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Star gets sent to St. Olga’s and gets completely brainwashed into being a proper princess. Upon being sent home, Moon almost instantly notices something’s horribly wrong with her daughter (she’s a flawed mom, but she genuinely cares for Star after all), and decides to pay Miss Heinous a visit, first as the Queen and then undercover as a younger version of herself. There, she quickly finds out the dark reality behind the so-called “school” and narrowly escapes brainwashing herself when the MHC storms the institution; Moon goes Butterfly mode and proceeds to utterly wreck the place. In the aftermath, the horrified and guilt-stricken Queen finally decides to take Glossaryck’s advice and send Star to Earth—after extensive auditing, not wanting a repeat of her daughter’s traumatic experience.
Here, Marco enters the storyline as per canon: he’s called to the principal and introduced to Star, with some minor differences—none of the chaos of their first encounter, Marco brings the Butterflies to the house himself after being thoroughly notified of the princess’s troubled history, and an attempt by Ludo to steal the wand is instantly curb-stomped by the legendary Queen’s magical wrath. The latter incident nearly pushes Moon into just bringing Star back and personally overseeing her training, but witnessing Marco’s physical prowess eventually convinces her to letting her daughter stay; that said, the queen gives our misunderstood bad boy a long and serious talk in the Diaz house regarding his responsibilities with Star (with not-so-subtle implications of a long and painful death should he try anything with her daughter), which the terrified teen quickly agrees to. Moon also arranges for additional backup to provide training for Star’s new companion in the form of two additional squires to live with the Diazes—
(Kelly and Higgs have entered the chat)
Magical shenanigans ensue with Star’s spells often going haywire or cultural misunderstandings from the squires causing widespread disruption throughout Echo Creek. Moon visits Earth every week to check up on her daughter, her visits creating their own brand of chaos for everyone involved. Eventually Tom himself shows up for the Blood Moon Ball, but himself is visibly dismayed by the extent of Miss Heinous’s brainwashing and decides to bring Star’s companions along and just let his ex have fun at the event instead of forcibly bonding himself to her—Season 3’s shown that he genuinely cares for Star, so why not let that part of him show as well? Surprisingly, it’s Tom, Star, and Marco who get bonded by the Blood Moon this time; none of them are sure why that happened, and all parties return to their respective homes deep in thought.
The very next day, Tom shows up on Marco’s doorstep as Echo Creek’s newest exchange student. The latter is visibly nonplussed by the unexpected turn of events, but lets him in anyway.
More fun and adventures occur—Tom’s odd administrative duties as Prince of the Underworld (guest appearances from Janna who bonds with the demon), Hekapoo shows up and offers to grant Marco dimensional scissors in exchange for seven minutes in the Neverzone, Higgs and Kelly take the lead in the dimensional travails that ensue, some minor “friendly” rivalry between Marco and Tom over who’s the “better friend,” a budding friendship between Jackie and Marco begins (the Jarco date happens, but both eventually agree they aren’t cut out to be a couple just yet), and Star slowly, gradually starts to get her old self back. As five women now frequent the Diaz household (H-Poo notwithstanding), Marco Harem jokes become popular much to his dismay—no thanks initially to Tom, who eventually stops after realising to his horror that he himself somehow ended up becoming a potential member. Starco? Everyone from the parents to the “harem members” have their suspicions, but it’s a slow burn—Marco respects Star’s boundaries too much to try anything, and Star herself hasn’t seemed to said anything (not that she says much, either way).
And as for Star? In her mind, it’s pretty clear—if Janna and Jackie don’t claim their crushes for themselves, she’s going to bag Tom and Marco both if it’s the last thing she does. After all, who says she can’t have a harem of her own?