Once Upon A Genderbend: Marcia Diaz and the Seven Monsters

The Seven Monsters

It was dark inside the tiny cottage, in the attic room where all the newly-mended mattresses lay in a row. The candle, the only source of light in the room, had melted to a pile of white waxy gook, it's flame ready to go out any second. Still fast asleep in this little house was Marcia Diaz, all tuckered out from a full day of cleaning. Huddled together on a high ledge in the ceiling was the bird family, who was forever grateful to her for helping save their youngest chick.

All of the sudden, the poppa bird's keen senses picked up on a sound far off in the distance. Waking up his family, they flew to the window to see a strange light coming closer and closer, with heavy voice growing stronger. The birds panicked and flew out of the room, desperate to get out of there before they were caught. They fluttered out the window and into the large pear tree that stood just outside the window, waiting for the storm to pass.

Seven dark shadows, ranging in shape, size and height, marched through the door into the house. The light flickered on as voices were heard coming from inside.

"Hey! Somebody's been here!"

"If it was for a Mewman raid, things are gonna get ugly."

"I don't think it is! Look! They cleaned everything up! The floors, the dishes, the laundry..."

"They sort toys and stories for tadpoles!"

"They organized my rock collection!"

"They even filed all our files on attack points by alphabetical order!"

"Hey! There's a light on upstairs! Let's see who dared to break in!"
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Her breath was steady.  Her form lay still on she slumbered peacefully, not hearing the parade of footsteps coming up the stairs.  All of the sudden, she felt the warmth covering her body leave sharply.  Shivering from the sudden lack of heat, she groggily opened her eyes to see seven ugly, yet familiar faces looking down upon her.  She let out a small cry as she sat up in bed.  As she blinked rapidly, her vision cleared.

"Its you!"

Gathered around the bed on which she lay, was Buff Frog, Lobster Claws, Boo Fly, Beard Deer, Bearicorn, Big Chicken, and a tall little creature that looked alarmingly similar to Ludo.  She recognized most of them from the numerous times she and Storm had battled them to protect his magic wand.  Of course, that was when they still worked for Ludo.  Since then, they had revealed themselves to actually be gentle and kind.

Seeing this, Storm had tried to bring monsters and Mewmans together by petitioning his fellow future rulers of other kingdoms to give monsters equality.  It went through, and Storm held a huge bash, hoping it would break the ice between the two races.  Unfortunately, thanks to the crashing of the then-still-evil Meteor, it had failed spectacularly.  Giving up all hope that things would be better for them, all the monsters had left Mewni in search of better lives.  Marcia hadn't seen any of them since.

Until now.

"Hey!  You're that Marcia girl!", Lobster Claws exclaimed.  "What are you doing here?"

"I-I'm so sorry.", she stuttered.  "I didn't mean to break in—I-I didn't think anyone lived here.  This place looked abandoned when I first found it."

"No, no, no,", Lobster said, waving his claws about dismissively.  "What I mean is, shouldn't you be back at the castle with Storm?  Where is he?  Is he here?"

Marcia hung her head, trying to hide the incoming tears.  "I can't ever go back there."

"Oh, no!  Did you guys have a fight?", whimpered Big Chicken.

"The Dynamic Duo, splitting up for good?  Say it isn't so!", cried Beard Deer.

"That's not why I'm running away.", said Marcia.  "Its Queen Grimhelde."

The monsters, however fearsome they may be able to seem, all reeled back in horror at the mention of the dark monarch's name.

"Grimhelde?!"

Marcia nodded solemnly. "She's after me."

"Why is she after you?", Bearicorn asked.

Marcia sighed. "Ludo said it was because she's jealous of me."

"Ludo?" The tall bird man stepped forward. "You saw Ludo?"

"You know him?"

"He's my big brother."

Marcia stared at him with wide eyes. "He's your brother?"

"I guess I should introduce myself.", said the bird man, extending his winged arm to shake hers. "My name is Dennis Avarius. I'm Ludo's little brother."

She shook his hand with a smile. "I thought you looked a lot like him."

She hugged her knees to his chest. "Grimhelde hired him to kill me, but he couldn't go through with it. He said that Grimhelde won't stop until I'm dead, so he told me to run away and never come back." She scanned the familiar faces. "But enough about me! What are you guys doing back? I thought you guys left."

"We did.", said Boo Fly. "But a little after, we were contacted by this guy named Eclipse. He said that changes were on the horizon for monsters on Mewni. He gave us his guarantee."

"Eclipse Dragonfly contacted you?", Marcia cried, sitting up straighter in bed. "I didn't even know he was still on Mewni."

"Eclipse Dragonfly?", Buff Frog cried, surprised. "Eclipse, King of Darkness? That Eclipse? But he died three hundred years ago."

"Actually, he didn't.", Marcia began to explain. "He's been alive all this time. Rhombulous froze him in his crystals for the past three centuries as punishment for his 'crimes'." Marcia used air quotes for that last one.

"You mean falling in love with a monster?"

"Yes. But Storm pushed for him to have a fair trial, and he was set free. He actually helped Storm save Mewni from Mr. Heinous."

"Anyways, we just got back to Mewni.", Boo Fly explained. "We settled back into our old house."

"You guys used to live here?"

"Yes. This is old monster village.", Buff Frog explained.  "All monsters live here in peace, hidden from Mewmans, for many centuries."

"Its perfect!", Marcia cried. "Is there any chance I can stay with you guys? The Queen will never find me here!"

"Of course!", Lobster said. "We haven't forgotten everything you and Storm have done for us monsters! You're welcome to stay as long as you want."

Just then, all thirteen of Buff Frog's tadpoles appeared out of nowhere and jumped up on the bed, falling on top of Marcia. "Hi, guys!", she giggled. "I missed you, too!"

Dennis furrowed his brow.  "I dunno, you guys.  Isn't it kinda risky to have a targeted woman hiding with us?"

"What if I earn my keep?", asked Marcia, pleading with him.  "I can clean the house for you while you're gone, and even cook for you."

Now this really peaked their interest.  "COOK?!"

She nodded.  "Yes!  I can make meatloaf, tomato soup, my special nachos, chocolate pudding—"

"CHOCOLATE PUDDING?!", exclaimed the monsters.

Beard Deer raised his hand high in the air.  "I vote that she stays!"

At once, all his peers mimicked his raised arm, even Buff Frog's little tadpoles.

"Than I guess its settled!", said Dennis.  "She stays with us!"

"HOORAY!  SHE STAYS!"

Marcia leapt off the bed and hugged Dennis.  "Thank you!  I promise, you won't regret it!"