Game of Flags

Marcia was generally interested in what a Royal family dinner in Mewni was like, but she wasn't sure how well she'd be able to observe the local customs sitting at the kid's table. Marcia didn't want to be at the kid's table, but she would deal with it, but Star on the other hand….

Marcia looked over at the larger table and saw the servant, Manfred, place a large covered dish on the table.

He lifted the lid off and out popped the one and only, Star Butterfly.

"Check out this big girl sitting at the grown-up table!"

Star was promptly scolded and put back at the kid's table.

"I'm too old to be sitting at this stupid kids' table." Star pouted

"Well, at least we get all the Mewni corn we want. It's so good." Marcia was about to take a bite out of her corn when a kid next to her burped spitting the food in his mouth onto Marcia's corn.

She drops the corn pushing it away from her.

"Okay, now it's stupid."

"I mean really? Sippy goblets." Star held up a cup emphasizing her point.

A little girl lets out a giggle flinging some food into Star's hair. Star growls holding up her wand, which glows green making zapping noises as it emits an electric charge.

Marcia grabs Star's arm bringing it down. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What's the big deal?"

"All the fun is happening over there!" Star pointed over at the adult's table.

At the grownup table, the Butterfly's, The Queens family, are being fed their food while the Johansens, The Kings Family, messily eat their food. The way the Butterfly's were eating created loud slurping noises which clearing annoys the Johansens causing them to stop eating. One Johansen lets out a groan through a mouthful of corn and takes two ears of corn stuffing them into his ears trying to block out the noise.

Star gets a giddy smile on her face. "Oh, it's starting to happen!" She bites the back of her chair with pure excitement.

"What's starting to happen?" Marcia questioned

"Grown-up stuff," Star answered

At the grownup table, the Butterfly's, minus the Queen, were arguing with the Johansens, everyone trying to get a word in just creating a loud jumbled mess, so no one could be heard.

Queen Butterfly was trying her best to calm everyone down. "There's no need for any of this, I just want e-"

"You Johansens spoiled my appetite like you spoiled the Butterfly family tree." Etheria, Queen Butterfly's sister, said.

"Oh here now, let's put a stop to this. Tut-tut." Queen Butterfly tried to say over the arguing.

"Your neck ruffles are choking off the oxygen to your brain!" King Butterfly shouted pointing at Etheria.

"River!" Queen Butterfly scolded

"You li-oh!" Finally, noticing his wife displeased look King Butterfly stops. "Yes, of course, of course. Now, now. There's no need for all this back and forth about who's better than who. We're all royalty, as you know. There is a way we can settle this petty dispute like the civilized people we are. With," He reached behind his back pulling out a blue flag. "Flags!"

Everyone cheers pulling out red and blue flags. Back at the kid's table Star stands up on her chair pulling out a pink flag.

"Flags!" Star cheered

Queen Butterfly put a hand on her face sighed out, "Oh, dear."

"It's about time!" King Butterfly cheered. All of the adults started marching away. "I've been thinking about this all year! Haha!"

Star grabbed Marcia pulling her out of her seat. "Come on, Marcia. Let's play. All we have to do is be the first to get this flag up there."

Star points upwards and Marcia follows Star's finger to see a tallish hill.

"Ooooooh. Like King of the Hill! I rock at that game." Marcia smiled

"Not that hill." Star points again.

There's a giant treacherous mountain that clearly could maim someone if they weren't careful.

"That hill," Star confirmed

"Oooooh," Marcia said

"And the winner gets to look down on everyone else for a whole year. I am so ready for this!" Star takes off running but ends up bumping into her mother.

Queen Butterfly takes the flag from her daughter. "No way."

"Heeeey. That's my flag!" Star whined

"You can have it back after the match, but you won't be playing Flags today." Queen Butterfly said

Star looked like she wanted to stomp her feet. "Why not? You played Flags when you were my age."

Queen Butterfly looked uneasy at the statement. "I did a lot of things you won't be doing."

Star just narrows her eyes giving her mom a growl.

"I know it's boring to be the oldest at the kids' table, but you're not ready to be the youngest at the adults' table." Queen Butterfly said trying to reason with her daughter. "Now go and help your little cousins chew their corn."

"I'll show her. I can play this game, and I will win. Come on, Marcia. You're on Team Star." Star said

"But you heard your mom. We're supposed to stay at the kids' table." Marcia pointed at the table.

"Don't you worry." Star pulled out her wand. "We'll be sitting at the kids' table."

Soon all of the adults were lined up at the starting line, cheering.

"The game will commence when all participants are at the ready," Manfred said

Marcia and Star appear hiding from the main part of the crowd.

"So if both sides of your family are playing against each other. Whose side are we on?" Marcia asked Star.

"Duh. Our side." Star said

Marcia shrugged her shoulders. "Makes sense. Oh does that mean I get a Team Star pink flag."

"Yeah of course." Star waved her wand poofing a Team Star flag in Marcia's hand.

"Here's to another spirited game of Flags. Uh, let us not have a repeat of last year's unfortunateness." Manfred said

"What happened last year?" Marcia asked

"Just before he reached the peak, Uncle Lump got his body cut off," Star said

"What?" Marcia exclaimed

"Relax. He's fine. He's right over there." Star pointed to her left.

Marcia looked over at the said Uncle Lump. His head has been sewn onto a horse's body, so he was holding his blue flag in his mouth.

The horseman let out a few neighs making Marcia gape.

"I think he likes it better this way," Star said

"Ready, set, flags!"

"Here we go, Marcia. Hyiah!" Star shouted running off.

Manfred was sitting by giving the play by play of the mountain hill race.

"And both families are at the course. The Johansens take an early lead, but the Butterflies are making up the slack."

Queen Butterfly, being the proper Queen she was, sat underneath a canopy watching the game. Classical music played in her small tent-like structure. She turns around pulling out a pair of opera glasses setting her focus on the kid's table. She sees the backs of what appear to be Star and Marcia, and she smiles.

"That's my girl."

Marcia was doing her best to climb but ended up slipping on a rock.

"Star, little help." She called out

Star's uncle, Heartrude, held out his hand to Marcia. "Oh, here, my dear girl. Allow me to assist you."

"Hey, thanks." Marcia smiled

"Marcia, no!" Star shouted

As soon as Marcia grabs Heartrude's hand, it falls off causing her to scream. A servant pops out of Heartrude's sleeve jumping on Marcia. The surprise attack causes Marcia to fall back, and she screams rolling down the mountain.

"Oh! By my troth, you most surely ate it on that one. Smooch my royal hindquarters. Haha! Toodles!" Heartrude laughed

Star runs down the hill after her friend passing by her uncle. "Nice takedown, Uncle Heartrude."

When she reaches the bottom she finds Marcia and the servant. Marcia, who was not very fond of the surprise attack, managed to wrestle the servant putting him in a headlock.

"How are you doing Marcia?" Star asked

Marcia let go of the servant kicking him away. "I'd be better if I hadn't been tackled down the side of a mountain. Why did you congratulate him? He pulled me down."

"That's Flags. That's how you play." Star hooks her arm with Marcia's and starts running again. "We gotta keep moving."

As they scale the mountain they once again come across Uncle Heartrude. He was now on the ground his leg stuck in a bear trap.

"Prithee, may I accept some assistance?" He asked the two girls

Marcia stuck her tongue blowing a raspberry, "Dream on, Uncle Jerkface!" The two girls run off leaving Star's Uncle in the bear trap.

"Woe sakes. I have not the choice but to gnaw off my own fibula."

"We're going into the rain zone." Star pointed out.

Marcia looks to see that this particular part of the mountain is covered in a large gray cloud, with rain pouring down.

"Oh, no." Marcia stops crossing her arms making an X. "I can do King of the Hill. I cannot do wet socks."

It seems Marcia didn't have a choice as her blonde bestie grabbed her forcing her into the rainy zone.

"Flags doesn't care what you like!" Star and Marcia had to jump as a body came rolling down a hill. "We gotta keep moving."

One of Star's aunt throws a handful of seeds which grows vines entangle a family member.

"Wait a minute-" Marcia is cut off as Star pulls her along.

"Eyes on the prize, Marcia," Star said dragging her friend.

Further, up the hill, a man laughed holding up his flag, which at first doesn't seem like a good idea since he was stuck with a bolt of lighting, but that seemed to be a part of the man's plan. He holds up his lighting flag and plunged it into the ground allowing electrical shocks to tear apart the ground causing a rock slide.

"Star, we gotta go back!" Marcia screamed seeing the giant rocks.

"We are never going back," Star said

Star and Marcia dodge the rocks as a few other family members are hit and taken down.

"I think your family's really trying to hurt each other!" Marcia yelled

"Yeah. Isn't it awesome?" Star smiled

Marcia had to hold in a squeal as Uncle Lump's head came rolling down the mountain.

"Not again, not again, not again!"

"And there's the repeat of last year. Adieu, Uncle Lump." Manfred said

One of Star's relatives came rolling down screaming, he paused for a second yelling, "Hi, Star!" then proceeded to scream as he continued to bounce down the mountain.

Further, up the mountain, King Butterfly is shouting as he's used his flag to fence with Star and her flag. He pauses finally realizing the person he was fighting against was his own daughter.

"Star. Look at my girl, all grown up and playing Flags." King Butterfly lowers his flag giving Star a hug. "You make me so proud."

Star hugged her father back. "Aw, Dad, you're so sweet. Buuut-" Star breaks the hug picking up her father before throwing him downhill. Marcia screamed ducking as the King flew over her.

"Hello, Marcia!" King Butterfly shouted as he traveled over the girl. He continued to fall down the mountain shouting up at his daughter. "Great job, honey!"

Marcia's mouth was hanging open as she watched King Butterfly disappears out of sight. She turns to Star with a look of disbelief. "You just threw your-!"

"Keep on going! Woo hoo! Yeah!" King Butterfly's voice echoed

"-You just threw your dad down a mountain!" Marcia finished

"Haven't you figured it out yet? You don't waste time on anybody. Keep up!" Star said

"And the herd of participants is being further culled. There is now only a handful vying for the top of the hill. So dreadfully exciting." Manfred commentated "Lady Etheria and Lord Grunt lead the pack with a late appearance from *Gasp* oh, my. The Princess Star Butterfly."

"What?" Queen Butterfly gasped. She got up walking over to the kid's table. "Star?" She grabs the fake "Star's" shoulder, and her eyes widen when Star's head falls off, revealing the girls to be decoy dolls made of corn wearing wigs and the girl's clothes. One of the Butterfly children tears a piece of corn off from the fake Marcia's face and bites into it. Queen Butterfly turns around and looks up the mountain.

The real Marcia and Star were jumping from rock to rock through a pit of lava. Star runs into Heartrude, who is still stuck in the bear trap but is being carried by a servant.

"You've been a stone in my poulaines for too long, my incorrigible little niece! You're about to abdicate the throne!" Heartrude shouted

Heartrude tries to hit Star with his flags, but she dodges kicking her leg out tripping the servant, who in turn drops Heartrude stumbling dangerously on the edge of the rock over the lava. Marcia gasps jumping to the rock, pushing the servant away from the lava saving his life.

"What is she doing?" Marcia whispered to herself.

"Marcia, come on!" Star shouted

Marcia finished crossing the lava pit and stopped Star. "Star, this game is changing you. It's not about who versus who or rivalries or whatever. It's about winning no matter what. And that's just not you." She gestures up the hill where Star's family is fighting.

"Eat this!" Someone throws a bomb causing an explosion.

A Butterfly woman is seen dancing on the hands of two Johansens men who are trying to grab their weapons. Etheria takes the tip of her flag off to reveal it been sharpened into a shiv. A man pulls on his bear pelt, which animates into an actual, living bear.

"Let's just go back down the hill." Marcia goes to walk down but stops when Star continues uphill. "Star?"

Star starts stealing all of the flags from her family and continues to run uphill.

"She's got our flags! Get her! Get. Our. Flags!"

Star's family creates an angry mob and starts chasing her.

"Oh, no Star!" Marcia grabs the flag Star had given her and starts making her way up the mountain through a back way. "I'll just end this game myself."

Meanwhile, with Star, she ends up being tackled by the rest of her family. She struggles under the dogpile until a blue beam shoots into the pile sending everyone flying off of Star. Everyone but Star is levitated off the ground and into the air.

A figure floats down in front of Star revealing it to be her mother. She had large butterfly wings, antennas, three sets of arms and her eyes were glowing.

"Mom?" Star said

Queen Butterfly stop glowing and glides down to her daughter. When she lands on the ground everyone else stops floating hitting the ground.

"Are you alright?" Queen Butterfly asked her daughter concerned.

"Oh, man, Mom, those are some sweet magic moves with your big old wings and stuff." Star beamed

"Star, you're never going to believe, but I just met your twin sister." Queen Butterfly's wings and extra arms vanish. "She was made out of corn. I don't even remember giving birth to her." She walked to her husband helping him sit up, "River, did I ever give birth to a corn baby?"

King Butterfly, who is severely wounded does his best to speak up. "No. I'm afraid we just have the one child, my dear."

Queen Butterfly nodded, "Thank you, River."

"Her name is Star." King Butterfly rambled clearly suffering from a head wound.

Queen Butterfly laid River back down, "Okay. Why don't you just lay back down? Thank you." Queen Butterfly looked back at her daughter. "You see what Flags does to your brain?"

"I'm sorry I tried to trick you with my corn twin. And maybe you're right. Maybe I'm not ready for Flags. But maybe the real problem is that Flags is dumb." Star said

King Butterfly who had drug himself across the ground grabbed onto Star's arm. "There she is! I found her. Star Butterfly. Our only child, my dear." He said to his wife.

"...Okay." Queen Butterfly said

"Hungry!" King Butterfly shouted before leaving.

The two Butterfly women watched confused before looking back at each other.

"I was trying to bring all these flags to the top of the hill. Not so that I could win the hill for myself, but to claim the hill for all of us!" Star exclaimed causing her family to cheer.

"That's the most adult thing I've heard all day. I misjudged you, Star. You earned a rightful seat at the grown-up table." Queen Butterfly said

Star hugged her mother. "Hug!"

"Star, public displays of affection aren't a Butterfly virtue." Queen Butterfly said, she looked over the family seeing her husband's side hugging her family. "The Johansens, on the other hand, are amazing at it. You are the perfect blend of both sides of the family. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks, Mom. Only an idiot would wanna win this game." Star said, not realizing that her friend was running up to the top carrying Star's pink flag.

Marcia plunges the flag into the ground shouting. "Woo hoo-hoo-hoo! I'm the winna! King of the Hill! In yo face!" Then she starts dancing. "Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh!"

Later that after Marcia and Star were welcomed to the adult table. Marcia was holding an ear of corn in her hands, she lifted it up about to take a bite out of it but a second pair of hands come out of nowhere gently grabs Marcia's hands and lowers them.

Marcia looks up to see a boy who suspiciously looks a lot a like a certain blonde.

"Hi there," The boy greeted

"Uhh….Hi?" Marcia replied. "Who are you and why are you preventing me from eating my corn?"

"I'm Cosmos!"

"Uh…."

"I really liked how you planted that flag!" The boy said getting closer to Marcia's face.

Marcia pulled away from the boy. "Ehhhh….."

"I also really like your hair and your eyes are beautiful." Cosmos complimented Marcia with a large smile on his face.

"Thanks…..?"

Marcia was feeling a little uncomfortable right now and started backing up until her back hit something. She looked up to see a second smiling face.

"Hey there!"

"Gah!" Marcia jumped away from the second boy, who looked just like Cosmos.

"I'm Orion."

"Uh….nice to meet you?"

"It was impressive how you climbed that mountain." Orion complimented

"Hey, I saw her first." Cosmos narrowed his eyes.

"Well, I'm talking to her now," Orion said

Each boy grabbed her hand making Marcia drop her corn.

"Aw man." Marcia groaned

"Hey!" Star appeared jumping in front of Marcia pulling her away from the two boys. "Stay away from my friend!"

Marcia looked from Star to the two boys finally realizing why they looked so much alike. The boys looked like slightly older male versions of Star. The only differences were that Cosmos had light blue hair with white stars on his cheeks, while Orion had dark blue hair and clouds on his cheeks.

"Star who are these guys?" Marcia asked

Star gave out a groan frowning. "Marcia these are my annoying older cousins. Annoying cousins this is Marcia. So stay away!"

"Aww, but why?" Cosmos whined

Star just narrowed her eyes at her cousins before grabbing Marcia dragging her friend away. As the two girls left Star looked over her shoulder giving her cousins the "I'm watching you" sign with her wand.