Dreamers of Change

AN: I really want to rewrite my "Princess Bride" story but don't have the concentration to. Anyways, here's a big blob of text created because I watched too many cutscenes from the Metal Gear Solid series.

Many things have happened over the past few weeks. For one, Toffee was winning against the Mewnian army and the Magic High Commission. After many losses, Mewni decided to call for help. Only one kingdom, the Kingdom of Aron, answered the call. In return for their help, Aron wanted Star Butterfly to marry their prince, Conrad Winchester. Moon and Star agreed to the deal and the contract was made. Meanwhile, Marco was retraining himself with his dimensional scissor-sword. After he was satisfied, he went to Mewni to help Star only to find out about the marriage contract. Angry, the fourteen year old challenged Conrad to a duel with these terms: if Marco loses, then he backs off forever, and if Conrad loses, then the contract is nullified.

"A duel, huh?" Conrad asked as he paced back and forth. "A duel with such stupid conditions."

The prince stopped walking and looked at Marco. "You do realize that without our help, Mewni will become nothing as soon as that lizard comes back, right?"

Marco didn't answer.

"A man of few words, aren't you?" Conrad mocked. "Very well, I suppose I'll play your little game. Just don't cry when you lose." He began to pace around the room again. "But what kind of duel? A magic one? You don't look like you've got any magic on you."

Marco swung his dimensional scissors down at the ground. Flame enveloped the scissors and transformed them into a sword. "What about a sword fight?" he asked.

Conrad's face became one of disgust. "A sword fight? What do you think you are, a knight? But I suppose with your ridiculous ideas, you might as well be a knight."

"What?" Marco asked with a confused tone. "You make it sound like it's bad to be a knight."

"Do you know what a knight is, Diaz? A knight is a man with a so-called code of honor that he would happily abandon if it means his survival. He is also a self-righteous bastard that thinks he knows what's best for everyone. Knights, they think they can save the world by swinging their swords around like a bunch of limp dicks with the idea of saving the poor damsels in distress and receiving love in return. So yes, it is bad to be a knight. It is bad to be an idiot with grandeur views of being in the battlefield, killing anyone who might disagree with you."

"And what are you then?"

"What am I?" Conrad replied. "I'm an assassin, of course. I may kill people but at least I'm aware of why I'm killing them. No ideologies or made up stories to cloud my judgement."

"And an assassin is better than a knight?" questioned Marco.

Conrad scoffed at Marco's question. "At least assassins know how to win fights. All a knight knows how to do is be judgemental towards others."

He continued in a mocking tone, "They see a poor damsel and want to rescue her. And it doesn't matter know many people he harms because at the end of the day he'll complete his mission and get a wonderful peck on the cheek. Isn't that oh so lovely?"

Conrad's tone turned to one of disgust. "Knights are all the same. You probably think like them too. You think I'm such an evil villain, don't you? You think I'm taking away your princess's freedom and forcing her to marry me, that I have a list of people whose lives I can ruin and I just so happen to pick Star Butterfly's name. Come on, tell me the truth. That's what you think of me, isn't it?"

Marco didn't respond.

"That's all right," Conrad said. "You don't have to say anything. Your silence already speaks volumes about your thoughts, or rather the lack of thoughts in your head.

Do you even know what it means to be a prince? Do you know what it means to be a royal? I'll give you a little hint, even if we were to have fought, I would have made sure that I had won. If I still wasn't able to win, then I would have made sure you didn't survive to tell anyone. Do you know why that is, Diaz?"

"Because you're a coward," Marco answered.

"Wrong. That answer is completely wrong. You do think like a knight. The correct answer would be that I would lose my power in the world. Any royal that loses in anything to a mere commoner is laughed at. You may have won the battle, but you can't win the war. Power is the only thing that matters in the world. But power comes at a cost. The cost of your power, your skills in swordsmanship, are time and maybe exhaustion from practice. The cost of a royal's power, however, comes at the cost of our freedom.

Our freedom of who to marry, our freedom to freely express our true selves - not just the things we pretend to be, our freedom of clothing to wear, our freedom of what foods to eat, our freedom of what movements to make, our freedom of what words to speak, even our freedom of what hairstyle to have. All of those freedoms can be put into one, the freedom of choice. Every single thing that we do cannot be truly our choice, but is restricted by the set rules and duties created by our ancestors. This marriage is nothing more than one of those sacrifices that we have to make for our power.

And if we were to disobey the set rules enough times, we would be sent to Saint Olga's reformation schools. The schools turn the princesses into prim and proper girls who don't argue, don't misbehave, and don't expresses themselves. Girls who have tea time on every afternoon, who sing to animals like maniacs, who cannot comprehend doing anything outside what they have been taught to do. They become nothing more than human dolls. Meanwhile, the men are turn into 'Prince Charming's. We're taught how to look handsome, how to properly treat a lady, how to wield a sword, how to recite stupid poems and speeches, how to be a knight and rescue the poor damsels in distress and smile like a goddamned idiot. We are taught those things along with outdated codes of honor that have no place in the battlefield anymore. I had to stay in that stupid place for a month. I managed to fool them all into thinking that I learned my lessons and they sent me home after that.

Do you know why Saint Olga's was created and is still going today? It's to keep the power of the old systems in place. It's to make sure that the younger generations don't become too rebellious and change the way that everything is. And the kings and queens eat it all up. Because if they know that it their sons or daughters become too far from the norm, then they will lose their power over other kingdoms. Think about that for a moment. Think about why we, Aron's men, were the only ones who answered the call for help sent out by Mewni. One of those reasons is that the princess is too unruly. Imagine what the royals from other families think.

They think to themselves, 'Why hasn't the queen reigned her in and sent her to Saint Olga's yet?' They think that the princess is too improper, that's she's too rebellious, that she's too wild and free, that she's too uncontrolled. Another reason is that the queen herself married a barbarian. To all the royals, a barbarian is nothing more than a commoner. And because of that nobody cares about Mewni. That is their curse, their curse of scoffing away anything that challenges their set rules. But my kingdom has its own curse, our thirst for power. Since the beginning of our rule, the royal family married itself off to any powerful magicians to have powerful children. And it doesn't matter who that magician is, as long as they were powerful. For eons now, the Winchester family has tried to court with the princesses of Mewni, only to be rejected. And now, this is the chance to make that dream happen. If I were to fail this, then I would be outed and left to the wolves.

Your actions have consequences. The world isn't as black and white as you might think it is. I didn't just happen to choose Star Butterfly to be my future wife on a whim. I didn't invade the place and forced her to be my wife. Our two kingdoms made a deal: Aron's help for the hand of Star. And without our help, Mewni might've been reduced to ashes yesterday. So, you're welcome."

"I-I'm, uh, I'm sorry," Marco replied.

"Goddamn right you should be sorry."

"So that's it, then? Nothing can be done to change the rules?" asked Marco.

"No single man can change the world as no individual can bear the weight of social pressure that comes from challenge this system. These rules have been set for generations now and they refuse to change. A group might be able to make changes, but they will still face the same hardships as the individual would. If a single founding member cannot take the pressure and gives up, the the group will collapse as well.

I once fell in love with a princess, but my father didn't think that she was good enough. The way that Aron measures magical power is by raw magic potential, which is absolutely stupid. Skill should be the main factor, after all. I made up a plan for her to prove that she did have more than enough power. But she refused. 'Young ladies like me shouldn't fight,' she said. I tried to convince her but ultimately gave up. I was furious at her until I realized that she was only playing by the set rules that her ancestors made. The idea that women shouldn't be allowed to fight is a ridiculous one, but it is one that has survived through the ages.

Do you understand, Diaz? Do you understand why I have said all of this to you?"

"Yeah," Marco responded.

"Star Butterfly should count herself as lucky to be able to have her freedoms, even if it is only temporary. Get out of here and go to your princess. Let her have the feeling of freedom in her heart before it is inevitably snuffed out from her life."

"But you're wrong, we can change the rules," Marco said. "Star and I have managed to convince the princesses at Saint Olga's to rebel and they've taken over the facilities now. It's not anything big, but it's something, right?"

Conrad stared into Marco's eyes and saw that the fourteen year old was telling the truth.

"That type of change is too slow and will never get anywhere," the prince replied.

"In my home dimension, Earth, there were royal families all over the world. It took some time for they lost their power or were overthrown, but there are no more kings ruling anything at all. We elect our rulers through the votes of the people. If Earth can do it, then other dimensions can as well."

"Hmm, you may have a point. But for now, go to your princess. Go and let her live her dreams."

Conrad Winchester, the prince of Aron.

Eyes: Green

Hair: Blonde, long enough to reach his shoulders

Age: 16

Usually seen wearing the white royal outfit. He is a member of the Royal Assassin's Guild. "The best counter to an assassin is another assassin" is the their motto. Conrad was a former member of the Royal Knight's Guild for one year. He left because he became disillusioned with the knight's ideals. The person he fell in love with was Suzy Brotherswing of the Steamworld dimension.

AN: You were expecting a fight scene, but it was I, a monologue!