Summary: Some people need adjustment to being separated ... and some just need a nice crazy lifestyle to kick them in the buts.
"Straight … straight …" Moon watched as the boy tried once more to make his bubbles fly straight. "Don't break, don't…" The bubble trembled and shook before settling still, and gave its usual explosion, though admittedly smaller than the usual wall destroying ones. "Dang it, I can't stop it from exploding."
"Don't be too discouraged, my boy!" River jovally patted their son on the back. "We're just working with what we have for now. If you can't stop yourself from exploding, then you must focus on directing it towards enemies."
"Yeah, yeah, fighting monsters and all that." Quartz looked tired and a little dejected at the known fact. "You know, some of the monsters that work for Ludo really didn't look like they wanted to hurt us. I get that everybody thinks they're evil and I know Ludo is a stupid and crazy jerk … but can't we get along or something?"
"We tried many times … my mother was the last Queen that was the closest to closing the gap to peace…but there's been too many years of bad blood by that point. They're just too set in their ways to consider it an option." The only thing they understood now was fear and strength, and as long as magic was on Mewni's side, the scales of power would always be by their side.
"Fine…but I'm training to be a knight, right? Fighting is a part of that, I get that, but isn't it their main job to protect people when something dangerous comes?"
"We'll of course!" River shouted. "Fighting monsters is a tried and true method, but protecting people is something that should be held above all else. A kingdom is its people, not its castle." The man paused. "Maybe you could make half a bubble, like a shield." She would've called her husband out for not being exactly subtle, but Rose's time on mewni was very offense based when she wasn't healing. The people mainly knew her for her sword rather than her shield.
"A shield, huh?" The boy questioned. "Is that even possible? I've never tried changing the shape of my bubbles before."
"Quartz." Moon spoke. "Your sister, just this morning, destroyed this village with narwhals, a top hat wearing spider, and a flaming rainbow." Occasionally the fiery arc would appear in the sky from time to time. She may have to summon a week's worth of rainfall to quell any lasting damage. "I think we've firmly established already that there's no such thing as impossible…"
"Like peace with monsters…"
"Don't get smart with me now." She chided, and he backed off from the subject. He and Star fought them so often he was probably desentized to the actual danger monster's presented. "Now back to your lesson. Imagine the shield, have it perfectly etched in your mind, and you should have no problem summoning it.
"Okay." He gave a quick nod and forced out his hands, the strain he was feeling being clearly evident. There was a slight glow, not from his cheeks like usual, but from his gem, meaning her initial plan on stabilizing the excess magic was showing progress. "It's…It's not working…" Her son gave a big gasp for air after a full two minutes.
"Not everything's perfect on the first try, sweetie. Many Queens have had similar weapon summoning spells, myself included." Dipping down, she concentrated on her arms and pulled out her blue saber of magic. "It all takes practice, patience, and effort. The more you break down something, the more you work yourself to the bone … the more beautiful the results will be."
"Break down…huh." Quartz eye's lingered on those words, and shot his hands out, forming his usual large bubble around him, but then started straining himself again if the sweat running down his forehead was any indication. "Break down…break down." The bubble looked like it was split down the middle, the sides shrinking smaller and smaller. "Stay right there, stay right there…" The two sides of the bubble were now half their size, and more hexagonal shaped for some strange reason. She was certain Rose's gem weapon was a round shield. "I did it!" The excitement lit up his cheek marks, and the two shields shot into the walls. "Oops."
"Even if they launched you did it!" River shouted, laughing and scooping the boy up. "This calls for a feast! And cookie cats!" Oh dear, they mentioned Quartz's favorite treat, which meant he was probably going to…"
"He's a frozen treat, with an all new taste!
Because he came all the way from outer space!" She would call him out for childishness if this was in public, but in the privacy of the Butterfly castle, she was free to enjoy the naive charm of the scene. It showed her that Quartz was happy, which she knew for a fact Rose would've wanted for her child.
"A refugee from an interstellar war!
But now he's here, at your local grocery store!" Quartz looked back and forth, and the excitement he carried died down a little. "Star and I usually finish out the song together…not the same when she's not here with me."
"I know it's difficult to adjust when friends and family aren't there beside you." Moon comforted her son with a hand on his shoulder. "I've been through it many times, both when my mom…went away, and when the Rose Guard left Mewni."
"Were the two of you close?" Quartz asked her with wide eyes. "Ah, you and the Rose Guard I mean."
"She acted as a second guardian to me of sorts when my mother couldn't be around. When I grew older, she was something of a confidant I could talk to, but as the years went by, we grew to disagree on quite a few occasions." And by disagree, she meant verbal spats that nearly become bloody duels.
"You two disagreed? I thought she got along with every Queen."
"Each queen had a different relationship. Some strained, some close … one one-sided." She read the entry in the spell book, it should not have been a place to write fantasies. "My point is, while it's impressive how agreeable you and Star can be, it's important to the both of you that you grow in ways apart from each other. Sometimes that's the best way you could help someone." Maybe they could both learn a bit more responsibility.
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"Earth. Is. Awesome!" Star shouted atop of her lungs as she looked out of her bedroom's window and shouted it out for all the world to hear. "Humans just drive around in giant metal boxes not pulled by manticores? Are you sure that there aren't at least tiny ostriches on the inside making it move like a hamster on a wheel?" That would explain the honking every time she ran into the street.
"Nope, they just run on oil and gas for the most part." Her roommate/new best human friend Marco explained to her. They sort of got off on the wrong foot at first, but after they kicked some monster butt, they totally became BFF's. "And Ponyhead's entire family are just…heads? There's nothing else? How do they do…anything?"
"How everything else is done, Magic, duh." She gave the boy a slight head pat as they dug into probably her new favorite treat: Nachos! "So gooey and cheesy! These might actually be better than Cookie Cats." Quartz would be calling her out for blasphemy if he ever heard her say that outloud.
"Yeah, it is hard to beat the best of the best. Too bad they're no more for this world." Marco said with a wave of the hand.
"...What was that?" She picked some earwax out so she could hear better. Because there was no way she heard him say what she thought she heard him say.
"Oh, the Cookie Cat brand got discontinued a few weeks ago, they don't make any anymore." He casually spoke something horrifying. "Apparently there was a chemical controversy or something and the entire company was shut down."
"… Oh poor Quartz." From what she remembered of the confusing business junk Mom tried to teach her, some things like food they had, they got by moving it from earth. They've truly entered the darkest timeline available if her brother couldn't live without his favorite snack in the whole world."
"Quartz?" Marco snapped her out of the brain explosion she just went through. "I have a feeling you're not talking about a rock."
"Well he does have a rock in his bellybutton." She chuckled, remembering the times she would just poke it for hours when the boy was fast asleep. "Quartz Universe Butterfly. He's my little brother."
"...Okay, apparently there are names that can sound more silly than yours." Rude! Her name was awesome, and so was her brothers'! "Then again there's a Ponyhead named Ponyhead … but that ones more redundant."
"Her actual name's Lilacia, she just thinks her first name sounds dumb." And Ponyhead was easier to remember quite frankly. "But anyways, Quartz loves cookie cats. Whenever they get mentioned, we break out into that jingle that always plays with the commercial and dance no matter where we are." The time they did it in that cave full of giant hornets was the best in her opinion. "He's like the one person I can always count on to have my back."
"Sounds like he's a good brother."
"He's the best one I could ever ask for… Tonight is the first night I spent without him." Sure, there was still the mirror but … it would still be a bit lonely. "There was hardly a day I never woke up without him humming some new song he came up with on the fly. He also has this thing about fighting monsters, but never hesitates to help me when I need it. We never have to do much for each other, because being right next to each other was always enough."
Marco retracted his hands from the nachos and put his comforting, if greasy, hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry that you have to be away from him. I'm an only child, so I don't really know what it's like to be away from a little brother."
She hummed. "Is it lonely?" She asks him.
"A little, I admit." Marco gave a soft sigh. "I have friends I talk to, but nobody I can really let myself be…me around I guess. I get called the nerd or the safe kid, and no one really bothers to see anything else."
"Yeah, that's exactly how it is with me and Quartz. When we're together, there's just…something there that allows us to get along really well. It doesn't matter what mistake you end up making, they just accept you, flaws and all."
"Sounds lovely …" The boy scratched his face. "Hey if you want I can just … sleep on the floor, as a sleepover, ease you into it."
"Sleepover funsies!" That brought the mood up just ever so slightly! "Don't worry, this time the snacks are on me! Cupcake blast!" She summoned two pink frosted cupcakes and bit hard into her own, and immediately cracked a tooth. "I can create food but can't eat it."
"You probably should stop trying then." The boy deadpanned. "Come on, I have some nachos right here."
"Yeah, I'll leave the cooking to the professional chef here." The bashful look Marco gave at the comment was oddly cute. "You know, the first time I ever had a sleepover, Ponyhead dumped Quartz into a trash can. Put the lid on and send him rolling down a hill. Convinced us at the time that it was just a new game she made." Star snorted. "Quartz laughed when he got the high score."
"Trust me, that's not hard to believe from what I learned about her." Such a shame she got the Saint Olga boot while Star stayed on earth. "So exactly just how often should we expect those monsters to keep coming?"
"Ludo's been after the wand even before my mom, so probably a lot. Privately, publicly, pretty much expect it almost every waking moment."
"As long as people see me punch one in the face, I'm cool with that. No one can ever call me a safe kid after that."
"Why, trying to impress someone?" She smirked. "Gotta crush?" The blush and stampering only confirmed her suspicions.
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"Quartz!" Rhombulus shouted to his buddy.
"Rhombulus!" Quartz chest butted him.
"How's my Gem buddy doin?" He asked, a smirk inside of his head.
"Completely awesome." Sure a lot of people didn't trust him with stuff, but babysitting Quartz that one time was the best. He found a gem buddy! Someone that didn't tell him he was annoying. "We'll, maybe not completely awesome, Star's in another dimension, so that sucks on it's own, but I just found out there's no more Cookie Cats!"
"Oh yeah, the earth dimension canceled those, there's only so many left in the universe now." He personally had a few stored in crystals to enjoy a century or so from now.
"First it takes my sister, and then it takes away the best food in any dimension? When will Earth stop tormenting me!?" The boy cried out.
"Hmm … I'll tell you what, gem buddy." He spoke. "How about I show you something very very special?"
"Did you figure out which nipple demon is actually the evil brother?"
"No, but I'm still trying." In all honesty, he stopped trying to figure it out three centuries ago. "Hold on, let me see here." He scavenged through a couple of his crystals. "Over the years, a lot of people have trusted me with quite a few stuff, mainly prisoners to put in crystals, but a few items as well to watch over."
"Dangerous items?" Gabriel's horn, an infinity stone, golden tiger claws, the hand of Midas, quite a few things to worry about in the wrong hands.
"It varies … but check this bad boy out!" He pulled out a mirror with a cracked blue lapis in the back of it.
"... A mirror?" The boy looked it over. "Is it magic?"
"Not in the least." The man admitted. "But it was the mirror of the one and only, Rose Guard."
As he anticipated, the boy was sparkling with excitement and anticipation. "The…the Rose Guard's mirror!?"
"That's right. While she didn't see eye to eye with us on a few things, she did trust us to take care of a few of her stuff. I believe you're familiar with Heckapoo's lion, right?"
"Yeah, I ride a Lion all the time, and he usually takes me to a new dimension each time! The one with the frog people was fun, if a bit terrifying." Right, Amphibia. He still needed to find that Calamity Chest.
"Well about fifty or so years ago, she handed this little doohickey to me and told me to take care of it. From what I remember, it's supposed to be some kind of recording mirror, but I've never got it to work."
"The Rose Guard's hands touched this." The boy held onto the object like it was a priceless artifact.
"Yeah, I haven't sensed anything dangerous from it the entire time I've had it, and I know how big of a fan of her you really are, so it's yours now."
"I can have it!?" The boy squealed.
"I don't see why not, just don't tell anyone I did. The Commission gets all snippy over stuff like this." Not to mention Queen Moon got bent out of shape whenever someone mentioned the Rose Guard in the same sentence as Quartz.
"My lips are sealed, gem buddy." The kid gave a zipping motion. "Hey, does Glosseryck constantly get your name wrong on purpose over and over again?"
"Pretty much everyone does that for me. They keep calling me the time out guy just because I have a few opinions they don't agree with." So what if people called freezing a planet 'overkill', it would have been overtaken by one of the many eldritch abominations to exist. "He's a jerk, but he's the smartest jerk in the universe."
"Necessary evil, the worst kind that exists." The boy grumbled. "And Star's all alone with him? There can't be any worse fate than that."
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"I will devour all your souls!" Marco's arm screamed. In hindsight, maybe he should've taken Star's offer to return his arm to normal earlier, but he just wanted to kick that little brat Jeremy's ass so much for all the annoying hours they spent at the dojo. " "Join me Marco, together we will eviscerate all that stand in our way! First Beach Creek, and then the world!"
"I'm not going to let you corrupt my frie-" Star paused her ranting. "Wait, your town is named Beach Creek ?"
"Uh, yeah?" Marco's redhead and chubby friend, Furguson said with a roll of the eye. "Our school is called Beach Creek high."
"I thought that was some kind of joke I wasn't in on! Why the heck would any town name themselves after two totally different and unrelated places!?"
"There's a lot of water around here. We're practically surrounded by it."
"It just seems-" A bench was sent flying next to her. "Right, time to focus. Marco, keep him still!" Star's wand glowed and shot at him. "Returnio-armio normal-redo!"
" Like I'd actually let that happen! You've may have created me, but I'm far beyond your magic now!" The monster arm was surprisingly agile, wrapping itself around him and hopping out of the way of the blast, making the punching bag that was behind them human hand-shaped.
"Returnio-armio normal-redo!" Star repeatedly shouted, only to keep hitting everything except his arm. A dumb-bell, the mat, the burrito that some onion shaped kid was eating, making it look like the boy was a cannibal. "You know Marco, if you really wanted to beat up an eight year old that badly, I could've just blasted him with Narwhals!"
"It's not that!" He shouted at Star. "I just wanted to prove myself, I keep trying and trying for years yet I'm lagging behind an eight year old of all things! I just wanted to feel important for a change."
"Hey, I get it, I feel the same way too sometimes! My brother's been able to make exploding bubbles ever since he was a baby! Do you know how awesome that is!?" Star basically turned the entire floor into a garden of hands as the monster arms swung from the ceiling. "Thing is, you shouldn't judge yourself by other people's accomplishments! Believe me, if I did that, I'd be living in my Mom's shadow all my life! Ya just got to do you, Diaz!"
"Don't listen to her. You've just been the safe boy your entire life! Join me and your street cred will rise beyond limits, we'll have the world in the palm of our hands. Along with that Jackie-" If he never had a reason before, he needed to shut up that monster now.
"I control how life goes, my way, you're just a parasite I'm better off without!" He grabbed one of the dumbbells, and with a scream, slammed it onto his own monster arm. "OW." Unfortunately it was his arm, thus he felt that.
"You're a huge dumbass, you know that, right?" The monster squealed in pain.
"Probably, but I think he makes it work well for him." Star shouted, jumping over them them with her one pointed straight at them. "Returnio-armio normal-redo!"
The shot hit them dead on, and the monster began to shrink, retracting back into his body as the tentacle features began to fade away. " You think this is over!? I'm always going to be apart of you! I'm every dark desire you've ever had! You'll never be rid of me! Revelry in the Da…" The monster faded away.
"That was disturbing…but at least my arm's back to normal!" He gave Star a high-five, and his arm immediately bent the wrong way. "AND BROKEN AAAAHHH!"
"I'll go to the hospital!" She ran around the corner, only to pop back a few seconds later. "Seriously though, Beach Creek!?"
"Star!" He shouted back at her. "Is this really the time!?
"Well I'm sorry, it's just so redundant sounding, it's ridiculous!" Star rolled her eyes as she got on her tiny mirror phone thing. "Oh, and that kid you were trying to kill is wearing brass knuckles under his gloves." Everyone looked at Jeremy, the bratty eight year old that always managed to beat him with one punch, with a raised eyebrow. "I know a thing or two about hiding weapons from people you're fighting."
"So everyone's a cheater then." The dojo master shook his head in shame. "It's a dark day for Mall Karate Tournaments everywhere." Maybe he put too much investment in fighting a little kid.
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Lion, as they were named, rested as the boy prattled on into a mirror. "So I have a mirror and a lion from the Rose Guard, but Star and Cookie cats are gone …" He sighed. "You have anything you like to do, lion?"
He had many things he wanted to do. Sleep in the nice desert sun on top of the warm desert sand, eat the large and tasty fish in the ocean, play with the strange bugs in rainbows. Right now, he wanted to make the boy happy. It got hard to do somedays with the pale lady always trying to put him in a cage and keep him in one dimension. Why the tall pink woman left him in her care would forever baffle him. "Grrrrrr." He lightly moaned.
"I can't just go to earth, at least not now. Mom would know if I took a trip there and she really wants me away … but it's lonely." The boy looked down. "Do you have any friends, lion?"
Not really, there weren't that many animals he could interact with without getting the urge to eat them. So far, the only ones that were off the dinner menu was that beaver duck with the hat and that blue koala from space.
"Ponyhead's at Saint Olga's now and I'd never hang out with Tom in any circumstances. Jerk got what was coming to him." The screams of pain from the demon that day still rang through his head. "Without Star, I never really get out of the castle, do I?" Lion growled in agreement. The girl and the boy were hardly seen without the other on most days.
"You know what? What I need is a solo adventure by myself. A change of scenery would be better than anything else right now." A change of scenery, solo adventure. Lion understood completely. They stood up and began to run. "Hey Lion, buddy, where are you going?" To adventure!
The lion ran, picking up the pace and roared out a portal, thinking of the best possible place for the boy to enjoy. Adventure from what he recalled involved a lot of fighting, and their was one dimension he remembered where fighting was everything, which meant it was perfect!
"Okay, we're dimension hopping today, can't say I didn't ask for that." No need to thank him, the boy having fun was gratitude enough. "Wish you came with a gps or something, I have no idea where we are."
The land they just came to was one of the best ones for a nap. Pretty much everything was made out of soft and poofy fur, so everyone inch of the ground was a bed for him. "Alright … stranded in another dimension while Lion sleeps … nobody around me … this is fine."
"Hey, that's a fancy looking lion you got there." A giant blue puff ball came up to the boy. "How many punches does it cost to have him."
"Punches…dwell on that later Quartz." The boy muttered." "Sorry, he's not for sale, I'm just lost and need some idea of where I am."
"Oh, a tourist. Okay, help, but my prices are very steep."
"Trust me, I have more money than I know what to do.." The boy was caught off by a punch to the face. "WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT FOR?!"
"Just hold still, you still owe me ten more punches." The puff began his assault.
"I don't want …" The kid held his hands up defensively, but the puff continued. "I don't want…" The kid put up his bubble. "I said I don't want to fight!" The bubble exploded, sending the puff through seven nearby houses. "Looks like I cause trouble with or without Star."
"Hey kid, you caused this damage!" More puffs of various colors began to come up, rolling up sleeves and pounding their fists. "That's going to cost you at least three thousand punches!
"Why is everyone in this dimension so punch happy!?" The kid shrieked as he raised his hands up, ducking and dodging as many attacks as possible.
"That's just how Woolet's like to roll." A green puff said from a nearby tree, and swung down, kicking a red puff that was about to hit the boy from behind. "Punches are our bread and butter. My dad usually starts the day off with a knuckle sandwich instead of cereal."
"So people here just like to punch! That' so messed up!" The boy shouted in horror. Lion wonders why he brought him to a place to fight!
"It's not for everyone, but it's home-on your right!" The kid ducked from a punch from the side and allowed the green puff to throw her own. "You're new here, so I'll help you out, things have been getting boring around here anyway, haven't had a good brawl in months."
"Who are you!?" The boy asked with an annoying scream.
"I'm Kelly, and this is Tad!"
"Sup." A pair of eyes popped up from the top of the girl's head. "Cool Lion, bro. Looks totally at peace with the world." Very true, lion felt very peaceful now.
"Cool, name's Quartz-duck!" The boy shot out an oddly shaped pink disc that took out a puff trying to attack from above. "Normally I'd talk first then fight, but that's probably not an option here, is it?"
"Nope, tell you what. We survive this, we'll get you some goblin dogs." The bushy girl spoke as she punched another puff ball.
"Are they as good as Cookie Cats?"
"Better."
"Blasphemy."
"Oh really? Can a cookie cat put you into an out of body experience where you can feel every dimension suddenly colliding as one in perfect peace?"
Looks like Lion did his job and then some. He better get a couple dozen of those creamy lion head snacks when his nap was done.