprise, just make sure you don't hurt anyone alright? ". She reached out and tucked her daughter's hair behind her ear, "You look so beautiful by the way, like a queen.". Sky blushed, under her mom's gaze, "Stop making things awkward mom...".
She snickered and kissed her forehead , "I'm heading down to the ballroom, i'll see you in a few minutes ok? Janna should still be getting ready.". She waved her daughter off, "I better see you down there young lady, promise?". Sky stuck out her tongue playfully to her smiling mother, "Ok Mommmmmm..".
Star descended down the stairs and the princess stared at her wand, "I'm so dead...".
Sky paced around the ballroom, her mothers talking in the corner excitably, Janna wearing a matching suit to Star. At least they were currently preoccupied with each other, instead of persisting her further on her spell work. She just had to hope for the best when Judas arrived, they've gotten through worse, they could get through something as simple as presenting magic right?
A fiery blast coming from the entrance made the royal family jump, but that soon left as the door opened to reveal the current rulers of the underworld. Sky only knew them so well because her moms were their friends but granted they were cooler then other royals families out there. King Thomas had his long pink hair tucked and pulled back, and Queen Marco finally grew their hair out long enough to put in a small ponytail, whether the queen wore a dress or a suit during an event depended on them but it looks like this time around the queen was in a dress mood. They wore a red gown with gold trimmings, matching Tom's fine tail coated suit, the roayls adjusted their crowns and immediately greeted Star and Janna.
That was fine and dandy of course, but then Sky immediately turned her attention to the three hybrid boys who had been walking behind the king and queen and were now standing in the entrance.
Judas, Landon, and Mason, the Princes of the Underworld.
Judas was easy enough to spot, with his purple skin, his three red rounded eyes, a mole under his left eye, his dark brown hair and thicker eyebrows, and his strange ram-like horns creeping out of his currently parted hair. He was wearing a dark suit with gold trimmings and a red tie with a skull on it, and sky could spot a smaller crown upon his head.
Landon was the middle child, and he was the same age as Sky, he looked as if he was almost forced to show up here, and Sky was pretty sure he was. His dark pink hair was unkempt and his clothes were a it of a mess, he was wearing a nice vest with a tie but it looked very loose and he even rolled up the sleeves of his white dress shirt. Landon was almost the spitting image of Tom, except with pinker skin, darker hair, rounded ears, and only eye marks present on his third eye. The red almond shaped eyes, the nose, and even the horn colors and design, despite coming out of the top of his head and more reminiscent of horns of a baby deer, were like Tom.
And then there was Mason, the youngest, and the most chipper to be back in Butterfly Castle again. Mason, despite his brother's strange appearances, was probably the oddest in appearance. He most noticeable trait being his rather large bat-like wings coming out of his backside, they were a dark pink and went nicely with his lighter pink hair. He was the only Lucitor brother to have no horns and two eyes, both a honeyed brown, and with longer eyes marks decorating them, he had more tan skin like his mother, but pointed ears like his father. Sky couldn't help but feel he looked naked without his woven hat, he wore that thing everywhere and liked to play with the pom pom at the end. But he still looked rather nice in his buttoned shirt and bow tie, all his clothes were custom made to fit around his wings and Sky could only imagine how hard it must be to get him dressed.
All three princes waved at her and walked in her direction as their parents conversed in the corner, Sky couldn't help but feel a little more at ease with them here, they all practically grew up together and it was always pleasant to have some non-boring royals during these events. Judas adjusted his crown and gave her a smile, "So...", He clapped his hands together, "The ballroom looks rather nice...uh...i'm sure my dad appreciates all the little blood moons around..".
She shrugged, "It's cool, I guess, you know my mom and parties. Anything new with you guys?". Judas elbowed Landon, and the boy huffed and rubbed his arm, "Dude, no. I'm not talking about it with her, it's embarrassing enough as it is.". Sky's bored expression suddenly turned into a smirk, "Embarrassing huh?". Landon blushed, "It's not that kind of embarrassing it's...ugh no, can we move on to talking about something less to do with me? I didn't even feel like coming to this stupid party...".
"Landon has a crush...", Mason piped up, "He met this human on earth and he wouldn't stop talking about him!. Landon immediately covered his younger brother's mouth, red faced and angrier then he usually was, which was saying a lot as he wasn't typically a smiley kid, " hey! I said we weren't talking about this! I promised you a new packet of rat plant seeds to not to tell Sky!". Mason removed his brother's hand, "But Sky wanted to know...and I told you I wanted acid-spit flowers.".
The oldest brother laughed, "Awww, c'mon Landon, I think it's cute you have a crush on a human...". Landon closed all three of his eyes and sighed, "It's less cute the more you tease me for it..". Sky snickered at the boys, sometimes she wanted siblings, just to have moments like this. "Awww Landon's in lovveee...what's his name?", Judas answered much to Landon's displeasure, "Oh it's this kid named Bernard, we were visiting our grandparents and apparently he just moved in across from them and they've been helping him settle in. He's actually going to Melainie's school, so maybe she knows him? Anyways they talked for a bit and Landon won't shut up about him...it's cute."
"It's not cute!", the short horned boy argued, "I just think he's really cool! Now can we zip it already!?". Sky nodded through giggles, "Ok fine fine, but if you need a wingman...", she winked at him and he responded with an unamused face before walking off."Ugh, i'll be at the snack table eating out my troubles if you don't mind...", He huffed and stomped off, and Mason pouted as he watched his brother leave."I don't know why he's so upset, I wasn't...", Judas ruffled his hair, "Your brother handles crushes differently then you do is all, why don't you go talk to him? I want to speak with Sky a bit...".
Mason fluttered his wings a bit before running off to join his brother at the table.
Judas smiled as his brother ran off, only for the smile to disappear as soon as he turned back to Sky, tapping his foot with his arms folded. Sky's own smile vanished as she bit her lip, "I guess we're moving to the task at hand now?". He closed all of his eyes and let out a breath of air he hadn't realized he was holding for so long, "When are you ever going to take magic seriously Sky? You've only had that wand for a year and you can barely do basic magic!".
She grumbled, "I AM taking it seriously, I just REALLY suck at it!". The young demon kept calm, not wanting to attract the attention to their parents, "Ok well, has anyone else been training you? Your Mom? Grandmother Eclipsa? Grandmother Moon?". Sky crossed her arms, "Mom and Eclipsa say I don't need their training, I just need time and it'll come to me, I need to learn my own way...". Judas didn't seem to buy it, "And Moon?". The princess shrugged, "I think she prefers my mom took responsibility for my magic...".
The princess grabbed his arm and pulled him aside, "Look, right now, I just need to make it through tonight, we can worry about my magic learning later...you need to help me show off something cool so I don't embarrass my moms or get in trouble in front of everyone!".
Judas grabbed her arm and they silently made their way into the hallway on the other side to avoid being overheard, "Ok, well, you have your licorice spell, and you still know Rocket Rino Frenzy, er...wait how many spells have you managed to get the hang of again?". She started counting them off her fingers, "Well besides those two, I also have Dragon Dust Storm, Shimmering Sunflower Shards, I also learned Narwhal blast from mom but honestly any spells I have learned or created aren't exactly something I can do in the ballroom Jude."
"Well what are you looking for exactly?", He asked, "Sky you need to perform at least three spells, can't you just...summon a monster or something? That would count right?". Sky in response blasted the ground and a stuffed wolf appeared, wagging his tail happily, "I mean...maybe? I can summon this guy at least?".
"Ok, see? Now we're getting somewhere!", He clapped his hands together, "C'mon, let's just figure something out before the ceremony starts ok?"
Other guests started arriving soon enough, there were of course the regulars like the Jaggs and the Pigeons, some monster royals, and of course there was the ponyheads or...were they still deciding on whether to call themselves the ponyheads or kelpbottoms now? Then of course the Spiderbites arrived and Sky quietly waved from the hallway to Princess Nora Spiderbite who was hiding herself behind her parents and slimy green hair. The ballroom was filling up quickly and pretty soon Sky and Judas had to head back inside before their parents set off looking for them.
"Ok, we set?", Judas asked again, "You ready?". Sky nodded, "Yeah yeah, sure, as ready as i can be when i'm cramming to do some spells in a few minutes.". He placed a hand on her shoulder, "Hey, on the plus side, you're going last, gives you plenty of time to think the spells over in your head. You're gonna do fine Sky...just keep your head focused."
She smiled and went in for a hug, wrapping her arms around him, "Thanks Jude, means a lot.". He carefully hugged her back, "After the party is over we can hang out, maybe look up some more spells you can work on...". She rolled her eyes but complied, "Yeah fine mom...".
Just then the door opened and a green ponyhead entered, causing the two to immediately break their hug at recognizing him. Loki, prince of the ponyhead and waterfolk kingdom, brother of two younger sisters and for Sky, the biggest pain in the butt at any royal event. His light green main was gelled up to perfection, his blue striped horn polished, and his bowtie bringing out his blue with golden stared-eyes while avoiding his green gills. He stared at them in slight disgust, "Really? There's an important party going on and you two are off being affectionate in the hallway?"
They both blushed, and Sky growled, "Scram Loki! Like c'mon, were you off looking for us again?". He snorted but his face read that he had been indeed looking for them, Judas shrugged and didn't let the prince's newfound presence get to him, "Don't worry Sky, we need to head back inside anyway...i'll catch up with you both later ok?". He walked past Loki towards the door of the ballroom, all three eyes glaring at the floating head as he pushed his way in. Loki shifted his attention towards Sky with an expression that read as if he had no idea what he did wrong, he closed his eyes, and turned away from her angered face.
"Look, Butterfly? I just wanted to see where you guys were...like, you guys weren't even supposed to be in here anyway, much less to go off making out or something", The princess didn't hide her annoyance well as she walked forward and pulled on his ear, "Ok, first off, me and Judas are friends, friends hug. Secondly, can't you just go to one party without following us everywhere like you're our dog? Go talk to your sisters or something..stop being a creep.".
"Judas says i'm allowed to hang out with you guys...", He argued, pulling himself away from her grasp.
"Yeah well, Judas is too nice tell you otherwise. Now can you stop butting into business you don't belong in?", She stomped past him to follow her friend out, leaving the prince in the hallway by himself. "Ugh give me a break..", She muttered to herself as she officially joined the party.
Seems as if everyone finally arrived now, which was a blessing and a curse. Sky spotted Judas keeping his brothers in check, Loki's younger sisters were talking nearby their mother who was in her usual spot of gossiping to Queen Star, and Sky could even spot Angelus's Father all by his lonesome. The queen most likely being home for her injured Son and to make sure he didn't disobey her orders and try crash a party he's been banned from for years.
King Arachford spotted her and Sky almost wanted to run into the crowd in case he was about to attack her for earlier today, but he stopped in front of her, his long leags making it all too easy for him to move fast through the crowd. Sky put on her best smile and rubbed her arm in an uncomfortable manner, "Uhhh...hello King Arachford."
"Greetings princess, forgive me If I startled you, I just want to apologize for my son this morning. Angel once again was out of line and I hope you don't take this as a sign the Arachnid kingdom's alliance to your mother is faltering...". His voice was deep and could send chills down one's spine, Sky held her hands out to reassure him while simultaneously panicking on the inside, "No no no no, I mean yeah, he's been showing up constantly and it's REALLY annoying, but it's...my mom's not holding it against you...". The king nodded, his dark red hair and beard matching his striking eyes, "Ok then, good, good to know...we've been punishing him accordingly, but he simply will not give up and with the state of our home we cannot afford to lose this alliance."
Sky took a deep breath, "I promise, it's not a big deal, he hasn't even hurt anyone...yet. Just relax, enjoy the party!". The king closed all of his eyes and crossed his arms, "I don't mean to be frightening, that's just in my kind's nature, just...I hope you don't think one of us going off like he does.. represents all of us.". The monster king did sound remotely worried and concerned and she gave him a reassuring smile, "Hey, forgive and forget ok? I'm sure eventually the two of us will...work something out."
The king sighed, "Princess Butterfly, my wife is ill...and whether she makes it or not, we will both go someday. This is a lot to put on you as you won't be queen for 3 more years and I know you and my son aren't on the best of terms but... can you do me a favor?". There were tears coming from his four eyes, "Promise to help him. It doesn't matter how you feel about him, someday he's going to be king and you'll be a queen and...I don't want him to get hurt or do anything irrational."
Sky nodded slowly, her voice less nervous and a little more relaxed and somber, "Yeah, I-I can do that...I'll...make sure to...help him". The king smiled, "Thank you princess... again I'm truly sorry about his behavior, I... can't wait to see your presentation". He started backing away and sky nodded, "Yeah, It'll...it'll be something i'm sure...". The king returned to the party and Sky found herself biting her lip and wondering what she might be in for in the future.
Sky let out some air she had been holding in and relaxed, it was nothing to worry about anything soon right? She could handle a spider monster, keep him from hurting anyone...
Hopefully.
Then she twisted around at the sound of a bell ringing, and her mother being it's ringer. Sky pushed through the crown to make her way over to her and next to her other mom clumsily, looks like it was time for each kingdom to present themselves.
Star stopped ringing the bell and smiled upon the crowd, "Hello everyone and welcome to the 22nd annual Starlight Ball!". The crown clapped and Sky could hear king and Queen lucitor cheer and whistle with their sons hiding their embarrassed faces nearby. "I know you're all eager to present your cultures today and so am I~ So i'll cut to the chase, today is the day we all get together and celebrate our differences and how we all connect to each other! One big beautiful kingdom of Mewni!".
Everyone clasped and cheered again and Star was blushing, "Aww thanks everyone, I'm just glad to see you all here! You've all just been so wonderful and I love this event so so much and- oh boy i'm rambling again aren't i? Anyways, i'm so thankful to see a day where all people of mewni, whether monster or mewman, can all be here together in unison. I hope you all are too, and i can't wait to see you all for years to come, thank you!". Everyone clapped and Sky sighed as she and her moms sat down in their rather large thrones behind them, and tried to memorize her spells as the first kingdom's ruler stepped forward to present their culture.
She was used to this boring party, she grew up with it.
Each kingdom would step forward to present something about themselves and their people, could be a story, an artifact, a dance, a spell, anything really. Her parents would always show plays or books, or talk about Queens, but no, this time it was a magic demonstration.
Sometimes these presentations were interesting, other times Sky regretted staying up so late on her compact instead of going to bed earlier. She spotted Judas watching her from the crowd mouthing to her as the Spiderbites' went on "You good?". Sky gave him a weak thumbs up in response and he gave her one back as he looked to see the Queen pull out a fairytale about her kingdom and hand it to her daughter to read in her soft and small voice. Soon the Jaggs went up to talk about an ancient rock, and the Ponyhead's with a trough of their favorite meal that made Sky want to barf, and then King Arachford soon came up to discuss his people and how they evolved throughout history.
Sky had tuned herself out awhile ago, but awoke from her cramming when she saw the Lucitor's step forward in front of everyone. Even as dull as this event could be, at least the Lucitors were never boring when they came up, she was almost sure they intentionally went out of their way to make themselves the highlight of the ball. Whether they brought something as ridiculous as a screaming heart or a firebreathing rabbit, they're presentation was never forgettable to say the least. "Hello everyone, good to be back, since last time bringing dangerous plants turned out to be a bad idea, my family and I..wanted to show you something more tame this time, more...interesting..", the boys kept close to their Mother as the king snapped his fingers and in a burst of fire a glass case with a shiny ruby eye-shaped necklace inside of it appeared, the Lucitors were such show-offs.
Star excitably leaned forward on her throne
"This, is a ruby demon amulet, a necklace with the power to give anyone the powers of a demon! Any demon...", Tom was flashy, walking around the case and flapping his cape around dramatically, Sky couldn't see Landon's face but she knew he was cringing hard. Tom smirked at all the fascinated and surprised faces within the crowd as the stared at the case, "For thousands of years my family has held onto this necklace, not that we need it of course...but it contains the powers of every lucitor heir who ever lived. It's been through war, bloodshed, and it's full of secrets even I don't know about!."
Then Thomas went on to talk about fascinating stories such as the time a mortal wore it and destroyed his soul in the process, and an especially freaky one when one of Tom's great grandfathers wore it and summoned a large army of the dead to set upon his foes, telling every gory detail.
Sky could spot Loki's father, Larry (Kelpbottom or Ponyhead?) covering Loki's baby sister's ears.
Star was gawking at it and the audience were talking among themselves. What exactly, Sky didn't know, but she wasn't liking it too much judging by how much whispering was going around. She'd never heard about this thing before, and she was sure her mom didn't either. King Lucitor on the other hand seemed pretty happy with the responses from the crowd, "Aww, relax everyone, i'm sure it's power has worn out by this point, it was just...collecting dust back in our home and I figured it was as good a time as any to show It off..it's something long forgotten by my own people and it's beautiful isn't it?". The case rotated around so everyone could take a good look at it before it set itself back behind the royal family.
He snapped and the case vanished, "But it is just for show, no demonstration, sorry friends!". Star clapped loudly as they entered back in the crowd, Sky narrowed her eyes at Judas, who was smiling and shrugging at her in a way that made her wonder if he knew something she didn't here. Ugh, she hated when he got smug, his teeth would stick out and she could feel him mocking her through his eyes.
Then she felt her mother elbow her and her stomach dropped, she got so distracted she forgot the Lucitors were always the second to last to go at every one of these events.
and the Butterfly's were the last.
Which means...
"Thank you so much Tom!", Star stood up, clapping, "And now it's time for our presentation this year! As you know Sky officially got her wand last year on her 14th birthday as per Butterfly tradition! This year, we figured she should be allowed to show you everything she's learned since then!". Sky briefly wished she had a spell that could make her disappear as her mom kept droning on excitably, "You guys have been so sweet to me all night, but right now, I want you all to give it up to my pride and joy, SKY!". She motioned for Sky to get up, and Sky reluctantly got up slowly as her mom returned to her chair and the princess was forced into the center of a crowd who were backing up to give her space.
She held her wand out, avoiding all the eyes on her, only to spot Judas motioning her to go on.
She desperately tried to concentrate on the spells she'd been saying in her head for over the last two hours, but it almost seemed as if she mind had wandered off too far when King Lucitor droned on about his presentation and Sky felt herself fumbling to remember what she and Judas went over. Normally when she was focuses or in combat she could remember her spells, but the pressure was making it harder to focus.
She could feel her mothers behind her worrying as she stood there, and heard a cough among the crowd.
She needed to think fast, what was that spell again that summonsed her plush wolf again?
She blasted the ground quickly, and in a puff of pink came the wolf, making the princess sigh in relief as the crowd around her clapped. That was one of three, she could do the other two right? She took a deep breath and muttered, "Levitato" under her breath on the stuffed dog, causing it to fly slightly into the air much to the pleasure of the audience. Sky could feel herself laughing in relief as her presentation was actually going better then she was expecting it to go. She confidently used her wand again with her licorice spell and a leash formed itself around the floating wofl, as Sky pulled on the leash to bring the flying dog towards her. She poofed the dog and leash away and everyone clapped as she felt a huge weigh of relief and attempted to head back to her seat.
Only for her mom to stop her and push her back slightly, whispering to her, "Sky you're not done...". Her eyes widened, "Mom, i performed three spells...that was the minimum, i'm done.". Star shifted her eyes to the audience, "Can't you do...just a few more?"
"Mom, i'm fine, let me do what i'm comfortable with...", Sky kept her voice quiet as she didn't want the confused audience to hear her, "Sky, don't you want to show off more of your skills for our guests, you were only up for a few minutes..."
"Well, i'm not you mom...", Sky muttered a little louder, "Let me have this victory, i'm done...". Her mother's face shifted to disappointment and Sky suddenly felt a purge of guilt when her wand suddenly shot some green light from it, bouncing itself around the room as people ducked until it hit it's mark, which just so happened to be the ballroom chandelier. It feel down with a crash and frankly it was lucky it landed in the demonstration space and no where near the guests.
Sky shuddered as she felt eyes on her, and froze in place.
"She used dark magic!", Someone called from the crowd, making her heart drop, "She tried to blast the queen!"
