It's hard to say where the girls were sent. It seemed like a very peace-filled realm, not knowing any sort of disturbance in the last couple of hours. Three suns were shining above their heads, giving off a pleasant heat to make them forget the sheer cold they endured in an unforgiving cave. Their surroundings were extracted from a fairy tale, birds chirping, flowers blooming, friendly wildlife… they all blended together to form an utopia for a certain type of princess. However, it's not a utopia if you are knocked out cold, by shock. Star and Jackie were laying on a small hill, passed out. This was Scott's doing. He had made them faint in order to not be affected by a sudden change. He knew that there was an important aspect to portal transportation… You had to account for so many factors… After all, it was still science… All of it. Therefore, he knew that changing dimensional states requires a certain precision, and when trying to create portals beneath people, that accuracy is just gonna go down the toilet. Plus, he had to have minute reactions, so any mistakes are forgiven. Everyone knows you must enter a portal the same way you exit… following an axis. I mean, only a fool, would make a portal that changes your gravity in the process. Scott was one of those fools, but again, this flick of the wrist saved their lives.

The girls were slowly regaining consciousness. Star got up, before Jackie and caught a thorough glimpse of their situation: stranded on a faraway dimension.

"Woah, what was all that?" Jackie asked, rubbing her still aching head.

"Interdimensional thingies, what else…I remember spikes and then we just…got up here."

"Damn…You know where we are?"

"Hmm…three suns, whimsically placed waterfalls, friendly wildlife," Star enumerated the obvious elements that summed up this dimension, then gasped as she realized where they were…

"Is there something wrong?" Jackie asked.

"Yeah, yeah…totally. We just gotta avoid meeting any people…"

"Hello, stranger," a high pitched voice shouted from somewhere behind them.

"RUN!" Star yelled as she grabbed Jackie's hand and started sliding downhill, to avoid their mysterious enemy.

In the meantime, Marco made his way up the immense stairs leading to the castle. He figured that if he was lost through dimensions, at least he could go to seek guidance from Star's mother. Still, as he was climbing the unbelievably big heap of stairs, he couldn't help but contemplate the truly compelling sight of a real castle. Growing up in the USA, not in central Europe, such edifices were rare to come across. Formidable marble towers, reigned over the sunlight, blocking its soothing rays to touch the soft Mewnian ground. They were complimented by ancient sculptures, which passed the test of time and remained as an effigy of their creator's mastery. Griffins and gargoyles shared the first place in the decoration Olympiad with the unicorns and rainbows, expressing a strange duality for such a one sided place. Since it was regarded as a true fortress of goodness, it sure seemed to have a weirder side. Yet again, it was the place where Star Butterfly originated from, so what could you expect. The castle had one more bizarre part. The back of it, although pretty hidden from view, seemed… a bit affected. Broken windows, a ruined tower, a different paint job: dark purple as opposed to the pink-yellow used for the rest. It looked like in the past that side was the literal dark side. After the thorough study of Mewni's architecture, Marco finally reached his destination. The top… Which was just the prequel to another set of stairs to the throne room. A heap of stairs later and Marco finally got to the top and met the enormous door with the two ominous crowns. However, it was impossible to push it. One hand, two hands, all limbs, karate kick, nothing seemed to make it budge…Until a servant came out, opening the gigantic door from the other side. A bit embarrassed and with an awkward smile, the boy entered inside the throne room, being greeted by the Queen, as the King was "gone to the cornfields" as she put it.

"So what brings you here, Marco?" Queen Butterfly asked on a tone that gave Marco the feeling she knew why he was standing in front of her.

"Oh, well…" Now that he came to think of it, he didn't know exactly why he sought the castle. Was it because he wanted guidance, because he wanted to confront the queen about the new addition to their "team", or just simply because he was drawn to powerful figures. Truth be told it was a homogenous mixture of all.

"Oh, just passing by, trying to see… what's up?" He said trying to sound extremely coy, but failing miserably.

"Marco, I am in charge of ruling a kingdom which spans across multiple dimensions. You think I don't know why, or more importantly, how you've come here?"

"Worth a shot…"

"I suppose I shouldn't tell you that I know of the severe destabilization of the dimensions you've passed through and that I also know why that happened."

"And you can also show off," he mumbled under his breath.

"But," she said noticing his whisper and raising her voice to indicate so, "I have to ask, where is my daughter, Star?"

"Oh, well…she is…back home, safe and sound," Marco answered, his voice trembling as he was lying his socks off.

"And, where is my trusted professor?" the queen asked, changing emotional states. She turned from serious and somewhat apathetic to worried and very drifty.

"You mean Scott? Oh, he left me, Star and a friend of ours to wander around after he ran away from us. Nice teacher you got her…" Marco scolded the Queen.

"Oh, I am sure it was all in good spirits," the Queen laughed, requesting a piece of paper and a plume, using some sort of sign language. She sounded amazingly uneasy, as if the only mention of Scott's name filled her with fear. Rapidly she wrote something, and with a shaky hand, turned the paper around for Marco to read: "He is listening"

"Oh, I see. Hmmm…" His cog wheels started spinning. How could they speak about the situation at hand, without mentioning his name even once? Suddenly it came to him. There was a prison break movie, Marco had watched a long time ago, featuring a very clever scene. In order to escape, prisoners used a code to talk to each other, while the guards were known to be listening. With smart metaphors and wordplay they managed to carefully devise a plan to get out, without hinting anyone off.

"And how…" he started his sentence, prolonging both words as he made his way towards the throne room and grabbed the Queen's note." …is this rat problem going to be solved?" he asked as he wrote down his plan to the Queen which nodded and smiled as she saw how smart the boy actually was.

"I am afraid the little critters are a big part of our…society. Although they are annoying, they help fertilize the cornfields by carrying pollen on their brown fur. Also, I think that should we try to scare them off, they will come back stronger and in bigger number, threatening to completely destroy our crops."

"Can't you call in some specialists to deal with them? You know like a magic bugs-be-gone?"

"I am afraid that the vermin is stronger on Mewni than it is on Earth. I've tried to call the coun… exterminators, but they were no match. It seemed like they already knew about any traps or poisons, so the poor people were obsolete…"

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No, Marco," The Queen said defeated. "You can't do anything. We'll just have to wait in order for them to either starve or go by their own terms. It's important that we let things go on as they are…"

"If I were you, I wouldn't stay around waiting for nature to run its course. It's important to know when to stand up for yourself…"

Back in the world in which Star and Jackie were hiding behind a fallen tree log, Star was peeping around, following the shadows of a crowd of ghastly entities. Jackie was still confused and lost, trying to wrap her head around what happened.

"What exactly is…" Jackie started, but soon Star covered her mouth, shutting her up.

"Shhh…look," the princess replied pointing at two unidentified beings, who appeared to be feasting on the body of an innocent deer.

"Ugh…creepy," Jackie said uneasy. "What can we do?" she asked in her quietest whisper.

"We need to find a pair of dimensional scissors and get out of this place…But in this place I don't think it will be easy to come across…"

"Why?" But the second she opened her mouth, two figures, the same who were lurking around earlier, appeared on top of their hiding place. At first, Star and Jackie were completely stunned, but the second the two entities jumped over the log, they couldn't help but scream in terror.

"You know, just because you're using pest-related talk instead of my actual name, doesn't mean I can't understand, you know? Also, writing isn't making a big difference either…" Scott said as he just appeared on a big, fluffy armchair pointed at the window. "I grew tired of this petty squabbling of yours, Marco… Why are you set on this amazing crusade against me?"

Off the top of his head, Marco couldn't find anything, but after a few seconds of thinking he came with his reason.

"Because ever since you came into our lives, things started rolling downhill…"

"Umm, that's one bad event. You know, to draw a function you need at least two points, and you drew a line using only one…"

"Still, you didn't give any sort of backstory of yourself…"

"Neither did Glossaryck, and still he had your trust."

"It's different…"

"No, it's actually the exact same thing. You lied twice now, I would like to hear the truth."

Marco knew that…But he wasn't so sure now why he hated him so much… Was it just because of them coming into their lives like a hurricane and he just destroyed a thoroughly created feng-shui kind of thing? Or was it just that so many people had come into their home as friends and later on left as foes…

"I have a hunch why is that, but I'd better here it from you. Guesses are extremely unreliable. Also, to add some more pressure, Star and Jackie are currently in a very dangerous dimension, and until you come out, we can't do anything about it."

"What?" the Queen asked surprised and angered, already starting to switch into her true Mewnian form.

"Sit down, Moon," Scott said as with a wave of his hand the writing on her piece of paper changed. Queen Butterfly turned from mad to annoyed, then quietly returned to her usual apathy. That was her usual reaction as she knew the amount of teen angst that was about to unfold before her eyes. Marco was a bit befuddled by the dramatic switch in the Queen's mood, but that was something to be put on the back burner. Now his focus was on…being honest. Firstly in his life, being dishonest or hiding the reality of his feelings had threatened the well-being of people around him. Even though he did that with Jackie for a decade almost, it never hurt her. It was just something in the background of the picture he had painted his whole life. But foremost, it's hard to know why it was so hard to verbalize the truth right now…It isn't like he was a pathological liar and he had a history of being blunt…but there was something else now…

"Tick-tock, the clock is ticking and every second leads to more harm being caused."

"You're a psycho, you know that?" Marco shouted from the bottom of his lungs.

"Perhaps, but you're the only one keeping me from doing anything about it right now…"

Another long pause followed. It was like the sleepover all over again. However, the circumstances were enormously different… There was no embarrassment involved, nor any unshared feelings, yet… "Here goes nothing," Marco said to himself.

"Okay, you know why I hate you? Because I've had it with people coming into my life and switching everything around like you own the place. Tom did that already, Ludo too and I can't stand the idea of being tricked and have the rug pulled from under me again…"

"So, just because I came in suddenly and started doing things that did not agree with you, I am suddenly evil? I can assure you that my intentions are purely for the sake of the royal family. But there is still something missing, don't you think?"

"What now?" Marco said as if he didn't want to get heard.

"You know, you can admit that all the people that came in your life threatened to change…someone, rather than something. I am not putting words in your mouth anymore…"

"FINE, GOD! I am afraid that you'd come and change Star…"

"Finally, the truth has been unveiled. Moon, I see you trying to intervene and I have to urge you to stay out of it." Scott paused for a moment. With a heavy movement, he got up from the armchair, and, after he had fixed his flat collar, walked towards Marco.

"Look, I know that you're her friend and all, but I'd keep in mind two things, if I were you. First of all, you must stop being so overbearing and protective…Remember the Blood Moon ball?"

"Yeah," he said out loud, thinking to himself: "How does he know about that?"

"You know, Star needs a friend right now more than anything. With that spell-book and now that Toffee has been resurrected into Ludo, she needs support and guidance…"

"Toffee has been what now?" the Queen asked.

"Moon," Scott said in an angry tone. Queen Butterfly sat down, but she still had to raise her objection. "We still have time, but you must trust me to do what's right sometimes…I know that being the voice of reason has been a big stone in your friendship with Star, but…I have to do my job, too. I know, I might seem arrogant, showing off my powers every now and then…I know I am cold and distant…I know of my shortcomings, but I still mean well. You must see that. As to the change part, this is my second point. People are not flat…they are round. Do not take this out of context, but it's true. People grow, people change and that is something that must happen, whether we want it or not and whether we like it or not. She must learn to overcome her faults, albeit few and become a greater person in order to fulfill her purpose…Evil must be defeated and, she is the only one who can do that… And for her to be able to do that, she…must change. Do you understand that?"

Marco was severely shook. He knew Scott to be so far nothing but a stone-cold person. He had no idea that he was actually that insightful… Now he felt like the jerk he thought Scott was.

"I do…Now let's go get Star and Jackie…"

"Not so fast! Toffee is back and you didn't tell me about it? What kind of good force are you if you withhold precious information like that?" The Queen was enraged and strangely enough, Scott actually seemed a bit guilty, not bearing his usual carelessness shield.

"Yes, I did. It's about two days late, though. You know Toffee is immortal, for one and that he needs time to become strong again. Plus, with every single time we "kill" him, he grows stronger, at the cost of his power needing more time to be regained."

"AND I SHOULD BE CALM ABOUT THIS?" the Queen lost her temper, but Scott now looked calmer than ever.

"Yes, you should. I have everything under control, Moon. It's all part of my master-plan. Should I start losing the edge, slightly unlikely, be sure that I will be swift to report, so the Council can do whatever it wants with me. Am I crystal clear?" Scott said, conjuring a portal. Marco stepped first, a remorseful, yet warm smile on his face, then as Scott was about to leave, too the Queen stopped him.

"Scott?"

"Yes?"

"Please, refrain from calling me by my real name."

"You get one of these little favors. By the way, I know that you want to know more about who I am. I have many reasons why I am not telling you this, but if you really are interested, you can find out, fairly easily. Your family history contains a clue as to who you should ask for more. From then on, it's your detective work. Good luck…your majesty."

The other end of the portal had opened into the dimension, Star and Jackie were kidnapped in. At first sight it looked exactly like Mewni, but the three suns up above gave it away.

"Okay now, where is Star?"

"In that city over there," Scott said pointing to a city in the distance. It seemed like it would take a while to get to it…

"How are we gonna get there in time?"

"Marco…" Scott smiled as he pointed at the pair of dimensional scissors in Marco's hand.

"Oh…yeah. Duhhh," Marco said slapping his forehead.

In an instant the two jumped through space and now the two were staying in front of a weirdly colored house… Its walls were pink with rainbow spots, the roof was…funky, the door was smaller than 3 feet…

"Who lives in this dimension?" Marco asked.

"You'll find out, immediately. Open the door."

The second Marco put his hand on the undersized handle, two different screams echoed in their ears. One was slightly higher-pitched than the other, but nevertheless they were both known to Marco. Jackie and Star were in there, scared out of their minds. Panicked Marco started frantically pulling the handle, all while Scott was holding back a smile. He stopped his helpless attempts and showed him the window. As they both walked to see what was going on, their expressions became shared. The boys were smiling amused at the sight of Jackie laughing with tears at the clowns' jokes all the while Star was isolated in the corner scared at the sight of them. She did have coulrophobia after all. The boys watched the show unfold before their eyes, until they unanimously decided to step in and spare Star the agony she so funnily endured…

"Search my family's history, he said. It will be easy, right?" the Queen mumbled to herself. "It's not like I have to read through seven centuries and find a needle in a haystack…"

"What is my lovely Queen up to?" the King asked as he bravely entered through the splendidly sculpted doorway of the library.

"Remember that child, I sent to teach magic to our daughter?"

"I sure do. Scotty or something right?"

"Yes, precisely. I need to find out more about him and I can't seem to pinpoint the start of my journey."

"Can I help you?"

"You can try, but it's doubtful that you'll find…"

"Look, isn't that him?" the King interrupted in his usual bohemian tone.

"Yes…yes it is…Where did you find his picture?"

"It's in this book, called "A brief interdimensional history.""

"Hmmm, it seems like the picture is labeled "Our best friends from the other side", and that's my ancestor…Celestia. What is she doing…on Earth?"