Summary:
Very, very hard change
Princess Spiderbite awkwardly tapped her fingers as she double checked the spread. Crumpets, tea, sandwiches. Simple but fulfilling, no one would be willing to resist, then again her boyfriend was a monster, and it was difficult to gauge exactly what he did and didn't like.
"Calm down, Penelope, I'm sure he'll enjoy your company more than the food itself." Her mother patted her back. Thankfully, both her parents were unbelievably supportive. It might have been due to the cure-all slime on the bug bites."
"I hope so, It's been forever since we've seen each other face to face." Some people went crazy with Eclipsa becoming queen, but the only thing that mattered to her was that Slime got to move back to Mewni.
"It'll be fine." Her father patted her on the back. "He'll be a fool to deny you … we have archers on standby if he breaks your heart after all." He gestured to the poorly hidden warrior.
"Dad, don't give him the wrong idea, the last thing we need is for this date to get political."
"Hey, this isn't about politics. I equally threaten all boys, and girls if you're into that, that threaten to break the heart of my little girl." He gave her a warm hug. "Recently I actually hired a 'Rasticore' to take down Steven … but he hasn't been answering his calls …"
"Come on, he was already dating someone and I moved on, just let bygones be bygones." Her feelings got mixed up as it was when that fusion person was dancing with them at the monster ball.
"Your father is just a little overprotective, a little too much for his own good." Mom glared at the man. "It can be attractive, but only in small doses."
"I'll take that in mind." Penelope tried to shield herself from their affections for one another as a portal opened, and out game the slime of her dreams. "Slime, you're back!" She rushed in and hugged her man, his cooling ooze falling down her arms.
"Wait, his name is actually slime?" Mom asked.
"Actually it's Bláthnaid Caoimhe, but slime is a nickname cause people say it's hard to pronounce." He answered. "It's love to meet you Mrs and Mr Spiderbite."
"The pleasure is all ours, young man. I'm delighted to see the fella that our daughter has been going on and on about." Her mom extended her hand, which Slime accepted with a goopy shake. "Oooh, this stuff feels amazing. Twenty years of irritation just suddenly vanish in an instant. Definitely a keeper."
"Mommm." She flushed with embarrassment.
"If you think they're bad you should see my folks." Slime laughed. "Always on about 'showing her baby pictures' and stuff like that."
"Oh, thank you for reminding us!" Her dad brought out a giant book that could've been confused for a five foot cement block. "I needed an excuse to show this off."
"..." For the first time since they met, she glared at her boyfriend. "Can you at least give us five minutes alone before I experience death by embarrassment?" She pleaded with her folks.
"Sure sure." Her mom smiled and began dragging her father out. "Make sure to remind you about her pet spider." She really hoped the rest of Mewni was adjusting better than this.
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River watched as the crowd actually carried signs labeled 'down with the Butterflies', much to his internal horror. "Eclipsa is the worst!" One man shouted.
"Oo boy, we picked a heck of a time to step into town." Star said sheepishly, doing her best to hide her face from plain view.
"So what's the situation?" Steven asked hesitantly, gazing at the crowd.
"Well it's a riot obviously …" He moved to the front. "Quiet!" They settled down at his command. "One at a time, you're all talking over one another!" He told the people. He may not be king, but he still had enough authority and respect to at least organize the chaos.
"Eclipsa has done nothing but make terrible decisions one after another!" A woman shouted, holding her son. "How are we supposed to raise our children in these environments?"
"All she did was let Mewmans stay in town." Steven went out and spoke to the crowd. "How is.."
"She's giving monsters a place in the kingdom and refusing to let the knights do their job!" A man shouted.
"She kicked half of us out of our homes and let the monsters move in without so much as compensating us financially!" Another woman shouted. "My family has been sleeping in the woods for the last week!"
"Not to mention instead of using magic to fix the damage to our lost crops, she's been held up inside of her tower with the bitch that nearly killed all of Mewni!" An older man shouted. "We demand blood and justice!!"
"Hey, none of that!" River shouted. "Meteora, while responsible, has been reverted to practically a newborn! If you're serious about killing a baby in front of her mother, then you have another thing coming!"
The crowd actually managed to quiet down for a second, showing that there was some level of decency in these corn heads. "This is all Star Butterfly's fault!" Or not, as they immediately turned their ire to his daughter instead.
"What did I do?"
"You kept taking the monster's side! That alone is a horrible decision, associating with those filthy scumbags!" A man accused. "And you gave the throne to the queen of darkness!"
"Alright, I don't know how many times I need to tell people this." She rubbed her forehead like his Moonpie did at times. "Monsters. Are not. EVIL!" The crowd looked at each other, before raising their weapons and shouting cries of indiginence.
"That's Enough!" Steven glowed pink and raised his hands, creating a barrier between them and the villagers. "It's obvious we won't change your mind, but if you're so angry about living outside, then do something other than complain! Find a place to move, build your own homes! You're all farmers, you can still grow your own food! Heck, I'll get you started!" He pointed to the woods. "But you'll have to leave us alone… NOW!!"
They all looked at each other, before grumbling as they began to walk away. "Well … you stopped the riot." Marco nodded.
"But … now every single Mewman has left the kingdom …" His son muttered in exhaustion. "We wanted to bring everyone closer…but we just split everyone apart."
"Hey, don't put too much pressure on yourself." Marco patted the boy's back. "I'm pretty sure they were gonna get violent enough to just set every monster on fire personally."
"They were never going to accept peace, were they?" His daughter expressed her disappointment.
"I'm sorry, Star. I know how much this means to you, to both of you, but the fact of the matter is everyone has a different definition of peace, and each generation passes on whatever they've learned from the previous generation." River did his best to explain. "But due to your actions, Mewni has been given the chance to learn something different. With just a little patience, change will come eventually."
"… Alright." She relented. "But I reserve the right to pull a Tom if they get out of hand."
"That's fair." He nodded, having a similar feeling of wanting to hit idiots across the head as well.
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Lion watched as the strange event occurred in front of him. The babe that was once the ender of his boy was now riding Centipeetle into action, using the power of 'Chaaaps' to order them to maim the hoodie kid. "WHY DID YOU EVEN SHOW HER HOW TO CONTROL THEM!?" The hooded kid kept backflipping out of the way from a couple shots of acid.
"I didn't! Centi was looking at her hungrily and I threw some bait! I didn't expect her to master the art of corrupted gem taiming!" The kin shouted. "Down Centi down!"
"Awah. Bawah awah." The youngling shouted from atop the Centipeetle, tossing more chaaps on top of the hooded kids head. "Bwwh." The girl was a master negotiator.
"At least one of us is having fun." His boy muttered. "Alright, Marco, you're obviously bait, I'll try and tackle from behind."
"Oh really!? Because for a second I actually considered letting myself be slowly digested by highly corrosive acid!"
"Geesh, no need to get all snippy about it." His boy grumbled.
"Awaygama." The girl pulled out another bag of Chaaaps, breaking it and tossing the bag onto his boy's head. The other Centipeetle took notice, drooling with acid.
"Okay, this is just getting ridiculous." His boy placed a bubble around himself as just walked forwards as the other bugs failed to touch him at all. "I know she's cute and all, but this almost feels no different than how she treated us before the age thing."
"I dunno …" The kin reached out. "Who wants some tickles?" The girl laughed, jumping from her steed and into the kin's arms. "Aww, she likes me …" The babe began gnawing on her shoulder. "Aww, and she gives kisses…really, really sharp kisses…ow, she's biting me!" The girl pulled the girl off. "Bad baby, no biting!"
The babe blinked, before their eyes watered. "Waaaaaahhhhhhh!!" She cried out to the point Lion had to cover his own ears, the room shaking in retaliation.
"Someone do something!" The hooded boy shouted as he pulled up his hoodie and closed his face. "Steven, you're the song guy, sing something to her!"
"Rockabye nightmare, in the treetop!" The shouting stopped, the babe looking curious. " When the branch breaks, your enemies will stop! As the wind blows, their breathing will cease! When their light fades, you'll finally know peace!"
The little nightmare clapped in glee. "Awags! Baya!" The babe reached out for his boy, cupping his face with her tiny hands.
"That is one disturbed little baby." The kin muttered, very creeped out. "Maybe Kelly had the right idea to leave when she did…no offense bro."
"None taken. I got enough family and friends to make up for it." His boy waved off as he held on to the babe and cooed at it. "Isn't that right you cute little gremlin? You're my precious and ferocious little cousin, aren't you?" It giggled happily at him, now gnawing on his arm. "As someone who was recently a baby, she's probably just teething… no matter how painful … ow …"
"You know, that cactus was probably the most honest you've been about your inner problems." The hoodie deadpanned. The babe's head turned one eighty, hissing at him.
"Aww, she's already learning how evil therapy is." The girl giggled.
"Actually …" His boy muttered. "She always giggled at all of us and is super playful, but she only seems to want to maim Marco …" He looked at her. "You don't think…"
"Maybe her hate for Turdina was so strong it just stayed in head regardless of context." The kin shrugged. "Oh well, can't do anything about it now."
"Great, the irrational hatred of a baby." The hoodie sighed. "At least I have one little brother on the way that I know I can make happy."
"And now we'll be, just friends. We will be just friends."
"That's what you went with?" The kin asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It's a classic." He argued, answering the phone. "Hello … dad, slow down … SHE'S WHAT!?" The hoodie looked panicked as he closed the device. "It's mom. Her water broke…!"
"Do you think they can get a plumber?" His boy asked.
"Oh for the love of-She's giving birth now!"
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Amethyst was sent to the side, crashing into Steven, as the gang portaled inside. "Sorry man, not the most comfortable ride." She apologized to the boy.
"It's cool, we're just glad we can make it …" He looked out the window. "Amethyst, what did you do?" He pointed to the multiple police cars chasing them.
"Don't look at me, I'm not the one at the wheel." She shrugged.
"But the police are after us, that can only mean it's you!" Star accused her. It was a bit offensive in all honesty, she didn't get in THAT much trouble.
"Wait, she's right." Marco noted. "Amethyst isn't driving, so who…" His eyes widened. "Pearl!?"
"Hey there! Don't worry, if we time it right we can launch you straight into the hospital if we don't lose them in time." The gem waved off.
"Pearl!" Steven called out as Amethyst laughed at all their shock. "Where did you get a car and why are there MULTIPLE policemen chasing us!?"
The gem sighed. "It all started with a juice box."
"You don't even eat! Why would you have a juice box!?" Marco called out.
"I was showing off my rebious side after Amethyst teased me for a week straight. Ever since Rainbow 2.0, I've felt a little more…daring shall we say." She stated. "And then … this human … walked into the Big Donut …"
"Girl with pink hair dye." Amethyst clarified.
"Oh, don't tell me, she looked just like…" Star caught on.
"I have a type! Don't judge me!" Pearl defended herself.
"Sure sure." Steven looked sick. "So what happened after?"
"Well, unfortunately, we had a lovely conversation without me getting her phone number." Pearl added on. "So I was following her to the concert using a car I … found."
"So we're in a stolen car. That already explains so much." Marco mumbled.
"So after I slowed down just a bit I ran a red light and a police officer signaled for me to pull over … which wouldn't work considering I don't have a license."
"You've been on this planet for thousands of years, learned how to drive, but never got a license!?" Star shouted. "Even I would do that before anything else!"
"You want to tell the government that there's an immortal alien that can take on armies walking free in their country?" Pearl argued. "The last time Amethyst tried we accidentally caused Vietnam."
"It's not my fault those guys had no chill." Amethyst scoffed. "Probably because it was so humid in that jungle."
"Absolute terror fills my soul." Marco mumbled. "So … I'm guessing the chase just kinda escalated from there?" He asked.
"Big time. Doesn't help we've been driving through alleyways and the sidewalks, ran over a couple of mailboxes, you know, the fun stuff we usually do outside of a car." Amethyst nodded.
"Don't worry though, this car has a Global Positioning System. I can get us to the hospital in about three minutes." Pearl began speeding up as they approached a ramp.
"Pearl, I'm glad you're finally getting out of your shell and trying new things, but this is a bit much!" Steven exclaimed as they jumped into the air. "This is pre-earth Star levels of recklessness!"
"I just …" Pearl muttered as they continued to fly. "Rose was always into … everyone. Whether it be human, mewman, gem, or monster. I just … figured if I tried hanging out with a human I found interesting … I'd see the appeal."
"Trust me when I say that it can take a while to figure out." Star said as she was gripping her seat from their time in mid air. "I didn't even know I was into demons until I was eleven. Then at twelve I instantly became attracted to anything with abbs."
"So what you're saying is I rock your world." Amethyst joked to avoid thinking about how fast they were approaching the ground.
"Please don't put any more weird ideas in my head, I'm still reeling from what we saw on that projector." Steven stopped himself from gagging. "Just take it slow and you'll know what you want."
The car bumped as they hit the ground. "Alright … take it slow…" They heard chopper noises as Pearl clicked her tongue. "Dang it … going to be hard to get out of sight from that."
"I have something, but Rose said it was 'overkill' when she was around." Amethyst stated.
"Does it look like we have any other options?" Marco deadpanned.
"Alright." She pulled a rocket launcher out of her gem. "Keep us steady while I shoot them down."
"Retract, retract!!" Marco shoved it back down.
"Why don't we just use the scissors to escape the police and book it to the hospital?" Star asked
"Because as Gems, we've never had to go to the hospital and have never seen it." She answered. "And you three, despite constant danger, never had injuries serious enough to go there."
"I've cracked my skull like five or six times by this point, but I always healed from it." Steven sighed. "Star, you don't happen to know Dirhenaia's invisibility spell?"
"That only works on one person at a time … unless you're in a bathtub." She muttered. "Marco?"
"I've got my gauntlets, but I don't think-"
"Alright kids, time for some Geometry." Pearl said, speeding up once more. "Marco, grab the street lamp on the count of three." She would never complain about Pearl being boring again.
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Marco ran inside the hospital, finally having escaped the chase after they faked a car crash with some dummies. "I'm looking for the Diaz family! I'm their son." He told the receptionist.
"Second hall on the left, room A-20." The woman idly responded, not even paying attention as she was staring at her phone the entire time.
"Thank you!" Marco cried out as everyone else rushed into the hospital behind him. "No time, just follow me!" He ordered as he ran down the hall.
"On it!" Star nodded as everyone raced down the hall. Luckily, it was only a matter of seconds before they reached where they needed to be. Mr. Universe was there on the outside, as well Garnet and Jana, who for once he decided not to question on the why.
"What's the condition?" Marco asked with concern.
"The contractions are close, it could be any second now." Mr. Universe answered.
There came a feminine, high pitched scream from the inside of the room. Mom must be crushing the life from dad's hand.
"We have to save her!" Steven ran in before he could stop the boy … coming out a few seconds later, paler than he's ever seen him, walking to Star and hugging her. "Goodbye innocence …"
"Why didn't you stop him!?" Star shouted at Garnet.
"He needed to be shoved into the deep end." This was why everyone in the group chat agreed most adults were the worst.
A primal scream cut off the conversation, one that hit them to the core, slowly quieting. A few seconds later, a doctor, a woman with dark skin and graying hair on the front, came out. "Any immediate family?" She looked around.
"Me, I'm here." Marco practically stumbled himself. "Is my mom okay, is the baby.."
"Both of them are fine." The doctor nodded in conformation. "Your mother has given birth to a healthy baby girl." A baby…
"A girl?" Everyone said simultaneously, just as confused as he was. "But I thought.."
"The doctor before didn't read the ultrasound correctly…because they were busy reading the latest NEWS TABLOID!" She shouted at a man. "I'd wish my family moved here a year earlier like we planned, I could've saved so many people from the incompetence."
Marco slowly walked past the ranting woman and the traumatized Steven, looking at his mom, dad … and the little girl resting in their arms. He walked over, looking down into those adorable and untainted eyes she stared at him with. "… Hi." He said gently. "… I'm your brother."
"Baaah." She cooed gently, yawning as she rested her eyes.
"Guess we shouldn't have jumped the gun by settling on Marco Jr." His dad laughed along with his bed rested mom. "Although I do believe we have a perfect name for her."
"Yes, we do." His mom answered weekly. "I was thinking…Mariposa."
"Mariposa…" The spanish word for Butterfly….Marco couldn't have thought of a more perfect name. "Welcome to the world, Mariposa Diaz."