For a Princess
Technically I could make this into a full length story, and I might later on, but for now have this one shot idea suggested by a guest reviewer who didn't leave a name. It starts right with Star leaving for Mewni.
Ellie: Little kids are great. And I still don't have my Subway :(((
Ghost of Mim: You wouldn't happen to be Mim of starcoforever, would you? Because if so, I am fangirling so hard. Anyway, children are the greatest people on earth, and your niece sounds wonderful. I'm so glad you enjoyed, and I hope your night got better!
ThatDarnGuest: Ooh, parody of "That Darn Cat" on your name. And I like that idea, it's really cute!
Rayfe: Fun fact, Adam MacArthur (the voice of Marco) calls Marco's fans "meatballs."
Watermalone: It's okay, I understand having nights like that. I'm glad you're enjoying them!
Guest: Not sure why a train, but all right.
Thatonefangirl: Still no subway :'(((((( But thank you!
I don't own Star vs. the Forces of Evil.
GENERAL POV
"You can't go!"
Marco held desperately to Star's wrist, tears brimming in his eyes as she stood with one foot in a portal to Mewni. Her eyes were watering badly as she turned back to him. "Marco, I….I don't want to go," she stammered out, her voice cracking. "But I need to be there for the stupid courting battle."
Swallowing hard, Marco moved closer to her. "But it's so stupid," he whispered. "You're only sixteen, you can't….I mean, getting married…."
Star smiled sadly at him. "I'm not getting married yet, Marco. This just….determines who I'll marry in the future. I'll be back by this time on Saturday," she assured him. "My parents promised that I could finish high school here, so it's not like I'm leaving for good."
"But Star-" Marco started to protest.
She cut him off with a shake of her head and a quick hug. "See you, Marco."
With that, she stepped through the portal and it shut too fast for Marco to follow, leaving him Star-less, dimensional scissor-less, and hopeless. At least, until his eyes landed on Star's magic mirror.
With no hesitation, the teen darted over to it and hit the on switch. "Call….call Pony Head," he decided, anxiously shifting his feet and brushing a hand over the neglected stubble on his chin.
The mirror rang twice before the other line picked up and Pony Head appeared. Over the last two years, she had basically turned around St. Olga's so that, while it was no longer a jail, it still helped princesses figure out how to do things like control rioters peacefully, use their wands properly, and fight enemies. Pony Head herself hadn't changed much at all, for which Marco was relieved, though she had stopped calling him Earth Turd on a daily basis.
"Marco?" the princess asked in surprise. "Didn't expect you. What's up?"
"I need your help," Marco pleaded the unicorn, clasping his hands in front of him. "Please, Pony Head."
Pony Head blinked, studying him carefully. She had never seen him so nervous or freaked out, and the fact that he was saying please to her really startled her. "Okay. What do you need?"
"Remember to sit up straight, Star," Queen Butterfly scolded gently, brushing off the sleeves of Star's courting battle dress. "And don't slouch, or cross your legs, or lean on your elbows, or-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Star grumbled, leaning away from her mother's touch. "Don't act human. Be a thing for all the dumb boys to admire, be a thing for them to win."
She hissed the last words without meaning to and her mother scowled. "Now Star, that's no way for a lady to behave. You know this is an ancient tradition."
"Just like all the guys out there going to battle," Star muttered under her breath, straightening her horns on her head.
With a purse of her lips, her mother reached up and took the horns. "Hey!" Star protested, jumping for them and nearly twisting her ankle in her heels. "Mom, give them back!"
Queen Butterfly smiled sadly. "Sorry, sweetheart. You have to wear your tiara today."
Star groaned but allowed one of the maids to adjust the sparkling silver tiara on her head, leering at herself in the mirror when the maid stepped back. "Mom, I look stupid," she complained, adjusting the bosom of her dress.
It was incredibly tight at the top, her chest pressed so tightly to the cloth that Star could barely breathe. It was like she was wearing a corset meant for a woman with an A-cup. The color of the dress, a dark, nearly navy blue color, did not look good on her in Star's opinion. The skirt cropped in at her knees and flared out in a mermaid cut, and Star wasn't a huge fan of that either. The shoes were the worst; they wobbled and slid and turned under her to the point where she was ready to pitch them out the window and hope they would stab one of the dumb suitors in the eye.
"You look lovely, dear," her mother reassured her, kissing Star's temple. "Now come, the fight starts in fifteen minutes. There are ten suitors, five from surrounding kingdoms, and five who chose to sign up on their own who may or may not be royalty."
Her nose wrinkled up at the idea and Queen Butterfly shook her head. "Hopefully none of them win," she muttered under her breath, steering Star out the door and down the hallway. "Your father is instructing them on the rules now. You won't see any of their faces until the winner is declared, because we don't want you biased to those who may look more handsome. Only your father knows who all of them are."
"Do I get any say in this?" Star moaned as they walked out to the field and took their places in the royalty box.
Queen Butterfly smiled gently. "Of course, dear. You get to pick from the last two standing."
"You mean eight people are going to die?" Star gasped in horror, jumping to her feet and almost breaking her ankle because of the shoes.
"No, no, no," the queen assured her quickly, pushing Star back into her seat. "They are disqualified for poor sportsmanship, failing certain tests, and other various things. We try very hard to send everyone home in one piece."
Star opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by the sound of a horn blowing and gates creaking. The entire kingdom of Mewni sat around the field in bleachers, most of them just there for the entertainment and free food provided by the kingdom.
"Oh, there's your father," Star's mother said, gesturing to the gates.
Her father stood on a platform at the edge of the field, and spoke loudly. The magical barriers that kept the audience safe from flying javelins, swords, and occasional flaming wombat amplified his voice as he spoke (which Star now knew that a microphone could do with way less effort).
"Today," the king boomed out, "ten brave warriors from various kingdoms and cities will fight for the right to marry into our kingdom. The princess may choose from the final two standing, and I will call out any fouls or reasons in which I see fit to disqualify a suitor."
The queen buried her head in her gloved hands. "Oh thank goodness, he's not whistling his s's."
Star bit back a giggle and turned her eyes to the gates as the suitors walked in, fully covered in armor provided by the castle so that they would be indistinguishable to Star. The only difference was that each of them had different colors of horse hair on the top of their helmets.
"In this first round," River declared, stroking his beard and reading from the scroll that a servant held for him, "suitors are asked to perform an obstacle course."
Star frowned as balance beams rose from the ground, pools with crocodiles appeared from nowhere, and climbing walls scattered themselves around the field. "Mom, what if one of them falls into the crocodile pond?" she asked nervously.
"They'll be all right," the queen said with a smile. "The crocodiles are magical, and will not eat anyone or attack. If they do fall though, they will be disqualified."
"How many people are disqualified per round?" Star asked, watching the suitor's line up at the starting line.
"Depends," her mother said with a shrug, dabbing at her lipstick with a tissue. "No more than three or four though."
The starting whistle sounded and the armored men took off, the fastest ones getting to the balance beam that crossed the crocodile pool first and clambering up. As Star watched in slight horror, the suitor with the green haired plume, who was stuck behind the yellow haired one, shoved the yellow plumed suitor off the edge and ran on. The yellow plumed suitor caught the edge and, though he was given many side glances, the next three suitors ran on. Star was afraid that he would fall, until one of the suitors, with a white plume of horsehair on his head stopped to pull the yellow one back onto the beam. He clapped his shoulder and the two ran on, leaving Star to sit back with a sigh of relief.
The group of ten continued without interruption, and when they had all crossed the finish line, the blue haired suitor coming in last, they all stood waiting for the king's decision.
He strolled up to the blue plumed man and smiled sadly. "Sorry, young man," he said. "You must be disqualified. You did wonderfully though."
The blue haired one left with his head held high, the sun glinting on the metal of his helmet as River stormed over to the green plumed suitor. "Disqualified," he snapped.
He turned and left the rest of the eight men there, and the green plumed suitor stomped his way out of the arena.
The next competition involved jousting from the backs of warnicorns, though Star's mother assured her that the ends of the javelins were blunted. Each jouster would go up against every other jouster once, and whoever was knocked from their warnicorns the most would be disqualified.
The round went quickly, and Star kept quiet count in her head of who had fallen off the most. The yellow plumed jouster and the orange haired jouster tied with the most falls, and since no foul play occurred they were the only two eliminated in the round.
Star glanced over the colors left- white, black, purple, brown, pink, and red-and tilted her head as her father announced the next competition, which involved another obstacle course, but this one had various archers shooting at them the whole time.
The black plumed one made it through with little difficulty, using pieces of the obstacle course to deflect the arrows. The next one through, the pink plumed one, was shot almost instantly, and though the arrow was blunted he was still knocked heavily to the ground by the force.
The white plumed one was next, and he tucked and rolled so nimbly that none of the arrows ever came close to hitting him. The purple and brown plumed ones weren't so lucky, and the red one barely dodged getting hit.
With the black, white, and red ones the only ones left, King Butterfly brought out the big ending. "And now, we will have the suitors fighting various monsters that we have captured. Each suitor is allowed to choose one weapon with which to fight, and don't worry, we'll make sure no harm comes to them."
Star frowned slowly as the black and red plumed suitors chose very large, very sharp swords. When the white suitor was gestured over to the king to receive his weapon, he just held up a hand and shook his head. Though everyone in the arena gasped, Star could see that her father wasn't surprised at all.
The black plumed suitor went first, slashing and stabbing at the monster and leaving Star flinching and covering her eyes in the stands. Ever since her alliance with Buff Frog had started two years ago, Star had a hard time physically injuring monsters to the point of death. She would still beat them up if they attacked, of course, but she and Marco had vowed never to kill them unless there was no other choice.
She spun away as the black haired suitor stabbed the monster once again, and plugged her ears as the poor thing died with a scream that haunted the girl to the core.
"Star, honey?" her mother asked softly, putting a hand on her daughters shoulder. "Are you all right?"
Star glanced up to find everyone in the arena watching her carefully, and for some reason her eyes landed on the white plumed soldier, the one who hadn't taken a weapon. She relaxed slowly, and looked over at her father. "Don't kill the next monster," she ordered, her voice stern.
Though her dad looked slightly startled, he nodded to his daughter and looked at the white and red plumed soldiers. The red one stepped up to go next, and though he didn't kill the monster, he did bruise and cut it up to the point that Star knew the poor creature probably wouldn't survive the night.
And then the white haired one was up, and he was facing down a monster three times his size, with massive muscles and bigger fists, horns on his head that were nearly as long as the suitor himself, and a barbed tail. The other two monsters hadn't been nearly as big or deadly, and Star couldn't figure out why her father would give this man, who had no weapon, this particular monster.
Until he started fighting, that is.
He was nimble and fast, his body darting under and around the monster as it lunged for him. He was graceful on his feet, never missing a step, and as he slipped to the back of the monster he grabbed a hold of one of the barbs on the tail. The monster roared in annoyance and whipped his tail up, which seemed to be exactly what the suitor wanted, as he used the momentum to fly into the air and land solidly on the monster's head, tackling the beast to the ground and flipping off of the snout.
With a solid roundhouse kick, the suitor knocked the monster back a good five feet and Star leaped off of her chair, her hands flying to her mouth in surprise because she only knew one person who could hit a monster that hard with only one move.
The suitor glanced up at her once and tilted his head ever so slightly before doing a handspring onto the monsters neck, leaning down and whispering something very softly into the beast's ear. The monster grunted and the white haired suitor pressed two fingers to the animal's neck, easily knocking it unconscious.
The suitor slid off to an arena filled with silence and gaping mouths as they looked to King Butterfly to see the results. The King was smirking ever so slightly as he pronounced that the black suitor was to be disqualified due to his mistreatment of the first beast.
Star was then escorted down to the field and positioned in front of the suitors, with her father on her left and her mother on her right. "All right Star, the final decision is up to you," her father said softly. "You choose which of these two impressed you more."
She studied them both quietly, her gaze continuously shifting to the white plumed one as a soft smile slid across her face. She stepped up to him slowly, tilting her head quizzically and trying not to sink into the dirt with her heels.
Making her decision, Star reached up and slid the helmet from the man's face, the goofiest grin crossing her cheeks as his face was revealed. "Knew it," she whispered, tossing the helmet to the ground and tackling Marco in a hug.
Behind her, Queen Butterfly stammered in horror, turning to her husband only to find him chuckling. "You knew he was in there, and you didn't say anything?" she asked in exasperation.
River nudged her gently. "Honey, look at those two."
Queen Butterfly turned her gaze back to Star and Marco, who were still clinging tightly to one another, and her scowl softened. "I suppose you're right. But Marco, a king?"
River's mustache twitched in amusement. "Something tells me that boy is going to let Star decide in her own time if she actually wants to marry him, and he'll respect whatever she chooses. But yes, I could see him as a king, and a very good one at that."
He turned to the audience and waved his hands. "Princess Butterfly has chosen which suitor she prefers! The rest of you may disperse back to your homes!"
As the crowd thinned out, Star pulled away from Marco with teary eyes. "Marco, why would you do that? You could have been hurt!"
He smiled and swiped a strand of sweaty hair out of his eyes. "I…I didn't want you to be forced to choose your future husband because of some dumb tradition. This way, you can marry whoever you want. I just did it to give you some freedom."
Star stared at him for so long that a blush started growing on his cheeks. "How did you even get here?" she finally asked.
Marco smiled fondly and glanced behind him as Pony Head floated up. "Called in a little help," he admitted.
"Maaaannnn, you owned those jerky suitors!" Pony Head said, head butting Marco's shoulder gently. "Girl, he did this to try and stop the dumb rule your kingdom has about arranged suitors. You better thank this turd."
Marco blushed even more and Star smiled bashfully. "I will. Thank you, Marco. And thanks for bringing him here, Pony Head. I'll be right back guys, I have to go change," she said, glancing over at her handmaiden.
She left and Pony Head raised an eyebrow at Marco. "So? Gonna tell her?"
Marco scoffed. "What, that I like her?"
He watched Star go and leaned over to pick up his helmet, studying it quietly and giving a small sigh. "I can't," he finally said, looking up at Pony Head with a sad smile. "I did this for her, not for me."
Pony Head nodded slowly. "Well for what it's worth, Marco, I think you two will end up together no matter what. You just….you just both have really good chemistry together. I was watching her during the fights, Marco. She knew it was you when she picked you."
Marco's head shot up and he fought back a smile. "She did?"
Pony Head grinned. "Uh, yeah. You do have a one of a kind fighting style compared to these bozos here."
Marco looked towards the castle, clutching his helmet to his chest and taking a deep breath. "True," he admitted, his cheeks heating up a little at the compliment. "But…I'm not even sure she likes me. How do I tell her that? You know, without ruining anything?"
He turned his gaze to Pony Head, who grinned wickedly. "Leave that to me," she decided.
Marco frowned. "What?"
Pony Head spun in the direction of the castle and zoomed off, screaming, "STAAARRRRR! YOU HAVE AN EARTH TURD DOWN HERE WHO HAS A CRUSH ON YOUUUU!"
Marco yelped and stumbled after the horse. "Pony Head!"
As the two darted past the king and queen, Queen Butterfly raised an eyebrow at her husband. "What were you saying about him possibly making a good king?"
River frowned slightly and turned to his wife, his eyes twinkling. "Oh Queen Butterflyyyyyy," he sang impishly. "Someone's got a crush on yoooouuuuu!"
Queen Butterfly bit back a smile. "Oh be quiet, River."
I feel like the king and queen have a really good relationship. Also we don't know Queen Butterfly's name and that annoys me to no end.
Reviews, please!