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“Hey Marco, whatddya think?”
Marco turned away from the casserole dish he had spread his Super Awesome Nachos into and faced Star in the doorway, nearly jumping backwards at the sight before him. She had taped wrapping paper and a string of lights over her sweater, and around her very pregnant belly. In bright gold marker she had written the words Do Not Open Until December 25th on the red and green paper, and she grinned like a child showing off a crayon drawing.
“Uh, it’s...creative,” Marco shrugged, his eyes still wide at the oddness of her ensemble. ‘’Cept you’re not due ‘til after New Years so—”
“Oh whatever, Marco,” his wife waved him off, parading around their condo kitchen like a round flashing Christmas ball. “Wouldn’t it be hilarious if she was born on Christmas though — like how I was born on Stump Day?”
“Oh yeah, total blessing to be born on Stump Day,” Marco muttered sarcastically, shoving the rubber cover over the nachos to keep them warm. “Do you mind holding these in, uh, what little lap you have left? It’s a thirty-minute ride to Jackie’s and I don’t want my dish sliding around in the backseat.”
“Aw, but if I’m carrying this, no one will see my awesome sweater,” Star pouted. “I wanna show off. I haven’t seen some of these people since high school!”
“Star, first of all, you’re the Queen of Mewni. That’s bragging points right there. Secondly, we’re only staying for a couple hours.” He sighed it all out in one breath, pushing the glass dish into her hands as he checked the desk in the adjacent study for his car keys. “It’s five days ‘til Christmas and I gotta get up early tomorrow to do some last minute shopping.”
“On Ebay,” Star muttered under her breath.
“I’m this close to winning that discontinued Love Sentence In Concert bluray for Tom!” Marco shouted almost desperately over his shoulder, emphasizing his point with his thumb and index finger a millimeter apart.
“Sometimes I think you put more effort into your bromance with my ex than you do with me.”
“He won’t stop bragging about what he got me! I gotta show him up!”
“Marco, slow down! It’s like you wanna get the holidays over and done with or something!”
“Where are my keys?!”
“You mean these keys?”
Marco stopped in his tracks and whirled around, watching his wife spin his ring of keys around her index finger.
“Star, c’mon. I just wanna pop by this party for a little bit and then leave, so I can spend a quiet night at home with you before we launch into Christmas craziness next week. Okay?”
“We leave at midnight, not a minute before,” Star insisted.
“10:30,” Marco argued.
“11:30!”
“11 PM, final offer!”
“Deal!” And the keys flew from her finger, soaring over Marco’s head back into the kitchen area where they heard them clatter hard against the tile.
“Really?!” he roared in exasperation.
“You look for them, and I’m gonna send a photo of me in this sweater to your mom — she’ll get a kick out of it.” Star yanked out her compact phone with one hand while balancing the nacho dish in the other, and Marco rolled his eyes as he stomped into the kitchen to retrieve his keys.
“You know, it’s been kinda weird between me and some of these people ever since I decided to devote myself to Mewni,” he called back to her in the living room as his eyes scanned the floor. “And, ya know, you. It’s why I’m not that crazy about going. I have a new life now, and seeing all these people from my old life is just too—”
He gasped involuntarily when he heard a crash from the room he’d just left. Snatching his keys up from the corner between the wall and the fridge, he bolted back through the doorway to find Star standing there staring at him, her blue eyes wide and hands shaking. Hands that were now free due to the shattered dish and mess of cheese and chips on the hardwood.
“Star, wh—” But that wasn’t the only thing littering the floor. Seeping down Star’s white and gold leggings was a thick goopy purple liquid pooling slowly at her feet. And as she smiled through her shaking breaths, Marco nearly fell over in a dead faint.
There was only one place they were going tonight. And it wasn’t to Jackie’s Christmas party.
“An Earth hospital?!”
“I panicked, okay?!” Marco shouted into Star’s compact phone, where Queen Moon’s face was staring at him through the screen in shock.
“You should have come straight to the castle! The top surgeons in all of Mewni are stationed there day and night, and she and the child would have been properly taken care of.”
Marco opened his mouth, then shut it tightly knowing this was not the time to argue with his mother-in-law about the primitive medical practices in the kingdom. “Look, I can’t move her now, her contractions are less than two minutes apart. She’s having the baby tonight, whether you like it or not.” He felt as if he was convincing himself just as much as he was Moon, barely hearing his voice over his heart beating in his ears.
Moon exhaled slowly, running her hand through her loose disheveled hair she had let down to turn in for the night. “We’ll be there within the hour. Stay close to her.”
“I will,” Marco promised, closing Star’s phone shakily as he stared at the floor of the waiting room between his knees. What had he been thinking? Star was secreting that purple mucus everywhere that vaguely reminded him of when she went through Mewberty — what in the world were ordinary Earth doctors going to do about that?
And that wasn’t all. The little one about to be born was not only his daughter, but the future heir to the Butterfly throne. No wonder Moon was so peeved at him: She had wanted the princess to be born in the castle so the kingdom might rejoice at having witnessed her birth. But then again, there might not be anything to celebrate. The baby could be doomed on either Earth or Mewni because she belonged to both worlds — very different worlds, especially when it came to caring for their infants.
It was always in the back of his mind, that fear that something was going to happen to make this glorious event a grievous one, and for nine months he hadn’t been able to shake it. What if the child died? What if Star died? His blood ran cold just thinking of it, pressing his still shaking hands to his eyes. He could hear her behind that door. Pale, sweating and grunting against the pain, he had never seen the fierce warrior he married look so helpless. He had taken a vow to stay by her side, and here he was sitting in the white walled waiting area, terrified to go back in there…
“Mr. Diaz?”
He jumped out of his skin, and the young — seemingly fresh out of medical school — doctor took a step back, holding a clipboard to her chest.
“So far, your wife is doing well,” she said in a businesslike tone, scanning her notes. “And yes, I’m aware of your...circumstances. She was kind enough to provide us with some medical books from her home dimension at one of her last checkups.”
Marco let out a long sigh of relief; thank goodness at least Star was on top of things. “So I can go in?”
“Yes, we’re nearing ‘go time’,” the doctor nodded. Then she wrinkled her nose, “Now, that purple mucus—”
“Is normal, I promise,” Marco said quickly, holding up his hand in assurance.
“Well, okay then, let’s go.” She smiled at him before putting her surgical mask back over her mouth, leading him through the door. “Gotta say, I’ve only done a handful of childbirths so far, and I’m pretty excited for this alien one to be among my first.”
“Uh...thanks?” Marco wasn’t sure if he should be proud or offended by that remark, but Star’s labored breathing as he drew nearer to her bed dashed the debate from his mind instantly.
“Marco!” Star choked out, seizing his hand as soon as he sat beside her. “Thank corn, I didn’t want you to miss it.”
“H-how’re you doing?”
“How does it look like I’m — doing?!” She shrieked the last word as a particularly painful contraction shot through her abdomen, and Marco heard all of his knuckles crack at once when she squeezed his hand. “I just want it to be over with!”
“You’re not dilated enough yet, Mrs. Diaz,” said the nurse wiping at the mess around her legs.
“That’s ‘Queen Butterfly’ to you!” Everyone jumped back as the door to the delivery room door burst open, and Tom barged in followed by an extremely exasperated Janna.
“Seriously, Tom? You don’t just walk into the delivery room — we’re not in the Underworld,” his sorceress wife sighed out, leaning against the wall to hold up her own round belly, six months behind Star’s.
“What’s going on in here?!” cried the doctor, who had returned from washing her hands to find the fiery demon king and the witch. “You two need to wait outside! Immediate family only!”
“Just gimme a sec, okay?” Tom said in a slightly quieter voice, approaching the bed. “Star, you alright? Need anything?”
“Nah, I’m good,” Star beamed, despite the sweat rolling down the sides of her face.
“Oh hey man, your parents are out there, by the way,” Tom muttered as an aside to Marco, giving him a hard pat on the shoulder.
“What about mine?” Star asked.
“Your mom said they’d be here within the hour,” Marco replied, reaching for a cold cloth to wipe her forehead, which Janna had already beaten him to.
“Keep her outside — I don’t want Mom being a nag tonight,” his wife muttered. Then she sighed when Janna slid the wet cloth over her skin, “Nice...what is that?”
“Calming enchantment. Might make the process a little more bearable,” Janna grinned, before flinging the rag in Marco’s face. “‘Specially with this one freaking himself out so much he throws up.”
“Wha— I’m not freaking out!”
“Dude, I can see your pits sweating from here,” Tom remarked, folding his arms over his bathrobe.
“Gaaaahhhhhhh!” Star let out another agonized wail, her entire torso arching forward. Marco watched in horror as blood ran to join the purple ooze on the sheets.
“Alright, everybody out now!” the doctor roared, pushing Janna towards Tom in the doorway as the nurse looked up in amazement.
“She’s dilated...how did it happen so fast?”
“Freaky Mewman stuff,” Janna answered simply, holding up her phone to try and document the process and pouting when Tom steered her out the door.
“Good luck!” he called, slamming it shut and leaving them alone.
“Marco, I can’t do this,” Star panted, her head flopping back against the pillow. “I can’t — it feels like she’s ripping me apart!”
“She’s ready to be born,” Marco said as calmly as possible, though his breaths were still shaky. “And what do you mean you can’t do this? I’ve seen you do the impossible a million times. Queen Star the Benevolent, who fought for Mewman and monster equality to the bitter end when no one thought she could do it. This is a cakewalk compared to that.”
She smiled up at him gratefully, lifting her head to plant a brief kiss on his lips before she went back to concentrating on her bone-splitting contractions.
“Mmm yeah okay, but I think we all agree I’m gonna be godmother? Like, it’s obvious.”
There was silence around the waiting room as they stared at the floating head of Queen Pony Head, her hot pink mane rolled into curlers as she levitated a powder puff to dab at her dark circles. Letting out a huff, she swiveled herself around so she was facing the middle-aged couple closest to the delivery room door. “Yo! Earth Turd’s parents — yea or nay?”
“Pfft, ‘neigh’,” Janna snorted, adjusting her reclined position against Tom tiredly.
“Um — well, it’s really up to Star, isn’t it?” Angie tried timidly, she and Rafael glancing up at the disembodied horse head in caution.
Pony Head blew a raspberry rudely, “Whatever, like — you not even payin’ attention ‘cause you’re — I dunno, freakin’ out about becomin’ a grandma or somethin’. It’s cool, I’ll ask someone who ain’t so out of it.” She floated to the other side of the room shouting, “Yo! Starfan!”
“Are godparents a thing on Mewni?” Rafael asked quietly, but he was suddenly taken aback when his wife threw herself into his arms.
“Oh Rafael, she’s right! I’m a wreck over this!”
“Querida,” he breathed, pulling Angie’s petite frame into his lap. “Why are you not happy? Our family is growing tonight. Our boy is becoming a father, Angie.”
“That’s just it — when did that happen?!” Angie wailed, burying her face further into his hairy chest. “One minute he’s prancing around the living room in that stupid cape, next thing you know he’s a King, and now a father? ”
“A lot’s changed,” Tom shrugged from the seat across from them, his talon-nailed fingers idly playing with Janna’s silky blue-black locks. “Trust me, I never thought the guy’d amount to anything either — ow!” He recoiled from a hard nudge in the ribs from his queen. “I mean, ya know, by Mewni’s standards. Knight training’s brutal, and come hell or high water, Marco got through it. He fought in wars, he risked his life!”
“And he did it all because he loves Star,” piped up Kelly from a corner chair where she was reading a magazine silently. “Everyone wants to be better than themselves. Marco did it not only for himself, but to always be there to protect the woman who pushed him out of his comfort zone in the first place.”
“You should go into business writing those slips of paper in fortune cookies,” Janna grunted, lifting herself and her baby bump up into a sitting position. “Speaking of pushing things out, what the hell’s taking them so long? It’s almost two in the morning.”
“Oh no, let her take her time,” Angie sniffled, wiping at the corners of her eyes. “The longer it takes, the longer I can pretend I’m not getting old and grey.”
“Angie, you are so silly,” Rafael smiled, kissing the end of her nose. “You will always be the most beautiful woman in the world to me.”
“Oh Raf…”
“Ugh, now I know where Starco gets it from,” Janna moaned as she watched the couple indulge themselves in a deep series of kisses.
“Starco?” Tom raised his eyebrows.
“I’m too tired to say both their names.”
“Man, pretty soon it’s gonna be us.” The Underworld king let out a long sigh, letting his head drop onto Janna’s shoulder, tracing her round belly with his finger. “Everyone’ll be gathered around waiting for this little guy to make his appearance.”
“And again, how do you know it’s a boy?” Janna rolled her eyes down to glare directly at the third red eye on his forehead.
“Ninety percent of the Lucitor bloodline is male,” Tom sang out, stifling a yawn behind his hand. “It’s pretty safe bet.”
“Well, you know I’m all about fighting the patriarchy,” his wife almost purred, lowering her face to drink in a taste of his fanged lips. “So we’ll see what I can do…”
“If you put a spell on our unborn kid, I’m divorcing you.”
Whoosh!
“Well what took you two so long?” Pony Head called as a bright blue portal bloomed open in the middle of the waiting area, causing the ordinary human inhabitants sharing the space with the interdimensional companions to jump onto their chairs.
“Ergh! — Begging your pardon, Queen Lilacia, but a terrible blizzard has swept through Mewni!” the former King River spluttered out through his snow-coated blonde and grey beard. Shaking heavy wet flakes out of his fur hat and coat, he reached behind him to help his equally half-frozen, red-faced wife through the portal before it closed.
“How’s my daughter?” Moon panted, heading straight for the seat Angie patted for her to sit in beside her.
“We haven’t heard yet, but…” They all fell silent as the young queen’s loud cries of pain wafted through the door. Pony Head nibbled on her lower lip anxiously, Tom inhaled sharply as if it took every ounce of willpower to keep from bolting out of his chair, and even Janna instinctively curled an arm around her stomach.
“Dearest, I’m sure she’s fine,” River whispered, sitting to hold Moon from behind as she pressed her hands to her mouth. “Both she and the child, they’re going to be fine.”
“It’s such a foreign process here,” the former queen muttered, her knees quaking against her propped elbows. “The fact that they could conceive at all was a miracle. But miracles can be double-edged with a curse…”
“Star, c’mon! You’re so close, you can do it!” Marco turned his head away from the slimy purple and red mass coming into view on the far end of the bed, and instead focused on his wife beside him. Her rose hearts were almost completely concealed by her flushed cheeks, sweat and tears mingled together on her gleaming face, and he was sure his hand clenched in hers was fractured in three different places.
But the fear and pain etched into Star’s features as they entered the most unfamiliar territory of their lives was enough to make him hang onto her even tighter. He jumped when her back arched forward yet again, screaming as more blood rushed out of her onto the blue and white sheets.
“Is she supposed to be bleeding this much?!” Marco called to the doctor over the beeping monitors and his wife’s wailing.
“One more, Mrs. Diaz!” coaxed the doctor, ignoring Marco’s inquiry in favor of the complex job in front of her, and his heart flared angrily.
“Answer me!”
“GAHHHHHHHHHH!”
“Perfect!” cried the doctor, nearly throwing up her hands in triumph, but unable to due to the purple mass sealed in what looked like a plastic coating covered in ooze and blood she held in her palms. “Juan, grab me that Mewni book, quick!”
“It’s...like an egg.” Marco’s jaw dropped open, “You weren’t exaggerating.”
“Told you…” Star uttered weakly, catching a foggy glimpse of the nurse holding the book open for the doctor preparing to make the incision before her eyes fell closed.
“Star?” Marco watched her eyes roll back into her head, grabbing her around the shoulders and propping her up before she crashed limply against the bed. “Star?!”
“‘Cut the egg sac seal from the infant’s chin to the navel’,” Juan the nurse recited from the old tome. “Wow, it’s thin—”
“Star, wake up — please, come back,” Marco gasped out between hyperventilated breaths, trembling as he held his unresponsive wife in his arms. “No...no, you’re okay. You’re okay, Star, you did it!” He shook her lightly, but she remained still, all traces of color leaving her face, her lips and hearts growing darker. “Star!”
It’s my fault...it’s all my fault...I did this to her...oh Star, no...not now. Not after all these years, not after everything we’ve been through, it can’t end here…
“Got it!”
He couldn’t turn around, he couldn’t look to see where the tiny coughing was coming from, couldn’t bask in the first little sounds of a newborn life — his newborn’s life. In that moment, in those precious seconds of utter dread, he hated the creature that had the nerve to live while his whole heart, his very reason for living, was dying.
But once the baby’s very first cry wafted towards them, Star’s crystal blue eyes shot open, an almost insect-like instinct taking over her. Her gaze darted unfocused around the room, looking everywhere but at her husband, who showered her with kisses and tears.
“Where is she?”
“S-Star?” Marco stammered, her state reminding him of her full-fledged butterfly form. Which was not necessarily a good thing.
“Baby,” Star muttered tonelessly, sticking her neck out so she could search the room. “Baby…”
“Give her the baby,” Marco demanded, throwing out an arm to scoop up the slimy infant himself, the bundle now being washed clean by two of the nurses.
“We’re going as fast as we can, sir, but she’s still purple—”
“Just hand her over to Star, she knows what to do!”
“He’s right Doc, give her to her mother,” Juan piped up, pointing frantically to a diagramed page in the Mewnian medical book. “Quickly!”
“A-alright,” the doctor stuttered. Hastily bundling the wailing child in a pink blanket, she thrust the baby forward and Star instantly grabbed her. All at once, her shoulders loosened, her face relaxed, color bloomed back into her face and life returned to her baby blue eyes.
“Baby,” she breathed out again, pressing the now silent peaceful infant to her breast, her entire form curled around her like a mother bird warming her young. “My baby…”
“You’re back,” Marco let out a long breath, kissing the top of her head. At that, Star slowly glanced up at him, as if she had completely forgotten he was there.
“Marco…oh my gosh, Marco.” She peered at him, then back down at the baby in her arms, blinking rapidly like she had just woken up from a dream. “I…I…”
“Unbelievable,” the doctor breathed out as a healthy skin color began to dissolve over the purple hue of the newborn. “It worked. What kind of insane dimension is this?”
“It’s home,” Marco said with a small smile, wrapping his arms around his wife and daughter. “I think we got it from here. You guys should probably read that book a little closer.”
The medical staff could only nod dumbfoundedly.
“So the bond between a Butterfly mother and her child is literally sealed in that moment?” Angie asked, staring wide-eyed at Moon.
“As soon as she holds her for the first time,” Moon nodded. “It is very spiritual and sacred: Neither can live without the other in the minutes following birth unless they make contact. They are entirely dependent on each other.” She shook her head dismally, lacing her fingers through River’s, “It’s beautiful, but it can also be so tragic. When past queens have died in childbirth, their infant princesses had to be placed in the arms of their mother’s corpse to ensure their survival. Stillborn infants are still so weak, however, that they have no chance.”
“Is that common?” Rafael rasped out.
“Not nowadays, in fact it’s very rare,” River replied, his normally lively blue eyes clouded over. “But still…we’ve never had an heir half-born of Earth before.”
“And we do not know what to expect.”
Angie instinctively reached for Moon’s hand, and the two women held on tight as they clung to their respect husbands, waiting for any sort of news to come through that door…
“You sure you’re okay?” Marco asked, rubbing Star’s shoulder as he held her close against him. She turned her head and responded to his fretting with a kiss on his jaw.
“I’m fine. And so is she.” She snorted, “Seriously Marco, you think you’d be used to this Mewman stuff by now.”
“And yet every day is weirder than the last,” he chuckled, cupping his hand around the stirring baby’s head, the last of the purplish hue beginning to fade from her face. “Soon?”
“A little longer,” Star said, planting gentle kisses on her healing child’s face to speed up the process. “Don’t worry. She’s still just as much yours, even though she needs me right now."
“She’s whole…she’s perfect…I can’t believe we pulled it off,” her husband mused, holding Star’s face in his hands. “No one thought we could do it.”
“No one thought we could do a lot of things, Marco Diaz.” Her eyes twinkled mischievously back at him, “But that’s not how we roll.”
“I know, it’s just — I had a bad feeling something was gonna happen and—”
“Something did happen,” Star smiled up at him. “We have a princess, an heir to the throne. And most important of all, we have a daughter. Our baby girl, Pandora.”
“Pandora…” Marco whispered the name Star had chosen long ago from a book of Greek myths he had bought her, named for the girl whose curiosity over a box unleashed hope or chaos upon the world, depending on the interpretation. The story had so resonated with Star, the rebel princess and benevolent queen, that the name seemed to suit any offspring of hers. “Beautiful name for a beautiful baby.”
“Marco—”
“Aw, what’s wrong?” Marco sang gently to the infant, who began to cry against Star’s chest. “Hey, she’s responsive, that’s good. Right?”
“Oh yeah, that’s good,” Star said nervously, not taking her eyes off Pandora’s face. “Are…are those what I think they are?”
“What do you m— oh.”
They stared at the baby’s little scrunched face, then back at each other in great apprehension. Their daughter was now purple-free, able to vocalize and move freely without the reliance of her mother’s touch. Like other Mewman babies, she had taken on a healthy human-like form that would remain constant until she reached Mewberty. And just like the Butterfly women that came before her, she had been bestowed a set of magical emblems, one on each cheek, that set her destiny in stone.
All of a sudden, that feeling Marco had not been able to shake was now wholly founded.
“Mother and baby are doing just fine.” The doctor’s announcement was met with whoops and cheers from the many inhabitants of the hospital waiting area, complete with River popping a bottle of champagne and spraying Tom and Pony Head with it. And while the equine queen shrieked over her makeup being ruined, the demon king drank up the spray before grabbing Janna and dipping her, planting a sticky kiss on her mouth.
“So when can we see them?” Rafael asked, wiping tears from his eyes as Angie peppered his cheeks with kisses.
“Grandparents first, followed by friends. That was Mrs. Diaz’s request.”
“Moon, River, why don’t you go first?” Angie insisted, gesturing towards the door. “You took the longest getting here.”
“I mean…if you don’t mind, Angie,” Moon said softly. “She is your grandchild as well.”
“But Star’s your daughter.” Angie smiled, “Go on.”
“Come, darling,” River whispered, taking his wife’s hand and helping her to her feet, having reluctantly relinquished the champagne to the Lucitors. Drawing her fur coat tighter around her dressing gown, Moon walked with him slowly towards the delivery room door and pushed it open, her heart so full she thought it might burst.
“Look what I made!”
All smiles, all joy, her face positively glowing, Star’s demeanor was a far cry from earlier that evening. Instead of panting and sweating, her back arched against the hospital bed in agony, she sat perfectly contented. Holding up the little pink bundle in her arms, a tiny beige-skinned face with tufts of dark brown hair peeked out, her little eyes screwed shut as if this wide world she had been brought into was already too much for her.
“That is certainly one way of putting it,” Moon chuckled, gliding closer to the bed and lowering herself into the chair beside it, throwing a curt glance at her husband who had bounded over in his excitement.
“Look at her! Just look at her!” River boomed, scooping the infant into his arms the moment Star held her out for him. “A perfect little princess, just like her mother was.”
“Uh, River?” Marco interjected warily as the baby began to cry in the unfamiliar arms. “Might wanna scale it back a bit.”
“Thank you, Marco,” Moon sighed out, pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger. “With how long tonight has been, I’m shocked he has any energy left at all.”
“Princess Pandora Butterfly-Diaz,” Star recited, looking between her parents for approval. “Whaddya think?”
“I think it’s unique,” her mother mused, “Unexpected. And as such, lovely.”
“I can’t believe it, she’s so healthy and happy,” Marco repeated with a smile, watching River hum to the bundle to quiet her down. “I thought—”
“—there were gonna be complications, we know.” Star flopped back against the pillows exhaustedly, letting her eyes fall closed. The adrenaline of bearing the child had worn off long ago, and now she could have slept for a hundred years. “Can’t we just be thankful there weren’t any? That she’s here, and now we get to raise her?”
“Sure, Star,” Marco whispered, leaning forward to kiss her forehead as he tucked the blankets up to her chest. “Of all the amazing things you’ve ever done, this might’ve topped the list.”
“You’re too kind,” Star breathed, her eyes still shut as she felt for his cheek to cup it, bringing his lips to hers briefly. “Hey Dad, don’t hog her. Let Mom have a turn.”
“Oh—oh of course,” River spluttered, carefully handing Pandora to his wife. “Say hello to your granddaughter, Moon Pie.”
“Why hello,” Moon said in a sing-song voice, drawing the infant closer to her chest. “My darling little—”
She stopped, finally getting a close look at the new arrival. In her relief that there were no issues in giving birth to a child of Mewman and Earth blood, it had not occurred to her what sort of emblems this future queen would bear on her cheeks. Now, staring down into the little face, her heart froze in her chest before dropping to her stomach.
Spades.
It was not often Butterfly emblems repeated, in fact it was rare for the women in line for the throne. But of all the symbols, of all the connections to those symbols…somewhere far away, that diabolical woman was laughing. Her influence would never leave them be, her dubious stain on the Butterfly lineage was permanent. She knew exactly what she had been doing when she shook Moon’s hand decades ago.
How could you? You were my blood, my predecessor…how could you?
“Everything okay?” Marco piped up, glancing at Moon out the corner of his eye while keeping watch over his sleeping wife. Although a note in his tone suggested he knew exactly what had given his mother-in-law pause.
“Of…course.” Moon let out a shaking breath as the little face yawned widely before turning against her grandmother’s chest — indicating she was in an embrace she could trust. “Of course it is.” Lowering her head, Moon pressed her lips ever so lightly to the velvety skin on Pandora’s forehead.
It’s my fault, she thought, feeling two tears push past her closed eyelids and drip onto the soft pink blanket. Oh my sweet one, I’m so sorry. This is all my doing.
“Moon, dearest,” River rumbled as he drew closer to her, placing one arm around her shoulders and the other around Pandora nestled against Moon’s chest. “Whatever you’re thinking, it’s a lie,” he whispered so only she could hear. “It did not happen because of you.”
“I wish I could believe that, River,” the former queen whimpered, silent tears rolling slowly over the diamonds on her face. “Poor thing, this poor thing…everyone who looks at her will immediately think of the Queen of Darkness.”
“But she is not Eclipsa,” her husband assured her, using his thumb to dry her cheek while giving the infant another smile. “She is Pandora. Star and Marco’s daughter. Shouldn’t that alone ease you?”
“Yes, it should,” Moon whispered mournfully, before adding silently to herself, But it doesn’t.
“Mom?” came Star’s weak voice from the bed, her eyes cracking open to see her mother crying silently over her infant granddaughter. “It’s okay. I...I dunno how this happened, but it’s not ‘cause of you. It could’ve been anything. A repeat gene, magic radiation — ya know, it was probably ‘cause of me sleeping with the wand under my pillow.”
“Star, your mother has told you countless times not to do that,” her father said rather crossly.
“It was me,” Marco muttered almost inaudibly, staring down at the sheets shamefully. “I caused Pandora to have the spades. Because of—”
“No Marco, that’s all in the past,” Moon choked out, gazing at her son-in-law affectionately. “There is no need to blame yourself. The only thing you are responsible for is Pandora’s beautiful skin and rich dark hair.” She smiled, tracing her finger around the tiny face, “And these precious little dimples.”
“Thanks, Moon,” Marco cracked a half-grin through his glittering eyes, rubbing his hand under his nose. He raised his eyes as the door opened slowly once more, and his eyes filled afresh when he saw his parents.
“Hi honey,” Angie sang out, wrapping her son up in a tight bear hug, “Oh, it’s been a long night for you, hasn’t it?”
“Felicitaciones, mija,” Rafael whispered, bending down to kiss Star on the forehead, she in turn reaching up to embrace him around the neck. “May I?” he asked Moon, and the queen mother nodded, placing the infant in his arms before retreating to a corner of the room pensively.
“Isn’t she the sweetest?” Star gushed, watching Rafael’s face light up like a firework. “Our princess Pandora.”
“Pandora…mi nieta bebé,” he spoke softly to the little one, whose face stretched into a yawn. “Eres la más grande bendición de nuestra familia. Un pequeño milagro.”
“A little miracle,” Marco repeated in English, a warmth beginning to spread from the center of his heart all across his chest. “She really is, isn’t she Star?”
“Yeah. In a lotta ways, it’s a miracle that she’s here.” She looked up at Rafael thoughtfully, “Milagro...Mila...Mila! Oh, I was having so much trouble trying to think up a middle name, that’s perfect!”
“Pandora Mila Butterfly-Diaz,” Angie sniffled, making grabby hands until her husband let her hold the baby. “Aren’t you just a doll?” Pandora’s little lids finally pried open, and her grandmother gasped. “Oh, Star! She has your eyes!”
“What?” Marco leaned over his mother’s shoulder, and sure enough, a miniature set of baby blues identical to his wife’s stared back at him. “She does — see Star, she did get some of you.”
“She’s still gonna take after her papa, I can tell already,” Star grinned, nudging him lightly. “Tense, uptight, freaking out every time something new happens, jumping at every little thing.”
“I do not jump at every little — ah!”
“Uncle Tom has arrived!” came the voice that followed the hard bang of the door opening. “Where is she?”
“Now Thomas, do be gentle!” River urged him as the demon took the bundle from Angie, swinging Pandora around in his arms as he cradled her.
“I got this,” Tom waved off, rocking her back and forth. “Besides, gotta get in all the practice I can, right Jan?” He winked at his wife, who smirked at him in turn.
“Yep, gotta learn how to clean off your expensive outfits when she spits up on you from swinging her like that.”
“Aw no!” Tom cried, suddenly holding the baby away from his black satin bathrobe gingerly as mucus dribbled from her mouth.
“Comes with the territory, Lucitor,” Marco laughed as Star wiped Pandora’s mouth clean. “And just wait for the diaper changes. ‘Cause you can bet Janna’s not gonna do all that by herself.”
“For once, we agree on something Diaz,” Janna nodded impressively. “Only took twenty years for that to happen. Now let me at her, Tom.”
“Uh no — nononono,” Marco spluttered hastily, “I don’t trust you, you’re gonna put some weird enchantment on my newborn daughter—!”
“Chicken butt.” The sorceress snapped her fingers, and the jittery new father immediately conked out on the pillows next to Star. “Don’t worry, he’ll wake up soon,” she assured his alarmed parents as she settled beside Tom on the sofa.
“Uh, Star?” Tom asked, pointing down at the fussing infant in his lap. “How come she has Eclipsa’s cheek marks?”
“Oh, that’s where I’ve seen those before,” Angie whispered behind her hand to Rafael, her green eyes growing large in realization.
“Tom,” Star hissed out through her teeth, jabbing a thumb over at her mother, who was still staring out the window in grief away from the group.
“Sorry, just — wondering if that was anything we needed to be concerned about,” Tom shrugged innocently.
“There’s nothing to be concerned about, they’re just shapes,” Star exhaled in one breath. “That just...happen to look like the queen’s who completely screwed up our family’s lineage.”
“Oooh, a Butterfly family curse,” Janna snickered hungrily down at the wide-eyed child. “A baby princess marred by the marks of the most feared and hated queen in the dynasty, having to carry that burden the rest of her life. Maybe you’re not so boring compared to the Lucitors after all.”
“Oh dear,” River murmured, hearing a small whimper come from his wife as Moon’s hand flew to her mouth, shivering as a tear dropped onto her bosom.
“Give her to me,” Star growled, and Janna was so stunned she instantly obeyed.
“Geez, I was just kidding around, Star — you know me.”
“I swear, if I hear one more person bring up Pandora’s—”
Marco let out a shout as he bolted upright, finally awake from his hypnosis. “Star, I just had the worst dream! I dreamt our daughter was born two weeks early and she had Eclipsa’s cheek marks!”
“Alright that’s it, everybody out!” Star shrieked. “Out! Move it, all of you!”
“What the hell?!” Tom cried out, feeling a sudden force of pink magic that shot from Star’s hand push him out the door.
“So I guess me being the godmother’s off the table now?” Janna tried guiltily, before being shoved into Tom’s back by another sparkling force. “Hey, watch the merchandise, Queenie!” she called back angrily, covering her stomach protectively.
“She’s barely two hours old, and I am not gonna sit here and listen to my family be all doom and gloom over a couple of stupid cheek marks!”
“You know our emblems are more than just decoration, Star,” Moon said grievously, “They can make or break our legacy. This turn of events is not to be taken lightly!”
“Mom, I’m serious, I need you to leave,” Star said firmly, shooting her hand palm out in her direction. “Don’t make me force you.”
“You heard her, she wants everyone out,” Marco announced, ushering his befuddled parents into the hall behind the Butterflys.
“Yeah — everyone.” She glared daggers at Marco, who actually took a step back.
“Star…”
“I need some time alone with my daughter, away from all these negative vibes,” Star said through gritted teeth, bouncing the now wailing baby against her chest. “Go Marco, please.”
And Marco, staring at her like she had just driven a sword into his chest, lowered his eyes and gave her a small nod, Moon and Angie each putting an arm around him as they guided him back out into the waiting area.
“Hey, what’s this I heard about Janna not being the godmother?!”
Star let out a purely animalistic roar at Pony Head, who had peeked through the crack in the door briefly, and her bestie immediately zoomed away, slamming the door behind her.
“I don’t believe them — all of them,” Star muttered insanely under her breath, supporting Pandora in her arms as she suckled on her breast. “‘Curse’, Eclipsa, there is no curse. Marks repeat all the time.” She blew a raspberry through her lips, flipping her blonde hair frizzed from sweating in labor over her shoulder. “Any future heir could’ve gotten the spades. I should’ve had spades, Mom was the one who made the deal! Right?!”
The little pair of glassy blue eyes just glanced up at her blankly, and Star sighed. “You have no idea what I’m saying, do you? Well, good. It’s all stupid anyway.” She closed her dressing gown back over her chest once her daughter had drank her fill and hitched her up so she could look directly at her, two sets of baby blue locked onto each other. “You’re my baby, and I’m your mother. Nothing’s wrong with you unless I say so.”
Pandora continued to stare at her, as if a halo of light encircled Star’s golden blonde head, like her mother was an angel descended from heaven. And Star knew she was anything but.
“Don’t look at me like that. I’m not perfect. I-I’ve screwed up so much, Pandora. We’ve had two wars since I was crowned — two in two years. That’s a new record, as Hekapoo was nice enough to tell me.” Her voice started waver, but she swallowed hard and adopted her queen voice, just as her mother had taught her. “And that’s not even counting everything I did before I was queen: Ludo, Toffee, Meteora, Eclipsa, the Monster-Mewman Accord — I wasted so much time making problems bigger than they were, disasters that could’ve destroyed Mewni forever.”
She sniffed, letting her nails gently comb through the thick wisps of dark brown hair on Pandora’s head. “Disasters that could’ve destroyed everyone I love…” Her fingers slowly trailed down to her face, and at last, her tips lightly brushed over the crimson red spade marks on her face.
“I did what I had to do for me, dear.”
In a flash, Star saw her face once again, only for an instant. That steely simpering face with cold unfeeling grey-lavender eyes — until she blinked quickly and her daughter’s face returned.
“No...no, it’s got nothing to do with that. You have nothing to do with that!”
Her baby’s tiny mouth twisted downward, her brow furrowing as her blue eyes disappeared behind squeezed lids, her mouth opening into a loud wail at her mother’s desperate plea. It was as if she could sense her distress, as if their hearts were connected, feeling what the other so deeply felt.
“No, no shh-shhhh, it’s okay,” Star soothed, wrapping the pink blanket tighter around her as she pressed her cheek against Pandora’s little velvety one. “It’s okay...you’re okay. It’s not you. It’s...it’s me.” She chomped down on her trembling bottom lip as tears seeped out the corners of her eyes, travelling between where her cheek and Pandora’s touched. “It’s always been me. I’ve caused so much trouble over the years...but I wanna be a good mama. ‘Cause you deserve that, sweetie.”
She was at a loss for words, and Pandora continued to cry, no matter how many kisses Star gave her. She was terrible at thinking up lullabies to sing, that was Marco’s department. He knew so many sweet little songs in Spanish from his father and Abuelita, songs that she would love — but Star just couldn’t do them justice. Mewnian lullabies didn’t have that gentleness that newborn infants needed to drift off to sleep.
But then, a song suddenly popped into her head as she racked her brain to think of one. She almost laughed out loud — it was so obscure, so goofy. And yet, as she observed how neatly swaddled Pandora was, it was too perfect.
“Ooooo burrito…” It started out shaky, thick and clogged in her throat with tears, before Star lost herself in the silliness and let the tune carry her away. “Burrito, burrito, burriii-iii-iiito. I’ll never let you go, my little — burriiiiiiiiiiito. My little burriiiiiiiiiiiito...burrito, burrito, burri—”
Her eyes opened just in time to see Marco standing in the doorway, the waiting area unusually quiet behind him as he shut the door. He said nothing regarding what he’d just walked in on, but gave her a highly amused grin.
“What? She looks like a burrito.”
“More like a burrito than a curse,” Marco replied, stepping closer to the bed hesitantly. He exhaled in relief when Star chuckled at his remark. “Almost everyone went home. They said they’ll see us at the castle christening.”
“Okay,” Star nodded, blinking rapidly so he wouldn’t see that she’d been crying.
“Star, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten carried away like that about a pair of cheek emblems — especially on the face of my own daughter.”
“No, maybe Mom’s right,” his wife whispered sadly. “Maybe I am taking this too lightly.”
“So she has Eclipsa’s marks. That’s it. That’s all we know. I-I know nothing about Pandora yet. What her favorite color is, her favorite food, her favorite Mackie Hand movie—”
“I’m dreading the day you decide to marathon those with her,” Star deadpanned.
“I don’t know anything about my daughter yet. And despite what everyone out there is saying, despite what the whole kingdom’s gonna say...I’m excited to find out more.”
Star felt warmth spread from her cheeks to the ends of her fingers and toes, gazing up into the eyes of her best friend and greatest love. The eyes that had always eased her, the smile that had always assured her, and the voice that had always consoled her. She could still see some worry deep within his chocolate brown orbs, that no doubt reflected back at him in her crystal blue ones, but that was normal. They were parents. Worrying was going to be a part of their everyday life from now on.
“Hey, come here.” Star patted the mattress, keeping one arm around the baby. As Marco slid under the blankets beside her, she lifted Pandora’s head away from her chest and moved to place her in his arms.
“She wouldn’t stop crying last time I tried,” he warned her.
“I know,” Star nodded. The little face instantly scrunched in discomfort once she left the warm seclusion of her mother’s embrace, squirming the moment Marco’s hands cupped her securely. “Pandora, this is your papa,” she said patiently, “He loves you very much.”
“I do,” Marco breathed out, drawing the whimpering bundle closer. “You’re our little miracle, Pandora. For a long time, we didn’t think we’d get to hold you...and now we do.” He pressed his lips to his daughter’s head, and Star saw tears in his eyes as he pulled back. “I didn’t know what I was missing.”
“Me neither,” his wife whispered, laying her head on his quivering shoulder and rubbing his arm as he cried quietly.
“I’m not as brave or powerful as your mother—”
“That’s a lie,” Star hissed to the infant quickly.
“I have no idea what I’m doing,” Marco admitted, a slow smile spreading when Pandora finally quieted against him. “But I just wanna let you know that you’ll always be safe and provided for...and loved. ‘Cause when I love someone, it’s with my whole heart.”
His watering brown eyes met Star’s teary blue ones for a moment before they captured each other’s lips in a deep kiss. “You’re everything to me, you know that?”
“Yeah, I do,” his wife smiled, pressing her forehead to his. “Right back at’cha, Diaz.”
“And you,” Marco emphasized to Pandora with another kiss on her face, “are our little burrito.”
“And we’ll never let you go.”
“Is it truly a cause for concern?” River asked Moon quietly as they reemerged from the portal just outside the doors of Butterfly Castle.
“We won’t know for sure until the princess has received her visit from The Oracle,” Moon responded, removing her hand from her muff to knock three times on the door. She glanced up thoughtfully at the sky, where the blizzard had dwindled down into a steady snowfall.
“Never did like that woman,” her husband muttered, blowing hot air into his cupped hands. “She said Star was going to bring great embarrassment to the Butterfly name.”
“She did,” Moon said simply, then turned to address River’s shocked expression. “She embarrassed all of us by showing us how shamefully narrow-minded we were. Was it truly so awful?”
“I...I suppose not,” River stammered sheepishly, resting his hand within the crook of her arm as they watched the snowfall together. Moon closed her eyes as the soft cool flakes fell on her hot cheeks.
December twenty-first, Earth year two thousand and twenty-seven. Happy Birthday, Pandora. My dearest granddaughter.
The heavy oak doors finally swung open, warmth and light spilling out onto the freshly fallen snow. “Your Majesties!” cried out Geoffery, the skinny man appearing comedically small in-between the two guards. “My goodness, w-what are you doing here at this time of night?”
“I bring glad tidings, Geoffrey,” Moon stated with a smile on her pert businesslike face as they entered the front hall. “Queen Star has given birth to her child. A beautiful little girl, Pandora.”
"Mewni save the queen, a princess is born!" the chamberlain said in awe, raising his eyes to the heavens and crossing himself.
“Wait, already?!” cried the boisterous voice of Rhombulus as he, Hekapoo and Omnitraxus appeared from around the corner, the three of them looking exhausted from keeping watch over the castle. “I thought they were gonna spend that Christmas holiday on Earth and then come back here and have the baby!”
“Well I’m sorry Rhombulus, but sometimes not everything goes according to plan!” Moon bit out sternly, then eyed the rest of the High Commission. “I’m sorry. It’s been a very long night.”
“Is everything alright?” Hekapoo asked. “You look like you’ve been crying.”
“Tears of joy,” Moon clarified in what was not entirely a lie. “Queen Star and King Marco have a daughter. My baby girl is a mother, and I am a grandmother. I couldn’t be happier.”
“And what of the princess?” Omnitraxus’ rumbled from his crystal containment ball. “What emblems did her inherent magic take the shape of?”
All eyes were on Moon as she faltered, including River’s. His were soft, almost coaxing, telling her to be honest, for they would all know the truth sooner or later. Drawing herself up taller, she reached for her husband’s assuring hand and held on tight.
“Following Queen Star’s Heart Regime, Pandora will usher in...a new Spade Regime.”