Author's Notes:
Hey! So, I'm back with another new story. I know, I said I'd finish Lunar Eclipse first, but being myself, I got distracted and accidentally planned out basically this entire story. I wouldn't have written it up and I definitely wouldn't have put it out if I didn't think it was worth it and believe me, this story has some serious potential.
I won't say much here because I think I explain everything pretty well in the chapter, but I'll give a brief explanation here. So, this story started as a one-to-one retelling of the original story, but with a more mature tone and aged-up characters, but as I went into planning, I figured out that this story could be a whole lot more. So, expect some similarities here in the beginning, but the differences will be very clear very soon.
Alright, I hope you enjoy! See you at the bottom!
…
Chapter One: Whole New World
"On this momentous day, our young Princess, Star Butterfly, daughter of Queen Moon Butterfly and King River Butterfly-Johansen is not only becoming a woman but is incurring an incredible power."
The royal servant paused for a moment as he scanned the crowd, adjusting his collar before once again breaking the silence in the deathly quiet throne room.
"The greatest heirloom of the royal Butterfly family, a magical artifact with no known origin, the tool with which the Princess will harness her abilities to protect this kingdom, the-"
The throne room's doors bursted open and the King sat up in his chair, smiling as his golden-haired daughter stood impatiently in the doorway.
On her face was a smile from cheek to cheek as she practically skipped through the aisle, her subjects watching with mixed expressions.
A hesitant applause quietly picked up as she stood before the tepid royal servant.
"Hey, Manfred!" Star gleamed, "You got something for me?"
He sighed, rolling his eyes as he turned to the King and Queen, the latter of whom watched with her forehead in her palm.
The King nodded, and with another eye roll, he faced the Princess, slowly presenting the wand only for her to snatch it away without warning.
Her eyes were practically aglow as soon as the handle touched her gloved fingertips. Her body trembled with excitement as her heart-shaped cheek marks sizzled, the wand slowly transforming in her hand.
Its handle converted from a shining golden to an undignified lavender, striped with a shade of deeper purple, its tip from a shining diamond to a circular plate, studded with a vibrant star, flowing wings at its sides as two small horns poked through its end.
Her smile somehow managed to grow, the crowd behind her nervously clapping as she lifted the wand into the air, screaming with excitement.
Without warning, a fiery crimson beam shot from the wand through the castle's roof.
She nervously giggled as her smile faded, her eyes slowly landing on her mother's mortified face.
"Uh oh," she muttered to herself.
…
"Oh come on, you're so overreacting," Star argued as Manfred tossed crates of her belongings into the back of a carriage, "I made one mistake."
Both the King and Queen shook their heads, although it was abundantly clear whose idea this all was. The Queen didn't hesitate for a second.
"Well, Star, if you had listened to a single thing that you were told today, maybe we wouldn't have to resort to such drastic measures."
The Princess huffed, turning away with a frustrated expression, both parents' faces softening.
"Star…" her father called.
She didn't turn around. She was far too stubborn, but having raised her for eighteen years, her father could tell she was listening.
"This isn't a punishment. You just need a safer environment to practice your magic."
"Whatever," she dismissed, pulling open the carriage door and stepping inside.
Her father sighed, turning to the Queen.
"She needs this," she assured. He nodded, but with the expression on his face, he made it known that he wasn't confident.
Still, as the Queen pulled open the front carriage door and climbed inside, he followed suit, and only seconds later, the royal servant cut open a dimensional portal, the carriage wheeling inside.
Star leaned against the carriage door, staring out of the window with a knot in her throat as she watched her world disappear behind her, her heart skipping a beat as she set eyes on the dark, cloudy sky of her fresh prison.
It was a whole new world, but it felt so much further. It was like a different universe entirely. The vibrant suns of Mewni were replaced by one that Star couldn't even see. The fresh smell of wood was replaced by dead trees, their decomposing leaves blowing through the air.
It was like Mewni, minus the life.
Her eyes drifted to the brick building that they were approaching. Its architecture was similar to some buildings on Mewni, only it was different. The bricks were too well put together. It was like a robot had built it, which only fed into her theory that she was the only living thing on the planet.
The carriage finally stopped once it stood adjacent to a pair of clear doors, the likes of which she'd only seen outside of Mewni.
Without thinking, she pushed the carriage door open and stepped outside, the world's chilled air blowing through her air, sending goosebumps up her back as her eyes locked on the building's doors.
A rotund man stared back at her, wearing a strange outfit. Beige pants with a yellow stripe running up the sides joined with a beige top and an odd hat. She cringed as she looked at his ugly face, covered with horribly kept facial hair. She shook her head, deciding that it was better to watch her parents squabble than to look at him any longer.
Eventually, however, her parents started toward the building, urging her to follow. She groaned, keeping her head low as she finally walked through the doors.
She followed her parents through the first room and felt the man's suspicious eyes follow her.
Once her parents finally found the room they were looking for and led her inside, she finally let out her breath, but as she scanned her surroundings, she quickly realized that she was in no better a position than before.
Sitting behind a short, wooden desk was a man even bigger than the last, his ugly suit stretching beyond its limits at nearly every part of his body. He smiled at her and her parents, but even that seemed disingenuous.
"Why hello," the man greeted, "What may I help you with today?"
His voice was incredibly hoarse and his tone was overly confident. It was clear that the man was in a position of power at the school, which naturally made her anxiety just that much worse than it already was.
Her mother spoke up quickly, "I would like to enroll my daughter in this establishment."
The man nodded slowly, picking up a pile of papers that sat in front of him and flipping through them.
"Well, there's only just over a quarter left in the school year, so it would be challenging to fit her in here regardless, but… how old is she?"
"Eighteen," her mother answered with her hands folded in her lap.
"Hmm…" the man paused, "Well, as I said, there isn't really any way I could-"
"How much?" her mother cut in.
"What?"
"How much do you want?"
The man glanced past the King and Queen, and seeing nobody in the hallway, he gulped.
"How much do you have?" he whispered with a sniffle and a smile.
A cloth bag of coins thudded from the King's unenthusiastic hand, the Principal nodding.
"I'm sure we can find some room for your daughter, miss…?"
"Butterfly," the Queen answered, the man smiling.
He reached out his hand, but before he could get a word out, the Queen spoke up once more.
"She's not from here. She will need a place to stay as well as someone to guide her."
"A foreign exchange student then? Even better."
He once again referred to his papers, flipping through and pulling out a single piece.
"Here," he offered, holding out the paper.
Star glanced over her mother's shoulder at the paper. On it was a picture of a house, captioned with several different descriptors.
The family was just like hers, a mother and a father with a single child who was even the same age as her, only he was a boy.
"The Diaz family is our top exchange student location. For the last three years, they've taken in a new student every year and we've only heard positive things."
Her father nodded as Moon handed him the paper.
"They were open to receiving another student this year, but for one reason or another, we didn't have many exchanges this year."
"And their son?" River questioned.
"Oh yes, Marco Diaz… An excellent student, known for staying out of trouble and, much to your pleasure I'm sure, he has experience 'guiding' exchange students in the past. Out of his high school class, he is by far the safest young man that I know."
River once again nodded, handing the paper back to his wife.
She smiled, finally shaking hands with the fat man.
He sat back down in his chair with a loud grunt, finally meeting Star's eyes.
"Okay, Miss Butterfly, it looks like you have a class to get to."
She put on a nervous smile.
"To make things easier, we'll just have you take the same classes as Marco. They're advanced, but I'm sure he'll help you get through it."
She turned to her parents but found no help.
"Okay, it looks like… English… room 142."
He met her eyes, but as she tilted her head, he quickly realized his mistake.
"Oh, yes. Don't worry, I'll just-"
He turned to his side and pressed a button on his desk, speaking into a small microphone, "Marco Diaz to the office please."
"There, he should be here in a-"
"Come on, just let me come home!" Star begged, her anxiety boiling over. "I get it. You've made your point. I'll be more careful with my-"
She stopped herself as her mother glared in her direction.
"Please…"
Moon shook her head and Star's face fell. Seconds later, the door behind her creaked open, a boy standing inside with a perplexed expression.
"Principal Skeeves?" he questioned. "You called me?"
The room fell silent as the young boy stepped inside, his already nervous expression worsening.
"Uh- Yes, Marco. If you would, please take Miss Butterfly back to class with you. She is a new foreign exchange student and there's no better student to help her along than yourself."
"Oh," Marco said, turning to Star, a small smile grew on his face, "Okay."
Skeeves nodded and Marco walked back to the door, holding it open as Star stared at her parents one final time. She turned to her father, her face falling when not even he would help her.
Finally, she turned to the door and walked through, the eyes of her parents plastered on her back until the moment that the door completely closed.
She sighed, turning to the boy with a dejected expression.
"Hey," he said, "Something wrong? I hope it's not me…"
Star met his eyes with little emotion, the boy tilting his head with confusion.
"Oh no," he said with a gasp, "Do you not speak English?"
Star chuckled, "Yes, I speak English. I just- it's hard to explain."
"Oh, thank god," he remarked, "You don't have to tell me. I can tell that things with your parents are…"
He met Star's eyes, quickly growing nervous, "...maybe not totally perfect."
Again, Star chuckled, following Marco as he started to lead her.
"That's an understatement," Star remarked.
"Well," he started, "You'll be moving in with my family, right? Maybe it'll be… I don't know-"
"Better?" Star questioned.
Again, Marco got nervous. He quickly grew quiet, not saying another word for at least a minute, when he finally stopped walking, gesturing toward a door.
"Here we are, Senior English."
"Senior? You mean that there're a bunch of old people learning English in there?"
Marco tilted his head, smiling.
"Umm… no?"
Silence lingered between the two, and eventually, Marco finally explained.
"Wow, I mean with your accent, I thought you were from America…"
"America?" Star questioned, totally confused.
Marco stared at her with a face of astonishment.
"I have… so much to explain. Just- I'll tell you everything later if we have time, but we need to go to class now, so…"
He took a breath.
"Just- I don't know… try to keep your head low."
"Easy enough," Star remarked, following Marco as he finally pulled the door open.
Practically crouching, she followed him inside, glancing from side to side as she tried to figure out why she was supposed to be keeping her head low.
Inside the room were around thirty kids, all appearing to be the same age as herself, each sitting at their own wooden desks, the likes of which she had seen before as a child on Mewni.
At the front of the class was an older man with thin black hair, highlighted with thin streaks of gray. He was short, but stout, wearing a sweat-stained button-down shirt with blue pants and a thick black tie.
He was unperterbed by Star's entrance. In fact, she wasn't sure if he cared or even noticed, but the other children were another story entirely.
She felt them all, every single child's eyes. She felt them from the second she walked in. To anyone else, their glances would have been crushing, but to her, their gawks were merely an annoyance.
She scowled at the class as they judged her, even going so far as to flip her hair sassily in a particularly prissy girl's face, but as Marco turned around, her confidence quickly vanished.
He did a double take before noticing that Star was actually hunched over, his eyes widening with shock.
"Star," he whisper-shouted, "It was a figure of speech!"
"What," Star questioned, making no effort to keep quiet, "What's a figure of speech?"
The teacher shushed the two and Marco timidly nodded, but Star had no intention of quieting down.
"Listen, man, I'm doing my best here," she remarked sassily, "It's not like anyone gave me instructions. Marco told me to keep my head low, but clearly that wasn't right."
The teacher sat back in his chair with a quizzical expression, his gaze slowly panning to the aforementioned boy.
He stammered, "Well- I- She- She's a foreign exchange student. She just doesn't understand."
"Hmm," he began, "Just where is she from?"
"She's- actually, I don't know yet…"
He turned to her, waiting with expectant eyes.
"Oh, I'm from Mewni," she said, smiling.
Seconds of silence passed as both the teacher and the boy tilted their heads.
"Do you mean… Munich, as in Germany?"
"Umm," Star began, her eyes widening as she remembered her mother's glare in the principal's office.
"Yeah, sorry, Munich, that's where I'm from…"
The teacher stared at her for a second as if he was observing her from head to toe. After a while, he simply sighed, remarking, "At least the hair checks out…"
He glanced down at a piece of paper on his desk, holding it close to his face as he scanned it from top to bottom.
"I wasn't supposed to be getting a new student today," he said, "…are you sure you're in the right place?"
"I- yeah," she answered, "I just got here this morning… everything has been very sudden-"
All heads snapped to the side as a loud crash echoed through the school. Star instinctively reached for her handbag, but seeing everyone around, she stopped herself from using her wand.
Still, she walked to the side of the classroom and scanned from side to side through the windows.
She saw dark smoke billowing into the air from a nearby building.
Within seconds, she heard the children in the class begin to shuffle toward the door. She followed them into the hallway and watched them turn away from the danger. Marco urged her to follow, but as another loud bang echoed through the halls, she broke away without any further hesitation.
Within seconds, she passed by the school's lobby, quickly realizing that her parents had already left, and equally quickly, she realized that something seriously terrible was ahead of her.
She heard faint screams bouncing through the halls, growing both louder and more frequent with every moment as she grew near, children sprinting past her, each one more panicked than the last.
"Yuck, this building is ugly," remarked a familiar voice just beside her.
It was Glossaryck, her personal magical teacher. Her eyes widened as she plucked him out of the air, shoving him into her bag.
"What- was- that- for," he questioned, bouncing in Star's bag as she ran as quickly as she could toward the nearby blasts.
"I can't let them see you," she whispered, sliding around a corner in the hall.
Her eyes widened as the source of the explosions from before made himself clear.
"Man-Arm, fetch me some water. It appears that our search for the princess will take longer than expected," squeaked out the pathetic pest that was Ludo Avarius.
He was tiny, no taller than her hips, but he had the mouth of someone at least fifty times his size. His head was bigger than his torso and his legs combined, so it wasn't like anything else would be expected. Still, his puny little beak needed to be closed… for good if she was lucky.
Star glanced from side to side. Seeing no more of the terrified students, she finally reached into her bag, gripping her wand with an excited smile.
"Let's do this," she whispered to herself as she dashed forward.
"NARWHAL BLAST," she screamed, a massive beam of magic shooting out of her wand, followed by a sharp-horned narwhal.
The Narwhal's horn pierced through the air as it whistled toward Ludo's head, but just before the horn could cut him down, one of his many monsters slid in front of him, screaming in pain as it punctured his skin.
Ludo turned toward Star with a puzzled expression, then back to Man-Arm, "Wh- Never mind, Man-Arm, you can get me water in a minute. It looks like the Princess has finally shown herself."
Star stood her ground, meeting the tiny monster's eyes with unyielding confidence.
The monster scowled, pointing his dainty hand forward.
"Attack," he screamed, and his mixed monster minions catapulted forward.
Star's smile deepened.
Man-arm, the gator with a single massive arm swung at her legs, but she lept over his attack, running up the surface of his bicep to land a skull-crushing kick to his temple, knocking him to the ground as she lunged forward.
Another monster, aptly named "Spikeballs" swung his massive spiked, mace-like hands down, but even more effortlessly than before, she weaved to the side, sweeping the monster's leg and pointing her wand at his face.
His eyes widened behind his mask as she met his eyes with satisfaction.
"Makeup blast," she said, a beam of powdery white splashing onto his face so hard it knocked him unconscious.
"Good form," remarked Glossaryck from inside her bag, but before she could respond, another monster lunged in her direction.
She dodged backward as quickly as she could, but even as quick as she was, she felt the bull-headed monster's broadsword slice across her stomach before her back hit the ground.
She winced in pain as she ran her hand over her cut, but before she could blink, she saw the hairy arms of Three-Eyed Potato Baby swinging down toward her head.
She squeezed her eyes closed and looked away, but just when she expected the fists to hit her, she heard a loud crack, her eyes flashing open in an instant, widening as she saw Marco, the human boy standing over her, his leg outstretched after landing a kick against the monster's wrist.
Her jaw hung as she glanced over at the monster, who kneeled over holding his shattered wrist in his hand.
She chuckled as she took Marco's hand and got back to her feet, her smile quickly returning.
"What in the-" Marco began, meeting Star's eyes with total perplexity. "What is happening right now?!"
"Uh…" Star began, stammering and chuckling. "Really hard to explain."
"What- Well you better-"
"Ugh!" Ludo shouted. "Will you two just shut up and fight already?!"
"Gladly," Star remarked, but even as Marco raised his hands in front of him, he seemed no more ready than before.
"ATTACK!" Ludo screamed, sprinting forward at a snail's pace, but the few monsters who still stood behind him only stepped back, watching as he reached for Star's wand only for him to hold him back with a single hand, her smile fading.
She sighed, flicking Ludo's forehead and knocking him onto his back.
She tilted her head with an incredulous expression on her face.
"Go back to Mewni and think of a new plan," she said, but he didn't give up.
He pushed off of the ground with his thin, weak arms, stumbling in Star's direction.
"See you soon, Ludo," she remarked, lifting her wand. "Delicate dumbbell slam."
A single-pound dumbbell flew from the end of her wand, conking against Ludo's forehead and knocking him to the ground.
Her gaze climbed to the three monsters that still stood as Marco fidgetted behind her. They backed away slowly, but as Star raised her wand once more, they froze in place.
She pointed to the four incapacitated monsters.
"Get them out of here," she commanded in a stern tone. "Now."
They frantically nodded, pulling a pair of dimensional scissors from Ludo's pocket and ripping open a portal. They carried their monsters through in a matter of seconds, returning silence to the halls as Star let her shoulders fall.
"Umm… Star?" Marco called shyly. "Wh- How- That was-"
"Magic," Star admitted with a sigh, turning to him with the same eyes she had given the monsters before. "You can't tell anyone."
His eyes widened, "You mean… that was actually…"
"Magic, yes… I thought we had already established that," answered Glossaryck, poking his head from Star's bag.
His wide eyes grew even wider as he held his head in his hands.
"What-"
Footsteps echoed through the hall from around the corner that Star had come from before, and in a rush she stuffed her wand back into her bag, swinging it behind her back as a familiar face slid around the corner.
Gasping for air was the same man that Star had seen before she walked into the school, his beige shirt stained with sweat as he bent over with his hands on his knees.
"Children!" he shouted. "Go! G- Get to safety!"
Star turned to Marco, chuckling.
…
Author's Notes:
So, that was the first chapter! I'm really happy with the tone I've got here and I think that this new approach that I'm taking could make a really fun story. I'm gonna make this story very different compared to my others. It'll still have all of the usual drama, but I'm gonna try to space it out this time, adding some extra fluff and character development so it's not just all serious all of the time. So far, I think that I've done well and I'm really excited to keep writing!
As usual, I thank you for giving me your time and reading my story, but I fear I must ask for one more thing for all of you watching. I want this story to be my best yet, and with that intention, I want the most people to get to see it. The SVTFOE fanbase is incredibly dedicated and I want everyone to see this story. So, in order to make that happen, I ask that you leave kudos, a follow, a favorite, etc. depending on what website you're reading this on. It makes all the difference for getting this story out to more people and I'd really appreciate it if you did that for me. Also, maybe leave a comment! Whether you want to say what you liked, disliked, or just say hello, I'd love to hear from you all.
Alright, that's all I've got for now. I hope you enjoyed! Have a nice weekend! I hope to see you all again soon!
P.S. Follow me on Instagram starcovstheworld for story updates
~ lucash21