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It's generally expected that the birth of a baby is cause for celebration. The birth of a princess even moreso. Mewni was no exception.And for the most part, everyone was happy. The shouts of "It's a girl! It's a princess!" could be heard all over the kingdom; Moon could hear them out her window as she lay exhausted but happy with her child in her arms.And of course nobody was happier than Moon and River. Moon's shock upon seeing the baby lasted only half a second before it was overtaken with a surge of joy and motherly instinct. She'd held the newborn close, stroking the soft locks of hair she already had, whispering "Nothing bad will ever happen to you. I won't let it, my star."She found herself repeating the words later, with a tinge of righteous anger, after the Magic High Commission had seen the baby...and had promptly recoiled, exclaiming in shock and horror. "Did you see it?" Omnitraxus whispered as they all stood outside the royal chambers. River had unceremoniously shoved them out after their reaction to the princess, declaring that Moon and Star needed rest and quiet and to not deal with such a commotion right now. That they were being ridiculous.They were forced to disagree."I did," Hekapoo whispered back, face ashen."She has green hair," Rhombulus added, twisting his snakes around each other, eyes going small."Did anyone see her eyes-?""She opened them at Lekmet. Lekmet, were they-?"Lekmet bleated numbly."Purple," Hekapoo whispered, equally numb. "Like-""Let's not panic," said Omnitraxus. "Babies' hair and eyes can change. I remember a princess born with black hair that turned pink before her third month. Maybe this is nothing." Six months later, nothing had changed. Star had her mother's hair texture, bangs like her mother and father... but in coloration, her hair and eyes were a dead ringer for Eclipsa, the Queen of Darkness's.It was clearly a bad omen.Something was wrong, something had to be done."Your Majesty," Hekapoo began, holding her hands out palm-up. "You met with... with the Queen of Darkness. There's a possibility that her dark magic could have corrupted your own, and is manifesting in-""That's enough!" Moon snapped, holding Star close. "Star is not corrupted or tainted!""Of course, that's not what we're saying!" Hekapoo said hastily, even though that had been exactly what she'd said. "The princess is...wonderful, adorable," she added. The words came out like they tasted bitter in her mouth. "But she looks so much like- It's a possibility worth looking into, we should bring in someone - an oracle, a soothsayer - to purge the dark magic out of her-""Oh, for pie's sake!" River sat up straighter, brow furrowed. A rare display of anger from the normally jovial king. "There is nothing wrong with our shooting star. Quite frankly, I think this entire conversation is ridiculous - you're all jumping to conclusions based on hair color of all things!""Hair color that the evil queen had," Rhombulus helpfully pointed out."Neither of you have turquoise hair and light purple eyes," Omnitraxus added. "Not these shades."River looked exasperated, another rarity for him. "I have a cousin who looks like my great-great-aunt," he said. "And may I remind you that one of Moonpie's baby pictures shows her with purple hair?""River is right - genetics are tricky things sometimes. I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere down the line there was a baby born with my eyes. Star just happens to look like this, there is no sinister reason for it."In her mother's lap, Star babbled happily, stretching her fat little arms out towards her audience.The Magic High Commission took a step back."You're afraid of a baby," Moon finished, her tone tinged with exasperation and sadness. "You're being ridiculous. There's nothing wrong with Star, she isn't going to turn out like her.""With all due respect, Your Majesty...you don't know that," Hekapoo said."And neither do you," River said coldly.Star, finally sensing the atmosphere in the room, looked at her father in distress, her happy babbles turning into whimpers. She reached up, chubby hands grabbing at thin air until River took her form her mother's lap and onto his. Star promptly grabbed a fistful of his beard and shoved it into her mouth."The only danger she poses is to someone's hair," Moon said. "You're all panicking over nothing. This meeting is over.""But-"
"This. Meeting. Is. Over."
Star grew up blissfully unaware of the Magic High Commission's fears. If she noticed how hard they were on her, how cool and distant they acted in comparison to her parents, she said nothing.She heard many a muffled argument on the other side of heavy doors, usually after she'd had some adventure or other - like the warnicorn incident. But she thought it to be the usual kind of thing. A bunch of 'a princess should act like this,' and whatnot. Nothing out of the ordinary.(The first time she ventured close to the monsters' forest, she'd been caught by a passing guard. The muffled argument that followed was the loudest she'd ever heard.)But she thought nothing of it. She could be a handful, she knew that, even if she didn't want to change that just yet. Enjoy her youth and freedom while she could.Then came the day she got the wand. And her attempts at spells had gone wrong. And she had to be sent elsewhere, to some far-away place called Earth.That was bothersome enough, but there was something else tugging at the back of her mind, even as she smiled at her new friend and host family, even as she cheerfully introduced herself and played with Earth's neat inventions.Before she'd been told she was going to earth, there had been yet another argument. But this time she could actually make out some of what they were saying.An on the magic High Commission's end, there had been a lot of "WE TOLD YOU, WE WARNED YOU," and "EXACTLY LIKE HER."
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When Star was six, she learned that the Magic High Commission didn't want her to have the wand. She overheard them in the throne room, when they all thought she was playing outside.They used a lot of big words she couldn't understand, like "chaos" and "potential" and "possible vessel." And her parents used more big words she couldn't understand, like "ridiculous" and "unfounded" and "tradition." They use a phrase she did understand though, because she'd heard it roughly once a week as far back as she could remember: "She'll get that wand." She didn't know why some people didn't want her to touch the wand, or to use it. Maybe they thought she'd break it? Or that nothing will happen and she won't be able to protect the kingdom? Or maybe they don't think she's strong enough!Yeah, that must have be it! She just needed to prove that she was plenty strong and brave enough already. So she sneaks even further away, away from the castle and into the kingdom proper. And she went even further, towards the monsters' forest. If she brought back something from the forest, prove she was there and came back unhurt, the Magic High Commission would have to believe she could handle the wand! She didn't realize a forest could be so thick, have so many...well, trees and bushes. She sees that now. It seemed like she'd barely set foot in it when she suddenly found herself lost. She had gone through some of the brush, turned around - and realized that since it was higher than her head, she couldn't see the way home. She should have realized it sooner, but she was only six years old, after all. She turned around a few more times, trying to find a way back out. But being so small meant the brush was barely disturbed when she passed through, and she couldn't see where she'd come in. And turning around so much left her disoriented and unable to tell which way she'd been facing. And that was how, stupidly easy, she'd gotten lost. It was only her good luck that someone had been passing by, and heard her panicked, shrieking sobs. And so that was how she'd been led back out, holding hands with a very large, very round amphibian monster. He had an interesting way of talking, with an interesting voice, and she couldn't help try to imitate it. He laughed and patted her head with a heavy hand, being careful to avoid the tiny crown she wore. Her new friend hastily let go of her hand and retreated back to the forest once she was safely out. Star raced all the way back home... ...and cheerfully told her mother and the Magic High Commission about her new friend, her monster friend. It resulted in a shouting match between the grown-ups. More big words and phrases she couldn't understand. A lot of angry fingers pointing at her as her mother shielded her with her arms. Hekapoo suggesting crystal, Rhombulus protesting in shock that she was only a baby. She was not a baby. But it seemed like the wrong time to say so. Star never went near the forest again. It only seemed to make people even more angry with her.
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The plan had been simple. As much as he could plan simply, that is. Step One: Get to the princess. That would be easy. She often wandered off alone, easily slipping away from guards and escorts. And the Magic High Commission didn't seem to want to interact with her, according to the whispers that reached the forest. It would be easy to get her alone. Step Two: Get her to destroy the wand.A little more difficult, but still easy. All he'd have to do was threaten her parents - the only people she felt cared about her.(The whispers that reached him said most people treated her with exasperated indifference. And the Magic High Commission alternated between hostility and fear.)Convince her that destroying the wand would be the only way to protect them. Perhaps he would deceive her into thinking he wanted it - and she would choose to destroy it, preferring it to having it be in the wrong hands. And after that, everything else would fall into place like dominoes. But then she actually received the wand, and nearly set the kingdom ablaze. Accident or no, she should only be able to do that with powerful magic. And then she was being sent away, to another dimension. And then he saw her. It was funny. For all that he'd heard of the princess, for as often as she slipped away, he had never actually seen her. He could see that shade of green even from a distance, one vivid verdant spot among pastels. And then all that indifference and fear made sense. ....Right then. Suddenly he had a new plan.
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"You have such lovely hair," Marco's mom said one suddenly-pouring day after school, as she patted it dry with a towel. "Does everyone in your home have hair like this?" "Sometimes!" Star smiled brightly, a warm feeling in her chest from the compliment. Nobody complimented her hair, only her parents did. She remembered her own mom brushing it out at night before bed, telling her she looked lovely before dropping a kiss on top of her head. "Some people have bright pink hair, or blue, or purple--" "It's natural?" Marco asked from a few feet away. His mom finished his own hair without issue in minutes and he was now combing it out. "Nobody dyes?" "Psshhht, of course people die, Marco! Everyone dies!" "Wh-- Oh. Oh God, no, I mean-- People don't color it? It just looks like that?" "Ohhh - not usually! I mean, okay, yeah, some people use magic to color it but only if they don't like it. Mewmans are born with pink or blue or green hair all the time." "Did you ever try to color your hair?" Angie asked curiously. The towel had moved from the top of Star's head down to the ends of her hair, gently rubbing back and forth to dry them. "Nah," Star said with a shrug. The towel moved from her head down to the ends of her hair, and Star idly blew a puff of air upwards to get her bangs out of her eyes. "I thought about it when I was little, but I'd need the wand. And since nobody ever left it alone..." She shrugged. "I prob'ly coulda done it after my birthday but I thought I might set my head on fire. And I didn't care about changing it anymore anyway." "Not to sound like a dork, but if an enchanted forest was a color, your hair'd be it," Janna said a few days later, over magazines. "Stoooooop..." Star laughed, waving her off. "No, it's cool!" "Does anyone else have hair like that, or is it a princess thing?" Jackie asked, looking up from her Sports Picturesque issue. "Nobody else," Star said, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in her chest. "Just me. Think it's a 'princess thing.'"
The Magic High Commission alternated between pointedly avoiding looking her in the eye, and staring at her crown. Depending on the day, depending on what she'd done or had not done. One day she had successfully managed to sit quietly and patiently during tutoring, and they looked at her feet. The next day she'd talked excitedly about all the spell ideas she'd had and wanted to try as soon as she got the wand, and they stared at her crown.
She wondered what the big deal was about her royal headgear.
She wondered why they were so reluctant to let her near the spell book, to let her speak to Glossaryk.
"Can I bring the book?" Star had asked as she was packing her things. "Please?"
There was a collective of "no" before the queen could even speak.
Moon had tried to sneak it off with Star.
It had been taken away before she got in the carriage. They stared hard at her crown - no, not her crown, Star finally realizes when she saw Hekapoo's eyes flick downwards. At her hair.
Star had wanted to cry. This was the worst birthday.
"Juuuuust a princess thing."
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'Long ago, the Butterfly family fled a hostile kingdom, taking with them a small group of loyal subjects. Exiled from their own kingdom by jealous cousins, the Moth family, fighting was not an option, as the current Butterfly monarch was but ten years old.
They found a small piece of uninhabited land, bordered by a threatening forest. And despite her fear, the young queen Lyra the Pragmatic reasoned this was an advantage. They would be safe here, the forest would deter any invaders, any Moths that would pursue them.
She greatly feared the Moths, and any other potential threats. In her journal, she repeatedly stated she did not wish to be like her mother, Carmine the Confounded, who spent the last half of Lyra's life (and the end of her own) locked in the tower by her own half-sister. She would not be imprisoned nor killed.
And so, fueled by this determination, she and her subjects built a new kingdom, today's Mewni.
But the sounds of their building, their civilization, attracted some unexpected attention.
Queen Lyra, being young and hasty and in strange new territory, failed to scout further ahead than the forest borders. She did not realize that deep within the forest itself was another kingdom, one whose borders ended short of the forest's edge. And the kingdom's residents were curious about their new neighbors.
A procession appeared, made up entirely of Monsters.
None of the Mewmans had seen so many monsters in one place, and their fright of their former home's situation still lingered. These combined made the people, and Lyra especially, very much on edge.
The first meetings went well. The monster king, Scorpps, met with Queen Lyra. Explained the borders to her. Asked about her story, and she his. He told her of the monster kingdom inside the forest, Wermvi. And little by little, the Mewmans' guard lowered, and they began to trust. And the young Queen Lyra began to trust again.
And the young Queen Lyra made a tragic mistake.
When she was seventeen years old, she left for Wermvi, having received an invitation to attend the introduction of Scorpp's infant son. So secure was she in her trust of Scorpps and the monsters, that she did not take an escort.
And thus was her mistake.
When Queen Lyra did not return, royal scouts prepared to investigate. But they needn't have bothered. Before they could enter the forest, four monsters appeared, led by a Septarian. And in his arms was the body of Queen Lyra.
Only a cursory look was needed to determine what had happened: she'd been hit by a multitude of Curdle Needles, all along her arms and chest.
Thew Mewmans were furious, and heartbroken. Which anyone will tell you is a terrible combination. They accused the monsters of having murdered her, and would not listen to the monsters' protests otherwise. The monsters tried to explain that they had grown worried when Lyra did not arrive, and Scorpps had sent royal scouts of his own to investigate, and that they had come across her body just inside Wermvi's border.
The Mewmans refused to listen. Understandably, at that - a likely story, they said, what a coincidence, they mockingly said.
The monsters were forbidden to enter Mewni again, and Scorpps was not invited to either the funeral procession of Lyra nor the coronation of her sister, Siren the Young, who was but eight.
Frequently the monsters tried to explain their side of the story again. Frequently they were met with dismissal, suspicion, and anger. When they tried to meet with Queen Siren for diplomacy reasons, she turned them away, accusing them of the murder of her sister.
In time, they stopped trying with Siren, hoping that perhaps the next monarch would be more open to peace talks, to listening.
They were wrong.
And in time, both sides stopped associating with the other.
The forest kingdom of Wermvi became known to Mewmans as the Forest of Certain Death.
And for centuries, no Mewman interacted with the monsters again.'
- story from 'Wermvi and Mewni,' a common collection of stories told to the Wermvi royal family
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"A spell to do your own laundry?" "Tried it. Works fine." "Spell to turn your hair blue." "Don't wanna burn my face off." "A spell to turn Marco's hair blue." "Hey!" "Same story." "A spell to help with our homework?" "Janna, you don't even do the homework." "Yeah but I'd get detention less often if I had something to turn in." "Mmmm... It could work but it'd only write down what we already know. I can't just make an all-knowing pencil or something - the knowledge would have to come from us." "..." "So it's a 'no.'" "Damn." Janna flopped back on the bed, tossing a handball high into the air with one hand and catching it in the other. "Man, this sucks." Star closed her notebook with a huff. Making up her own spells was an Experience. On one hand, it was easy. Jellybean Hallucination Mist and Spider With A Top Hat were just. Easy, simple. Whimsical, her mom would call them. She could do those, she nailed those - she literally invented those! But... But it wasn't enough. Wasn't good enough. She wanted, needed, to do more. To figure more creative ways to use her own spells. To make more spells than hallucination fog and attacks. She wanted, needed, to see what other queens had done. That was how it was supposed to go, anyway, wasn't it? A princess was supposed to have the wand, the spell book, and all those spells at her disposal. Supposed to learn from them, improve on them. The spell book had a teacher right inside of it, how could she not have it? But the fact was, she didn't. A fact that had infuriated both her parents and herself, but there was little anyone could really do. The Magic High Commission was oddly adamant about it. She remembered them saying something about "only until we're sure." But sure about what, she didn't know. It was so stupid. What was even the big deal? What had she done to make them dislike her so much? Sure, she was impulsive, often rambunctious - more so as a child - and there was the time her attempt to turn vanilla into chocolate caused a candy explosion, but those were just...just trifles! But in the end, the point was she had no spell book. No other queens to learn from, no teacher. And as creative as she was, she was only fourteen and she had her limits. She needed a teacher, she needed someone to help her. Star groaned, lowering her face to the desk, her dark green hair falling on either side of her head like stage curtains. "This sucks," she grumbled. Marco and Janna made sympathetic noises. None of them noticed the little spherical device hovering in the window. "So you see, we can work this to our advantage." "She's a sulky teenager, what's the big deal?" "You don't see the big picture. The Mewman princess doesn't have the spell book. She feels inadequate, frustrated, trapped. Disrespected." "Which means...?" "We respect her. We help her. She likes us, trusts us-" "We work this to our advantage." "Ohhhhhh! And we do that by...?" "Leave that all to me."
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"Hey, Mom! What'd the Magic High Commission say?""Oh...I'm sorry, dear, it's still a no."..."Oh, hey, by the way! The Magic High Commission-""No, sweetie. Sorry."..."Hey, Mom, we're having a girl's night! Jackie's putting little extensions in my hair! Cute, right?"Moon smiled, a little forcibly, when she saw the long, thin braids clipped to Star's temples on bejeweled flowers. "They're...lovely, darling, but are you sure pastels match your hair color?""Sorry, Your Majesty," Jackie spoke up from behind Star. She peered over the other girl's shoulder, revealing the same braid clips in her own hair. "Janna took all the neons for Marco.""Neons against dark gr- Never mind. How is everything?""They're fine. Kinda boring when everyone goes to school without me, but I've been using the free time to work on my magic!" Star beamed, holding the wand in the air and spinning it like a revolver. "I've got a spell to make any body of water an instant bubble bath. Wanna see?""Later, Star, later. Have you been using the wand responsibly?""Pshhhh, yeah? Nothing blew up yesterday, if that's what you're asking. Now, the day before, though-""Star!""I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" Star laughed, a little too loudly, waving her hand dismissively. A sinking feeling in her gut told her that maybe joking about making things explode was a bad idea.Sure enough, Moon visibly slumped, a hand coming up to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Star, this isn't a joking matter. You know-""-better. Yeah, I know..." The atmosphere changed dramatically, Star felt Jackie's hands falter on her braids before picking up again, faster. Clearly attempting to distract herself or pretend she wasn't listening in."Hey uh...listen, bad timing, yeah, but I was thinking if I had the spell book and a proper teacher, I could probably make better spells. And see the ones you wrote. And learn from you! So do you think you could talk to the-""I'm sorry."Star's heart stopped."I spoke to them last night. Rhombulus is more open to the idea now, but the others-""Say no. Yeah. Got it." Star couldn't help the dark tone that crept into her voice.Moon was instantly sympathetic. "Star, sweetie-""No. It's fine, it's cool. You don't have to say anything.""Star-""Mom." Star's voice was tight. "What did I do?""Star-""They've never trusted me. They always treated me different. They keep taking the book from me. I could never even look at the wand without one of them throwing a fit. I got lost in the Forest of Certain Death and instead of being happy I was okay, they started shouting. What did I ever do to any of them?!" Star's voice had been rising in pitch as she spoke, throat tightening as she tried to keep tears out of her eyes. She blinked hard, trying still.She failed."I've been trying so hard, Mom. I practice my magic. I make my own spells. I don't waste my free time while my friends are at school by practicing more. I stay out of trouble. And they still... they still don't-""Star, it isn't your fault. It's not because of anything you did!" Moon interjected.Star looked up, anguish and rage in her teary eyes. "I'm never getting the book, am I?" she said. "No matter what I do, I'm never getting the book, and I'm never going to get better at magic and I'm never meeting our family teacher. I'm never going to do anything."Jackie's hands stilled behind her."It's never happening. Is it?"Moon fell silent.It was all Star needed. She tried to laugh, and it came out like a choked sob instead. "Hey, Mom, I gotta go.""Star-""I'll call you later."And just like that, the call ended.On the other side of the room, Marco and Janna were watching in a mixture of sympathy and horror. And on Marco's side, awkwardness. The plethora of braids and flowers in both their hair did nothing to soften the blow to Star's heart, seeing her friends looking at her like that.She felt Jackie's hands leave her hair and come to rest on her shoulders. "Star," she began. "We-""I need to go outside. I'm sorry," Star cut her off, shoving her feet into her slippers and briskly leaving the room."Star!" Marco called out.But the door slammed shut, cutting off anything anyone was going to say. Star let out an enraged scream and pointed her wand. An empty cola can exploded in pink and orange sparks.Another scream, another point. The next can exploded.And the next. And the next."Why?!" Star shouted into the empty night air. "What did I ever do to anyone?!" She fired another blast of magic, shattering another can to pieces. A tiny part of her, one that was still calm and rational, reasoned that if anyone from home were to see her screaming and blowing up soda cans with magic, then they'd only think themselves justified and that she couldn't handle more power and knowledge than she already had.Star furiously willed that part of her to shut up."Mom had the spell book when she was my age! And so did everybody else!" Another explosion. "What makes me so different?! What do I have to do-" Explosion. "-to prove-" Explosion. "-I can handle it?!""Perhaps you need a different teacher."The new voice made Star freeze, heart leaping into her throat. She whirled around, holding herself tense and the wand ready. "Who's out there?"There was a figure leaning against the side of the shed, almost casually. From what Star could see of them, their arms were folded, head tilted as they regarded her. "I will admit, those attacks were impressive for your current skill level," they said. "If you had a teacher you could do even better.""That's what I keep thinking," Star admitted, relaxing her guard just slightly. This person - very tall from what Star could tell - was unperturbed by the existence of magic, her display of it, and the wand. So it was probably someone from home....granted, that still left the questions who were they, how did they get here, what did they want, and what did they mean by another teacher, so Star was still on guard. She gripped the wand tighter, holding it out in front of her again. "But who are you? What do you know?""I'm a friend of the family. And I can help you.""...Mom never mentioned-""There's a lot your mother never mentioned. Like why the Magic High Commission is so suspicious of you."Star froze again. "You know about that, too?""I do. And I agree with you. It's ridiculous. Pointless. And you deserve the chance to prove it.""Yeah. Yeah, I do!""I can help you. You need a teacher, and I can teach you.""But I need the-""I told you I'm a friend of the family. I know some of the family spells. Spells that your mother never used."Once again, Star froze. "You know about the other chapters...""One in particular, but yes. If you promise to keep a secret, I can be your teacher.""...a secret.""If your mother and the Magic High Commission knew I was teaching you, do you think they'd allow it to continue?" The figure's head tilted further, and Star got the impression they were raising their brow. "They'd likely see it as a new reason to be suspicious of you, and make you come back home. Might even take the wand away."Star had to admit, this person had a point. If she agreed, this would have to be a secret."I'm not sure I can trust you, though.""You can't, can you? But I'm the only chance you have."Star was silent. Lowered the wand. Weighed her options...And took a step forward. "What do I call you?"The other person finally stepped out, into the moonlight. "You may call me Toffee. I'll teach you everything I know, and all I ask is that you listen to everything I say, and don't tell your family about this." He held a hand out. "Deal?"A brief moment of hesitation. And then Star reached out. And gripped his hand tight. "Deal."