ACT VII: Crescento, the Eager Part 1: Inheriting the Role
Crescento Dragonfly happily examined the scepter as his father passed it on to him at the ceremony. Much to his delight, the amethyst embedded in the golden goblet shone brightly as the magic reacted to his touch. As ribbons of pink magic spiraled around his hand, the goblet began to change into a heart-shaped golden ring, which encircled the gem as it transformed into a ruby. With the transformation complete, Crescento held his family heirloom aloft, displaying it for the gathered kingdom to see.
"Now, remember, son; this is a big responsibility." Festivio reminded him. "Are you sure you can handle this?"
"Don't worry, dad, I'm ready for this!"
As expected, Festivio threw his son a huge party in honor of this momentous occasion. But the festivities were cut short as Crescento wanted to meet up with his club for a private celebration the next day. He told his father that his friends would need to focus on the political responsibilities without any distractions, but in reality, Crescento had always been embarrassed by his father's carefree attitude. Many of his friends thought that Festivio's behavior was hilarious, but Crescento took it as a sign of disrespect and was determined to change the way the kingdom saw the Dragonfly family. And now that he had rescued the family scepter from his incompetant brother, he was one step closer to making that dream a reality.
The next morning, Crescento immediately grabbed his family heirloom and pointed it at his closet. "Habitu Auxilium." He yawned. A stream of magic shot forth, picking out an outfit for him to wear so he didn't have to waste time trying to decide what to wear for himself.
After he finished dressing, Festivio knocked on his door and entered with a tray of pancakes, pig-goat bacon, and fresh-squeezed orange juice. Much to his surprise, the boy was already awake and dressing himself for the day. The king set the tray down as he let himself in.
"Y'know, if you want, son, you could borrow my old toga." Festivio offered, smiling. "You're about the same size I was when I was your age."
"No offense, dad, but I don't think the folks at a political gathering would take me too seriously if I showed up in a man-dress." Crescento declined, politely.
"Hey, don't knock the toga, pal." Festivio wagged a finger at his son as he tugged at his own clothes. "I'll have you know I was wearing this when I won your mother's heart."
"Dad, you're the king." Crescento gave his father an unimpressed glance as he adjusted his coattails. "You could've been wearing a duck suit and won her heart."
"Not everything is determined by social status, son." Festivio remarked. "Love is the only thing that matters between me and your mother. You'll understand when you find someone you love."
Crescento glared at his father. "I'm trying to prepare for my political responsibilities, and your biggest concern is whether or not I'll find some girl?"
Festivio shrugged. "Or boy."
The prince groaned at his father's short-sightedness but chose to focus on his upcoming meeting. That is, until he remembered something important. Smiling brightly, Crescento ran towards the Great Book of Magic and opened it up to his chapter. "I almost forgot to show you! I came up with my own spells!"
"Already? Well, let's take a look." Festivio glanced over the pages. Sure enough, Crescento had come up with at least fifteen different spells on his own. The king pointed to one. "What's this one?"
"I'll show you." Crescento proudly held the scepter in both hands and pointed at the cup of orange juice. "LEVITATO!" The heart-shaped ruby fired a force field around the glass and, by pointing the scepter towards himself, made it float towards his hand.
Festivio was highly impressed and looked back at the book. "Cool! What's this one do? 'Annexus Ignis Idem?'"
"Oh, that's when you need to tie your shoes and set a building on fire… I'm still working on that one."
Festivio continued to read his son's entries in the Great Book, feeling a bit unnerved as one apparently turned broken arms into tentacles. Then he saw something that really disturbed him. "Uh… it says here, 'Regiis Solum Lacrimae is used to take away all negative thoughts…'"
"Yeah." Crescento nodded. "I just tap the scepter against my head, say the words, and pull all bad thoughts out of my head like a string."
"Isn't that unhealthy?" Festivio asked out of concern.
Crescento stared at his father with a blank expression before placing the scepter against his temple. "Regiis Solum Lacrimae." Festivio cringed as his son painfully struggled to pull what looked like a long thread out of his forehead. Crescento finally plucked it out and cast it aside, as if nothing had happened. "... nope." He smiled.
Festivio closed the book and set it aside. He got up and placed a hand on Crescento's shoulder. "Y'know, it's okay to be nervous, son." He told him. "After all, this is a big responsibility-"
"Dad, I'm fine." Crescento assured him, brushing off his concern. "I'm ready for this! I'm ready for anything! I gotta go. See ya tonight!"
As Festivio watched his son skip away to meet up with his friends, he reached into his toga for a flask of peach whiskey and took a swig. "I worry about that boy sometimes." He sighed to himself.
A few minutes later, Crescento met with Noblewoman Samantha Abigail Tan, Prince Eric Kelpbottom of the Waterfolk, Duchess Jeger of the Jaggy Mountains, Prince Equus Cranium of the Pony Heads, Countess Alice Johansen, Duke Robert Spiderbite, and Prince Hortense Luctor in their clubhouse just outside the castle grounds. Crescento tapped his scepter's staff against the floor to call the meeting to order. "Gentlemen. Ladies. Welcome to the two hundredth and fifty-sixth meeting of the Future Leaders of Mewni. What's on the agenda today?"
Samantha held up the minutes from the last meeting. "Uh, I believe we're going to discuss how to boost the economy when we take over, and then figure out how to convince the farmers to grow things other than corn."
"Ah, yes!" Crescento snapped his fingers. "Well, for the first item, I believe I have the easiest solution. The best way to boost the economy is to do away with conversion rates by creating a universal currency. Fortunately, I've come up with this…" The prince flicked the wand towards his hand, conjuring up a stack of green 2-inch by 6-inch pieces of paper decorated with pictures of past rulers and numbers. Madame Indexia's picture was on the one, King Skywind was on the two, Prime Minister Jeshica was on the five, King Solarius was on the ten, King Lyle was on the twenty, King Tiberius was on the fifty, and King Brian was on the one hundred. "In order to create a universal currency, we will find a way to convert the worth of gold, jewels, coral, and corn into these!"
"Are you crazy?" Duchess Jeger scoffed. "Who in their right mind would exchange their hard-earned gold and gems for a worthless piece of paper?"
"When you put it that way, I agree!" Crescento conceded. "That's why I've invented a brand-new, important-sounding word for my paper currency; 'dollars.'"
"You are crazy." Eric Kelpbottom of the Waterfolk remarked. "You can't just make up words."
"I have a golden crown and a magic scepter that say otherwise." Crescento remarked with a smug grin. "Now, what was that about growing something other than corn?"
But before anyone else could reply, the future leaders jumped in shock as they heard something crash outside. "What was that?!" Prince Hortense screamed in terror. The group ran outside to see the royal carriage had crashed into a tree and the king had been thrown from the driver's seat, now laying face-down on the grass.
"Dad!" Crescento instinctively ran to his father's side. "Dad, are you alright?!"
"Psh, yeah, man!" Festivio rolled onto his back, revealing a bottle of wine in one hand and a paper bag in the other. "I'm fiiiine! But you forgot your lunch!"
Crescento blushed from embarrassment as he heard his friends snickering behind his back. "Daaad! Get up! Why're you like this?!"
Festivio ignored him and continued to drink the bottle's contents. Just then, the queen and the Magical High Commission arrived with the royal doctor. "Festivio, are you okay?!"
"Chastity!" Festivio cheered in his drunken daze. "Hey! Hey, when did you get four heads? I wanna kiss 'em all!" He slurred, reaching out to his wife and puckering his lips.
"Okay, let's just… here, gimme that." Chastity took the bottle from her husband while Hekapoe and Rhombulie carried him into the doctor's carriage. The queen turned back to her son. "Sorry, Crescy. I'll take care of your father. See you tonight."
"Thanks, mom." Crescento sighed in annoyance. He turned back towards his club, ignored by their smirks and giggles. "Not one-"
They all burst out in laughter.
"Your dad's a riot!" Robert snorted.
"'Oh, no! My son forgot his lunch! Gotta crash the carriage!'" Eric laughed so hard his legs accidentally shifted back into a tail and he began rolling on the ground.
"'Festivio the fun!'" Samantha giggled, hugging her sides. "More like 'Festivio the funny!'"
"Come on!" Crescento's blush grew brighter, almost concealing the bright pink bunny-shaped cheek marks. "It's not my fault he's my dad! Stop laughing! Stop laughing!"
Years later, on Crescento's eighteenth birthday, he was officially crowned King of Mewni and the entire kingdom rejoiced. As usual, his father threw a huge party in celebration, going over the top with just about everything. But Crescento was about to make some big changes in the kingdom now that his father was stepping down from the throne. Now that he was officially Mewni's ruler, and with his club soon to be appointed as rulers of their respective kingdoms, they would improve the entire way of life in Mewni.
The day after the party, Crescento and his club met with the Magical High Commission to discuss putting Crescento's new currency into action. Much to his delight, the Commission were all impressed by his idea and wanted to know what else he had in mind. After a few hours of discussing their plans, Crescento and his friends allowed themselves a break to relax with some refreshments. But the king was confused that his father had yet to barge in and interrupt them by offering drinks, himself.
"So, when're you two officially tying the knot?" Alice asked, bringing Crescento out of his thoughts.
"I was actually wondering the same thing." Samantha smirked, taking a seat in her boyfriend's lap. But when he rolled his eyes at her antics, she pouted. "Aw, c'mon, Crescy, I'm serious. We've been pre-engaged ever since we were sixteen. Now that you're king, you'll need a queen."
Crescento sighed and gave her a soft peck on the cheek. "Alright. We'll start making plans in a few days."
"HUZZAH!" The club lifted their glasses in toast.
Suddenly, the king noticed that their party was one member short. "Hey, has anyone seen Eric?"
As if to answer his question, Eric pushed the doors open with Dirhenno and approached the table. Much to Crescento's surprise, his brother's expression looked far gloomier than ever before. "Oh, Crescento. You're here." The former prince declared.
"Yes, Dirhenno. I'm here." Crescento nodded as he stood up. "Your eyesight is still twenty-twenty."
"I have some bad news for you; dad is…" Dirhenno couldn't bring himself to say it so he nudged Eric, instead. "You'd better tell him."
"M-me?" Eric stammered.
"Well, you're his best friend, aren't you?" Dirhenno reasoned before taking a seat.
Crescento became impatient. "Well, go on, Eric! Spit it out!"
The mer-man sadly twiddled his crown in his hands. "Uh, Crescento, I… I don't know how to say this to you, easily…" He gulped. "But your mom asked me to help her find Festivio this morning because he wasn't in their bed. We… we found him sleeping out on the balcony."
Crescento shrugged, dismissively. "So? He's done that before."
"... he didn't wake up."
A deathly silence filled the room; everyone turned to look at their new king. Crescento's toothy smile was replaced with his mouth agape in distress and shock. His coveted scepter fell to the floor with an audible clank as the king slowly made his way to a table to take a seat. Neither the Magical High Commission and the new rulers of the Mewman kingdoms could believe what they had just heard. King Festivio the Fun was dead.
Samantha slammed her fist against the table. "You've got to be wrong, Eric! You've got to be wrong!" She sobbed.
"I wish I was, Sam. I really wish I was." Eric sniffled as he moved to sit beside his best friend. Taking Crescento's hand into his own, the mer-man continued to talk soothingly to him. "Now… now, Crescento, we… we all liked to tease your dad a lot, y'know. W-when he'd had a little too much to drink, we just… we thought it was funny. But you gotta believe me; it was never anything personal."
Crescento hugged his best friend tightly, burying his face into his shoulder. "I'm not ready for this…" He whimpered.
To Be Continued!
And here we have Crescento, the Eager! Get ready for politics!