Toffee glanced down at his silver-plated watch, which he wore on his right wrist.
"It's ten fifty-seven. Princess Butterfly should be exiting the castle any minute now."
"You really think so?" asked Ludo.
"Mewnian royal ceremonies end at around eleven in the morning." replied Toffee. "If all they're doing is giving her the magic wand, there should be no reason it should take any longer."
"Great!" exclaimed the kappa monster. "That means within minutes I'll finally have the wand!"
"Perhaps." corrected Toffee.
"You might be on to something." remarked Ludo worryingly. "We don't know how much of a fight Moon will put up. How can we be sure we'll be able to steal it?"
Toffee folded his arms and looked off into the distance towards the castle. "Moon Butterfly doesn't fight monsters for fun. She's very reserved, patient, and to a certain extent, pacifistic. She only retaliates in self-defense. She would never expect our attack."
"How do you know that for sure? wondered Ludo.
"That is a story for another time." dictated Toffee bitterly. "What matters right now is whether that wand ends up in our hands. Whether we get it or not depends on how we're going to go about stealing it."
"What do you think we're gonna do?" chortled Ludo sarcastically. "We're gonna attack her!"
Toffee frowned. "So like always, you're going to send a cavalry charge of minions to surround her while you go for the wand?"
"Of course!" exclaimed Ludo excitedly.
"Not the finest strategy, but it will do." muttered Toffee. "Per usual, I'll stand from afar and observe the fight."
At that moment, the trap had been set. All that the monsters would have to do was wait for Moon to spring the trap into motion.
Star and Marco had ventured out from the village of Accrington and were now walking down a path that led to Butterfly Castle. The very edges of the path were lined with people who were waiting to catch glimpses of Princess Moon Butterfly as she would venture out from the castle toting around her recently acquired royal magic wand. Some of these people were very excited because they were about to see her for the first time ever. As they drew within a few hundred feet of the castle's entrance, the density of the crowd grew considerably, making it very difficult for them to get closer.
"Wow." whispered Marco. "Just look at all the people here. There might be hundreds of people here, maybe even thousands. I never knew that so many people attended royal ceremonies!"
Star nudged Marco with her elbow. "Everyone on Mewni goes to see the royal family and stuff when they have the chance!"
"I bet." admitted Marco. "And considering that Ludo's latest plot is stealing your wand in the past, him and all of his minions are probably watching too, waiting for the perfect moment to strike."
"Sounds like classic old Ludo." replied Star. "I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case."
"Star, we're gonna have to help her out however we can." insisted Marco worryingly. "I'm not sure your mom is a huge fan of fighting monsters."
"Don't worry, Marco." reassured Star calmly. "We've defeated Ludo countless times before. I don't think it'll be too hard to beat him this time."
Marco sighed doubtfully. "You never know what Ludo might have up his sleeve. If he built a time machine, he might have a few extra tricks waiting for us."
"Oh, I don't know." supposed Star. "We won't know what Ludo's up to until he makes his grand entrance."
As if on cue, the crowd suddenly started cheering and clapping. Star and Marco looked straight ahead towards the castle's entrance. There, they saw a teenage girl walking down the path away from the castle. She wore a golden tiara upon her head and wore a traditional Mewnian dress identical to the one Star wore when she received her wand. As she walked further down the path and drew closer towards them, the crowd's cheering and clapping intensified. Star could tell by the sound of the crowd who it was.
"Marco!" whispered Star nervously. "It's my mom!"
As Moon passed by Star and Marco, she glanced at briefly at them and smiled. To Star, it felt highly unusual to see her do such a thing. For as long as she could remember, she had almost never seen her mom smile. Not at her birthday celebrations, not when she received the wand, and not even when she called to tell her that Marco and her were in the past and going to stop Ludo's time machine plot.
"I wish I would've known her before she became the way she is now." sighed Star.
"Yeah. She looks so... different." noted Marco. "I've never seen her look like this before."
Suddenly, from near the end of the path, there was the sound of rustling branches. The two teenagers turned around and saw Moon was standing next to a shrub, startled and frozen in fear.
"There she is! GET THE WAND!" yelled a voice from within the vegetation.
A few of Ludo's minions lunged out and wrapped their arms around Moon, dragging her down to the ground and tugging her forcefully away from the path.
"No! Let me go!" she yelled frightfully.
"I guess Ludo's decided to drop in." said Star in a concerned tone of voice. "Let's go, Marco!"
The two teenagers ran at full speed towards where the monsters were.
Three-Eyed Potato Baby, Buff Frog, and Bearicorn held Moon down, trying to forcibly snatch her wand from her. She was punching and kicking and squirming around, trying to break free, but the monsters' grasp was too great for her to best. Ludo slowly drew closer and outstretched his arms, motioning for her to let up her grip on the magic wand.
"Give me the wand!" demanded Ludo.
"N-No!" protested Moon. "I can't let anyone have this! I can't let it fall into the wrong hands!"
"I don't care!" cried the kappa monster. "Give it to me or else!"
Suddenly, a tremendous shout rang out from behind the monsters.
"Not so fast, Ludo!"
Ludo, startled by the sudden noise, turned around. He saw Star and Marco standing over him, looking at the scene.
"Well, well! If it isn't Star Butterfly and Karate Boy!" sneered Ludo brazenly. "How nice of you to show up!"
Star waved her wand around in the air menacingly. "You'll never get away with this! I know about your entire plan!"
"Oh, really?!" scoffed Ludo. "Just try and stop me!"
Star looked down at Moon briefly. Her terrified expression only served to motivate her further.
"Help!" muttered Moon softly.
"Oh, I'm gonna interfere with your plan, all right." grumbled Star as she pointed her wand towards the monsters.
"Narwhal Blast!"
A massive, teal-colored beam of energy filled with narwhals and other sea creatures smacked straight into Bearicorn's torso. He was knocked to the ground by the force of the blast, and took a few seconds to stagger to his feet. Potato Baby and Buff Frog shuffled back towards Ludo in fear.
Ludo turned towards the rest of his minions and scowled. "SEIZE THEM!"
The remainder of Ludo's army sprinted towards Star and Marco, hoping that a quick cavalry charge would take them out. Marco and Star were expecting the charge, and quickly countered it.
"Jellybean Hallucination Mist!" shouted Star as she cast the spell into the crowd of cronies.
The large line of minions began to stagger and clump together as they were overcome by the spell. Unable to see where they were going, let alone who they were supposed to attack, several minions ended up on the receiving end of a well-placed side kick from Marco and were knocked to the ground.
"What are you doing?!" screamed Ludo frantically. "Somebody, anybody! Get that magic wand!"
Buff Frog and Potato Baby now ran towards Star, pulling along Bearicorn with them in a futile attempt to surround her. Not fazed one bit by the move, Star raised her magic wand again.
"Dagger Crystal Heart Attack!"
Heart-shaped projectiles flew at high speed into the monsters, knocking them into a daze. They struggled to try and get up, but couldn't as much get onto their hands and knees. This left only Ludo himself as the last monster standing. Star raised her wand one final time and cast the most powerful spell she had cast yet.
"Syrup Tsunami Shockwave!"
A massive, tsunami-like tidal wave of syrup washed into Ludo, knocking him violently into Buff Frog and Potato Baby, who were laying limp on the ground trying to catch their breath. The resulting smash threw all of them against a tree violently, knocking out Potato Baby and effectively ending the brawl.
After a couple tense seconds, Ludo struggled to his feet and seethed furiously.
"Just you wait, Star Butterfingers!" retorted the kappa mockingly. "This war isn't over yet! I'll get you next time, I swear!"
The monsters all got up slowly from the ground and moaned in agony. Unlike usual, Ludo didn't open a dimensional portal and flee back to his castle. Instead, he called Toffee to his side to help him decide what to do next.
"What now, Toffee?!" whispered Ludo huskily. "Star and Karate Boy have defeated me!"
Toffee folded his arms and grumbled. "I was expecting this was going to happen. But despite this loss, our efforts were not in vain."
"They weren't?" inquired Ludo.
"Not at all." explained Toffee. "This is only the beginning of our plan to depose those royals and steal that magic wand. This is only a gentle setback. A minor inconvenience. Get your minions. Once we're in a more suitable location, I'll tell you about my ideas for the next phase of our plan."
Ludo turned around and screamed loud enough for all of Mewni to heart him. "ALL RIGHT, YOU MORONS! PACK UP YOUR THINGS! WE'RE OUTTA HERE!"
After a brief pause, Ludo and Toffee lead their minions grudgingly away from the scene of the battle. With the danger of a wand-theft over, Star and Marco could now turn their attention to Moon.
Star reached her hand out toward her and helped her up. "Hey, uh... are you okay?"
"I think so." replied Moon. "When those monsters came up to me, I thought I was done for. I never saw it coming."
"Well, Ludo's been defeated, for the moment." asserted Marco. "For now, you're safe."
"Thank you." said Moon, who curtsied in respect.
"You're welcome." answered Star.
"If you don't mind, could you tell me your names?" asked Moon curiously.
Star giggled and flipped her hair. "Well, I'm Star and this is my best friend, Marco Diaz."
Moon smiled slightly. "It's nice to meet you."
"Well, it's nice to meet you too..." began Marco, before stopping mid-sentence. "Wait! Uh, what's your name?"
"My name's Moon." she responded before raising her wand into the air slightly. "I'm the Princess of Mewni. You could probably tell by my wand."
Star raised her wand into the air. "Well, I have a wand, too."
"Crap." thought Marco. "Now Moon's gonna ask where Star got her wand, and she's gonna spill the beans..."
Luckily, the whole question of how and where Star got her wand sailed directly over Moon's head.
"Your wand looks really cool." said Moon. "What do you use it for?"
"Well, whenever Ludo comes around, I use my wand to beat up his minions!" yelled Star, swinging her wand around in the air like a sword. "Marco uses his karate to help me out, too."
Moon looked at Star with a confused look on her face. "Who's Ludo?"
Knowing that revealing too much would make Moon even more suspicious, Marco quickly formulated a cover story.
"Well, you see, Ludo is this monster who has an army." explained Marco. "You know those monsters that attacked you? Ludo was their leader."
"I'm glad that you came in time." re-iterated Moon. "If you hadn't helped me, Mewni could have been done for."
"We're always willing to help." said Marco. "The problem's that Ludo's determined. In no time, he'll be back here with more monsters. We need to find someplace where Ludo can't find us."
"I think the castle would be an ideal hiding spot." suggested Moon. "It's protected by guards all day and night. As long as we keep ourselves inside the walls, Ludo shouldn't be able to find us."
"Are you sure?" asked Marco. "Do they even let outsiders in the castle?"
"Of course they do." answered Moon. "A few years ago, my friends and I had a sleepover inside the castle. It was actually pretty fun. We got not sleep, but it was worth it."
"Well then." replied the karateka as he bowed to her. "I'd really like to see the castle for myself."
Moon smiled in anticipation. "You won't be disappointed one bit, Marco."