Summary:
The princess who hid away
Rhina sat awkwardly in her throne, a full three minutes had passed with no sign of Celena, or Rose … the crowd was getting antsy. "Where's the princess?" "Why would she not want the throne?" "Is the Rose Guard restarting the tradition of being late?" That last one might have been accurate.
"This had to happen, of course this just had to happen." Rhina mumbled to herself. "Because why not have the third most important day of my life start off late."
"These things happen sweetie." Her mom, showing off some of the years on her with gray hair and a few wrinkles, comforted her on her side.
"Easy for you to say, you've planned for everything to go your way since you were five." Rhina retorted.
"Four years and three quarters, but that's beside the point." She waved off. "The problem is you have to accept bad things may happen, and adapt to the situation at hand."
"Is this why aunt Dirhennia never visits?"
"Partially, it's mostly to her being a no good dirty forest hopping dirty ingrateful little-" Aunt Emily slapped the back of her head. "Sorry, force of habit. Point being that no matter when your daughter comes through that door, it will be amazing and unforgettable."
The door slammed open. "Sorry I'm late, we finally came to a compromise." Rose smiled, rolling in a giant pink ball so dark nobody could see inside of it. Everyone could only stare in silence as the ball came up to them. "And … open." The Rose Guard created a small opening, as her daughter's hand came through.
"Is it safe?" The voice of her daughter, Celena, asked with a weak voice full of hesitation and fear. "No one can see me?"
"No one can see you Celena, I swear. You're right next to your mother." Rose reassured before turning to them. "She was hiding under her bed and had this entire elaborate escape tunnel set up. Only caught up to her because she only dug halfway underground."
"Well at least we don't have to live with a missing line." Rhina chuckled at her own joke, even if Rose gave a choking noise for some strange reason. "Celena, do you swear to uphold the legacy of the Butterfly family?"
"... Do I have to?" She asked from within the ball.
"Oh corn, she's not going to make this easy." Rhina muttered to herself before forcing a smile on her face. "Celena, sweetheart, today is a big day for the both of us, and it can only conclude when you take the wand as your own." She said simply to her meek daughter.
"Oh, do you want to hold on to it for a little while longer?" Celena asked.
"That's not really an opti-we're getting off topic." Rhina shook her head. "I know this responsibility seems scary, but I'm still going to be queen for a few more years. You'll still have all that time to figure out what kind of ruler you wish to be."
"... Alright." The girl meekly grabbed the wand before retreating within a bubble. A lack of a father didn't do her wonders, especially when her beauty was so admirable, apparently, that people across the land seeked it. There was a flash, a transformation of a wand never seen before.
"Why is she hiding herself?" A man asked.
"Why was she so hesitant about taking the wand?" A woman asked.
"Do you think she has something stronger?"
"Do you think she's accumulating power?"
"Reveal to us your secrets, great Celena!" It didn't help that the genepool of Mewni was forged from the intelligence of a brick.
"Okay, that's enough ceremony for one day." Rose picked the bubble up and headed out the door. "The princess requires…privacy to restore her power." It concerned her just how easy it was for Rose to lie on the spot.
"Does that mean if no one gazes upon the princess she can wipe out monster kind!?" A woman shouted. "Quick, we must flee at once!" … Then again, much wasn't needed against these buffoons.
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Rose had experience with trying to get Butterfly's out of their comfort zone, but this was a special case where she felt like not even the next six thousand years could do much to help on that front.
It didn't help that Celena was a tiny princess, only reaching five feet. Had Rose been at her original height, she would've been concerned about stepping on the poor girl. "Celena … are you alright?" She asked. "You haven't come out of your room to eat."
"If I leave my room someone may come after me." She whimpered from inside.
"No one is that desperate." Rose smiled, turning around to find a butler with a pen and quill writing everything they were saying. "... Excuse me for a moment." She quickly ran forward and bubbled the man before gently tossing him out the window. "And if anyone did plan on coming, they'll have to get past my shield first." She reassured the princess..
"... Has anyone ever gotten past your shield?" Celena asked hesitantly.
The other diamonds have broken her bubbles before, but they were a factor currently not relevant to the conversation. "No one on Mewni has ever broken it, not even Mina Loveberry." Not for lack of trying on the maniac's part.
After a bit of silence she heard shuffling, followed by the unlocking of a bolt … and another … and a deadbolt … followed by a safe combination-wasn't that a recent invention in that high tech dimension Garnet visited? "…You may enter, but do it swiftly."
Rose took the chance, knowing she would likely have to fight her way into the room any other time and quickly closed the door. "Huh, so you like hiding in the dark too." Maybe there was a little more Dirhennia in her than they realized.
"Ah..no..just..it's a precaution. Dark spaces and places scare off people that might be curious about coming in." She explained, "I um … invented a spell that lets you see in the dark … if you want."
"No need, my body's made of solid light. I can see just fine, though it's nice to hear that you've been productive." Rose nodded as she looked at the walls, once again full of papers and clippings. "You share the butterfly trait of filling up the wall space as well."
"I'm sorry, it looks like a mess." The girl cried out, falling onto the bed. "I'm a failure everyone wants to talk to and stare at and I can't deal with it and everything is so tight and-"
"No, no, it's fine, it's a good thing that your doing this!" By the stars, this girl's confidence was shot to pieces. "Everyone's just curious about what you have to say. They just have…confusingly high expectations."
"I don't want to disappoint everyone, but I truly don't know what they want me to say." Celena got out her fan-wand and hid her face behind it. "I just write poetry in my down time, and there's nothing interesting there."
"Poems are nice." She smiled. "They convey the beauty of the world and life, and bring the history of the old to life …" The changing times and evolving future. "I can assure that the Mewmans will love whatever you have to say." Especially given that it didn't look like Celena would change much given how fried her nerves were.
Celena looked at her, before pulling out a piece of paper. "May I … tell you a piece?"
"Of course, feel free." She sat down on the edge of the bed, letting out a smile. "I'm sure it'll be amazing."
The princess stared at her, before giving a small clearing of her throat. "Mewmans and Monsters, two sides of a coin, violence forever as blood lets them join. War forever without a bed, until one group ends up completely dead."
That…was more painful to hear than she was prepared to handle. "That…was very…relevant to Mewman history, put very eloquently." Rose responded.
"Thanks, I try to take inspiration from everything around me." Celena nodded with a faint hint of a smile. "All parts of life have some sort of story to tell, I try to do my best to make sure I capture the words right."
"Has … gaining magic given you any perspective?" She asked with hesitation.
"A little …" She pulled out another paper. "Infinite well known as magic, the curse you give is quite tragic. Filling the egos within our head, mortal minds crumbling, dust surrounds the air and strikes you dead."
"Are there any poems you've written that don't foretell death by our own follies?"
"Umm …" She nervously searched through them. "Oh, I have one on the Commission." Celena said with a hint of desperation. "Facets of life given sentient thought, making all hope of change forever fraught. Your minds and hearts are so small, the path to connection with you so tall, an immortal plight few hope to Call."
"I will say this: your aunt Dirhennia would love to read these." She should plan to visit her more often. "If you do plan on showing these off to the kingdom, maybe start off with something a little more uplifting." Rose looked at the walls. "Like, what about this one?" She plucked off a random one.
"Oh..ah…that's…not so much a poem really…mom…she…I've noticed th-that she hasn't been super big on riddles, at least not as much as she was…recorded…to have…so I thought….I'd…look over a few that she left unfinished and…well..complete it…in my own way."
"So this is one of her prophecies?"
"Glosseryck said I have 'a knack' for this type of magic, said it blended naturally with my poem making." Celena shook her head before reading. "Come together, will two little stars, One from Mewni, another from afar. Be they foe, or be they friend, Beside each other until the end. Either darkness will cease. Or nothing will ever know peace, but on that day there will be a sight. That will bring about darkness or the light."
… Rose couldn't tell if it was just magical influence or she legitimately thought Mewni was a doomed planet. "You should..probably hold off on showing these types of poems for now."
"I know, I know, they paint a rather..bleak outlook." Celena sighed. "My mind tends to wander off on all the worst case scenarios. Writing them down in this sort of fashion helps bring me a little comfort though."
"Hey, it's fine." She gently rubbed the girls back. "Everyone has something they work through … just be glad you have a caring family, and no angry mewmans are hounding on the doors."
"Can you hear anything?" "Shut up, they'll hear us ."
"I've also been in the process of crafting a sound-proofing spell for my room." Celena responded as she hid under the sheets. "I'll need a little privacy for it though."
"No problem, happy to help." Rose smiled. She was never one for death and violence … but beating up a moron always calmed her nerves.
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Amethyst groaned. "Come on, do we have to come here?" She asked. "They just invented the radio, there's so many cool sounds to listen to." Humans may have been fragile and easily broken, but they were a hell of a lot more entertaining than this world of bores.
"Please Amethyst, don't cause a scene." Pearl rolled those snooty eyes at her as they watched fancy suits talk to each other for the eleventh-millionth time. "Rose is very close to the Royal family, and she wanted tonight to go as peacefully as possible."
"You know, this is the third time Celena hasn't come to a meeting." A snobby guy in a suit spoke up. "I'm starting to think she's not queen material. At least Rhina managed to do something for the Kingdom."
A woman in a green poofy dress was being held back by Rose as she was blocked from grabbing a sword. "Not the time to act on a whim."
"It's nothing serious, I assure you. I was just going to rearrange his face so he can experience what it's like for his head to be a living rubix cube!"
"Like mother, like daughter." Pearl groaned. "Keeping the Butterfly family's anger in check is already a troubling task in of itself, and we can't afford too much trouble to arise."
"Something you have a spotty record on." Amethyst turned to a lady with … fire on her head?
"Should we get some water?" She was pretty sure Rose said it was bad for things to burn.
"I don't recall asking your opinion on the matter, Heckapoo ." Pearl sneered at the name before turning to Amethyst. "And it's not needed. She's naturally a pyrotechnic nightmare, so there's no helping her."
"Oh, would you look at that, a curl out of place on Rose's hair." The lady retorted. "Maybe you should go fix it." Hekahoo teased Pearl, which was already a plus in Amethyst's book.
"Wow, you totally have Pearl's number. I can practically feel the thirst levels entire countries away." Amethyst complimented.
They turned down to look at her confused. "When did you join the team, half pint?"
"Around five to six hundred years ago." Amethyst answered without any issues. "I was in a dark place for a while, then Rose found me and took me in."
"Oh, was it bad before?"
"No, it was literally a dark place. I lived in a hole for a couple of centuries." Amethyst clarified. "Before, my entire world was made up of my sleeping rock, my climbing rock, my chewing rock, and rocky, the annoying rock that lived across from my hole."
"Ah …" The lady nodded, looking around. "So … you find this place boring too?"
"To. No. End." She groaned exasperated. "I love Rose and all, but you could not for the life of me force me to understand half the political mambo jumbo these guys speak." Amethyst grunted. "I thought parties were about chocolate and hitting people over the head, not standing around collecting dust like statues.
"Hmm … wanna go ride dragocycles and set a forest on fire?" Never before has she bonded so fast to anyone other than Rose, and she didn't even know what a dragocycle was.
"What, no." Pearl grabbed her. "You can't trust them."
"Isn't Rose all about bonding with life forms of all kinds?" Amethyst retorted. "If she can sleep with dudes three times her size, then I can go commit arson with clearly the only girl here with a sense of style."
"Thank you." The flaming girl patted her head. "Not everyone can be as cool as me … although td dubs, ignore the rock guy with snake arms, he's really lame."
"I'm standing, right here!" Some dude with a Rhombus head yelled out indigenously.
"That's basically my advice whenever we take Pearl out in public." Amethyst snickered.
"First time I've empathized with a member of the Magical High Commission." The pale gem grumbled. "Amethyst, if there was ever a time you heed my warnings, let it be now and tread carefully with her."
"Relax P, don't get your pointy nose in a twist." Amethyst waved off. "We're just two bored people that want to cause a little mayhem here and there to relieve some stress."
"Yeah, chill out, you walking pile of salt." The fire lady snorted. "I have a life outside of the commission, this is completely separate from anything work related."
"As long as you don't cause too much trouble for Mewni, I don't care that much." A talking skull shrugged. "Now we should get back to the meeting at hand, the Lucitors are bad mouthing Rhina for the death of her husband."
"I Will skin you alive for what he did to my baby!" Some old chick with a chair over her head tried to throw it at some demon looking chick.
"Mother, please, restrain yourself!" The girl on the green poofy dress tried to restrain her.
"Like daughter, like mother." Garnet noted as she messed with her shades.
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Toffee screamed out in agony, trying his best to ignore the pain … which was hard when you were sticking your arm inside of magma. "FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK!" While he knew the true secret to bring out the strength of the Septari to its full potential … The process wasn't an easy one.
One minute passed, two minutes passed. At three minutes he couldn't take it anymore as he reeled it back, the searing hot magma dripping down his bones. He laid against the hard rock, letting it burn his back far less than what he just experienced.
"Toffee." He glanced back at his friend, a fellow Septari that looked at him with concern. He needed a spotter in case he fell into the magma itself, and they provided their job well. "Are you … sure this is what you want?"
"Of course, it's everything that I could ever want." Despite the pain, he managed to let out a smile. "Tell me, Rasticore… why do we keep losing to Mewmans?" He asked.
"They have swords and armor?" Rasticore asked.
"Of course they do … but we heal." He reminded the man. "Even Solaria had trouble killing us if Seth's stories are to be believed … so why was it that we were forced back?"
They have bigger armies?" Toffee shook his head. "The Rose Guard?" He once again shook his head. "Magic?"
"Close , but no. It's pain." He responded. "It's a natural instinct to help one survive, and a good one to note when something is wrong … but we can heal from any natural danger. It's a limiter to the Septari, holding us back … if we have an army of soldiers that can treat having their head cut off as a minor inconvenience, there is nothing to stop us from going even further."
"I guess that's a fair point." Rasticore thought it over, even if he looked reluctant. "But aren't you afraid of the Butterfly family? They can do some pretty freaky stuff with that wand."
"They're only a threat to low class monsters. If we can heal from simple parts, there's nothing they can throw at us that can scare me." He smiled. "Can you imagine it, Rasticore, a world without Mewmans, with monsters on top, with that bitch of a Rose Guard in the ground."
"Wait, the Rose Guard?" He glanced at Rasticore, who had a shocked look on her face. "But … she's helped monsters."
"She's a tool that'll weaken our resolve the more we come to rely on her." Toffee explained. "As much as I admire Seth, I will not compromise myself as he did. I will leave nothing to chance." The absolute mockery of relying on a woman that supported peace … What a joke. "Now, I'm going back for round two." He took a deep breath and panted both of his feet into the lava. He only hoped this would inspire those like Rasticore. He had a habit of thinking too small and settling when he could have more.
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Celena took some deep breaths. She had to make a run to the kitchen for food, only to be ambushed for more 'secrets' halfway there. She just hoped no one would be mad at her for disappearing … or sending that one man through a wall. "Why does everyone have to assume I'm special?" She asked no one.
"Because you give off that mysterious aura that makes people think you know more than you do." She jumped as she turned around, seeing Glossaryck, raiding the fridge as he was known to do. "I tend to do the opposite, keep people on the edge so everyone doesn't swarm me 24/7."
"Why can't I be as unlikeable as you?" She asked in a bit of despair.
"It's a talent, though you're talented in other ways, I assure you." The genie complemented. "So, what brings you here?"
"Aren't you all knowing?" She asked curiously.
"Yeah, but asking queens tends to be less creepy for them specifically." She always forgot underneath the jerkish exterior, there was someone kind underneath it. "Chocolate pudding?"
"Oh, ah, thank you." It wasn't what she planned on eating, but she was here and staying in one place for too long was a risk, especially when Rose wasn't around to keep everyone else away. "I just needed to clear my head. The rumors have only gotten worse, they think I hold some sort of comic trove of secrets."
"Technically you do." She stared at him with confusion as she swallowed. "You're eating it right now."
She looked baffled as she stared at the cup in her hand. "The..pudding?"
"It's the best mental enhancer that exists in the universe." Glossaryck explained. "Lost within the states of matter, not quite a solid but not quite a liquid either, thus it's capable of many miraculous things."
"... And you're giving it to me … when I really don't want to have secrets that people are looking for?" She asked hesitantly.
"I'm only giving you a light nudge." Glosseryck went on. "You said you wanted a clearer head, well this will clear quite a few things up."
"That's not what I want…oh dear." This wasn't good. "Okay, okay! I just have to not think about anything or anyone and my mind will remain blank!" It would be fine, it would be fine, just keep it blank.
"Celena, there you are!" Rose's comforting voice spoke from behind her, and for a split second, the queen forgot what she was supposed to be doing.
She turned to wave hello, and suddenly her mouth felt like it had a will of its own. "Four colors, four diamonds, shining in the stars, the pink came to Mewni, the realm of the bizarre." She could see Rose's eyes widen. "But seeing life bloom and disillusioned with power, now fights for it with the name of a flower." … Hey, that was a pretty good poem, maybe she could workshop it later and-NOT THE TIME!!
"You..you know.." Rose began to stutter.
"No, no I don't..I..I..oh dear, oh my corn…" Celena began to spiral in nervousness. "Please don't hurt me, it was an accident, I swear!"
"I'm not going to hurt you." Rose backed herself to a wall, arms raised in surrender. "Trust me Celena, I would never hurt someone as kind and sweet as you are, please believe me."
"It's just…out of anything I could've learned about you…this was far from what I expected." Celena kept holding herself, now afraid to look at anything at all. "You don't look like a big scary space tyrant."
"Shapeshifting … it helps." Rose answered. "I can pretty much choose any look as long as it's a shade of pink … also the less I look like my old self, the better."
"That sounds … extremely stressful." Celena cautiously approaches the towering pink figure.
"Meh, the stress died down after five hundred years." They answered with a smile. "Of course, not everyone has the same luxury, but I try to help with it when needed."
"You put a lot on your shoulders." Celena kept going. "Helping my family, Mewni, and Earth. "
"Well nobody makes it easy … as long as there's peace in the end, I don't mind a bit of pressure." Rose grinned. "I can't crack after all."
Celena blinked in confusion. "Didn't grandma Crecenta say there was a story about you bursting in outrage against the Commission?"
"Oh…that was…nothing important." The pink woman said, once again looking nervous. "That I can assure you."
Celena knew all about nervous tells, so she knew instantly Rose was lying. "Rose, I'm sure whatever it was can'tcan't nearly be as.." She touched the knight, and once again, her mouth started moving on its own. "Birthed in shame, society to blame, the darkest light was hidden away. To avoid blame and doom, another tree was bloomed, leaving all but one to assume."
"... Was this a bad spell or …"
"Bad pudding." Celena glared at Glossaryck before groaning. "Is everything in my life a lie?"
"The love you have with your family is never a lie." She said, putting a hand on Celena's shoulder. "Never doubt that, alright?"
"Alright." She nodded meekly. She was already questioning so much today, she needed a reprieve in something positive.
"Good … now if you excuse me, I'm about to see what happens when a Diamond punches a genie."