It's a dark night in the wilderness of Mewni, where we find our little friend Ludo, in almost pure isolation from the creatures and people that inhabit society. He sits here, with the Eagle and the Spider. They remain quiet for quite some time. Only the faint sounds of crackling can be heard as the wood branches burn. Ludo stares directly into the fire. It both paralyzes and mesmerizes him as he looks into it. The light reflects off his round yellow eyes and reveals every wart, pimple, and wrinkle on his sallow little face. Ludo envies the fire, for it holds so much importance in life. People both respect and fear fire. It's comforting, useful, and elegant, as well as deadly and wrathful towards anyone who'd dare abuse it. Ludo turns his head to look at his silent new companions as they remain silent. The spider crosses her front legs, rubbing them together before returning to her rightful position and the eagle starts grooming the feathers on her wing before returning to alertly darting her head around aimlessly with her wide eyes, ever aware of her surroundings.

Ludo: "I haven't known you ladies for but a few months, but I really feel like I can talk to both of you."

Neither of the creatures shows any response toward Ludo and continues about their business. After a brief pause, he continues.

Ludo: "I'm not so sure either of you can understand me, but it still feels good to know that someone's there."

Ludo sighs as he continues to observe the fire.

Ludo: "You know, I wasn't always this... feral hobo... this... peasant. I used to have everything. Well, almost everything. I had a huge castle, and I mean huge. Sometimes I got lost in there. That place used to really bug me as a child. To be so small, in such a large, scary place, was uncomfortable. But mother and father loved it there, and soon I grew to love it too. I spent my whole life in that castle. I remember nearly breaking my tiny little neck as I looked up in awe at the adults, mostly mother and father's friends, as they towered above me. My world was huge, and so was everything in it. I remember vaguely, as a child, being ridiculed for my stature, or lack thereof, by other cruel children. I swore vengeance on them should I ever grow taller. What I failed to realize, however, is that I would never grow another inch.

"I watched as my peers grew ever farther from eye level as I stayed the same. Here I am, a measly two feet tall, thirteen pounds of skin and bone. It was a fate that seemed, to me, unable to be remedied... that is until I laid eyes on it... the wand. Star Butterfly's wand, which was, at that point, still her mother's, was the most amazing thing I'd ever laid eyes on. I saw her do amazing things... as well as terrible things...with that wand. I know for a fact that a weapon so omnipotent could do something as simple as make me taller, no doubt about that. But height... that was one thing... I wanted to be great, a feared and respected source of power. A being that is feared as well as loved, and respected. I must have been an awful cad as a child, as one day I woke up from my slumber, my parents were gone, and so were the servants. They left without a trace. Here I was, a child in a huge castle, with everything I could ever want... and it meant nothing to me because the wand was the only thing I wanted. After my parents were gone the castle was all mine! But I couldn't bare to be there all alone... so I took in some of the common folk off the street, sorry little beggars without a penny to their name. And did you know that I allowed them to live there free of rent? Ha ha, I acted like it was some sort of great courteous deed when really... there are no property taxes on that castle... It's in the middle of nowhere! Far out of the reach of the greedy claws of The Butterfly family. I never told them that."

Ludo cups one side of his beak as if he's afraid someone might be listening as he reveals his secret.

Ludo: "Yes, I let quite the group of misfits into my home: a rather large Russian amphibian fellow with a nearly unpronounceable name, who I simply called 'Buff Frog', as well as a bunch of other nameless people whom I gave the simplest of names merely based on their appearance. There was Bearicorn, a rather dimwitted one, but he was a sweetheart. Wouldn't hurt a fly... unless I told him to, of course... or unless Buff Frog ate it first. There was Big Chicken, not a coward, but literally, a Big Chicken. He spoke in clucks, so I never knew what he was saying either, as well as Emmitt, a Minotaur. Now that I think about it, I brought quite a few people into my house who either spoke a different language or barely a language at all. There were times when I'd swear they were making very foul comments toward me, but I'd never know. There was Spikeballs, a man with a very questionable taste in fashion... all that leather... oh and Three-Eyed Potato Baby, who was actually an adult but, I don't know. Yeah... there were a lot of them.

"Then there was... Toffee... a classy, sophisticated snake. He was a being I had hired to get my servants into tip-top shape. You see, for the better part of the last year or so, I had spent months trying to get the wand from Star Butterfly. But alas, she is a fierce fighter, trained by the queen to hate and destroy us monsters, and upon her 14th birthday, she was sent to a realm called earth to live with an earth boy named Marco, a stupid boy who has proven to be as much of a thorn in my side as the princess herself. And these men, these big, burly men, twenty or thirty of them couldn't even take on two brats! It was humiliating! I didn't want to yell at them, but they just made me so mad that I couldn't help it! Then there was THAT day... the day that wretched scoundrel Toffee stabbed me in the back... The one I least suspected, the only one with dignity, and a brain, a cunning individual whom I once thought of as an equal, took my minions, and my castle away from me. That was not a very good day for me, for I had to apologize to a friend... the only one that I still trusted, good ol' Buff Frog. You see, I had made an awful mistake in believing he was out to betray me, as suggested by that devil, Toffee. I offered him a bag of tadpoles that I had taken from their mother in the swamp as reconciliation. I even found these lovely little flip-flops out there!"

Ludo shakes his little feet in the air, showing off his brown flip-flops.

Ludo: "That wasn't the only indignity I had suffered that day, for I had to bite my lip and trust in my sworn enemy to get my castle back. Yes, I once trusted Star Butterfly herself. Look what that got me, eaten by a chicken, and later 'reborn' through an egg... so I suppose technically I am part chicken now... I think. Anyway, I come back and EVERYTHING'S GONE! THE WAND, MY CASTLE, MY MINIONS, EVERYTHING! Except for, of course, Star Butterfly. I suppose she DID take care of my Toffee problem... but really, my whole castle? I lost everything! My clothes, my castle, my minions... my... friends."

Ludo begins to stammer his words. His voice starts to squeak as he feels his emotions swelling up like he's about to cry.

Ludo: "I've done things... terrible, awful things... to people I know... to people I love, heinous atrocities. No wonder they left me. I treated them rather horribly. I used them for labor, like dogs. I've had a lot of time to reflect while I was in that black hole, and after I met you ladies. I have come to realize that it's quite likely karma that has done me in. I should have been nicer to them. We could have worked things out. I could have trained them to be better. I could have given them individual attention, or actually showed support for them on the battlefield instead of raving like a lunatic! I was so wrapped up in trying to get that wand that I forgot about the people who were important to me! I love them... I really do... and I miss them every day."

Ludo looks down at the dark wand he found among the wasteland where his home once stood.

Ludo: "At least it wasn't all in vain."

Ludo rubs his soggy, tired eyes. He looks over to see that the Spider and the Eagle have fallen asleep. Ludo stands up and folds his arms in frustration.

Ludo: "I suppose I'm boring you aren't I?"

Ludo shrugs his arms in defeat and yawns, covering his ajar beak in one hand and stretching his stiff body. He scratches his chest and it makes a rippling plastic sound from the Gold 'N' Crisps bag he's wearing as a tunic. He dumps a wooden bucket of water on the campfire and watches as the magnificent fire he'd admired faded away into smoke in the wind. He walks up to the Eagle and lifts up her wing and curls up underneath it, falling asleep under the warm feathers as the nightly wind bristles through the trees. There will be better days eventually, Ludo, just keep on fighting.