Chapter 1: Prissy Princess Star part 1

There once were gods.

But before there were gods, there were Butterflies.

One Butterfly asked her mother what the magic wand could do. And her answer?

"You are not ready for such power."

That girl was me, Star Butterfly. And I obeyed my mother, nodded my head. Because that was what she asked of me. By the will of the Allmother, thus it must be so.

But in Dream, I still longed for that power, that transcendence, the cosmic knowledge that came with the wand. I knew I was not ready, I knew. But I would be lying if I said I wasn't at least a bit curious. The most limitless device in the universe, operated by a mere thought.

Tempting, but overwhelming.

Which was exactly why I had asked my mother to travel abroad – to study. To train myself and prepare for the day I would be crowned queen. The day I would finally get to wield the magic wand.

To my surprise my mother actually agreed to the proposal.

She made all the arrangements, planned for every possible scenario, and gave me the best education money could buy. She was the Allmother after all, it was by her word that I was to be trained. And her word was absolute.

There was one thing she didn't account for though, and that was the fact that I would eventually run into this rapscallion named Marco Ubaldo Diaz. My mother thought him a degenerate when she first met him. Crude, unrefined, and a bad influence on me apparently. I overheard that during a conversation with my father.

A harsh assessment, but she wasn't exactly wrong.

The boy was sloppy, often wearing informal garments of black leather or sleeveless hoodies – sometimes both. He was violent, quick to anger, which would often be the cause to the boy getting himself into trouble, into detentions, into fights.

And yet – despite all of that. Somehow, some way, by some miracle no science could explain, no mind could comprehend.

The two of us became friends. Perhaps even best friends. Or even… something more.

Of course, it didn't look like it at first. If anything, the two of us hated each other's guts. Every moment in one another's presence spawned another heated argument. Sometimes petty, sometimes longwinded. But always a constant. I simply could not stand his scent, his reckless energy.

"Don't be absurd, Lily," I told my best friend through my compact. "Just the thought of him makes me want to throw up. You disappoint me, Princess of the Pony Head kingdom. To think my own best friend would think so little of me. Me! And, what do you call him? Earth Turd? Yeah. Pfft, impossible."

But Fate decreed otherwise. And worst of all, my mother saw through it.

Of course she did. She was the Allmother. She knew things not even the Commission knew. Sometimes I wished she didn't know so much. Or at least couldn't see as far.

She also knew how hard it was for me to adapt to this new life. These Earth people were different from my old Mewman friends. They had one heck of a stiff upper lip, a lot of them anyway. They took their studies very seriously. I mean, having high standards made sense. I too have high standards. But a lot of these guys were noticeably a lot less friendly for some reason.

One Brittney Wong, president of the debate club, and her posse was an example of this. I am fairly certain she did not like me very much, if at all. She tried to find any excuse she could get to single me out whenever possible.

"Ugh, use a proper pen with readable handwriting next time okay, princess?" Said Brittney as she examined the debate document I prepared. "You know? Like a normal person? We're trying to keep everything uniform and organized here."

"What? You've never seen a quill before? I just thought I ought to practice my penmanship is all. Funny enough, back on Mewni we actually store everything on a computer system. It's very efficient, and quite fascinating considering what our previous archive system was and…"

"We have computers here, too, your highness," Brittney sneered.

"Her majesty here has been up in those cloud kingdoms for so long she forgets about us lowly mortals down here," Sabrina chimed in.

"Is that like a personal attack or something?" Hope cried.

"What? No!" I desperately cried out. "No, no, no, that's not how I meant that to come off. I'm sorry."

"Just stick to the procedures we discussed, princess," said Brittney, wrapping this up. "Normal handwriting we can all read, please. Not all of us here are fancy and rich like you."

My father King River would often try to comfort me by saying those kids were all just jealous of me and that was all. I knew he meant well, but… I just…

I love my father, but I don't think he understood. Nobody really did. At least nobody I knew of then.

Things didn't go much better with the boys in my class either. The shy and socially awkward nerdier kids would often be too afraid to even approach me, much less talk to me. They seemed nice, but I don't think we had all that much in common then.

And on the other hand, the jocks, the bullies of the football teams found me an easy target for teasing and harassing either during class or during lunch, or even after school.

Marco was often unconcerned through all this. Or at least, he tried to make it look as such. But like I said, my mother saw right through that.

"I'm going to ask out that new girl right after the game. It's going to be wild. New girl, what's her name, um… Star, yeah, Star," Justin Armberg grinned as he walked with his posse.

"Heh, nice bro," said Lars. "Third time's the charm."

These guys didn't realize it at the time, but I was actually nearby listening into their conversations. It wasn't very surprising. Same old story. They had been trying this schtick for over a week now. It got old really fast.

"But aren't you dating Jackie or something?" Oskar asked.

"Shut up, Oskar," Justin scoffed, adjusting his collar. "Just think about it, who on earth could resist all of this?"

"Oh, I can think of a few people actually," a snarky voice echoed from behind. Forcing Justin to turn his head.

And there he met his gaze with one Marco Diaz.

I did not like what came after this, I never did.

"For one thing, the princess is not actually from Earth," Marco smiled. "So that already put a pretty big dent in your ship now hasn't it?"

"Walk away now, Diaz," Justin warned, "if you know what's good for you."

Do as he said, Marco, I whispered under my breath, hoping he would listen. Come on, you idiot. But this was Marco Diaz, the school's bad boy. Of course he would not listen, never in a million years. I wished I had my wand there and then, I could make a million years pass by at that moment, to see if he would change.

"It ain't your business, Diaz. Walk away."

"Yeah," Lars chimed in. "What are you, her boyfriend or something?"

"No," Marco firmly said. "But I am going to teach you no good cheating bozos a lesson if you keep overstepping your boundaries like this."

"Last warning, Diaz."

"What's wrong, Justin?" Marco smirked. "Why the attitude? Compensating for something? Mommy never loved you enough because daddy walked away from home when you were little?"

"THAT'S IT!"

The detention hours were long and unforgiving. But Marco told me he didn't mind. It was a daily occurrence for him. A small price to pay, but a price he chose to pay regardless, and my mother, the Allmother was one of the only few who saw him pay that price at all.

The other one who saw was me.

"What in Mewni's name were you thinking?" I scolded him as I stuck a bandage on his bruised forearm.

"Ouch! Be careful," Marco cried.

"Told you it would sting," I said. "Why do you have to be so reckless all the time?"

"Get off my back, princess. It's none of your business."

"I am your friend, Diaz. Of course it's my business."

"You – are NOT…" the boy hesitated, withdrew and fell silent. I think he saw the disappointment in my eyes. I admit, it was tough to get through to him, to get through this wall he put up. So I just carried on wrapping the bandages around the injuries.

"So… I matter so little to you, is that it?" I muttered.

Marco gave out a long sigh:

"That's not it."

"I worry for you, you know?" I began to feel a blush on my face.

The boy sighed once more:

"I know, princess. I know."

"Then why do you worry me?"

"I… I… I don't know. Maybe for no reason. Maybe I just thought… that you're having a lot on your plate as it is. A bunch of jocks harassing you would just be unnecessary pepperoni."

I glanced at the young reckless boy with glimmering eyes. Feeling a warmth welcoming my desperate lonely heart into a noble embrace. In that moment, I knew this boy was anything but just a simpleton, a heartless brute. He wasn't as much a bad boy as he made himself out to be, that I was sure.

"Th… thank you," I told him.

Thus, he smiled:

"You're welcome… princess."

Marco and I had been through a lot together. We argued, we fought, we bickered, but at the end of the day – I would rather let the universe die before I let him die. It sounded terrible, I know, and maybe even selfish. But it was the truth. Even if a gateway from the hell beneath opened up to swallow the world whole, it was hard for me to admit at the time, but I would gladly travel to the edge of the world itself and serve the planet to the devils below if it meant he could live.

Because Allmothers knew he would not hesitate to do the same for me.

The problem only arose when the angels from heaven descended from above instead of the demons. Because the only thing scarier than an agent of the Devil is an agent of God.

He was called Toffee, though I suspected that might not be his real name. He arrived one day, out of nowhere, with no warning. I didn't think much of it. The villain I had faced before, Ludo, was more a nuisance than a real problem. And yet this Toffee, this lizard with a ridiculous name did more than Ludo could ever do in decades.

He took Marco without lifting a finger.

"Mother please," I implored my Queen. "Let me use the wand. I know you said I'm not ready. But please – I beg of you."

"Say no more, daughter of Mewni," the Queen announced, to my immediate surprise.

Moon, Queen of Mewni, Daughter of Butterfly extended her hand as she stood from her throne. She stood in that pose, arm out, firm as a statue. One unfamiliar with the Queen would not understand what she was doing. But up close, I could clearly feel the cosmic weight of the Moonforce flowing through her body.

The Moonforce – a mysterious cosmic energy unique to the Queen that not even I understood its full extent.

The magic wand was the most intricate and powerful device in all of existence. With it, one could theoretically accomplish anything, possible or impossible. And when the Allmother added the Moonforce to the equation – she was able to push beyond.

And speak of the devil, there from beyond the walls and the gates – the royal magic wand soared through the air right into the palm of the Queen's hand, faster than any arrow known to Mewman kind, even arrows enchanted with magic. Because the wand was magic in its purest form.

The Queen spoke on, a mighty voice echoing across these great halls:

"I, Moon Allmother, invoke the name of my mother, and her mother before, to grant you, Star, Daughter of Butterfly, the power cosmic magic. I render unto thee!"

With the might of the Moonforce, she tossed the wand unto me, her daughter. Letting the weight of the magic land onto my palm. It was heavy, incredibly dense, but also invigorating. The magic flowed through my body as the wand itself took shape appropriate to my own current state of being. I could see farther than ever before, I could see clearer than any telescope, and I understood things even the wisest Mewman scholars could not understand. The shapes of subatomic strings vibrating at specific frequencies in all the things around me, the cement, the floor tiles, the throne, the fabric of the cloth, my breath, my hair, my father's hair, his skin, his clothes, his cape, my mother, her magic.

I, princess, daughter of Mewni, protector of the kingdom, to bear the weight of magic and infinite power. I understood my mother's warning, I really was not ready, but that did not matter right now. The magic and power may destroy my body, but if it was enough to save Marco then I would gladly do it, a thousand times if necessary.

"Speak, daughter of Mewni," Moon commanded.

With the might and echo of the magic, my voice boomed with great weight:

"Castle Avarius."

"Go forth," said the Allmother, "ride with my full authority. Protect that is precious – life."

A storm began to brew above the castle of the birds. Inside one vicious and cruel lizard man of great power and knowledge sat, and there he smiled – waiting for the Butterfly.

"You'll never defeat her," Marco cried out, I could hear him from far away, locked behind the glass. "She's coming for you, and when she does, oh man you are going to get it, lizard man."

The immortal lizard did not respond. He didn't even think to give the boy a passing glare. Instead, he sat there on his throne of metal, unbreakable. Sitting there, pondering things he had seen before, thinking of ways to adapt, and learn.

And learned he did – with cosmic knowledge he smiled.

Just as he had planned, it did not take long before I showed up at the castle's doorsteps, storming into the room, storming the castle.

In my hand wielding the most powerful weapon in the universe. Sparkling with majestic rainbow lightning, encompassing my entire body, with the power of the Moonforce channeling through my veins. My eyes lit up, glancing at the empty hall, and over yonder a lizard on a throne, with his human captive behind a box of glass.

"Let him go," I commanded in the name of my mother. "I shall not say twice."

"Princess," Toffee smiled. "Welcome. Care for a drink?"

I raised my wand, pointing it straight at the Septarian. The rainbow electric sparks were oozing from the tip, bursting out with immense energy. In that moment, Toffee knew – that wand was as heavy as the planet itself.

"Come weary traveler," said Toffee. "Let's discuss this."

"I can destroy you with a single blast of my wand," I echoed my mighty voice. "It would be so easy. Just a single thought. But why incinerate you when I can turn you into rocks and scatter your soul across the universe? Why simply destroy you when I can just turn you into a frog and have you poison yourself? Do you see where I'm going with this? Do you have any idea what I can do with this wand here? So last time, lizard man – let him go!"

But Toffee merely responded with a chuckle. His fingers curiously tapping on the side of the throne.

"Go ahead, princess," he smiled, gesturing towards the glass box. "Be my guest."

Confused, I did not know whether this was a trap and I should keep pointing my wand at the lizard, or if Toffee was being completely serious.

Toffee began explaining to me, as much as my confusion seemed to amuse him so much:

"This is Rhombulus's crystal. They are virtually indestructible."

"I've fought those before," I pointed my wand at the glass. "What's to stop me from just willing the crystal out of existence?"

"Hmm, the destruction of the universe, perhaps?" Toffee tapped his chin.

It made me flinch, and it was exactly what Toffee was counting on.

"That's right, daughter of Mewni," Toffee smiled at my horrified look, knowing full well I had the knowledge to understand what the crystal was. "It is a fundamental force of nature. It exists by necessity, like time, numbers, Reality – Dream. You know what that means, don't you?"

I furiously pointed the wand right back at the lizard. Anger in my eyes, but they were slowly getting weary. The Moonforce was overpowering my senses, letting me see things that under normal circumstances I wouldn't even be able to notice. New senses I normally wouldn't have access to, senses beyond the five basic ones. Some more abstract than others, some hidden in plain sight.

And there Toffee stood, grinning at my apparent fatigue.

"The crystal is under my thumb, and he is beneath the crystal," he said. "So when you are willing to discuss this, then maybe we can do something about it."

With a press of a button, a loud clicking began snapping at the corners of the crystal. Gradually shrinking, bringing down the roof with Marco still inside, right underneath it.

The boy began to squirm, punching onto the indestructible walls around him, trying desperately to find any weakness in the structure. For he did not want to reveal any weakness in his.

"Don't listen to him, Star!" Marco shouted, banging on the glass. "Destroy him now! It's a trick. All of it!"

"Come now, my dear," said Toffee. "Let us discuss this."

"What do you want, you maniac?" I grunted, pointing my wand at him.

And the Septarian simply responded:

"I want… a spell."

"What?"

"It's very simple. Surely by now you must understand the true nature of the magic wand now that you have the chance to wield it in its full glory. You know what the wand is, don't you?"

"I… no…" I hesitated, before lowering the wand, with the energy still overwhelming my senses, draining my stamina. "The wand… it… it showed me things. Things I've never seen before. The wand – it has… commands. Directions on how to operate the device. It's like a computer. The spells."

Toffee grinned devilishly:

"Exactly. And since the wand has universal reach, it means…"

"It means… it can do anything."

"A wishing device," Toffee's eyes gleamed up in hunger.

"What do you want?" I cried out in madness. "Oh, for corn's sake, stop the crystal!"

"I'm fine, Star! Destroy him!"

"I'll stop it when you give me what I want. It's very simple. A wish – a wish for the death of things."

"What things?"

"All things."

I began to see things again, this time visions of things unfamiliar and yet familiar. I saw a Butterfly totem, larger than the Butterfly Castle itself. In the infinite spectrum of its compound eyes, infinite round specks of dust with tiny citizens living on top their soils.

I saw two titans, standing on two bubbles. One of toxic waste, the other of golden machineries. The titans are locked in a stare-down, with neither willing to back down. Not now, not forever. Even with the infinite power of the wand, I still could not see what the titans looked like. Shapeless blobs of indeterminate nonsensical shapes taken form, forms too incomprehensible or even dangerous to mortal eyes.

I saw four mighty celestial bodies, bright and blinding with light. In their hands each were greatswords of the heavens, multiple heavens, drawing power from a place above Skyland, above space, beyond time, and above even the crystals. What was Skyland? How did I know that word?

Four celestial bodies, four agents of power, coming together to form a union. And followed shortly behind them – infinite celestials, infinite greatswords.

My eyes flung wide open, now at my limit with the Moonforce. Marco was trapped, holding onto dear life, trying to hold onto the last chunk of air available to him under the shrinking crystal. The box was still indestructible, immovable and I was unstoppable. But that did not mean stalemate or surrender.

Because I didn't have to play his game.

I raised my wand high, wielding the greatsword with both hands. This was the moment Toffee's smile disappeared off his face.

"Blackest moon, come to me…" I began to chant, "Brightest sun, give me strength."

"What are you doing?" Toffee glared. "Do you want your human to die?"

"Open the gate, render unto thee," I continued, ignoring his warning. "Destroy evil, show me the wavelength."

"Stop this at once! The spell! Our deal!"

"Don't listen to him, Star. Do it!"

"Give me the knowledge, show me the magic source. Grant me my wishes, by my will the Moonforce."

A rambling of madness, and from madness came the chaos and the blinding light. A light of transcendence and oblivion. Transporting the three of us to higher planes. A place beyond thought and memory.

Because the very next thing I saw was the ceiling of my bedroom. My eyes blurred my mind, sheltering it from the numb senses and the ringing in my ears. I was barely strong enough to even let out a painful moan.

"Star!" My father King River cried out, "Thank heavens you're awake. How are you feeling, pumpkin?"

"What… what is going on?" I rubbed my eyes with my trembling hands. "Wh… why is my hand shaking? What time is it?"

"You've been out for three days, your highness," said the doctor by my bedside. "That was quite the blast you survived. It did a number on you. Under normal circumstances I would've recommended at least a whole week for a full recovery. But the Allmother wants you back as soon as possible. She's been at the site, containing the energy ever since."

"The site? Energy?"

"It's a long story."

The magic wand was indeed a complex machine. It showed me things that scrambled my brain extremely thoroughly, rearranging them in new unique patterns in order to absorb new knowledge. Most of which I had forgotten the moment my hand left the wand, the moment the cosmic magic left my mind. I didn't even remember what I wished for.

But the wand opened up portals. Portals to worlds beyond Mewni, beyond Earth. Forcing open space like a can of beans, in ways Hekapoo's scissors themselves could not even do. Scissors could cut paper, but a crowbar could pry open metal panels.

And here at the remains of what was once Castle Avarius – a field of gates. And before them all, Moon, Queen of Mewni, holding the fabric of space together from falling apart, channeling great magic through her body.

"Mother," I called out, approaching the field of gates.

"Star, dear. I hope your recovery is going well."

"I'll be fine. Just a little fatigued," I smiled.

But the Allmother sighed in disappointment:

"It is my fault. I shouldn't have lent you the power of the Moonforce. Forgive me, daughter, for my irrational judgement at the time. Toffee was an enemy of old, my enemy. And instead of facing him myself – I sent my offspring after him, with a power she could barely understand."

"Mother…"

"I was afraid, my child. Afraid to face my past, afraid that I might not be strong enough to shatter the immortal monster, and… afraid of what will be if it turns out I was strong enough. I am truly sorry."

"I trust in you," I said. "You are the Allmother."

"But the victim is of Earthly origin, your companion, one Marco Diaz. Under normal circumstances I would send you back behind the walls of our castle where it is safe. But you have a stake in this, I'd imagine you would not want to sit back and do nothing while your friend is out there in mortal danger."

"No… I would not. Forgive me, Allmother, for I would rebel against your wishes if that were your command."

"I see."

I cleared my throat, anxious that I might've offended my mother. But sudden movements as minor as a mere slight cough was enough to reignite the pain in my shoulder, the shoulder being kept together by a tight arm cast.

"You were right, mother. I'm not ready for the power of the wand. I knew that before, but parts of me in Dream still felt… still felt if I was given the chance, I could do something with that power. Forgive me."

"There is nothing to forgive. You have done no wrong, daughter of Mewni. Because it hardly matters now whether you're ready or not. It is not I, the Allmother, who asks of you to train and wield the wand. It is not the kingdom who asks of you to protect the land from invaders with the magic. No – this time, it is the multiverse that asks for a guardian. Ready or otherwise."

"Where is Toffee, mother?"

"Through one of these countless portals. Somewhere out there in the multiverse, alongside your friend. The two of them each entered a different portal. It falls upon you to find them before…"

"Before…" I raised my eyebrow.

"Before the multiverse dies."

AN: This chapter covers the point of view of Prissy Princess Star of Bad Boy Marco Universe #6. Born from nobility and from the Allmother, she is on her way to discovering the vast cosmic powers of the universe.