Incursion

Moon was nearing the cornfield when she noticed an eerie purple light overhead. She stopped moving and looked up to see what the source was. Above her, a fast approaching ball of black and purple was beginning to descend. The queen narrowly dodged the spell before it hit the ground. Unfortunately, she was still in close proximity to the spell and was greatly wounded.

"Aahhh, my…my leg," cried out Moon. Her warnicorn had landed on her left leg, crushing her thigh bone. The spooked warnicorn sat up before sprinting back in the direction of the castle. Feebly, the queen tried to move only to have her entire body light up with pain. "Wai-" The wounded queen fainted, her final thoughts were about her family's safety.

"MOM," Star screamed as the spell struck the ground. "Marco," she called as she ran from her room, "Marco get my dad and go to the corn field, quickly!"

"What, what's wrong?" Marco struggled to put on his shirt and hoodie. "Star? Star, where are you going?"

"Marco, there's no time, just get my father and go to the corn field. My…my mother's been attacked!" Star summoned Cloudy and immediately departed for the corn field.

"River, King River," Marco shouted as he pounded on the door, "quickly, Queen Moon's been attacked!" He jumped back in alarm as the door quickly swung open to reveal a battle-ready king.

"Where, who's attacked her? I'll kill them," he said with a wild glare in his eye. He grabbed Marco and pushed him up against the corridor wall. "Where's Moon-pie? Well, speak up boy!"

"Sh-she's at the corn field, that's what Star said! We have to hurry, Star's already left." River let go of the frightened boy as he finished speaking. The king picked up Marco and dashed out of the castle. Right now, he was the fastest creature on Mewni and nothing was going to stop him from reaching his wife.

"Mommy, Mom," the princess called as she neared the corn field. "Mom, are you alright?" She jumped down from Cloudy and crouched next to her mother. From what Star could tell, her mother only had a few cuts and numerous bruises.

"Oh my, did something happen to your mother?"

"Eclipsa," gasped Star in trepidation, "you did this, didn't you?" Star pulled out her wand and aimed it at the queen who stood several feet away. "She didn't do anything wrong. I followed your orders, didn't I? So why, why did you hurt my mother?"

"Is she really all that innocent, dearie? All of them knew we had a deal because you told that boy. They all hid it from you to see what else I would do. She was going to use you to find me, but she can't if she's no longer in charge. You'll have to be queen, now that your mother won't be able to." Queen Eclipsa stepped up to the angry Star, a wicked smile stretched across her face.

"But she was going to help monsters regardless, it doesn't make sense to attack her like you did. She did nothing wrong!" Tears began to burn Star's eyes as they slid down her cheeks. "Why did you attack my mother?"

"All in good time, my dear, all in good time." Eclipsa walked past Star and into a gray portal, leaving her to question the evil queen's motives once more. Finally, Star returned to her mother's side just as her father and Marco arrived.

"Star, what happened?" River grabbed his wife's hand and held it. "We need to get her out of here and back into the castle. I should have never let her go alone. I'm such a fool!"

"It was Eclipsa. I'm so sorry, this is all my fault!" Tears began to fall more rapidly down her face. The guilt from her mother's attack crashed down on her like an avalanche.

"Star, we need to move your mother without hurting her. We need you to use a spell or something." Marco rested his hand on her shoulder to reassure her. "Everything will be alright, but right now, your mother needs help." Star nodded and wiped away her tears. She summoned Cloudy again and the three carefully placed the queen on top.

"Star, stay with your mother so you can make sure she has a smooth ride. We'll meet you back at the castle with a doctor or two." Marco hopped on the king's back and disappeared among the houses. Star carefully directed Cloudy back to the castle. True to his word, River had doctors at the ready for when Star and Moon arrived. Everyone was kept out of the infirmary while the doctors checked for serious injuries.

"How could you, Marco? Why did you tell my parents, I trusted you?" The princess angrily yelled at the young boy. He jumped back as she stared him down.

"Star they needed to know."

"Oh yeah, well look what happened! If I had never told you, my mother wouldn't have been attacked. I'm so stupid, I should have just kept it to myself and none of this would've happened. But no, I thought you were my best friend who would never betray me!" Star yelled at Marco and felt like her heart was breaking. If she couldn't trust Marco, who could she trust?

"Star, I was only thinking of your safety. You have to understand that Eclipsa was probably already planning to attack your mother. I don't regret telling your parents because it's obvious that Eclipsa has some greater plan in mind." Marco turned away from Star angrily.

"Please, you two, keep it down for Moon's sake. Besides, Star, your mother knew something like this was going to happen. That's why she wanted you to stay close to her so Eclipsa couldn't use you against her. An attack on your mother's life was inevitable, so…calm down and we'll discuss this later." The king was determined to track down Eclipsa now that she had wounded his wife. The door to the infirmary finally opened to reveal the team of doctors covered with small amounts of blood. The head doctor stepped forward to address the group.

"The queen has suffered a few critical injuries as well as multiple minor injuries. She has three broken ribs, two fractured ribs, a fractured humerus, a broken femur, and multiple bruises. She won't be able to attend her duties for quite some time."

"Exactly how long are we talking?" Star was afraid to hear the answer to her question. She wasn't too keen on becoming a temporary queen while her mother recovered.

"About a year, Your Highness. It will take at least eight months for her leg to heal fully. During the first eight months, she'll be spending most of her time doing exercises for her broken ribs. Once her leg is healed, she'll have to do exercises to strengthen her leg muscles for the remaining months."

"You can't use magic to heal her?" Star tried to think of a few spells that might help her mother. "We're both not ready for me to take charge just yet. Remember when I first got the Royal Magic Wand? It'll be that all over again!"

"Star, remember what happened last time you tried to fix my broken hand? We're not doing that again, okay?" Marco rubbed his right hand and cringed.

"Ugh, fine. But just so you're all aware, I'm going to be a terrible queen. So, you know, be prepared and all." Star slumped against the wall and frowned at the idea of being queen at such a young age. "Stupid Eclipsa, stupid magic ball of stupidness."

"Well, Queen Star, what do we do now?" Marco was joking with Star, hoping she was in a better mood from earlier. Star faced the two males and angrily replied.

"You're both grounded, so go to your rooms and don't come out 'til I say you can!"

"But I can't leave your mother!"

"Room, now!" Star pointed upstairs as a disheveled River sadly turned away. "I'll send someone to get you when she wakes up."

"Aw," whimpered River as he climbed the stairs to his room, "she's just like her mother, never lets me do anything. She even yelled at poor Marco." He stopped to stare at a picture of his beautiful wife and sighed. "Goodnight Moon, get well soon." River entered his room and laid on his wife's pillow to breathe in her heavenly scent. Within moments, he finally fell asleep.

Author's Note: Ever since I found out that the current queen doesn't have to be dead to give up the throne to her heir, I've had a feeling that it might happen to Star. It's killing me to wait until November to see if I'm correct about all my speculations (plus I want more MoonXRiver). Oh well, hoped you enjoyed this chapter!