Star and Marco vs Evil Book 3

Epilogue

Eighteen years later...

The Crown Princess's fourteenth birthday. By tradition, the day the queen bestows upon the princess the kingdom's greatest family heirloom, the royal magic wond. For the first time ever, the ceremony was taking place outside the throne room; in the decade and change since the current queen took the throne, the peace and prosperity throughout Mewni had made the royals extremely popular. The citizenry wished to share in celebrating the princess's birthday and participate, even if as spectators, in the grand tradition.

The princess rode a Warnicorn, playing rave music from its horn, down a parade route flanked by viewing stands on either side. She sat straight in the saddle, a smile on her lips and a twinkle in her eyes. As she passed, the citizens, Mewmins and Monsters alike, stood and bowed. Violating decorum, a voice called out, "We love you, princess!" Looking into the stands, she spied the caller, a young woman with hair the color of purple cotton-candy, holding the hand of a caramel-skinned cutie with a prominent scar bisecting her left eyebrow. Realizing they'd been seen, the pair waved excitedly as the princess called back, "And I love you, random citizens!"

At the end of the road was a large stage, upon which stood the queen and king. It had been constructed in an alcove formed between four large balconies, in which stood or sat many members of the royal family. To either side of the stage were viewing stands with seats for the other royal houses of Mewni, officials, and honored guests.

In the stands were honorary knights of the Butterfly Kingdom, Doctor Dame Jackie Lynn Thomas, PhD in anthropology and archaeology, and Doctor Dame Chloe Saphique, PhD in history. The official Court Historians, they were discovering and documenting the history of Mewni, both Mewmin and Monster, including the Mewmins' roots on Earth.

In the opposite stands were various members of the military. General-in-Chief of the Butterfly army, General Dame Kayleigh Higgs, watched the proceedings flanked by her aide, Squire Whatsits. The squire's mother, General Dame Whosits, had lost her life as a member of the Mewmin expeditionary force helping Woolandia repel a hostile cross-dimensional incursion. Sadly, Kelly was also a martyred hero of the conflict, never having found her Marco.

Directing the crew broadcasting and recording the proceedings was StarcoFan1. After high school, she had moved to Hollyweird where she attempted to start an acting career under the stage name of Daron. While working for an airline to make ends meet, a studio-executive passenger overheard her talking about Star's and Marco's adventures. She was hired and became the creator-producer of a cartoon named Star vs The Forces of Evil; the studio insisted that Marco be left out of the title due to the unfortunate Hollyweird belief at the time that the way to empower women was to minimize male contributions. When the show reached the point where, in reality, Bob had pulled Meteora from the timeline, followed by Star becoming a Mewmonster, the studio forced a change. They insisted that, instead, Eclipsa defeat Meteora, without killing her, and Star abdicate, like coincidentally happened in multiple alternate universes. The executives believed that nobody would watch the show with the titular protagonist effectively out of the picture for so long. The resulting fourth season was considered the weakest, and even Star and Marco agreed that, as painful as that period of their lives had been, accurately portraying it would have made for a far better final season of the show.

The princess rode up to the foot of the stage, where she dismounted. As a valet led the Warnicorn away, she unnecessarily straightened her formal clothes, the only outward sign of the nervousness she felt within, hoping she didn't do anything to embarrass her parents. She looked up at the monarchs, then bowed deeply. When she straightened, the king winked, his fangs practically glowing white in the sun, so wide was his proud smile. The queen smiled as well, inclining her head in answer to the bow, her spade-shaped Magic-Pips glowing slightly from her emotions.