Star pointed downhill towards a village in the distance.
"There it is, Marco. Our first spot to search for an inter-dimensional mirror."
Marco shrugged his shoulders in uncertainty. "What do you think are the chances we'll actually find a mirror in this place?"
"Uh, I don't know." Star answered, looking back at her best friend hesitantly. "If we can find someone here that isn't dirt poor, they might have a mirror. Or be able to lead us to one."
"Do common Mewmans even know that inter-dimensional mirrors exist?" asked Marco.
Star sneered and smiled sarcastically. "Of course they do, Marco! You could go up to any Mewman and ask them about something magical, and they'll know what you're talking about!"
"Well just because people know about something doesn't mean they happen to know where it is." Marco noted.
"True..." conceded Star as she chewed on the end of her wand a little. "Then again, we'll never know if there's an inter-dimensional mirror in that village unless we try to find one."
"If you're ready to start looking, then let's go." suggested Marco.
Star and Marco walked down the rolling Mewnian hills and approached the village. About fifty feet away from the entrance, a sign read: WELCOME TO ACCRINGTON.
"This place doesn't look so bad after all." Marco thought as he entered the village with Star and began to take in the sights around him.
The first thing that Marco noticed about Accrington was its size. Back when Star took him and his parents to Mewni, they had also visited a village. Compared to the village they had seen in 2015, Accrington did not suffer from the state of squalor that the former possessed, and was far less crowded. Nevertheless, brick houses lined the narrow, peasant-filled, crowded streets.
As Star and Marco reached the center of town, they noticed there were numerous men on the sides of the road, trying to entice passersby into buying whatever products they had at the ready. One man wore a pocketed trenchcoat, with a clock stuffed into each pocket. Another man was holding several pieces of paper in his hands, and was waving them around in the wind. Still another man sat astride the road, his hands wrapped around a cardboard box filled with calzones.
Marco's eyes widened upon seeing the man. "Star, remember how you told me that here on Mewni, there are magical calzones that will tell you how you'll die?" he asked.
"Yeah, what about it?" replied Star.
"Is that a calzone vendor over there?" inquired Marco, who pointed towards the man in question.
"I think so." Star deduced. "Why do you ask? Do you want to buy one?"
"No way." adamantly declared Marco, who waved one of his arms in discontent. "That's creepy. I find it weird that anyone would want to know how they're gonna die."
Star spun her wand in circles and looked off into the distance. "Well here on Mewni, some people want to know how they're gonna go. Luckily, I'm not one of those people."
"Neither am I." said Marco huskily. "But there's something I'd like to know about those calzones."
"What is it?" asked Star curiously.
"How hard is it for the average Mewman to get one of them?" Marco questioned.
"Pretty hard." explained Star. "Calzones like that are really expensive."
"Do you think that guy might be selling other expensive things?" asked Marco. "As in like, an inter-dimensional mirror?"
Star shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, he might."
"Well then why are we sitting here doing nothing?!" questioned Marco. "Let's go ask him!"
Marco guided Star down the street towards the calzone vendor, who was looking down at the ground. Both of the teenagers could tell by the look on his face that he probably hadn't managed to sell a single calzone since he'd set up shop.
"Psst!" Star whispered. "Could we ask you something?"
The man looked up at Star, and immediately his gaze shifted to her wand. The bright Mewnian sunshine reflected off of the golden star in the center of the wand, and back into his face. The man stood up and cheered raucously.
"Is it really you? It can't be!" screamed the man joyfully.
"Wait up." Star interrupted. "What are you talking about?"
The man wrapped his right arm around her and pulled her closer. "You're Moon Butterfly! The Princess of Mewni!"
Star immediately froze in surprise. She certainly hadn't expected anyone to "recognize" her in 1985, let alone misidentify her as her mother. Knowing that revealing that she was from the future would have been no use, Star decided to play along, hoping the man wouldn't realize the charade of lies she was about to throw at him.
"Uh, yeah! It's me! Moon Butterfly!" she said unconfidently while giving a thumbs-up with her left hand.
The calzone vendor bowed in respect. "Your Royal Highness! Why are you here, in this humble village?"
Marco tapped Star on the shoulder. "Star? What are you doing?!" he whispered frightfully. "We need to find a—"
"Shh!" interjected Star. "I can handle this."
"Villager, I am here today to find a missing royal heirloom," declared Star, attempting to imitate the sound of her mom's voice. "It looks like a mirror with gems on it. It's very important to the royal family. If you have seen—"
"You mean this?" asked the vendor as he reached into his calzone box and pulled out a moderately sized mirror with precious gems lining the corners and edges. Some dirt had gotten on the surface of the mirror, but otherwise it was undamaged.
"Yes!" boomed Star in her faux royal tone. "This is exactly what I've been looking for!"
"Wait, where'd you even find this thing?" wondered Marco.
"A week or so ago, a royal guard post near here got looted by a mob of monsters," explained the vendor. "But they were clumsy and dropped some things as they made their way back to the forest. I found this mirror lying on the ground and thought, 'Hey! Might as well take it!"
"Well, it's a good thing the Princess and I came here when we did." admitted Marco, who by now was also playing along with Star's "posh and proper princess" façade. "Otherwise, we may have never found it."
"It's my pleasure to be of service to you," said the vendor to Marco. "So... uh, what is your relation to the princess?"
Star turned to Marco and smiled. "This is Marco, my best friend. Him and I always go on adventures together."
The calzone vendor bowed once more. "Well then, it is my pleasure to have served you, Your Royal Highness and Sir Marco."
Marco nervously shuffled his feet and looked down at the floor. "But I'm not a—"
"Thanks for everything!" yelled Star as she started walking away from the calzone vendor. She then beckoned for Marco to follow her. He didn't hesitate for a moment and hurriedly made his way towards her and walked side-by-side with her. They didn't stop until they reached an empty section of road near the edge of the village.
Marco sighed in relief. "Well that was a close. But at least we've got a mirror!"
"You could say that again." remarked Star as she brushed some of the dirt off of the face of the mirror.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" asked Marco.
"Of course it will!" answered Star. "I hope."
After turning the mirror on and calibrating its settings, Star began the fateful call.
"Call Dad."
"Calling Dad." responded the inter-dimensional mirror, which began to send its fateful transmission across the fabric of spacetime.
Deep within the confines of Butterfly Castle sat a room that was different from all the others. Normally, its doors remained shut and locked to any human presence. Like many things in the Kingdom of Mewni, the purpose of the room was intentionally kept secret. Only King and Queen Butterfly knew what the room was for. The room was designed for meetings between royal staff and themselves in times of war or when something urgent had to be discussed. Today, the room was being used for the first time since the War of Mewnipendence. King and Queen Butterfly took their seats at a table positioned in the center of the room. The royal couple was seated across from Manfred and Karl, two of their numerous royal servants.
King Butterfly brought the meeting to order with a short, expository speech. "Gentlemen. I am bringing this meeting to order to talk about a new threat that our kingdom faces. This threat is not a physical threat, nor a magical one. This threat comes from within the confines of time and space themselves."
"Your Royal Highness." said Karl. "I believe that the royal guard is perfectly capable of defending you from any threats that this kingdom faces."
King Butterfly knitted his eyebrows and turned in his chair to face Karl. "You do not seem to comprehend this new threat we are facing. The threat comes a device known as a 'time machine'."
"Time machine?" asked Queen Butterfly, now intrigued. "What is a time machine?"
"It's a machine that can change history as we know it." explained the king. "Right now, there is a time machine in the hands of Ludo's army. At any moment, Ludo and his minions could go back in time and change the progression of events however they choose."
"So for example, they could go back in time and stop the Great Monster Massacre?" asked Manfred.
"Exactly." replied King Butterfly. "But I have a feeling Ludo would do more sinister things than that, like prevent the creation of this kingdom altogether."
Queen Butterfly's mouth widened in surprise. "You can't be suggesting that Ludo owns a device that could potentially wipe out this whole kingdom before it ever existed, could you?"
"Sadly, yes." replied King Butterfly solemnly.
"Do we know how Ludo built it?" asked Queen Butterfly.
"No."
"How are we going to stop Ludo if he could wipe us out before we ever could?" asked Queen Butterfly.
Suddenly, the inter-dimensional mirror on the wall started to ring.
"Call from Star." it announced.
"Why would Star be calling us right now?" asked Queen Butterfly. "Don't tell me she turned someone else into a troll!"
"I think Marco's helped Star learn how to use her wand more usefully." replied King Butterfly. "I don't think she'd do something like that again."
Queen Butterfly folded her arms in ambivalence. "Well, we won't find out for sure until we answer the call."
She pressed a button on the side of the mirror, and an image of Star and Marco came into view.
"Hey, Dad!" yelled Star as she waved her arms in the air. "Am I glad to—"
She stopped mid-sentence, noticing that there were now several people standing in front of the mirror, including her mom.
"Oh, hey Mom! And Manfred! And everyone!" chattered Star nervously. "How's it going?"
"Less than swimmingly, my dear." replied Queen Butterfly. "Your father just informed me about how Ludo has a time machine. Right now, we're trying to figure out how we're going stop him."
Star grinned mischievously and giggled a little. "Well Mom, you see... Marco and I have found a way we can stop Ludo."
"Well go ahead and tell me," demanded Queen Butterfly. "I'm curious."
Star took a deep breath before explaining everything. She talked about the paper pieces that fell from the sky when her and Marco were at the bus stop, the conversation she and Marco had with King Butterfly later that same day, and how Marco and her had found the time travel spell in the Magic Instruction Book and made a time machine out of a minivan.
"...And right now, we're in 1985." admitted Star sheepishly.
Queen Butterfly gasped. "You're in the past right now?"
"Y-Yes, we are." shuddered the inter-dimensional princess frightfully. "Please don't be mad!"
Queen Butterfly smiled slightly. "Don't worry. I'm not mad."
"You're not?" asked Star curiously.
"No. If you have a time machine, that's actually terrific news. It means you're in perfect shape to foil Ludo's plot."
"Of course." said Marco, who bowed in respect to the mirror. "Star and I won't stop until we see Ludo back in 2015, Your Majesty."
"Marco, you don't need to bow to me." laughed Queen Butterfly. "I know full well that you're Star's new best friend. My husband has told me several tales about your very strong friendship with Star."
Marco cheered happily. "That's great. I just wanted to make sure you were okay with Star and I using the time machine to find Ludo."
"I am perfectly content with that." replied Queen Butterfly.
"Excellent!" exclaimed Star. "When we find out more about Ludo and what's going on with him, we'll give you a call."
"Fantastic." stated Queen Butterfly.
"Okay! Bye!" excitedly chattered Star as the image of her and Marco slowly faded away.
After a brief pause, everyone returned to their seats. Queen Butterfly clasped her hands together and felt uncertainty course through her.
"River, do you think we made the right decision?" she asked curiously.
Her husband drew closer and re-assured her. "Darling, I'm sure that Star and Marco will be fine. They work well together, so it's only a matter of time before they'll find Ludo and put an end to his tomfoolery."