"I can't believe you two somehow managed to be even worse than the Earth turd!" A frustrated Princess Pony Head complained at the two sullen Earth boys before her. "All you had to do was show these girls you guys were fun. I even put in a good word for you saying you were from Earth, which like everyone here thinks is somewhere awesome since no one's ever really seen it." Unlike Star who absolutely loved everything about Earth, Pony Head had a much more reserved opinion on Marco's home planet. Finding it kind of dull compared to the rest of the places around the universe she'd been able to visit.
Despite her complaints Alfonzo and Ferguson had truly done their very best to try and live up to the princesses' expectations. It was just unfortunate for them that their very best didn't usually come close to what was needed for impressing women. While initiating conversations wasn't a problem for Ferguson he often dropped the ball shortly after with unnecessary exaggerations and attempts at comedy that fell flat both figuratively and literally when he went for a things like pratfalls. Al on the other hand had the most difficulty getting a conversation to start and while no one seemed to be too bothered by the pubescent cracking of his voice it was hard for him to find subjects to relate to with the alien princesses. By the end of their social attempts they'd found themselves ostracized by the various royalty at the party, proving some things just held universally true about one's place in life.
"I don't know what you want us to do about it." Ferguson complained back at Pony Head. "We came here to have fun, not to be put on display like some kind of accessory from another planet for your party."
"Besides at least three of these girls asked me how Earthlings tasted. Is that normal or are they actually planning to eat us?" Al asked hesitantly.
"Lemme give you some advice, whenever someone asks how you taste and they got bigger teeth than you, the answer is 'bad'." Pony head educated, letting out a sigh. "I can't believe my whole crew ditched me the moment I got here. Y'all don't have any respect for your hostess, you know that?"
"You still have us." Ferguson offered with a smile but it didn't seem to cheer Pony Head up any. After a quick debate in her mind on if she should bail on her own party to find some place else to hang, two more members of her original group approached. Jackie and Marco walking up to the trio looking very happy with themselves.
"Hey guys, enjoying the party?" Marco asked of his two friends, standing tall with Jacking hanging off of his arm.
"Not as much as you it looks like." Alfonzo commented and Marco and Jackie shared a look between each other. Something that wasn't lost on anyone but Pony Head was the first to address it.
"Where did you two run off to anyway? You sure ditched us quick to be alone together."
"I wanted to see what the rest of the school looked like." Jackie replied happily. "Marco gave me a tour before we decided to come back here and check on you guys. Everyone having fun?"
"Oh yeah, real great time." Pony Head said sarcastically. "Star split when you guys did and I lost that crazy girl that's obsessed with B-fly on the way back."
"Star disappeared on you?" Marco asked sounding concerned. "Did she run back out here?"
"I don't know where she went, she just bounced out without a word."
"Oh... and Starfan?"
"She said she wanted to find some 'real princess stuff', whatever that means, then she was gone too. So yeah, y'all ran out on me. Thanks Earth Turd."
"S-sorry about that. I didn't think everyone would just sort of sneak off on their own like that." Marco said sounding a bit nervous, the expression on Jackie's face changing from cheerful to concerned as well.
"Something up with you two?" Pony Head asked curiously. Ferguson chiming in along with her next.
"Yeah, you both look like you're worried or something." Marco tried to search for a suitable answer but seemed to be coming up short on what the right thing to say was. During his stumbling of words though Jackie stepped up to the plate.
"We were just worried about everyone since most of you haven't been to another world before." The blonde girl said, trying to smile cheerfully. "Not everyone had a guide like I did with Marco."
"You've been keeping real close to him too." Pony Head commented towards Jackie with a hint of suspicion in her tone. The skater girl seemed stuck at the floating horse head's possible insinuations about them, allowing Marco a chance to recover for her in exchange.
"So Al! Ferg! How's the party going, are the girls treating you okay!?" Marco blurted, physically pushing himself into the center of the conversation and group. Ferguson and Alfonzo sighed in unison with a shrug.
"I gotta tell you Marco, trying to be a heartthrob for princesses isn't easy." Al confessed.
"I tried every story, joke and bit I know and they still didn't seem to think it was funny." Ferguson complained, unsure as to how his methods weren't winning him any fans among the crowd. Jackie had a bit of insight as to why when she spoke next.
"You didn't do the thing with the face on your stomach, did you?" She asked and Ferguson responded by lifting his shirt to reveal a smiley face drawn on with the marker they'd used to decorate their balloons earlier. "Look guys, maybe trying things like jokes and lines you think might impress girls isn't the way to go? You should just be yourselves when talking."
"Thank you Jackie but I'm not sure that's the best approach for us either." Al admitted.
"Gotta agree." Ferg seconded.
"Pretty sure being themselves is not helping them." Pony Head concluded with as much faith in them as they had. Though the blonde girl wasn't ready to give up.
"Well maybe you're just not talking to the right girls? Like uh... what about her?" Jackie asked as she pointed out a centaur princess who was hanging by the edge of the dance floor. Not participating in the dancing herself, simply standing about and looking annoyed with her surroundings. "You two got turned into a horse person on that weird field trip we took, right? She might be interested in that." The suggestion sparked a glimmer of hope in the boys.
"Hey, that's right! Being a centaur was a lot of fun!" Al said enthusiastically to his friend.
"I bet she's the coolest girl here. We should go talk to her right now." Ferguson replied with equal excitement. Though Pony Head still retained her sour mood.
"You two manage to tame that ornery mule then I'll take back everything I said about you." The princess offered, glaring at the female centaur. Marco was aware Pony Head could hold a grudge but had never heard mention of this girl before during one of her rants.
"She do something to you?" Marco asked curiously, letting loose a torrent from Pony Head.
"Oh nothing at all, she's just a mean old nag who doesn't like anyone, hates partying and wears like the most tacky clothing ever! Like so what centaurs dress in like lame animal skins and leaves and junk, at least be a little presentable. You're royalty, ain't you girl? Have a little class why don't you!?"
"Is it also because she's got the bottom half of a horse and you're a horse head?"
"Marco that would be a totally messed up to hate on someone just because of their appearance. But yes." This didn't surprise Marco at all and also didn't deter the other boys as they decided to act on Jackie's advice and approach her.
"Well we're gonna lasso us a filly, read to go partner?" Ferguson asked Al as they walked off together to try and chat up the centaur girl. Having both Earth boys off in the same corner with her least favorite princess in the school was fine by Pony Head, which allowed her to turn her attentions back onto Marco and Jackie to find out what they had been up to. Though it didn't last long as they were greeted by another of their group.
"Hi guys!" Starfan practically shouted as she ran up to the three of them, looking considerably different than when she'd left.
"Whoa girl, what the heck!?" Pony Head shouted in surprise. "Where'd you get all that bling!?" Starfan had essentially changed her appearance entirely as she'd left wearing her normal poorly constructed Star Butterfly cosplay and returned in a gown with various bits of jewelry that seemed completely mismatched. In fact her boots, gloves and dress all seemed to be pieced together from different outfits while also wearing two sets of necklaces, a batch of rings and two tiaras on her head.
"Well I wanted to explore like Marco and Jackie did and I found all of this princess stuff!" She said joyfully as she showed herself off. "You said this place was abandoned or whatever so I decided I should get some good things before they change it all."
"Uh... you know..." Marco said hesitantly. "They're just renovating parts of the school to be used later. A lot of these girls are still staying in the dorms here." Marco allowed the words to sink in with Starfan as she took a moment to process what he'd said.
"Oh." Starfan said quietly. "Well uh... I won't tell any secrets if you won't?" She said with a wink and a whisper, causing Jackie and Marco to freeze for a moment.
"W-w-what secrets?" Marco asked nervously.
"Exactly!" Starfan agreed. Before they could get any further into the topic of secret actions taken up inside the school that now included robbery another figure approached the group.
"Get back to your cells!" A voice screeched at all four teenagers from a figure in a grey uniform coat and wearing a jeweled eye patch over a grey mask, causing them to scream in surprise back at the person. Soon after though the menacing figure started laughing hard. "Oh my gosh you should see the look on your faces!" A female voice said as she kept laughing to herself, Marco taking note to see the trim of a yellow skirt and a young girls legs sticking out under the coat.
"Janna!?" Marco shouted accusingly and the girl pulled up the bottom part of the grey mask to reveal her mouth.
"Surprise! Pretty cool right? I found all this crazy stuff in some closet inside the building. There's like a ton of this weird military junk. Oh hey, Starfan, looking good too." The girls high-fived each other on their secured loot, though Pony Head was too over it to be mad about them stealing things from the school and nearly giving her a death by fright.
"Whatever, you girls better be careful though. Someone's likely to kick your butts if they see you walking around dressed like that and I ain't gonna stick my neck out for you."
"But you barely have a neck." Starfan replied innocently. Janna didn't care much about the warning though, now taking off the grey uniform mask completely but putting the eye patch with the jewel in it back on her face.
"We'll be fine, no one's gonna care. Hey Jackie, check these out." Janna said excitedly and pulled out a pair of handcuffs from her pocket, showing them off. "Pretty hot stuff, right? Give you any ideas?" She placed them into the skater girl's hands who was blushing red at the suggestion.
"What kind of ideas do you mean?" Jackie asked trying to sound cool but looking flustered in her expression. Janna just winked at her.
"I think you know. Besides what happens in another dimension stays there, right Diaz?" Janna asked and tossed the grey guardsman's mask into his hands, not a souvenir that Marco was all that excited to keep honestly but he pocketed it anyway.
"Actually no." Marco replied. "Not at all, in fact the very nature of us being here and all going back together suggests otherwise."
"Well good thing no one's gonna talk about it then." Janna said confidently. Marco wanted to get further elaboration on that but the conversation was cut short when they finally caught up with someone else.
"Hey guys, what's up!" Star said happily as she approached the group, smiling brightly as ever.
"Star, there you are." Marco said sounding relieved to see the princess again. "Pony Head said you ran off and she couldn't find you."
"I came back out here to see Oskar perform." Star answered, though she had also changed her look slightly in that she was now sporting some new highly decorated sunglasses on her face that hid her eyes and her balloon she'd previously had on her wrist was missing. This wasn't too uncommon though, everyone present lost their balloons in the process of clothing changes and exploration of the school.
"Nice shades." Janna said with a nod.
"Nice scary uniform and eye patch." Star replied. "Wow, Starfan you're looking really royal tonight." The compliment caused the girl to go into a giggle fit that she wasn't able to properly respond back from. "So what's everyone doing?"
"We just got done with our tour." Jackie answered Star. "And I think everyone else did a little sight seeing of their own."
"You mean looting?" Marco asked, looking directly at Janna and Starfan. Janna was unfazed by the accusation however.
"Hey if no one else wants it I might as well keep it." She replied with a wink... or a blink... it was hard to tell with that eye patch on. "So Star, you said Oskar actually performed. Was he any good or did everyone hate it?"
"He was good." Star answered quickly, not elaborating much further. Pony Head however had more to add to the story.
"If by good you mean kicked off the stage after about ten minutes of murdering that keytar thing he brought." Clearly Pony Head didn't share in Star's preferences for music when it came to Oskar. "Whatever, he's entertaining some girls with bad taste in music far away from where we can hear it last I saw him." While that accounted for where all the boys had been pretty clearly, by Marcos account all of the girls had quickly separated and gone their own way shortly after arriving. Vanishing off the map and without a trace of where they could have been.
"So it looks like everyone had a little adventure on their own already, huh?" Marco asked looking around the group.
"Y'all ran off on me and I couldn't find anyone." Pony Head remarked a little coldly.
"I know I got to find and see what I was looking for." Starfan replied, admiring the jewelry and fancy clothing she had by now clearly stolen from the other princesses' rooms without much regard for having done it.
"I got around." Janna said succinctly with a smile.
"I just came back out here." Star said innocently.
"Why are you wearing those glasses?" Jackie asked Star, catching the princess off guard. "It's the middle of the night, isn't it hard to see out of them?"
"What? Nah, they're not as dark as they look." Star answered, though from the outside the dark lenses completely obscured her eyes. "Besides don't they look cute? I just wanted to try them on."
"I think they look great on you!" Starfan complimented unsurprisingly. "Hey Star, do you want to go dancing!? I haven't actually done it yet and I want to show off my new look."
"I'd like to go out and dance too." Jackie agreed at Starfan's suggestion. "I feel like it'd be fun to just cut loose a little." Marco and Pony Head were along for the ride at the girls' suggestions, Pony Head especially after having been left behind before. Though not everyone was on board for group activities.
"I got other plans." Janna said abruptly and pulled out a deck of cards from one of the pockets on her new uniform jacket. "I want to see what kind of games these princesses know about. I'm sure poker is easy enough to learn for a bunch of smart girls like these."
"You're going to try and rob them blind, aren't you?" Marco asked with a deadpan expression, though it didn't deter Janna any.
"If you want to put on your pretty pink gown and join us I could try to make it a game of strip poker." Janna said with a wink and Marco physically backed away a few steps from her.
"I think I'd rather just go dancing with everyone else!" Marco answered quickly. "Star, do you want to come with us too? I bet they'll end up playing some Love Sentence before tonight's over." It was an open invitation to spend time with her with an activity he knew she enjoyed but also an attempt to keep her out of Janna's influence.
"Oh uh, I think I'm actually going to go talk to Oskar." Star replied. "But you guys can go dance if you want! I'll come join you after I'm done, okay?"
"Well... okay, if you're sure?"
"Oh yeah! Don't worry about me, just go have fun! I'll be back before you know it." Star answered and the group agreed to go their separate ways again, Janna and Star heading in different directions while the rest of the group worked their way into the crowd. Once they were in deep enough on the dance floor everyone took to moving to the music as naturally as they could, Marco probably having the most trouble keeping in step. Thankfully when you're in a crowd of people from multiple kingdoms, cultures and planets it helps that their opinions on what good dancing is differs greatly.
"Keep up with me Marco." Jackie said as she got close and spoke just above the sound of the music. Dancing beside him with moves that involved a lot of hip action, something she had an advantage in making look good. Marco did his best but certain thoughts kept on his mind.
"Sorry 'bout that! I was just thinking about Star."
"Oh." Jackie said with more surprise in her voice and face than he expected. "Are you... do you need to go to her?"
"No. No no, it's not like that. I was just thinking that something seemed a little... off, y'know?"
"Maybe she's nervous cause that Oskar guy is here." She replied, grabbing Marco's arms and putting them around her to make it easier to talk and keep his attention on her. "Honestly I don't know about him, I heard he dropped out of school."
"Well that would explain why he was so hard to find tonight." Marco reflected.
"You don't think she was in that projection booth, do you?" Jackie suggested and Marco felt his heart nearly stop in his chest at the idea.
"I... I don't think so? She said she came right outside."
"But Pony Head said she didn't see her leave." That was true, it was something Jackie had caught that somehow slipped by Marco completely. "Janna said she was running around inside the school too, right?"
"So was Starfan." Marco replied, thinking it over. "So was Pony Head if we really consider it. She said she lost everyone so who knows who could have actually been in there. If anybody."
"Yeah... yeah, it was probably nobody." Jackie said trying to reassure herself.
"Probably nobody." Marco replied as the two gave each other a little hug.
"You're still not going to brag to anyone about it right?" Jackie asked. "Even if someone did see?"
"Never." Marco replied. "You're not going to brag either, right?" Jackie laughed a little at his question and gave his cheek a kiss.
"Well I am dating the famous Princess Marco, but I'll try to keep it cool." She answered and it allowed the two of them to loosen up and enjoy dancing to the music.
"So you previously walked on four legs instead of two?" A princess with a powerful and commanding voice asked the two boys as she looked down on them, standing above them with the height her centaur body gave her. They nodded in agreement to her question in unison. "But you chose to give up your extra limbs?"
"We didn't really choose it." Ferguson explained. "Since we didn't start out that way our friend said she'd get in trouble if we went home as a centaur. So she had to change us back."
"We've tried to get her to change us into it again before, but she always says it's too dangerous to try." Alfonzo followed up.
"I pity you two, losing the grace and strength of a centaur. However... few other princes I've met have understood the joy that comes from having four legs instead of two."
"It took a while to get used to but I think it was a lot more fun that way." Ferguson agreed, finding this conversation to be going much better than Pony Head had implied it would. Sure this girl was really proud of her heritage, and maybe for some weird reason that clashed with someone that didn't have legs at all and was just a floating horse head instead. "You said your name was Princess Seabiscuit?"
"Indeed. I am Princess Seabiscuit of the Centaur Kingdom." The princess said and seemed to be flexing her powerful looking muscles during her introduction, clearly proud of her strength and demeanor.
"You seem like you're a pretty great centaur from everything I've seen. Why would you have been sent here of all places?" Ferguson asked curiously. Seabiscuit let out a scoff and stomped one of her hooves, clearly sore on this subject.
"My father was angry because I wounded a mere four suitors that attempted to take my hand in marriage. They respected my title but not my spirit or my strength."
"He wanted you to get married already? But how did they have time to even get to know you?" Alfonzo asked, gaining a smile from the princess.
"Exactly! None of them understood me at all! None of them even spoke to me as if they wished to learn of my desires! One of them challenged me in combat, however I made sure he paid the price for failing in both courting and dueling." Seabiscuit took a moment to eye Alfonzo and Ferguson over. "You are not quite the physical demeanor I am used to in my men, but your hearts are strong and your minds are not soft. I will allow you to accompany me tonight."
"Really!? That's great!" Ferguson said in response.
"I suppose two former centaurs would be better to spend my evening with than none at all."
"Oh we weren't two centaurs." Alfonzo corrected, confusing Seabiscuit quite thoroughly in the process.
"I... I do not understand. You said you walked on four legs."
"Oh we did, but the two of us were one centaur, together." Alfonzo explained, putting an arm around his buddy who did the same. "Working the legs as a team was kind of difficult but we got the idea of it pretty fast."
"Oh... I see." Seabiscuit responded, seeming to ponder something deeply. "This feels quite different completely. Quite different." After a few moments of thinking she came to a conclusion. "Which was the head and which was the tail?"
"I was the head." Ferguson answered.
"I guess that makes me the tail? I was on the back part." Alfonzo answered, suddenly finding his arm in arm bond with his friend broken as Seabiscuit took Ferguson by the back of his shirt and lifted him up easily. Placing him onto her back as if he was riding a horse.
"My apologies young prince, but my pride will only allow me to spend company with a centaur. The true centaur, not his tail. Farewell for tonight." She explained and walked away, taking Ferguson with her. Turning back around Ferguson mouthed "Sorry dude" with a shrug as he departed, feeling bad for his friend but also looking to spend some time with a girl who was willing to be around him for a change. Alfonzo sighed but understood, at least a friend of his managed to get a little lucky for once that wasn't Marco. Although they had succeeded in entertaining Princess Seabiscuit, so that meant they beat Pony Head's challenge, even if it wasn't together.
Deciding after that he needed some refreshments, Alfonzo walked over to where they were serving the punch and appetizers to get himself as drink. As he looked around for a cup he heard what sounded like frantic tapping. It didn't go along with the beat of the music so it had to have been something else. Looking around curiously he eventually found one of the red plastic cups had been turned upside down and had a plate of snacks sitting on top of it. Alfonzo took the plate off of the cup and then lifted it himself, finding a small figure underneath.
"Finally!" A little voice shouted as a tiny girl with wings stood up on the table. "I thought I was going to be under there all night!"
"Oh wow, are you alright? Did someone drop this on you by accident or something?" Alfonzo asked, surprised to see he'd been right about finding a person in distress after hearing those small taps against the plastic cup.
"That horrible Princess Smooshy trapped me in that cup! I can't believe she'd disrespect me like that!" Flapping her butterfly like wings the pixie princess took to the air. "I'm so angry, where did that fat sack of vanity go anyway!?"
"Uh... sorry, I don't know any Smooshy." Alfonzo answered. "Why did she put you under a cup anyway?"
"Cause she's a jerk!" The pixie princess replied with a haughty tone. "All I did was suggest she use some filters on that stupid phone she keeps taking selfies with."
"Well that doesn't sound so bad, what filters did you suggest?"
"... a mask to hide her face." The girl admitted, clearly aware it was a mean thing to say but didn't seem any less angry about what had been done to her. "I need to get my revenge! But thank you for helping me, kind prince." The pixie said gratefully as she flew up to Alfonzo.
"Oh well, y'know, it was nothing at all. I'm not really a prince anyway." Alfonzo admitted.
"Yet you saved me all the same. May I at least know your name so I can remember your good deed along with it?" Alfonzo felt a little embarrassed at all the kindness she was heaping onto him, but tried to be modest about it.
"Oh I'm Alfonzo. It's a real pleasure to meet you, Pixtopia is one of the few places I've been to besides Earth before."
"Wait... Alfonzo? You're an Earthling named Alfonzo and have been to Pixtopia? You don't mean to tell me you're Emperor Alfonzo do you!? The one that married the Empress after her previous suitor ran out on her?" The pixie princess declared in excitement. That had been an adventure with an odd end for everyone, especially since it started to settle a bill involving excessive calling on Star's magic mirror.
"Oh well, actually I kind of am. But you can just call me Al."
"I can't believe it! Emperor Alfonzo is talking to me at a party!" The pixie suddenly seemed intrigued by the boy, floating around him in a circle of excitement. "Oh my goodness! This is too amazing. I heard during your time as emperor you sentenced more debtors to work the mines than any other ruler before you!"
"Yeah well, when I heard there was a lot of customer not paying their bills we came up with some fliers to trick people into trading in their old magic mirrors for new ones for free. But if they couldn't pay their bill, they went into the mines. So we only sent the promotion to people with large debts. This kind of stuff happens a lot on Earth too."
"That's so ruthless!" The pixie said with pure excitement. "So if you're here does that mean you and the Empress aren't together anymore?"
"We're still married, I guess? I told her I had to go back home to finish going to school at least and she let me. So we're just waiting to see what happens from there."
"Really?" The pixie said intrigued, flying onto Alfonzo's shoulder and landing there. "So if something were to happen to her, you'd still be emperor AND single?"
"Yeah, I guess that's true." Alfonzo agreed, not exactly eager to talk about his weird marriage to a tiny magical woman or her potential death. But he was happy to get this kind of attention from a girl, even if she did seem a little evil and vengeful. Probably the reason why she was sent to this school in the first place. Pixies looked cute but they could be downright cruel given the chance. "Say didn't you need to get revenge on that Princess Smashy or whoever?"
"Oh her ugly face can wait. Let's go find someplace to talk together some more, privately. You don't mind, right?" The pixie asked, scooting on his shoulder closer to his face.
As it turned out despite Alfonzo's previous concerns, Ferguson wouldn't be the only lucky Earth boy tonight after all.
In a corner of the wide open space that made up the front of the school court yard, far away from the stage where the majority of the attendees were dancing and socializing to their hearts content, was a boy with his keytar. He sat upon a pile of rubble that once made up the security tower that prevented all means of magical escape from the prison like school. As he played his instrument of choice a collection of princesses gathered around him to listen to his music, enamored by the notes he played which hit a spot with their alien ears that often turned away anyone from his own planet of Earth. Even if the majority of the crowd had rejected his contribution when he tried to join in on the stage he was still able to find a group that appreciated his art.
As Oskar began to wrap up his song (which identifying where they started and ended was difficult based on his "unique" method of music structure) and receive his modest applause there was a pair of hands clapping that stood out from the rest. Ones that belonged to the original alien ears that had found his music charming. "Great song Oskar!"
"Oh hey Star, what's up?" Oskar said with a pleasant smile, earning a group of glares from the other princesses that had gathered to watch him perform as she seemed more familiar with the Earth boy than all of them. "I thought you went off with Mango and Horse Head?"
"Oh I uh... I did, but I came back out to see you." Star said with a smile.
"Cool. Nice shades you got there." Oskar said, admiring the odd curling designs that came off the frames to make butterfly like wings.
"Thanks, I like them too. Say I was wondering, did you maybe want to check out the school with me?" Star asked the boy, getting a look of surprise from him and intensified glares from the few princesses that had come for their own private concert with the cute Earth boy.
"Yeah, sure, I guess that'd be cool. Didn't you like, go here for a while or something?"
"I lived in fear of it for the majority of my life and then helped tear it down by the foundations... but yeah, I guess it's kinda the same?" Star agreed with some hesitation to her voice. The differences didn't seem to bother Oskar at all as he got up to accompany her. Equally oblivious was he to the sounds of disappointment from the other girls he'd left behind to join the princess of Mewni. Not that it upset Star any, she had her own agenda to fulfill.
Once inside the school Oskar was equally surprised by all the destruction combined with the various posters and graffiti promoting Princess Marco. Who he still somehow kept referring to as Mango regardless of the name being written directly on the walls he was looking at. "Princesses sure are rad, rebelling against their own school. I never would have imagined they could do something like this." Oskar commented, seeming impressed.
"Well Princesses are just regular girls with crowns. We're not that different from normal people."
"No way, this is way cooler than you'd see in any normal place. Fighting a whole school and rebelling against it. You'd never see this kinda stuff back home. Someone should like... make a movie or write a song about it or something."
"Well if it was going to be a song maybe you could be the first to do it?" Star offered, watching Oskar's face as realization slowly crept into his mind from her suggestion.
"Oh wow, I could! Like I could write a song about how you and Mango defeated this place. That would be awesome!" Star let Oskar bask in the moment for a little bit, smiling over being able to give him such a happy thought. "Thanks Star, I don't think I would have thought of that on my own."
"Oh shucks, I mean I just said what was obvious. You're a musician and you said there should be a song so... y'know." Star laced her fingers together to signify the pieces fitting.
"I dunno, I don't think I'd have ever thought I could do it. It's sort of a big and important event right? So for me to be the one to try..." Oskar trailed off a little. "But you believed in me right away."
"Of course, I think you can make great music if you want to." Star encouraged, happy to keep this train of thought going while they walked through the halls together, slowly going deeper into the school.
"Do princesses have a lot of songs written about them?"
"Well I can't speak for every princess, but each princess on Mewni gets her own Song Day."
"Whoa, that sounds epic. So you have a whole song written about you and like, a day long concert to listen to it?"
"Nah, mine hasn't happened yet. But it's going to be soon." Star said as she looked down at the floor, kicking some trash as she walked. "It doesn't matter, Song Day is a joke."
"It's a joke? But... it's a special day about you, isn't it? How could that be a joke?"
"That's sweet of you to say." Star said with a smile, making Oskar blush a little in surprise as he seemed to realize he accidentally complimented her. "But most princess songs are just a bunch of fluff that makes us sound like perfect little girls doing perfectly sweet things. There's never anything 'real' about them."
"Wow. That's a bummer."
"Right! Like nearly every princess song on Mewni could be interchanged between every princess we've ever had. I don't want to have a song made about me that's just a rinse and repeat of my mom's or grandma's or anyone else's song."
"You want a true song about you? That's like about your heart and soul."
"Yes, exactly! That's what I want! Something that lets the people of Mewni know I'm not just another picture perfect princess in a dress. I want to be true to them and to myself and not have to hold anything back or... or hide anything from anyone about my feelings or desires or life. I want it all to feel real!" Star exclaimed, nearly shouting through the halls and letting it echo far beyond where they were speaking. As she caught her breath Star realized she'd been yelling and calmed down a little. "Sorry 'bout that."
"Nah, it's cool. I yell at the sky too sometimes when I'm mad." Oskar reassured her. "It's better than not yelling at anything at all."
"Yeah, I guess you're right about that." Star said and took a moment to look around the hall way. They were mostly alone but the faint sounds of the party were still in the distance as well as the sounds of conversation in various rooms across the building. "Hey Oskar, I think I know of another room that might inspire you for your music."
"Really?"
"Yeah, if you want to follow me I could show it to you. There's probably not a lot of people there so we can hang out as long as we want."
"Sure thing, I'd love to see more of this wild place." With a nod and a smile Star lead him deeper into St. Olga's. It was a place she'd only been once before but it had stuck in her memory distinctly despite the stressful conditions she'd been under upon entering it. Traveling deep within the building Star had been correct that there wouldn't be many people near by. The sounds of conversation and even music dwindled away as they stepped forward initially through darkness before coming across a large room illuminated by an open skylight. "Whoa."
"I know, right?" Star agreed as they looked around the circular room filled with many doorways. Pillars lined each door with lizard like heads decorating the top. Symbols beneath them on the floor of celestial beings of the night sky carved out of stone and the ceiling had a painting that surrounded the skylight. One of demons with weapons that seemed to be descending upon them in that very room.
"What is this place?"
"Dunno. Now there's nobody left to ask either." Star confessed, stepping away from Oskar as he took in all the imagery around him. "We were running for our lives when we came into this room, Heinous and her goons on our tail. We eventually picked a door and kept running till Marco found us a way out. He got me and Pony Head to safety but... he didn't get away himself."
"That's intense." Oskar said as he kept looking around the room at the paintings and statues.
"Yeah, it's not one of my favorite memories." Star hugged her shoulders as if a chill was running up her spine. "I honestly don't have a lot of good memories about this place at all."
"Oh. I'm sorry?" Oskar asked, somewhat confused by the confession. "Did you wanna go? We don't have to be here if you don't like it."
"No, it's okay. I mean, they say if you have bad memories of a place you can sometimes get rid of them by replacing them with good ones."
"Really? I've never heard of that before." Oskar admitted, though he'd never been one on studying how a person's mind works.
"It's what I want to believe anyway." Star replied, turning to look at Oskar in the eyes through her dark tinted glasses. "Say, have you written a lot of love songs?"
"Love songs?" Oskar asked, surprised by the question but took a moment to think it over seriously. "I guess I haven't.
"Oh? You've never had a girlfriend before or anything like that to inspire you for one?" Star asked as she slowly approached him, watching Oskar swallow a lump in his throat but managing to hold his ground.
"Well uh... nah, I mean, I don't want to be tied down." Oskar replied, adding some bravado to his voice.
"Tied down?" Star asked curiously, stopping her advance with the question.
"Yeah you know, like, sure girls want to be my girlfriend but I'm just too free. I've gotta be out there to do my own thing. Sow my wild oats."
"You farm?" Star asked, more confused than ever. "I mean we grow lots of corn in Mewni but I didn't think oats were that important to Earthlings. I guess there are a lot of different breakfast cereals and breads in the grocery stores..."
"No no no, it's like not like farming. It means like... you gotta do your own thing, y'know? You can't let yourself be stopped so you can do what feels right or what makes you happy."
"Oh." Star replied, considering his words more carefully now. "So you want to be able to have fun before you have to grow up."
"Yeah, that's it. It's all about having fun."
"Right, before you have to be responsible." Star said thoughtfully, more to herself than to Oskar. "To date people you like and do things you want to do before time runs out to do those kinds of things. It doesn't matter if they're not the person that's best for the future or marriage or anything like that. All that matters is right now. Sowing those 'wild oats'."
"Yeah! Yeah, exactly! See Star, that's why it's so cool hanging out with you. You understand me comple-" Oskar didn't get to complete that sentence however as Star closed the gap between them and placed her lips against his own. He'd clearly been caught off guard by Star's advance but after a few moments of feeling her hands on his chest and lips against his own he was willing to forget about the surprise of the kiss and simply accept it, kissing her in return eagerly.
Star's arms went around Oskar and his around her as they continued their kiss, lips parting to meet each other more passionately. Her fingers gripped at his shirt as he held her, his kiss and embrace more forceful than what she'd experienced in the past with Marco. Still she managed to keep up with him and moaned against his lips as she let herself fall into the moment. Hands on her back slipping under her hair and further down over her hips and ass, feeling her through her skirt. He was fast to enjoy handfuls of the princess before him and she was doing nothing to resist his exploring her body. Their kiss broke as both were taking deep breaths. "Enjoying the right now?"
"Y-yeah... yeah, a lot." Oskar said, his hold on her strong but hesitant. He wasn't making as many moves as Star had been expecting so she decided to guide him gently. Using her right arm she brushed back her long hair from her right shoulder, exposing her bare neck to him. Thankfully it didn't take much direction after that as he descended onto her soft skin and began to kiss and suck at her neck.
"Ooh!" Star cooed feeling his mouth touch her skin and hands pull up at her skirt to feel her ass through her tights. He clearly enjoyed the feeling of her body in his grip and she was enjoying the ride along with him. She winced a little feeling his teeth bite lightly at her neck, letting out a moan. "Your fangs are sharp."
"Should I stop?" He asked against her ear and Star shook her head, feeling his mouth plant itself against her neck again and bite a little harder. Star gasped lightly and lifted her leg up against his, providing pressure between their hips onto one another. This was the first time she'd ever learned about "sowing wild oats" and just going by her instincts but she was starting to see the appeal of it. There was a pressure against Oskar's pants she could feel pushing against her tights. It was the kind of thing she'd become familiar with now after her past experiences. At least this meant he was enjoying it as much as her.
"Os.. Os.. ker." Star breathed out slowly. "Hold... Hold on a moment." She placed her hand on the back of his head and he pulled away from her neck with no fight at all. Despite his apparent eagerness with the fun they were having he was still nervous enough to stop the instant she protested. Doubt was piling up that Oskar had done this before with many girls, if any at all, but his inexperience was kind of cute in a way.
"Is something wrong?" He asked and Star placed a kiss on his lips in response.
"Nope." She said cheerfully. "But I think I can do something for you that you'll really like." Using her hands to make him release his possessive grip on her posterior, Star slowly lowered herself down onto her knees in front of him and gave his crotch a tap with her fingers. "Ready to come out and play?"
"Whoa! I didn't think you'd like... know about that kind of stuff." Oskar said in surprise and Star looked up at him curiously.
"What kind of stuff? I'm aware of the difference between boys and girls." Star thought on his question for a moment. "You are too, right?"
"Yeah! Yeah yeah I am! I just... never expected you to, y'know... be willing to go that far."
"Should I stop?" Star asked, now confused as to what he was trying to get at with all his questioning about her latest actions.
"No way, this is awesome!" Oskar said eagerly but his previous words still stuck in her mind. Regardless Star continued on as planned, unzipping Oskar's jeans and pulling his pants and underwear down to expose him to her. Despite having been in this position before Star found herself nervous too now. This wasn't the same boy she'd done this with in the past and it seemed like he didn't think the same way either about what they were doing. Still she pressed on as her fingers came up and began to stroke Oskar's erect cock, looking up at his face as she did.
"This feels good, right?" Star asked in a sensual tone as she used her hand to slowly pump him, Oskar nodded and breathing heavily as she did. He seemed like he was enjoying himself again and Star began to relax more as they continued. "Okay, I'll make it even better for you." Using her free hand Star pushed back the strands of hair around her face and leaned forward, licking at the tip of his cock while she stroked him.
"Oh man... oh wow..." Oskar seemed both amazed by what was happening before him and reacting to the pleasure Star was providing him. "I can't believe I'm getting head right now. Star you're the coolest girl ever." She enjoyed getting the compliment, encouraging her to go farther as she wrapped her lips around the tip of his cock and began to suck while still stroking his cock. It somehow tasted different than Marco's, though it was mostly the same texture and feeling of human flesh against her lips. Taking a breath of air in through her nose Star moved her head farther down along his shaft, coating him in her saliva while he moaned out at the feeling. Pulling her head back Star released him from her lips and returned to stroking him with her hand.
"Getting close?" Star asked as she pumped him with her hand faster, seeing his legs tense up from her actions. "Okay, tell me when so I can-" Despite her request there wasn't much of a chance to make a plan as Star gasped, getting a face full of Oskar's cum as he groaned and ejaculated from her faster stroking. Oskar's hands had landed on her shoulders for support, keeping her from being able to dodge as the white, sticky substance coated her face, hair and glasses until it finally slowed and stopped completely.
"Heh... uh, sorry 'bout that." Oskar said as he straightened himself out and looked down at the Mewni princess who's face was smeared by the pleasure she'd brought him. "You kind of made me go off faster than I wanted."
"Yeah... I guess." Star said as she wiped some of the liquid from her glasses, suddenly more thankful for them than ever for protecting her eyes from a sudden invasion. Seeing the mess he'd caused Oskar took a moment to realize he could actually help and took off the red bandana he wore around his neck, giving it to her to clean up. "Thanks." She said, using the cloth to get her face cleaned off as best she could and remove what she could from her hair as well. Thankful that none of it had gotten onto her dress to leave a stain she'd have to explain later.
"That was the best." Oskar declared as he pulled his pants up, securing them back around his waist and letting out a relieved sigh. "Thanks Star, I've never felt anything that good before."
"Oh. Yeah well... you're welcome?" Star said slightly confused from her kneeling position still on the floor.
"Uh, here, you've still got a little bit on you." Oskar took the bandana back from her and leaned forward to spot clean a few more places on her face she'd missed. While he was leaning forward Star leaned in and closed her eyes to give him a kiss but found it missed the mark as Oskar had leaned away from her. "Hey uh, I really would like to kiss you some more but maybe like, after you drink some water or something? I don't really wanna taste 'me' when we're kissing, y'know?"
"I uh... I understand." Star answered, finding it hard to hide the disappointment in her voice. Seeing as Oskar seemed to be finished Star got back up onto her feet and he started to head back towards the party.
"Do you want to go get some punch or something? I bet it would wash the taste out." Oskar offered and Star shook her head.
"Actually that's okay, you can go on ahead first."
"Really?" Oskar asked surprised. "You don't wanna go back to the party?"
"Oh I will I just need to... do something else here first. I mean I haven't been back here in a long time so there were other parts I still wanted to see from last time."
"Did you want me to come with you?" Oskar asked with a tone of worry to his voice that made Star grip her hands tightly into balled fists but she hid them behind her back where they couldn't be seen in the dimly lit room.
"Nah, you can get back to your concert, I bet your audience is waiting for you."
"Well... okay then, if you're sure. I'll see you out there, okay?"
"Yep! See you out there!" Star said and smiled as wide as she could as Oskar waved to her and exited the room from where they'd entered. Once he was gone she let her smile drop and stood in the empty room for a while, just standing in the light from the open window above her. Looking down Star could see stains on the stone floor where some of Oskar's excitement had dripped off of her face earlier. She dropped the red bandana on the ground and walked over to one of the pillars that lined the walls, resting her back against it. As she stared at the stain and bandana from where she'd previously been on her knees Star slide down and sat on the ground. Pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them tightly in her arms.
"Well... nice going there. Now he thinks you're some easy slut." Star spoke aloud to herself. "Someone he can come to for... his oats or whatever. Because that's what you were. Because that's how you acted." Star pulled the glasses off her face and rested her head against her knees. "Because maybe that's all you're really good for."
Despite the rocky start Pony Head somehow found herself enjoying the night again. Once everyone had found their niche to fall into with the crowd things seemed to be flowing more smoothly. She even had to take back her words about Al and Ferg as they'd both managed to find some ladies to keep company for the night. Which was fine by her since she didn't want to get anywhere near that hot tempered centaur or that maniac pixie they'd paired off with. Sure Pony Head was wild and liked to cut loose but those two were down right crazy as far as she was concerned.
Marco and Jackie seemed to be having fun on the dance floor and Pony Head gave them their space, finding a few princes good looking enough to keep her company. Starfan was somehow pulling in a few guys too but she seemed to be enjoying the attention of being confused with royalty a lot more than actually trying to flirt with anybody. Guess it was true the only one she seemed have eyes for was Star herself. Janna had gone missing ever since she announced setting up a game to play with any takers she could find, Pony Head considering if she should check it out too before the night was over. That is until she saw the second to last member of her crew she'd brought along from Marco's home on Earth.
Oskar was exiting the school from the entrance where he'd left the party and he was conspicuously alone compared to when he'd departed. Truthfully she shouldn't be sticking her nose into other people's business but she couldn't help herself from looking out for her bestie. Especially when she was aware there was something going on that Star wasn't telling her for one reason or another. Seeing the boy Star had left with come back without her raised the red flags in her mind and she decided it might be a good idea to leave the dance floor and go looking for the Mewni princess. Gracefully she excused herself from the boy she'd been dancing with by shouting a fast apology while bowling him over as she flew quickly into St. Olga's.
Unfortunately St. Olga's was still a big place and with everything being so chaotic Star could be literally anywhere in the building she wanted right now. All doors were open and all rooms were subject to the whims of any princess who wandered into them. Which served Pony Head well as she heard the sound of shattering glass a few rooms away. Zipping through the corridors Pony Head eventually found herself in a large room, one that she recognized as where the new arrivals for the school when it was operational were taken to be introduced to their new life as a prisoners for reformation. It had been abandoned for a long time despite having so much space, no girl really wanting to be there again for any reason. However Star had found a purpose for it as she picked up various pieces of smashed furniture and used them to lob shots up at the chandeliers, shattering the glass that covered the candles and snuffing the flames out with each toss. Honestly it looked like fun and Pony Head would have asked to join in if not for the look on Star's face as she threw the debris.
"B-fly?" Pony Head asked as she floated into the room, Star stopping to look back at her friend and then taking the time to toss a broken table leg at a chandelier. The glass casing around it broke in an explosion of dangerous glittering light. "You uh... killing time?"
"Yep, just... killing some time." She still had those dark sunglasses on that obscured her eyes but even with those hiding her face Pony Head could see she wasn't really into what she was doing. "Want a toss?"
"Heck yeah." Pony head said, floating up and taking one of the broken table legs in her mouth. With a spin of her head/body she let the leg fly and caught just the edge of the chandelier, making it swing. "Aw, are you kidding me? I had that lined up!" Without missing a beat Star threw another piece of debris of her own, hitting her target on the mark even with the chandelier swinging. There wasn't much left to break on that one so she turned her attention to the next. "Dang Star, you're on point with that aim."
"Yep. I'm pretty good at breaking stuff." Star said flatly.
"Yeah you are! Monster smashing and rule breaking! Isn't it kind of boring though just... breaking things by yourself in this room?" Pony Head asked curiously, but Star picked up one of the table legs she'd used earlier and lined up her next shot. "We could invite everyone else in here too or like... I dunno, go dance or something?"
"I'm cool." Star replied, throwing the debris and shattering the glass top of the chandelier arm expertly. It broke into pieces along with Pony Head's patience.
"No you're not." Pony head stated.
"Excuse me?" Star asked, showing some genuine emotion this time even if it was just confusion.
"You're not cool. You haven't been cool all day." Pony Head elaborated for her. "I should have like... I dunno, said something. Or asked more or... I dunno what but I can tell when you're not cool Star."
"You're just imagining things, I'm fine." Star said as she lined up her next shot, but the table leg she used from the pile of broken furniture never made its mark as Pony Head flew in front of her to catch it in her teeth and spit it back out onto the ground.
"Dang it Star I'm trying to be serious and junk!"
"Well when have you ever been serious!?" Star snapped back at Pony Head.
"Excuse me!?"
"Everyone says I'm wild and I get into fights with monsters and party all the time but you're even less responsible than me!"
"Hey, I organized this whole party for everybody."
"You're dad organized this party for everybody." Star shot back at her. "So it's not like you had to worry about anything, you get to still do everything you wanna do. So why can't I just cut loose and break things and just... sow my wild oats if I feel like it!?" Star exclaimed to the confused floating horse head in front of her. "If everyone else gets to do it then why is it wrong if I want to?"
"B-fly I... if you wanna get some food to eat I can go and find you something right now."
"Not those kind of oats! Forget it, you wouldn't understand. You can't understand. No one can understand it!" Star shouted angrily, her arms waving violently as she did. "Why are you even here?"
"I came here for you!" Pony Head shot back. "Cause I'm worried about you cause you're way past not being cool."
"Well just stop! I don't care if you think I'm cool or not, just do it some place else where I don't have to think about it anymore!"
"...Star. What happened with that guy Oskar and you? You guys came in here together and he left without you." Star didn't have an answer for Pony Head's question. Instead of shouting at her or tossing more junk at the ceiling Star pulled her wand from her purse and shot a green blast of magic at the chandler she'd been using as target practice. The ceiling fixture erupting with green energy into small, smoking pieces on the ground below where it had been hanging. After the explosion the two princesses stared at each other in silence before Pony Head finally gave her answer back to Star's.
"Whatever." Pony Head said, floating away with a scowl on her face. Star just stood silently behind Pony Head as she exited the room, turning down the hall and flying faster and faster until she was sure she was out of earshot of Star. In an area of the school where some other royal teenagers were lounging and talking to each other, Pony Head burst into the room and let loose a frightening scream as she started tearing apart the first painting she found on the wall with her horn. Cutting several slashes into it before stopping to catch her breath. When she was done the painting was gone, just an empty frame left and a room full of people staring in terror at the floating horse head that had went berserk.
"Uh... sorry! Sorry everybody. Sorry, that was like, an emergency destruction of property just now? Kinda had to just let it fly off the handle, you know?" She swung around to address the room, all eyes fixated on the sharp horn atop her head that swung along with her. "So I think I'll just be leaving... okaythankslater!" Zipping out of the room Pony Head took a second to catch her breath, think about what had just happened and try to deal with getting into a sudden fight with her best friend just because she'd been worried about her.
"Can't tell me cause I don't understand? I understand plenty!" Pony Head grumbled out loud as she floated back towards the party. "I understand you better than you do, girl! I know you inside and out. Tellin' me I don't understand my bestie. If you can't talk to you're best bestie than who else you gonna talk to? Tell me that why don't you? Huh? Who? Who's better at talking to you than me?" In her haste Pony Head collided with one of the walls instead of taking a turn at the hallway like she should have. She was ready to tear up whatever was in front of her again when she noticed it was the face of a certain princess plastered on a poster and looking at her with that stupid Earth Turd smile of his. "...okay that's not even funny." Still, it was an answer for her question.
Moments later Pony Head was outside the school again and searching above the crowd. She quickly spotted her target and descended towards Jackie and Marco who were off by the punch bowl getting a drink and talking to each other. Swooping down she called out to get their attention. "Marco, hold up!" The couple looked up to see their horse head friend fly towards them and come to a sudden halt in the air. "Marco, I need you inside. Right now."
"What!?" Marco asked in shock and Jackie went wide eyed at the declaration. "Like... what do you mean need me 'inside' right now?"
"Don't be lookin' at me like that, y'all ain't that charming." Pony Head said with a snort. "I don't need you for me, I need you inside that school for Star."
"Star's in trouble?"
"I dunno." That response just got more confused looks which just frustrated Pony Head further. "I mean, she's not cool."
"Not... cool?" Marco asked very confused now.
"Right, she's not cool. Like normally she's all cool and chill and she's like, having fun and stuff. But she's not cool at all right now."
"Oh... how come?"
"She won't tell me! So you gotta go in there and ask her."
"Wait, right now!? I mean if she's upset yeah we should go and check on her-"
"Nuh uh, not us, just you." Marco looked a little lost and confused as to why it had to be just him, though that didn't seem to be what kept him from moving. Instead he looked to Jackie with conflict in his eyes. Sensing it as well Jackie decided to dig a little deeper.
"Do you have any clue what might have made her upset?" Jackie asked Pony Head directly.
"All I know is, she went into that school with that guy that plays that horrible music, and then he came back out without her."
"Oh no." Jackie said gravely and Pony Head nodded seriously. "Okay Marco, you should go check on Star."
"Wait wait wait, can anyone just tell me what's going on right now?" Marco asked in a panic, not sure how worried he should be about this situation but the girls just looked at each other knowingly.
"Not really." Jackie answered. "It's kind of a girl thing and we don't have time to get into it right now. But listen, you're her best friend right?"
"Well, yeah. Star's my best friend too, I'd do anything for her."
"Good, then just be your silly, lovable self and be there for her. That's all you need to know." Jackie said reassuringly. "Besides Pony Head came all the way out here to ask you for help and didn't call you Earth Turd once."
"Don't read too much into that." Pony Head said, realizing she had been calling Marco by his actual name for once. Marco thought it through and nodded, setting down the glass he'd been drinking from.
"Okay, I'm going in. But are you going to be okay on you're own?" Marco asked Jackie and she gave him a playful nudge away.
"I'm a big girl, silly. You don't have to babysit me or anything like that. It's a party, I'll find something to do. Maybe I'll go check out Janna's poker game and see how it's going."
"Oh, you wanna check that out too?" Pony Head asked excitedly. "I was wondering about that whole thing myself, is it fun?"
"Well it can be but..." Jackie said trying to think of how to phrase what came next. Marco however had an answer.
"Janna cheats. A lot. Like a lot a lot." Sighing to himself Marco reached into his wallet and pulled out four hundred dollars. "Here, that's two hundred for each of you. Should be enough to buy into one of her games if she's playing against princesses with jewels and crowns and stuff."
"Whoa, Marco are... are you sure?" Jackie asked, amazed he so willingly handed this much money to her without a care.
"Yep, don't worry about it. Watch out for her left sleeve though. With that big jacket she's probably got some cards stashed up in there and she'll make a move for them. Also watch out for-"
"Her hat when she goes to scratch her head and her bra when she says she's scratching her boob. Yeah I've seen Janna play card games before." Jackie replied.
"Uh... yeah, all of that. Though I wasn't going to say the boob thing..."
"But you were thinking it, weren't you?" Jackie asked with a smirk.
"I better get going!" Marco replied and ran off towards where Pony Head had directed him the last place Star had been seen. Jackie and the floating princess going their own direction while the skater girl tried to describe the rules of poker as fast as she could so Janna wouldn't take advantage of both of them when they got there. As Marco got farther from the party and the thumping music he was reminded of how he and Jackie had been wandering the halls earlier with the slow fading of the sounds behind them as they did.
It was the same as Marco got deeper into the school, though he didn't have to travel near as far as last time. Instead finding a large room with several smashed chandeliers, tables, chairs and other furniture. On a couch off to the side was a girl with long blonde hair laying down and staring up at the ceiling. By Pony Head's description Marco figured the room had probably been more in tact before Star had arrived. With that in mind he approached slow and carefully since he hadn't seen this much destruction on purpose from Star before.
Walking over to the couch Marco could see Star's face looking straight up but not if she was awake due to the sun glasses over her eyes. Quietly he spoke out to her. "Hey."
"Hey." Star replied, confirming she was awake.
"Really trashed this room, huh?"
"Yeah." Star answered, not moving.
"Is it cool if I sit next to you on the couch? I'd sit on the floor but there's a lot of glass everywhere." If it wasn't for the fact the school was going to be completely renovated in a week Marco would have been bothered by the giant mess surrounding him. His general neat freak nature was being suppressed at the moment over the greater need to comfort his friend.
"Okay." Star said and slowly swung her legs around to sit up, stretching her body out after having changed positions. Marco sat down next to her and leaned back on the couch, looking up at the ceiling too. The two sat in silence for a while, just letting the dull sounds of the party out in the courtyard bounce off the walls in and out of the building. Till Star allowed the conversation to continue. "Did Pony Head ask you to find me?"
"Yeah, she was worried about you." Marco answered. "I'm going to confess, I am too now that I see all of this."
"Why, I've broken stuff before." Star said, her voice still flat and monotone.
"Yeah but usually when you do you're smiling." Marco replied.
"Oh." Star said, not going further. Seeing as they were back to square one and sitting in silence in the room Marco took a breath and decided he needed to make a move if anything was going to happen to fix whatever problem Star was dealing with. Silly antics to distract her weren't going to work this time if anything Jackie and Pony Head said seemed to be right. Sitting up and turning to face her Marco gathered his courage.
"Hey Star?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I take off your glasses?" Even without looking at her he could feel her body react on the couch, her muscles tensing at the idea of having them taken away from her.
"...why?"
"Because I want to look you in the eyes. I think it's important that I do."
"Why?"
"I don't know. Just... for some reason I think I need to." Star didn't reply further on his logic and Marco decided since she hadn't disagreed with him he was going to take the next step. If she wanted to stop him she could in a moment with a slap or a push or even a simple word of objection. But as his hands slowly rose up and touched the edges of the decorated frames of her glasses Star didn't fight him. Instead letting him slip them carefully off of her face and through her hair, folding them up and setting them on the couch between them. Her eyes had been closed while he pulled them away and when she opened them he could see what she'd been hiding. "Oh Star..."
Her eyes were red and the skin around them puffy as if she'd been crying. Quite a bit from just how bad they looked. Marco put his arms out and Star leaned in to hug him tightly, his arms wrapping around her as she sniffed and started to cry against his shoulder. He still didn't understand but just held onto her, letting her hug him and cry out whatever she'd been holding back this whole time. As it went on it her sobbing was getting worse and Marco began to stroke her hair to try and calm her down. Thankfully no one else was around to see her break down after all the effort she'd put into hiding this. Over a little bit of time Star started to relax and her tears eased up, Marco still hugging onto her for as long as she needed. "Thank you."
"Of course." Marco said, trying to hide the worry in his voice as he had seen her upset before but never like this. After a little bit Star pulled herself away from him and sat on the couch, wiping some stray tears away. "I'm a real downer, huh?"
"No, Star, not at all. I'm just... I just don't understand. Did something happen?" Marco put a hand onto Star's and she gripped it, the contact felt reassuring between them. "If someone did something to make you feel this way then I'll... I don't know what but I'm here for you for whatever you need."
"I just hate it here." Star said quietly.
"What?"
"I hate it here. I hate everything about this place." Star confessed. "This building, the things in it, what happened to us here. I can't just... I can't just forget what this place was. Everything about what's happened in here... even now, even tonight... even tonight!" Star gasped for air as she felt more tears coming despite her eyes feeling like they couldn't possibly cry any more. Marco moved closer to her and put an arm around her shoulders, Star leaning into him and calming down a little. "I just hate it here so much."
"Star... I had no idea." Marco said with slow realization. "I knew you were always scared of this place. That it was almost the only thing I'd ever seen you be scared of. But I didn't think it still bothered you this much." Star let a little whimper out, so different from the strong girl he always admired for her bravery. She was still the coolest and most inspirational girl he'd ever met but now he had to try and be something strong as well for her sake. He just hoped he was up to the task like their friends were counting on. "Do you want to go home?"
"Can't." Star said shaking her head. "I can't go home, not now. Not while everyone else is having fun. I don't want to be the reason everyone has to drop what they're doing and-"
"Okay. Okay, we won't leave then. I don't want you to feel like you're causing anyone else trouble."
"I'm causing you trouble." Star said. "I took you away from the party. From Jackie."
"Jackie's a big girl, she told me so herself. Said not to worry about her. You shouldn't worry about me either. I'm here because I want to be here for my best friend." Star sighed slowly and let his words sink in.
"I yelled at Pony Head." Star said softly. "She was worried about me and I yelled at her."
"Well you were really upset."
"Still that's terrible. I can't believe I was mean to her when she came to help me." Marco wasn't the biggest fan of Pony Head himself, the two having a mutual respect for each other. Mostly on account of they both cared about Star so much. Despite all her flaws though Marco had some faith in her.
"She'll forgive you the moment you apologize." He said with confidence. "Won't even bother her I bet. She's too stubborn to let a little fight ruin your friendship."
"Wish I could take it back." Star said quietly, Marco rubbing her shoulder gently with his hand as she leaned into him. "What should we do?"
"What do you mean?"
"I can't keep you here all night." Star said, cuddling up to Marco more. "Eventually everyone will come looking for us and I'll still be a mess and you'll be with me. It doesn't look good."
"Maybe." Marco said, though he didn't really understand what didn't look good about it other than Star feeling sad and not wanting to make everyone else worry. "But Janna's already off doing her own thing, getting up to no good I bet. Jackie and Pony Head went off to find her. Starfan I think is having more fun pretending to be a princess than any of the real ones out there ever have living as one. So she's fine. Al and Ferg actually hooked up with two girls they met at the party."
"You're kidding me." The news was surprising enough to shake Star out of her depression which made Marco smile. "Who exactly?"
"Well Ferg's been riding on the back of some centaur Princess that Pony Head seems to really hate for some reason."
"Yeah, it's not the best thing but for some reason she just can't get along with people who have the bottom halves of horses." Star sat up on her own now off of Marco's shoulder, looking his way as they talked. "I don't know where she gets it from, it's not like we run into a lot of people like that. Except my uncle Lump but his horse body was a transplant so I guess it's different?" Star shrugged and Marco shrugged as well, completely lost on the source of alien princess prejudice. "Who did Al meet?"
"Looked like a girl from Pixtopia."
"Isn't he still married to that queen or whatever?"
"Maybe? I actually haven't asked ever since we fought our way out of there to stop Ferguson from doing the same thing. Just goes to show that sometimes it's not worth the effort trying to stop a relationship that's just going to happen no matter what. Even if it isn't the best choice for everyone at the time."
"Yeah... even if it isn't a good choice. Sometimes things like that happen, don't they?" Star said, seeming to lose some of her spirit again. Marco caught the tone in her voice and decided maybe relationships weren't the best thing to talk about. Especially if something having to do with Oskar was the real source of all of this.
"Hey Star?"
"Yeah?"
"Want to go smash some wood?"
"Wait, whaaaaaat? Since when are you the one to suggest smashing things?"
"Since as of right now." Marco said with a smile. "Remember that tea etiquette room from the last time we were here? I bet a lot of those tables and chairs are still in there. We could break them up really good."
"Yeah, I guess so. But why do you want to?" Star asked hesitantly, though Marco was carefully pulling her sunglasses up and placing them over her eyes again to hide the red tint and puffiness that surround them.
"Because like you taught me, we should go and do the things we want to do before we run out of time and have to do the things we have to do." Marco said and rose up to his feet. "They're fixing this place later from top to bottom, no reason not to go crazy on it if we got the chance."
"I taught you that?" Star asked curiously and Marco offered his hand to her, helping her stand off the couch.
"Of course you did, that night we watched the meteor shower. That it was important to enjoy being young while we are before we have to grow up. Right?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Star said with a small smile. "Like sowing our wild oats." Marco didn't know where she'd learned that phrase all of a sudden but he felt his heart thump hard in his chest and his fingers gave Star's hand a small squeeze at the suggestion.
"I... um... I mean... yeah?" Marco said nervously. "Not exactly the phrase I would use but close enough." Keeping a hold of her hand Marco began to walk out of the room, leading Star with him. "So ready to go smash some wood."
"Heck yeah, that wood won't know what hit it!"
"Probably, it is just furniture after all."
"Not for long!" Soon Star was taking the lead as she pulled Marco along, the two eventually finding their way to the tea etiquette room from before that was still filled with plenty of chairs, tables and all sorts of things to smash. It didn't take long for the room to be nearly destroyed completely, a few of the other party guests having heard their activities and coming along to join in on the fun. Thankfully it seemed to brighten Star's spirits and Marco felt a little more at ease despite never really understanding how Oskar had fit into Star's issues with St. Olga's in the first place.
By the end of the night when everyone was ready to head home there were smiles all around. Just as expected Janna had not only taught some of the other princesses how to play poker but had learned and beat some of them at a few games from their own home worlds. Jackie had come back with one hundred and fifty of the two hundred dollars Marco had lent her, along with a pretty new sapphire ring she'd won during one of the gambling games. Pony Head was empty handed (or empty mouthed rather) having been taken for all she was worth but had fun regardless. Ferguson had left with a magic mirror calling number to contact princess Seabiscuit and a kiss on the cheek as a reward for being "as noble as a centaur". Alfonzo had come back with much the same but seemed a bit stressed due to what sounded like a suggested plot to overthrow the empress of Pixtopia by his new princess friend. Starfan had been happy to reunite with Star after being apart so long at the party but somehow had kept up the ruse of seeming like royalty to everyone and not getting caught for raiding their rooms earlier. She even got to keep the gown she wore at the dance.
A portal trip later everyone who belonged on Earth was back there again. Marco saw his friends out the door of his home but took the time to stay outside with Jackie for a bit before she left.
"I had a great time tonight." Jackie said as she snapped her helmet on and prepared her skate board. "Don't forget your promise by the way. I really do want to come on one of your adventures some day."
"Don't worry, I don't think I'll be forgetting anything from tonight any time soon." They laughed a little nervously together in the shared secret of their first time together as lovers. But it was a happy and precious thing to have between them. "Seriously though Jackie, you're the best. Thank you for coming tonight."
"Wouldn't have missed it for the world." She replied and gave Marco a kiss on the lips. "I'll see you at school." With that Jackie was off down the road on her skateboard, weaving expertly through the street until she was out of sight. Marco stayed behind until he couldn't see her anymore and made his way back up to his door. Though it opened before his hand could reach the handle.
"Oh, hey Mango."
"Oskar?" Marco asked surprised. "You're still here?"
"Yeah, was just talking with Star. Wanted to say good night the 'right way', you know what I mean right?" Oskar said with a grin that Marco couldn't read for the life of him.
"Sure... I know what you mean." He didn't, not really. Though there was something eerily similar to him staying behind for Star the way Marco had stayed behind to say good night to Jackie. Was there something going on that he didn't know about? Pony Head had seemed to think Oskar was the source of Star's problems, though Marco didn't have any reason to doubt what Star had told him earlier either about the school being the cause. "So you're headed home."
"Yep, home is parked just down the street." Oskar said as he motioned to his car. "Later princess dude."
"Later..." Marco said as Oskar left the house, allowing him to enter finally. Once inside Marco felt a need to find out if there was something more going on between them but found that Star had already gone to bed for the night, her door closed and lights off in her room. "Guess she was tired." He couldn't blame her. After how emotionally draining tonight had been she probably just wanted to crash and wake up refreshed the next day. With how much energy he'd used dancing both vertically and horizontally with Jackie he could relate to that need for a rest. "Oh well, I'll ask her about it tomorrow." Sure things had been a little rough at the party but there wasn't any reason to worry. Star was Star, nothing could ever get her down for very long.