Work Text
(Echo Creek, Earth Dimension, the Diaz Residence)
Selene Butterfly and Caramel of Septarsis sat side by side in the window seat of the tower room she'd magically constructed with her twin sister Star, leafing through the Magic Book of Spells. While their history from a Mewman point of view made Caramel a bit more than uncomfortable, he enjoyed learning about magic... even if he knew he'd never be able to use it himself. So, he read over Selene's shoulder as she read the first chapter of the book, the one written by her many-greats-ago-grandmother, Skywynne, Queen of Hours."I don't get it," Selene said, a confused look on her lovely face, much the same as the one star got when she was confused."Don't get what, dear?" Caramel asked, looking more closely at the page she was reading. It concerned Skywynne's spell for making food rain from the sky."Well, I can see how making it rain food would be helpful for a fledgling kingdom until they could get some proper fields plowed and seeded," Selene explained. "But this makes it sound like my past subjects never bothered to plant anything. How did they keep themselves fed during the reigns of the 27 Queens who came before Grandmother Skywynne?""Well, if what I read is true, the Mewmans of old were hunter-gatherers, depending on what was already growing and living," Caramel recalled. "And when food was scarce during the winter, they sometimes resorted to hunting... meatier prey, if you get my drift."Selene winced, understanding his meaning. "Jeeze, sorry about that, love," she apologized, looking up into his face to make sure he was okay."I'd say it's alright, but I know it's pointless to try to lie to you," the Septarian admitted. He shook his head, banishing the thought of Selene's ancestors eating Monster meat from his head. "Anyway, it wasn't until half a decade into Queen Skywynne's reign that the Mewmans adopted agriculture, expanding their borders into the Monster territory to make room for their fields. Why she suddenly stopped making it rain food and waited so long to actually teach her subjects to grow food is beyond me.""Maybe it says why in her chapter?" Selene wondered, skipping a few pages. "Ah, here we go. It says that she went into a state of depression after accidentally blowing up Dimension 811, and after a talk with her mother, she realized she needed to fix what was wrong with her reign. That's when Mewman agriculture began.""And that's also when your people began to get much stronger," Caramel agreed."But it doesn't say why she waited..." Selene said, scouring the chapter for a good reason, but none could be found. All she could find was Skywynne messing around by freezing time or raising the dead. "I don't understand! If she only made it rain food while crops were growing or in times of famine, the spell would be practical. But she basically just enabled her subjects to overeat and get fat and lazy! It makes no practical sense!""Agreed," Caramel nodded. "I don't understand it either.""Well, if you want to understand it better, it might help to pay your Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandmother a visit, Princess," a familiar voice chimed in. Like magic, Sir Glossaryck of Terms emerged from the book, eating a pudding cup. "I couldn't help overhearing your predicament, since you can complain pretty loudly when you get frustrated, so if it'll get you to quiet back down, I'll lend a helping six-fingered hand." Then he noticed the monster in the room. "Uh, you do realize there's a Septarian sitting next to you, right?" he asked a bit warily."Yeah, he's my boyfriend," Selene replied before she frowned. "And if you breathe so much as a word of our relationship to my mother or the Magic High Commission before I'm ready to tell them all myself, I'll gather up all the pudding in the multiverse and drop it into the various suns. I mean it, Glossy. Not one word.""Alright, alright," Glossaryck relented, raising his hands in a placating gesture. "No need to go full-on blackmail on me. It'll stay our little secret until you're ready to tell your mother. Bookman's honor. Now, what you're gonna need is a spell for traveling backward through time without being affected by it, as well as a return spell to bring you back. Unfortunately, Skywynne never came up with such a spell, as she was mainly interested in moving forward or freezing time, so I can't help you there. But good luck coming up with one, and make sure to write it in your chapter when you're done! Now, I'm going back to my room to play video games and eat pudding!" And with that, he dove back into the book, the pages rippling like water in his wake.Caramel blinked in surprise at where Glossaryck had once been, then looked at his girlfriend. "He must really like pudding if the thought of you getting rid of all pudding in the multiverse is enough to silence him," he said in awed confusion. "Especially since Mewmans tend to hate monsters... and the unsavory history between our two families." He looked and sounded pretty dejected and apologetic on that last part."He may not realize whose son you are yet," Selene clarified, taking out a pen and tapping the button against her lower lip. "If he did, I'm pretty sure no threat would be great enough to keep him from telling Mother about us. But enough about him. It's spell-crafting time!"Caramel perked up immediately. It was always interesting to watch Selene come up with a new spell, and since time-spells were new for her, it would be even more interesting to see if she could pull this off."Now, when studying a new area of magic, it's best to always start small," Selene mused as she stood and began to pace the room, fully concentrating on coming up with the spell. "If I try to do something on a scale as great as going back all the way to Queen Skywynne's reign, it may not work if I'm not sure of what I'm doing. I'll need to start by finding a way to send myself back a very short period of time, then finding a way to send myself back to when I came from. I don't want to end up stranded in the past, after all.""Might I suggest sending yourself back no more than 24 hours, to begin with?" Caramel advised. "Going back further when you're still experimenting could prove to be dangerous, not to mention disastrous.""Good thinking, Caramel!" Selene agreed, writing the suggestion down and starting to work out the mechanics of the spell. Caramel always had great advice. Even if he didn't fully understand the mechanics of magic, he had common sense and wisdom in abundance. In the grand scheme of things, if Selene could make him her King, it would benefit their kingdom... though she was beginning to get the feeling it wasn't Mewni they'd one day rule. "Let's see... I'll start by sending myself back in time exactly 24 hours to yesterday, but how to do it is the question." Looking around the room for a bit of inspiration, she spotted the calendar Marco had given them. Something clicked inside her mind. "I think I've got an idea," she said, hurrying to take it down.Caramel watched from his seat as she took down the calendar and moved to the center of the room. Then she removed her wand from the loop sewn onto her dress and held it high in the air. She moved her wand-holding arm in a full counter-clockwise circle once, then twice. She kept going until she'd done so 24 times. When her wand reached the 12 o'clock position the 24th time, she called out "Onward to the past!" and tapped the previous day with the wand. A clock face in the color of Selene's silvery-lilac magic appeared, turning into a portal, and she hopped through. The portal closed behind her, and she was gone.
(24 hours ago...)
Selene, Star, and Marco were just coming home from school when they heard the sound of a portal opening in the twins' tower room. "Intruders!" Star exclaimed, ready to blast them with her wand."Hurry!" Marco said, leading the way up the stairs, the girls right behind him. When they reached the top, Marco kicked the door down and assumed a karate pose. "Freeze, dirtbags!" he yelled, only to freeze in surprise. "Huh?!""It worked!" Selene said, startling the twins."Uh, who are you?" they asked in synch, pointing to her with their wands."I'm you," Selene said, shaking hands with her past self. "From tomorrow. I came up with a time travel spell, and I'm testing it out by going back in time exactly 24 hours. Now that I know it works, I can figure out how to go back to my timeline.""Since when did I become interested in time travel?" Past-Selene asked."It was Glossaryck's idea," Selene admitted. "You'll understand tomorrow. Now, if what I did sent me back into the past..." She moved to the center of the room again, made 24 clockwise circles with her wand arm, and called out "Back to the Future!" at the top of the 24th, tapping the calendar on the day she'd come from. The clock-face portal appeared again, and she hopped through. It closed behind her, leaving her past self, her twin, and their best friend staring, mouths agape.
(Present time and day...)
Selene jumped out of the portal as she reached her timeline, surprising Caramel. "I did it!" she announced, hugging him happily and giggling joyously as she did so. The Septarian chuckled warmly and hugged back, a proud smile on his face."I knew you could do anything you put your mind to," he said, hugging a little tighter. "And it only took you a few minutes to figure out the spell. You may have set a record for that.""Nope. Actually, Grandma Crescenta holds the record for fastest spell-crafting," Glossaryck interjected, having come back out of the book to get some more food. "But you came pretty close, and you figured out a useful spell, so kudos!""Thanks, Glossaryck!" Selene said with a smile. "That means a lot, coming from you." With that, she stood back up. "Well, since that's taken care of, it's time to begin this adventure." She grabbed up the Dimensional Scissors Ponyhead had given them, packed a few changes of clothes into her backpack, then turned to her boyfriend. "Come with me, Caramel," she said, offering him her hand. "Let's watch history unfold together!"Caramel wasn't expecting the invitation, but he gladly took it! "Let's do it!" he said, taking her hand. "Just let me pack a few things, then we can go."Selene nodded, and Caramel used his own dimensional scissors to quickly go back home, grab what he needed - including his trusty scythe - and come back. "Okay, now let's do this!"Selene turned to Glossaryck. "Glossaryck, when Star gets back, could you let her know I'm on an adventure through time and space?" she asked."Mm-hm," the little old bookman affirmed, stuffing his face with a chili-dog covered in Doritos. He gave the thumbs up, then waved goodbye as he went back into the book."You ready?" Selene asked her boyfriend, who gave the thumbs up and a wink. Snipping the Dimensional Scissors, she opened a portal to her room in the Royal Palace and started digging through her closet. "It's a good thing I collect calendars," she explained, pulling out an ancient calendar from Queen Skywynne's First Year. "Time to turn back the clock!" She flipped to the first day of Skywynne's reign, then, linking an arm with her boyfriend, cast the spell again. The clock-face portal opened for the third time, and together, the two of them dove in, ready to face the unknown.