Marco pointed to a green minivan with brown striping that sat inside of the garage. "This is gonna be our time machine."
"The minivan?" Star implored. "Why are we going to make a time machine out of the minivan?"
Marco grinned unconfidently and chuckled. "The reinforced steel design will help the flux dispersal... or something like that."
"You don't want to use your mom's car?" Star asked while pointing towards a blue sedan parked near the minivan.
"Nope." Marco insisted. "I don't think she'd really like the idea of her car being turned into a time machine. The minivan's a little old, but it will do. If we start building it now, we might get done by Monday morning."
The inter-dimensional princess smirked mischievously. "Or, we could get it done instantly if we used magic."
Marco's face lightened up. "There's a spell for that?"
"There's a spell for everything, Marco." Star retorted. "Even making time machines."
"Well what are we waiting for?" Marco asked. "Let's get this show on the road!"
Star raised her wand and pointed it at the minivan.
"Sparkle Glitter Time Transform!"
The spell hit the minivan, the vehicle instantly began to change. The dull, faded green paint on the exterior was restored to its original luster. The rectangular shape of the minivan deformed into a more streamlined, modern appearance. Best of all, vanity plates that read "NTHR DMNS1" replaced the standard California license plates that the vehicle previously had.
"This is amazing!" Marco yelled while smiling in glee. "I can't believe this actually worked!"
Marco opened the door and sat down in the driver's seat. "C'mon, Star! You can ride shotgun."
"Ooh! Shotgun!" Star exclaimed. "Wait, what's shotgun?"
"It means you get to ride in the front seat." Marco explained.
"So cool!" Star cheered to herself as she got in the front passenger seat and closed the door.
"Luckily, Back to the Future has taught me a lot about time machines," Marco declared. "I'm not sure if it's good design or good fortune, but this time machine has some similarities with the one Doc Brown made in the movie."
"Neat!" Star giggled. "So... do we know how this thing even works?"
"I think so. You see that box behind us, Star?" Marco said, pointing to a rectangular metal container attached to the back seat. The lid had the outline of a wand and the phrase "Magical Capacitor" stamped onto it.
"Yeah."
"It looks like your wand goes inside of it."
Star turned around in the seat so she was facing the capacitor and pulled the lid open. The inside of the box was empty, except for a wand charger that was cemented firmly to the bottom. She firmly pressed her wand into the charger, and then closed the door before locking the two side latches to secure it shut. As she turned back around and buckled herself in, a bank of color-coded electronic displays in the center console caught her attention.
"Ooh, what are these things?" she asked, pointing to them.
"These are time circuits. In order for the time machine to work, we'll have to turn them on."
Marco reached for a lever near the time circuits and engaged it in the on position. The top display lit up and displayed the current date: OCT 23 2015
"The red one tells us where we're going. This green one tells us where we are. And this yellow one tells us where we were."
"So using the time circuits, we can go anywhere we want in time?" implored Star.
"We could. For example, we could go back to the time when you came to Earth."
Marco punched in some numbers on a numerical keypad that was near the time circuits. The date on the upper time circuit changed to: AUG 30 2015
"Or we could go to the time when I met Pony Head!" Star exclaimed, frantically typing in numbers that caused the destination date to change to FEB 28 2003
Star looked at the time circuits in confusion. "That's strange... the date's all messed up."
"What do you mean?" Marco asked, who also became confused.
"I met Pony Head on Cyrinean 5th, not February 28th."
Marco knitted his eyebrows. "Cyrinean? What's that?"
"On Mewni, we use a different calendar than Earth," Star explained. "Maybe that's why the time circuits are all messed up."
"I guess. If there's something we could use to change the—"
The dates on the top time circuit suddenly changed to CYR 05 2003.
"Found it." Star said as she pulled her hand away from a switch near the time circuits. "Here we are, on yet another adventure! Of course, it's an adventure to stop Ludo, but it's still an adventure. So where are we going?"
Marco sighed dismally. "That's the thing about time travel. He could be anywhere in the past, or the future for all we know. More likely than not, he's in the past right now, screwing up time so he can get his claws your wand."
Star scrunched her eyebrows and looked at Marco in confusion. "Why wouldn't Ludo just steal my wand from me in the past, when I was on Mewni? That seems a lot easier than all of this time manipulation stuff."
"As silly as Ludo is, there's a reason behind everything he does. Maybe he hasn't taken the most obvious route because he knows we'd be waiting for him. Or maybe there could be bigger brains at work here." Marco suggested.
"So, like, someone else could be helping Ludo out?" Star inferred.
"It would explain why he has a time machine, along with the whole 'screwing up time' scheme." Marco reasoned. "Ludo couldn't have come up with this plan all by himself. Someone else has to be telling him how to play the cards."
"With help from someone smarter, Ludo could be anywhere..." Star groaned. "How can we figure out the right place and time?"
"Maybe we need to look at this differently." Marco suggested.
"Differently? Like, how differently?" asked Star.
"We need to figure out why he's using a time machine in the first place." determined Marco.
"Well, Ludo's weak and stupid and we always beat him," Star retorted. "So he's gonna go back in time and steal my wand so he can take over the multiverse."
Marco chuckled a little. "But even without my help, you still manage to beat him pretty easily because of your wand. That can't be it."
"If it's not us, then what is it?" Star wondered.
"Well, Ludo might just be sick and tired of trying to steal the wand from you." Marco reasoned. "If he can't steal the wand from you, he might be trying to steal the wand from someone else who is more vulnerable."
"Someone else? More vulnerable?" questioned the inter-dimensional princess. "Like who would he try stealing the wand from?"
"Someone else in your family who previously had the wand." shuddered Marco. "Most likely, Ludo would attack your mom when she had the wand."
"My mom? Why her?" asked Star.
Marco looked at Star with a serious look on his face. "Do you ever remember your mom talking to you about monster fighting?"
"Never. As for my dad, that's another story. He's been fighting monsters from the time he was old enough to walk."
"Well that explains everything," Marco inferred. "If Ludo stole the wand before you ever had it, he wouldn't have to keep attacking us to try and get it. Even worse, we would have never met because if you didn't need to be trained in how to use a wand, you would still be living on Mewni. A Ludo-controlled Mewni."
"That's awful..." Star solemnly sighed, her hands slowly turning into fists. "I couldn't imagine not coming to Earth, let alone never having a wand and living in a world controlled by Ludo!"
"That's why we're gonna stop him." Marco reiterated. "So we can save the future and keep him from ever doing this again."
"If Ludo was going to steal my wand..." Star began, "...er, my wand when it was my mom's wand, when would he do it?"
"Well, he tried to steal your wand from you on the day you got it." Marco noted. "Even the prospect of having to go to Earth to find it didn't stop him."
"So we should go back in time to my mom's fourteenth birthday, and stop Ludo before he has a chance to attack?" Star asked.
"Yeah. Even if Ludo's not there, it'll be a good starting point," Marco added.
Star reached across the center console and placed her hand over the keypad. "My mom's fourteenth birthday was on Grobnock 11th, 1985."
After typing in a set of digits, the date on the top time circuit changed to: GRO 11 1985.
"Wait, how do you know when your parent's birthdays are?" Marco wondered.
"They're my parents, duh!" Star giggled as her expression lightened up. "You gotta know when their birthdays are! Don't you know your parents' birthdays?"
Marco grinned sheepishly. "No, not particularly."
"Come on, Marco!" sneered the inter-dimensional princess. "Don't you want your parents to have fun birthdays?"
"Of course I do!" Marco insisted. "Birthdays are the bomb!"
Star beamed with excitement simply thinking about birthdays. "I know, right? You get treated so nicely, and your friends hang out with you, and you get presents, and cake, and other awesome stuff!"
"Well, thanks to Ludo, your mom might not have a happy fourteenth birthday if we don't get going soon. But there's one more thing we've got to do, first."
"What is it?" asked Star.
"We've got to open a dimensional portal to Mewni. You brought your dimensional scissors, didn't you?"
Star reached into her purse and pulled out a pair of scissors with red handles that came together in the shape of a heart. "Of course! I don't leave home without 'em!"
"All right. Now cut open a portal right in front of us." Marco said.
She opened the door and quickly ran out in front of the minivan. "Right here?"
"Yep. Once we drive through the portal and end up on Mewni, we can get ready to time travel."
Star cut open a dimensional portal and returned to her seat in the time machine.
"I'm so excited!" Star gasped.
"I am too." Marco added while inserting the keys into the ignition. "Now let's see how the minivan handles this inter-dimensional journey."
He turned the keys, causing the time machine to start up its engine. The instrument panel lit up and the gauges calibrated to their neutral position. Once everything was set, Marco pressed his foot down on the brake and shifted into drive. Just barely pressing the gas pedal down with his foot, he carefully maneuvered the time machine through the dimensional portal. No sooner had the time machine finished entering it, the portal closed and disappeared from sight.
Within seconds, they arrived in Mewni. The night sky was pitch dark, but the planet's twin moons and the millions of stars in the sky shone down through the sunroof. But despite this, nothing at all could be seen through the windshield.
"I can't see a thing." Marco whispered. "I need to turn on the headlights."
"Why's that, Marco?" asked Star. "You need to figure out if you're driving the minivan straight?"
"That, and to see if there's something remotely like a road here on Mewni." he replied.
Marco parked the time machine and turned on the headlights, excepting to see the lay of the land in front of him. But all he saw were stalks of some kind of yellow-colored vegetable attached to green stalks.
"Well Marco," Star giggled, "it looks like you were driving straight, all right. You drove straight into a corn field!"
"At least there's flat ground underneath all this corn." Marco sighed. "In a few minutes, we'll be out of this field and off to 1985."
"Wait up, Marco." interjected the inter-dimensional princess. "There's one thing I want to do before we leave."
"What's that?" Marco implored.
"Get out your phone!" Star yelled. "We need to take selfies!"
"Why?" Marco wondered.
She grinned wide in excitement. "So that when we get back, we can tell people about our time travels! We could tell your parents, and our friends, and—"
"We don't want anyone to find out about this!" Marco interrupted.
Star rolled her eyes. "Why not? Time travel's not such a big deal!"
"If our friends find out about what happened, then my parents will eventually find out too. If my parents find out, then they'll probably tell your parents. And if my parents tell your parents that we made a time machine out of a minivan and then went on a reckless joyride in the past, they might send you to—"
"ST. OGLA'S REFORM SCHOOL FOR WAYWARD PRINCESSES!" Star squealed, throwing her arms into the air out of fright. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
For Marco, there was nothing worse than when Star was scared. Normally, she wasn't afraid of anything. Neither monsters, nor school assignments, nor Ludo himself would scare her under normal circumstances. When Star was scared, whatever she was scared of was seriously frightening, upsetting, or both. Marco reached his arms out and placed them on his best friend's shoulders, trying to calm her down the best he could.
"Star, it'll be all right..." Marco reassured quietly, placing his hands back on the steering wheel.
"I hope so..." Star shuddered fearfully. "Now that you mention it... remember how we told my dad that we'd tell him once we made a time machine?"
"Of course. I was there, Star."
"We should look for an inter-dimensional mirror in 1985." Star reasoned. "My dad says that they work across time and space. Then we could tell him that we'll be able to stop Ludo."
Marco reached his arms out towards her. "But Star, wouldn't your mom object to—"
The inter-dimensional princess sneered sarcastically. "Pfft! Marco, I have mother issues. And besides, if my dad's on board with this whole thing, then she'll be fine with it. I hope."
"You really think so?" asked Marco.
"I'm sure of it. My parents get along most of the time." Star explained. "But could we take one selfie? Just for us?"
"Just for us? So I can use it as my phone's background?" asked Marco.
"Sure." Star agreed.
Marco shrugged his shoulders. "I don't see why not. After all, we are best friends."
"Awesome! Thanks, Marco!" beamed Star happily.
Marco took his phone out of his pocket and raised it into the air so that they were both in the picture frame.
"Say, 'Cheese'!" Star said teasingly.
The two friends smiled as Marco took the selfie. Afterwards, he set the picture as his wallpaper photo and placed his phone back in his pocket.
"Now we're ready."
Marco shifted the time machine into drive and turned left out of the cornfield. Once he could no longer see corn stalks in front of him, he ended the turn and began to drive forwards slowly.
"So Marco, how is the time machine gonna get us to 1985?" Star questioned.
Marco focused on the view ahead of him as he told Star everything. "Once this thing reaches eighty-eight miles per hour, you're gonna cast the time travel spell. The time machine will then generate 1.21 gigawatts of electricity, and we're gonna end up in 1985. And you're gonna see some serious stuff."
For as far as the eye could see, there were nothing but cornfields left and right of where the time machine was, but directly ahead of it was a straight, narrow path. It was just wide enough for the time machine to drive on.
"Cooooool!" gasped Star in awe. "I can't wait!"
"Me neither," added the karateka. "Here goes!"
Marco pressed his foot down forcefully on the gas pedal, causing the front wheels to start spinning rapidly. A second or two later, the back wheels got traction and the time machine began to accelerate. Both teenagers were tossed around in their seats as the time machine rattled down the narrow path between the cornfields.
"M-Marco, this is pretty rough!" stammered Star. "What is this called?"
"Off-roading." Marco replied nervously while at the speedometer intently, hoping the time machine would reach the required speed soon so he wouldn't have to endure the constant shaking.
Star raised her hands into the air out of exhilaration. "Well then, I love off-roading!"
About fifteen seconds later, Marco began reading the speed indications off the speedometer.
"Sixty-five." Marco muttered through gritted teeth.
"This is amazing!" noted the inter-dimensional princess.
"Seventy."
"Woohoo! This feels incredible!"
"Eighty-eight!" Marco interjected. "All right, Star! It's time for the spell!"
Star raised her hand as if she holding the wand, and cast the spell.
"Easy Peasy Time Exploreasy!"
As soon as the spell was cast, a purple ball of plasma formed in front of the time machine, and quickly snowballed in size each second. Purple and blue light flashed throughout the interior cabin, accompanied by the sound of electrical arcing.
Marco gripped the steering wheel tightly. "Hang on Star! We're almost there!"
Before he could say another word, the time machine disappeared from sight in a large explosion of dust, butterflies, and hearts. Long, rectangular trails of fire rocketed out from the explosion cloud and caught the grass below on fire. Inside the time machine, however, it was a much smoother ride. Star and Marco could only see blue sparks flying past the windshield. A few seconds later, the view through the windshield became sharper and less obscured as the sparks cleared. Outside, it was now as bright as day—and the cornfield that once stood on both sides of the time machine had vanished entirely.
"Where are we?" Star wondered.
Marco stared out of the windshield. The fields that were on either side of the time machine now were barren and devoid of any sort of agricultural development.
"I think we're in 1985, Star." Marco deduced.
"So that means that the time machine worked!" Star yelled joyfully. "Hooray for magic!"
"Uh, Star? We're not quite out of the woods yet," Marco cautioned as the time machine rolled to a gentle stop. "We still have to find an inter-dimensional mirror, and Ludo. Where do you think we should start the search?"
She removed her wand from the Magical Capacitor and scratched her head. "Maybe there's a town nearby that has one we can use."
Marco removed the keys from the ignition and got out of the minivan with Star.
Meanwhile, in 2015, Ludo's new time machine has just finished its first test run. The time machine had landed in the center of a Mewnian cornfield, not unlike the one Star and Marco had ended up in before their journey to the past. Ludo opened the door and breathed the fresh air before letting his minions and Toffee exit.
"All right!" Ludo barked. "We're here!"
"What is this place?" asked Buff Frog as he walked out into the cornfield.
"We're in the past!" replied the kappa monster. "A minute in the past, but it's still the past!"
"Hmm. Looks like the time machine is fully operational." observed Toffee. "Now as soon as we can—"
"Boss! Look over there!" interrupted Bearicorn. "This field is on fire!"
Ludo turned his head and glared directly to where he was pointing. On the ground between the cornfields, there were several small fires burning, but weren't growing in intensity and looked like the fires would burn themselves out.
"What's so important about small fires in a cornfield?" asked Ludo curiously.
"Absolutely nothing." Toffee grumbled impatiently. "But fires are rather uncommon, particularly in agricultural areas such as these. We should check it out."
Ludo didn't have to walk far to reach the fires. After a short, thirty second journey, he had reached the flames. Toffee followed closely behind, noting observations about the fires.
"Don't you find it weird that these fires are burning in straight lines?" questioned Ludo.
"Quite."
Ludo continued to pan the area suspiciously, searching for any other clues as to what may have caused the blazes. He didn't have to look very far to find some. A few yards away, in between the smoldering flames, lay a license plate. Toffee approached and rolled back the sleeves of his suit coat before picking it up. As soon as his fingers made contact with the it, Toffee dropped the plate back down on the ground and winced in pain.
"Is it hot?" Ludo wondered.
Toffee grabbed his right hand with his left. "No. Actually, it's cold. The coldest thing I've ever touched."
Not fazed a bit by Toffee's observation, Ludo took both of his hands and grabbed the license plate outright. Simply holding the aluminum plate made Ludo feel like his hands were being submerged in liquid nitrogen. However within seconds the plate warmed to his touch. After clearing frost off of the front of the plate, Ludo noticed that there was a message stamped on it.
"NTHR DMNS1? Sounds like 'another dimension'." Ludo deduced. "Wait a minute... another dimension?!"
"You think this plate came from another dimension?" Toffee implored.
"Of course it did!" he argued. "It says it right on it! And remember what happened in that movie we saw? When the time machine went into the past, it left its license plate behind on the ground!"
Toffee couldn't believe his luck. "So you're suggesting—"
"I'm not suggesting anything!" Ludo interjected. "I'm saying what's real. And I know for a fact now that..." He paused for dramatic effect, then screamed angrily.
"STAR BUTTERFLY BUILT HERSELF A TIME MACHINE!"
"Well, she is a magical princess, after all." justified Toffee. "She must have used her magic wand to make her and her companion travel through time."
Ludo glared at Toffee with a look of rage plastered upon his face. "Well, what are we waiting for?! LET'S GO INTO THE PAST AND ATTACK—"
"Not so fast." interrupted Toffee, cutting Ludo's rant short. "This new development calls for a change of plans. Going into the past and attacking Princess Butterfly is no longer viable. Now that she has a time machine, she could go into the past and defeat us before we could strike back against her."
"What do you suggest we do, then?!" Ludo furiously sneered.
"Rally up your cronies. We're going back to the Mewnian glory days. Back before this whole 'magic wand' debacle even existed. Back when the wand was utilized by a less potent member of the Butterfly family."
"Who?" inquired Ludo.
"Princess Butterfly's mother—the last owner of that magic wand." Toffee elaborated.
Ludo's anger suddenly faded. "Great idea! Why didn't I think of that myself?" he wondered.
"Maybe because I'm the evil efficiency expert." bragged Toffee. "Let's get this plan in action."
While Ludo and his minions trudged back towards the time machine, Toffee stayed put, and looked upwards into the night sky. Butterfly Castle was far closer now, and because Toffee was closer to the castle, he could pick out finer details about it that he perviously could not see. At the base of the castle sat a populous village where tens of thousands of people lived. Above that rested some small fortified castles, where battalions of royal guards were training. Highest of all were numerous towers, which stretched for hundreds of feet into the air and supported atop them massive technicolor domes adorned with various insignias. It was simply breathtaking to look at the castle, but Toffee prevented his emotions from breaking his composure. Instead, he only uttered a simple phrase; a phrase that he said once daily since the day that Ludo had hired him.
"Quod familia delenda est."