Star vs the Forces of Evil: The Ballad of Earth-Mewni

Episode 25: Mechanical Mockery

A little more than a week passed since the Monster Temple incident. Summer vacation was wrapping up, which meant all the kids & teens out of school would soon be returning to school. This meant all of Star & Marco's friends...but not Star & Marco themselves. Marco wasn't going back to school because he had already acquired his high school equivalent diploma while on Mewni, and Star wasn't going back to school because...because Earth high school was never meant to be a permanent fixture of Star's life. Plus, given the circumstances of how she left Earth abruptly and missed an entire school year's worth of work...it just didn't make sense, at least in the eyes of her family. But that was still being sorted out by them.

In the meantime, Star & Marco hung out on Marco's bed, resting comfortably with each other & Mariposa in between them. Star's boredom & irritability were paramount; Marco couldn't possibly ignore it. "You doing okay?"

She groaned, but a playful groan nonetheless. "I think I finally know what it's like to be a real teenager." Was her response.

"By that you mean...?'

"I mean that I'm bummed that summer's almost over." She nuzzled herself ever closer to her hubby-to-be. "Feels like it went by so far and dragged on so long at the same time. How does that happen?!"

Marco mustered the best shrug he could underneath the weight of his resting wife-to-be. "That's just the beauty of being a teenager, I guess."

"You know what the suckiest part of this all is?" She lamented. "All of our friends are going back to school and we're not and we won't be able to see them most of the time. They'll be busy with school work or something. We won't get to hang out as much anymore."

"Hey..." He sat up & met her lips, gently pecking them. "We still have some time before they have to go back to school. There's still time to hang out with them."

"That's true, I guess." She sat up as well, holding Mariposa in her hands. "Okay, we totally have to have another sleepover with them at some point."

"Uhhhh..." That gave Marco some pause. Sure, magic was gone - as far as they knew - but the memory of the Box of Truth and the trouble it caused them all. "You sure?"

She playfully glared at him. "Dude, come on. No magic, no Box of Truth, which means no magic weirdness to make things uncomfortable for all of us." Her logic was quite sound. "It'll just be a regular old sleepover."

"I guess you're right..."

"Plus..." She continued in a sing-song tone. "You'll get to see Jackie in her sleepwear again..." She winked; Star always had a blast teasing her boyfriend about his lingering sexual attraction to his former girlfriend, just as he did her.

"That is a big plus..."

"And it's just nice to have all of our friends with us, having a sleepover or...or..." Her mind started to drift, reminiscing on parts of her past; specifically, she reminisced about all of the interdimensional adventures she had with Marco.

"What?"

It was then, without prompt, that Star stood up off the couch, still holding a now-giggling Mariposa in her hands. "You know, it just occurred to me. Our friends never really joined us on too many magical adventures. Well, I guess Janna did, but those weren't really "adventures," those were menial tasks that I had to get done because the fate of my kingdom rested on my shoulders or some garbage."

"You're nostalgic for the old days?"

"Only for the days where we could go on insane adventures together and the only thing at stake was some stupid sandwich or something."