The Phantom Mewnace
Harmonious music was heard playing as we get a view of the family portrait of both Star and Marco and their daughter Aurora. The frame was rectangular and styled similar to those in the Victorian era, and adorned with a diamond stone at both the top and the bottom of the frame. On each side was a sun with a star inside, both embraced by a red crescent moon underneath and surrounded by angels. And above the picture were the words "Blessed by Moon" written on it. The view then panned downward to show Queen Star and King Marco in the dinning room talking with their daughter Aurora via the magic mirror.
"So Grandma and Grandpa have been helping me learn how Earth works so I can fit in, and Glossaryck and Sam have been helping me improve my skills with the wand and hand-to-hand combat to help me defend myself." Aurora told her parents about how she's been doing away from home.
"We're happy to hear that, Sunbeam." Marco said to her daughter, feeling proud of her accomplishments. Aurora beamed with happiness at her father's compliment, only to then bear a look of sadness soon after, something that her parents took notice of.
"What's wrong, Sweetie?" Star asked concerned.
"Well, it's just... It's been a few weeks since I started settling in with Grandma Angie and Grandpa Rafael, but I'm feeling a little homesick." Aurora explained with a heavy heart. "When can I come back home?" she slightly whined.
"I'm sorry, dear, but Mewni still isn't safe until we find the person responsible for shooting that arrow." Star replied with regret. "I'm afraid you'll have to wait a little longer." She then put on a serious expression. "So until the culprit is caught, you are forbidden to leave Earth under any circumstances. Understand?"
Aurora gave a sad sigh in defeat, knowing she can't change her mother's mind. "Yes mom." The two then pushed the buttons on their respective mirrors and hung up.
Just after ending the call, Star suddenly removed her mask of tranquility and started bursting in tears, which Marco looked at with a sad expression. Despite not showing it, both of them did miss their daughter every day, and really do wish to allow her to return to their arms.
"Oh Marco, I can't believe how apprehensive I'm being towards her!" Star confessed to her husband with tears still in her eyes. "I worry about her every day due to not being there when she needs me! Now I know how my mother felt when I went and got into trouble."
Marco was quick to react and calm his wife down. "Don't worry, honey. Everything will be fine." he tried to reassure her. "We'll find out whoever's responsible for this and bring them to justice. Then we can let Aurora come back home."
This was enough to lift Star's spirits a little as she dried her eyes and managed a smile at her husband's confidence in themselves. She saw how it was coming from the fact that Marco remembered how much of a good team they were back when they were young, and believed that same teamwork could uncover this outrageous crime against the royal family. Star leaned forward to give him a gratifying peck on the cheek for his strong belief in them, which Marco lightly blushed to.
"We should head to the meeting with the Lords and Ladies of the Royal Council." Star suggested, with Marco nodding in agreement. The two of them walked out of the room holding their hands together.
The Mewnisters of the Royal Council sat in the council chamber waiting for the king and queen to arrive for their weekly meeting. The council consisted of the Lords Falcon Redbird, Jordan Fields, and Percy McKnight, and the Ladies Juniper Forest, Jasmine Flowers, Marine Waterson, Ruby Stone, Berenice Firefly, and Carice Cross. There was another mewnister that was part of this council, Ludo Avarius, who represents the House Avarius, the noble house responsible for establishing monster rights in the kingdom. Unfortunately, Ludo was absent from the meeting due to being on bad terms with the other mewnisters, and his brother Dennis, who he trusts to represent him at these gatherings, was also absent today.
The doors soon opened to show the king and queen had finally arrived and took their seats at the table. "Sorry we're late, we had another meeting elsewhere that took a while." Star apologized. "But now that we're here, we can discuss a certain event that has troubled us since day one."
"Yes. I cannot believe someone would do something so terrible as try to kill your beloved daughter." Jasmine openly stated.
Star and Marco felt surprised that she already knew that. "How did you know that already?" Star asked a bit suspicious.
"The incident wasn't really kept secret, Your Majesty. Word quickly spread to the other houses." Ruby defended, easing the queen's suspicion.
"I for one find the idea of trying to attack a member of the royal family a serious act of treason." Marine said with a scowl. "Whoever it was that fired that arrow should be found and brought to stand trial for their crime!" she then loudly declared, with Jasmine, the Lady of the House of Flowers, the family responsible for enforcing justice in the kingdom, nodding in agreement with a straight face.
"And I assure you, Lady Marine, we will do that." Star supported calmly. "But for that to happen, we first need to investigate for any leads that will help us find our little traitor. Therefore, I advise us all to organize a search for any clues to give us any hint of who this attacker is. Are there any among you who disagree with this?" she asked her court, all of whom shook their heads in response, agreeing with the queen's decision. "Then meeting adjourned."
With that said, all the nobles got up from their chairs and headed out the door to return to their respective houses so they could do their part in the investigation. Juniper was the last to leave. But before she did, she stopped and turned to face Star.
"Star, if it helps, I intend to pray every night that Aurora stays safe and sound for the day when she can finally come home."
Star could only give a small smile at the Lady of House Forest for her declaration. "Your concern for my daughter's safety is greatly appreciated." she said with a nod, with Juniper giving a curtsy back in respect. Then the two came together and gave each other a warming hug to give them good luck before Juniper turned and left the room, leaving the King and Queen alone with each other.
Star and Marco were seen taking a stroll around the garden. The roses were in bloom and were in a wonderful shade of red. Star could really admire seeing the beautiful flowers as she managed a smile
"It looks like someone's feeling a bit better." Marco teased wiggling a finger against his wife's cheek, making Star giggle as she playfully swatted his hand away.
"Yeah, I do feel a little better." Star sighed. "But I still wish she was back with us." she softly whined. Star then began to think back to the times she spent with Aurora when she was very young: the time when she took her first steps in the garden, the time when her mother gave Aurora Toggy for her birthday, the time she saw her daughter fall and cry when she was five, and the time when she told her a fairytale about babies coming from corn cobs.
Marco took notice of this and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I know how hard it is to wait. And I know how it feels to have to part with someone you care deeply about. When you left for Mewni during our End-of-the-School-Year Party, I felt nothing but sadness from seeing my bestest friend leave. But, I believed you would eventually find a chance to come back, so I left all the decorations up and tried to be patient." Star recalled seeing that with the All-Seeing Eye spell, but chose not to mention it and let her husband continue. "We just need to be patient, Star. Soon we'll find whoever fired that arrow and catch him. When that's done, we'll be able to let Aurora know she can come back."
Star put on a smile at Marco with tears in her eyes, happy at how much her husband believes in their teamwork and knowing how to lift her spirits. She got up and entered Marco's open arms and engaged in a passionate hug, the both of them melting in each other's arms. The tender moment soon ended when the garden gates opened by Lord Falcon Redbird coming into the garden to talk to the two monarchs, causing Star and Marco to break the hug.
"Lord Falcon Redbird, do you have something to report?" Star asked in a formal manner.
"Yes, my queen." Falcon responded just as formal. "A certain calzone salesman in town claims to have seen something on the night before the princess' birthday. And the local blacksmith on Eager Street could examine the arrow the princess brought to you."
Star found this to be good info. "Thank you, Lord Redbird." she said with a nod. "Me and my husband will look into these."
"My queen, I advise you to be careful." Falcon cautioned. "When word of the assassination attempt on Princess Aurora's life reached town, it caused the division between mewmans and monsters to reignite, albeit only slightly."
Both Star and Marco understood the problem and gave a calm nod to Falcon before retreating into the castle and up to their room. There they donned some civilian attires to avoid drawing any unwanted attention. Marco grabbed the arrow from the cupboard and the two made off to town.
Mewni was shown to have gone through some great changes since Star took the throne, as it now has some features from Earth's modern society. The streets are now paved instead of being made of gravel, and there are now street lamps that use glowing magic crystals for public lighting. The houses of the common folk were renovated to look more modern yet still retain their medieval architecture, and there are several markets scattered around town, putting an end to the widespread poverty that filled the streets years ago. Negotiations between Mewni and Pixtopia have also allowed the kingdom to possess internet, mirror phones, and cable TV. Schools were also brought into Mewni to help educate the children. Some say that Star made these changes as a way to make her husband feel more at home on Mewni, but she's disclaimed that reason.
Taking a stroll through town, Star and Marco took glimpses around to see that Falcon was right: the attempt on Aurora's life has caused a tear in the harmony Star worked so hard to make between mewmans and monsters, with civilians from both sides accusing the other for the incident.
"Of course you're gonna pin the blame on us, because that's what a vengeful monster would do to draw suspicion away." a young mewman man growled with a finger pointing to a monster that resembled a female satyr.
"Ah, I can't believe you'd accuse us monsters of trying to kill the princess after her mother kindly welcomed us into your society!" the offended satyr girl snapped back. The two turned away from each other and walked off in a huff.
Star and Marco could only look on with worried expressions after seeing that. "If we don't find our daughter's killer anytime soon, this division could only get worse." Star said to her husband. "I think we can get more done if we split up. I'll go to the calzone diner while you go to the blacksmith." she then suggested.
"Good idea."
With that, the two split up to find answers. Star to the calzone diner and Marco to the blacksmith.
Star makes her way to the diner where they sell calzones that predict when you're gonna die. There, she spots the man she came to see: the owner of the place.
"Excuse me." Star coughed, getting the man's attention. "But I believe you have some information that might be of interest to me."
The owner looked at Star more closely and was able to recognize her. "Oh yes. But we best discuss that inside my private chamber." he advised. He led the disguised queen into the building and straight into his personal chamber, locking the door behind him and closing all the windows and blinds to ensure their talk wouldn't draw attention to the queen.
"Now, can you tell me what it is you saw on the night before Aurora's birthday?" Star asked calmly.
"Well, it all started like this." the manager started telling. "I was busy cleaning my diner when I saw what looked like two hooded figures snooping around the front of my store that night. I heard them talking about the princess, but couldn't really hear anything else. After that, they just walked off. I remember some of the royal guard arriving shortly after with a carriage full of good food."
"Hm, that must've been the food Aurora asked to be given to the poor part of town." Star said in thought before getting back to the subject. "May I ask? Did you see which direction these hooded figures were going?"
"Why yes." the manager replied. "They were going in the direction of the forest."
Star felt satisfied with what she learned and got up from her chair. "Thank you, sir." she said with a bow, the man bowing back in respect. Leaving the diner, Star knew where to turn to next.
"I think I should see Lord Oak and Lady Juniper of House Forest next."
Meanwhile, Marco had made his way to the local blacksmith, passing by more monsters and mewmans accusing each other of the attempt on Aurora's life. Marco found this sad to see, after all that Star worked so hard to undo centuries of hatred and prejudice, this incident has caused a fracture in that work. He had to help solve this case before it becomes beyond repair. Entering the shop, Marco laid eyes on the blacksmith pounding on a piece of metal in the form of a sword.
The king gave a cough to get the man's attention. And the blacksmith gasped in awe when he recognized him. "King Marco!" He dropped his hammer in surprise at seeing the king despite being in disguise. "What are you doing here?"
"Have you heard of the incident my daughter had with an arrow that almost killed her?" Marco asked calmly, the blacksmith saying "Yes." in response, as everyone else has heard the news, why not him? Marco reached behind him and pulled out the arrow to present to the blacksmith. "I was hoping you could find something about this that could give me some hints about what we're dealing with."
Taking the arrow, the blacksmith brought it close to his face to get a good look at it. On close inspection, he didn't really see anything unique about it... until he noticed something about the arrowhead.
"Oh, wow."
"What is it?" Marco asked.
"The metal this arrowhead is made of is something extraordinary." the blacksmith gasped removing it and showing it to the king. "It has grooves that look naturally formed and are in a pattern similar to reptilian scales. In all my life as a blacksmith, there's only one metal I can think of that matches this... ohpidian steel. A type of metal that's so rare on Mewni to the point of being non-existent"
Marco found this information satisfying enough for him, now knowing something about whoever they're up against. "Thank you, blacksmith." he said with a bow, the blacksmith bowing back in respect before the king turned and left.
Wanting to learn more about ophidian steel, Marco set his sights of the Firefly Library, the home of the Noble House of Firefly, the family in charge of influencing culture around the kingdom. That idea in mind, Marco turned to the kingdom's northwest district, where Firefly Library could be found.
Star found herself finally reaching the Forest Watchtower, the abode of the House Forest. It was a wooden mansion with a huge tower connected to it and had the roofs and walls covered in creepers. It was far east of the kingdom at the border between it and the Forest of Certain Death, standing atop a hill to make it possible to see both the kingdom and the forest from the tower. The Queen knocked on the door three times and waited for a short while before it was opened by young lord Pine.
"Thank you, Pine." she said grateful while walking in and confronting Lord Oak and Lady Juniper, along with their daughter Maple, all four nobles bowing and curtsying in respect.
"My queen, what brings you here?" Oak said in a formal manner, remembering to respect her authority.
Star only brushed off his need to be formal. "There doesn't have to be any of that, Lord Oak. You can call me by my name when we're not working on political matters. After all, since our kids act like family to each other, we can act as such too." she pointed out.
Oak found himself hastily putting himself together before calming down. "Sorry, Star. It's an old habit that's been done throughout our family's history, and all the queens before you recommended it." Star gave a small nod in response, knowing how true that was, before Lady Juniper stepped in.
"What brings you here, Star?"
"Ah, yes." the queen remembered. "I need your help with something. An employee at the calzone diner told me of two hooded figures he believes were involved with the attempt on Aurora's life, and how they wandered into the forest. I need to see if your All-Seeing Eyes got a good glimpse of them." she requested.
"Anything to help the princess." Juniper smiled with her head up high.
The heads of the house began escorting Star around the mansion until they came to a large door, opening it to reveal a room that looked similar to a monitor room, but with a magic mirror instead of a TV monitor. Juniper turned it on so they could check the recordings of every Eye before finding what they were looking for on number ten, two suspicious-looking figures in hooded cloaks walking through the forest. This confirms the seller's story to be true. Unfortunately, it wasn't able to get a good view of their faces due to being too far from them, much to Star's disappointment.
Juniper turned off the mirror before turning to the queen in sadness. "I'm sorry we couldn't get any better views of those suspects to help narrow your search." she sighed.
Star only brushed off her disappointment. "It's okay, Juniper. We just need to keep an 'eye' out for anyone like them." she advised, laughing a little at the joke she unintentionally made there before putting her calmness back on. "Thank you for your help, Forests." she said with a slight bow before turning to leave.
"Rest assured, Star, we will help as much as we can to find these miscreants." Juniper expressed her support, making Star give a smile back to her as she left.
Marco had made it to the Firefly Library, the home of the House Firefly. It resembled a classic mansion that had a tower connected. This tower is the symbol of the family's name because it houses large swarms of fireflies that the nobles release at night. these fireflies swarm around the top with their glow, making the tower like a lighthouse. Marco pushed the doors open to show that the inside had a pinkish hue to the walls with spade-shaped windows for better lighting and pink and blue tiled floors. as expected for a library, much of the rooms had tall bookshelves filled with books of all kinds.
Marco took notice of Lady Berenice Firefly organizing the books on a shelf and walks over to her. "Ahem." he coughed
Berenice turned at the sound and found it came from the King. "Oh, King Marco!" she exclaimed before giving a curtsy. "What brings you to the Firefly Library?"
"I went to the blacksmith and let him study the arrow that tried to impale my daughter." the king replied. "It turns out there was something interesting about it: The arrowhead was made of ophidian steel. I came here to see if your family had a book with any more info on it."
"Oh, well, we'll see." Berenice gasped in awe at the king choosing to come here for information. With that, the two began searching all the bookshelves for any kind of book with knowledge on ophidian steel. The search had taken most of the day, and none of the books Marco checked so far had anything about what he was looking for.
"Fairy Encyclopedia, the Book of Dragons, Ancient Civilizations of the Universe." Marco put the books back on the shelf in disappointment. "I just can't seem to find the right one!"
"Um, my king?" Berenice tapped him on the shoulder and got his attention. "I think I may have found something." She presented him with a book she found in one of her house's remote sections.
"Rare Elements of the Universe?" Marco read the title with interest as Lady Firefly gave it to him. Sitting down on one of the many chairs in the library, Marco opened the book and searched through the pages for anything about ophidian steel, finally finding it on page fifty six.
"Ah, here we are. Ophidian steel is one of the rarest and most sought-after metals in all of Mewni. The only known amount ever found in Mewni's history consisted of only two pounds, no such other deposits have been found. However, it was discovered that..." Marco stopped when he saw what the rest of the page said and only stared at it.
He gave the book back to Berenice and got up from his chair. "Thank you for your assistance." he said with a bow, Lady Firefly curtsying back as the king walked out the building.
It had just become sundown back at the palace, and Star and Marco were preparing for bed after a long day of searching for answers to the attempt on their daughter's life. As they did that, Star decided to share some of the information she gathered.
"I managed to find out about some hooded figures the calzone salesman saw that may have been involved with trying to kill Aurora." she told her husband. "Did you manage to find anything?"
Marco looked at her wife with an uneasy look before letting out a sigh. "The blacksmith found the arrowhead was made of a rare metal called ophidian steel." he said with sadness in his voice.
Star however, could tell that his expression meant there was something else he found out, and didn't want there to be any secrets between them. "Marco, is there something else you learned? I think you should tell me everything." she calmly insisted.
"Well, I also learned that this particular metal is exclusively used by those in the Guild of Assassins." Marco said with a heavy tone.
Star's irises shrank at the mention of that name. She's heard tales of that guild, a secret society of people trained in many forms of combat and how to use them to assassinate any targets, as well as anyone that stands between them and said target. But that's not what scared Star the most about this.
"But from what I've heard, the Assassins Guild doesn't attack someone for no reason."
"That's right, they only do so when they're hired by someone." Marco muttered. "This tells us that there's someone out there that has something against our daughter."
This information felt too much for Star to handle, and he suddenly felt weak in her knees, forcing her on the bed. Marco noticed this and felt regret for telling Star, knowing this was how she'd react to the news that someone was out there wanting to kill her daughter and hiring someone from the Assassins Guild to do it. He decided to try and help calm her anxiety, with something he knows makes her feel better.
"Hey honey, I know something we can do to help get your mind off this." he said putting his wife's head on his lap, with Star sounding a bit skeptical about it. "I somehow doubt it will help."
The scene shifts to show that Marco's idea was enjoying a movie with a bowl of nachos to eat, like they once did in their youth. Star turned her head and gave a smile to her husband, telling him that this is something that she really needed to calm her nerves.