Pre-A/N:

Okay, this chapter is pretty dark, well, darker than the canon, but there will be no violence. Also Gustav is not appearing in this chapter instead I swapped him with another character. Read and find out who it is! Hope you like it!

It was a beautiful Saturday morning in the small town of Echo Creek, Marco woke up in bed, just like any other mornings, doing his natural morning routine. However, the house was ominously quiet this morning, no sign of Star or her parents anywhere. The prince began to worry and immediately ran downstairs, where he saw didn't expect.

"SURPRISE!" The Butterflys shouted, with a banner saying "Surprise Marco!" and confettis was flying in the air.

"Hey guys, what's the celebration? It's not my birthday or Star's birthday, is it?" Marco asked.

"No Marco, it's your 50th day on Earth. We just want you to celebrate it and to say thank you." Star stated.

"Thank you? For what?" The prince asked in confusion.

"For everything. Ever since you came here, Star has been less destructive and more responsible and the house is more organized. Thank you for that." Moon stated.

"Wait, am I really so destructive before he came?" Star asked in embarrassment, her mother nodded, making her more embarrassed than ever.

"Here, Marco, my boy. Give your future-father-in-law a hug." River stated as he embraced the prince tightly.

"Yeah. Wait, what?" Marco asked in confusion. Moon coughed and glared at her husband, making the latter correct his statement.

"Uh, I mean, Exchange student father. You are like a son to me, Marco." Mr Butterfly stated. The prince then awkwardly hugged Star's dad. Thankfully, before the awkwardness could last, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" Star said in a sing-a-song voice. When she oppened the door, she squealed in excitement as she saw the person entering the door. It was a girl with a green dress and long thin purple pigtailed hair.

"Greetings, my fellow explorers! It is I-" The girl shouted

"Mina Loveberry! You're back!" Star shouted.

"You're so right I am. I've traveled far to the ends of the Earth and back to reach this place." The girl, Mina, stated.

"What?! My favorite exchange student is back?!" River shouted as he pulled away from Marco and darted towards Mina.

"Oh great. That scoundrel Mina is back." Mrs. Butterfly said sarcastically.

"Um, who is she, Mrs. Butterfly?" Marco asked.

"Oh Marco, no need to be formal. You can call me, Moon or Mom, whichever is more comfortable for you." Moon kindly said.

"Okay, Mrs. Moon. Who is the new girl?" The prince asked, as he pointed at Mina.

"Oh, that is Mina Loveberry. She's a foreign exchange student that used to live here with us." Moon stated.

"Um, how many foreign exchange student did you have before me?" Marco asked.

"Fourteen. We hosted fourteen exchange students different countries. Each of them is has a picture on this wall." Moon said as she pointed at the wall full of pictures. Marco looked at the photos and examined each one.

"They all seem nice. But why aren't you so happy to see Mina again?" The prince asked.

"Well, of all the students we've hosted, Mina had been the most destructive of them all. She makes my daughter even more stubborn and more destructive than ever. But I couldn't do anything to stop her since both my husband and my daughter loves the way she acts." Mrs. Butterfly stated, as she and Marco looked at Mina.

"I have brought gifts for everyone, from every country I've visited. But before I give it to you, let's all stay away from the door." The explorer said as she led both Star and Mr. Butterfly in the kitchen. Then she immediately came back and closed the door and window frames, before heading back to the kitchen. Both the prince and Mrs. Butterfly stared at her actions in confusion.

"Well, that was strange." Moon stated, as both she and Marco headed to the kitchen.

"I have presents for all of you; for my favorite exchange dad, a viking helmet from scandivania." She stated as she handed over the helmet.

"Oh, it fits me well. Thank you." River said as he wore the helmet.

"For you my mud sister; a new headband. This one is a pinecone." She said as she handed over the headband to Star.

"Aw, I'm gonna call you Davey." Star stated to the inanimate pinecone in the headband, then she quickly pull out a marker and drew it a face. "Aw, he likes it." She stated, the other people in the room just stared at her in confusion.

"Anyway, for you my precious, exchange mother, I give you my most beautiful present I could ever give." Mina stated, as she pulled a necklace of sparkling jewelry from her bag. All of the people in the room, except Mina stared at it in amazement.

"A really beautiful diamond necklace and it's 100% real." The explorer said as she gave it into her "exchange mother" .

"Oh, thank you, Mina. But this all seems to be really expensive, how did you afford all of this?" Mrs. Butterfly asked.

"Oh let's just say, I have my ways." Mina said with a small hidden smirk, no one seemed to notice this except Marco. Then the explorer faced the prince.

"And for you I have; nothing! I don't even know you existed!" Mina said with a laugh. Star quickly approached the prince to comfort him.

"That's okay, Marco. You're a rich prince from Terra, you don't need gifts." She said comfortingly.

The word "rich" seem to catch Mina's attention as she turned around and faced the prince. "Wait, where are you from?" She asked Marco, though Star is the one who answered.

"He's from Terra, it's a place in another dimension and the only way to go there is-" Before the girl could even finish her statement, the prince quickly covered her mouth.

"Nothing! There is no way to get there!" He quickly blurted out before facing Star. "Star, can I talk to you for a moment?" He then took her away from the explorer.

"Star, I don't trust Mina. I feel something different about her, so could you please hide anything related to magic and Terra, please?" Marco pleaded.

Star just nodded at his request since this is the first time the prince asked for something, she couldn't deny his request.

"Thanks, Star. I knew I could count on you." The prince stated, making the girl smile.

They both return to the kitchen where Mina is busy taking things from her bag.

"So, uh, Mina, where are you from?" Marco asked.

"Oh, I am an explorer. I travel to different places, especially Asia. Having said that, I brought some of their foods like..." She stated as she took something from her bag.

"Japanese Mooncake!" She shouted as she threw the mooncake at Mr. Butterfly whom manage to catch it in his mouth.

"Hm, delicious!" River stated.

"Dumplings!" Mina shouted as she threw the dumplings at Star, who managed to catch it and took a bite.

"Hm, tasty." Star said.

"I also brought some Filipino adobo, chinese pancit and a chocolate cake. The cake is homemade." Mina stated.

"They all seemed delicious, Mina. But how did you afford all of this ingredients?" Moon asked.

"I told you, I have my ways." The explorer said with a small maniacal chuckle. Marco started to be weirded out by her actions.

"Anyway, Bon appetit" She said.

"I don't know what that means but I'll eat." Star stated as she started eating.

"Star, it's french for enjoy your meal." Moon said.

"Okay!" The girl replied to her mother.

The next day, Marco walked down in the stairs, and a smile began to form in his face when the Butterflys greeted him with another surprise, only this time it's not for him. His smile turned into a frown when he red the banner, it said, "Happy second day, Mina!" with balloons and confetti everywhere. It got worse when the Butterflys started to bond happily with her, even the stoic Moon is starting to like her.

So grumpily Marco plopped down the sofa and started watching some movies in a television when he stumbled across something unusual.

"We interrupt this program for an important news, we have got news from other countries that a mysterious person is in the town of Echo Creek, this person has crimes including-" The television was suddenly turned off before it could finish the news. Marco turned and found the remote on the hands of the most unexpected person; Mina.

"Hey, I was watching that!" Marco protested.

"Why would you watch a boring old television if you have me to tell you stories." Mina stated.

"Yeah? Like what?" Marco challenged.

"Like my adventures at China." The explorer stated.

"Boring!" Marco said mockingly, making Mina snarl in irritation.

"I wish I could get rid of you." She muttered under her breath.

"Wait, what was that?" Marco asked as he did not clearly heard what the explorer had said.

"Nothing!" Mina stated as she began to join the Butterflys again and leaving her bag unattended.

Marco found it difficult to fight the urge to search her bag. He knew it was wrong to search or tamper with the things he did not own especially without permit. But due to Mina's mysterious personality, the prince is convinced to search her items. He found a few food items, a pack of clothing, an oddly shiny and probably expensive diamond and a rolled piece of paper. But no matter how much he searched, he found no wallet or any trace of money in her bag, making the prince wonder how she afford all of the things she have. He took the rolled paper and started unrolling it to find some clue. However, before he could fully unroll it, a pair of hands suddenly took it away from him. He turned around to see Mina looking annoyed at him.

"Do you know that it's wrong to take someone's items without asking them?" She asked.

"Um, yes but-" The prince was cut off by the explorer growling at him.

"Then quit it and mind your own business!" She yelled angrily, frightening Marco. Then she immediately as smiles when the Butterfly family called her.

"Hey, Mina come here! Make us more cake!" River shouted.

"Coming! My this family is full of pleasantness!" Mina said to herself as she walked towards the Butterflys, leaving Marco still stunned at what have just happened.

Mina then picked up a caked and walked towards Moon. "Oh my exchange mother, you should try this cake it's good." She stated.

"No, I'm full. But thank you." Moon stated.

"Well you really should eat!" The explorer said as she shoved the cake at her "exchange mother's" mouth despite her denial and protest, all the while, giving Marco a death glare. Moon tried to complain but found herself savoring the cake.

"That Mina is up to something and I'm gonna find out what it is!" Marco said to himself.

The next couple of days, the prince started spying on Mina from afar, with a pair of binoculars. At first he found Mina just doing completely mundane things like baking cake and taking pictures at the park or at the museum. But over the time, he found her doing completely unusual things like going out at night and having very sharp weapons, and it is still a mystery where she gets the gifts, especially the overly expensive looking ones. During his spying moments, Marco also stumbles upon weird situation, for instance, when he was spying on Mina he discovers that Brantley was also spying on him, while eating ice cream. However upon his discovery, Brantlely didn't attack or retreat but he did something instead.

"Gelato?" The large frog offered.

"Hard pass." Marco stated.

The days flew by and the prince got more and more pictures of Mina and have them strewn in red strings in a completely organized mess, and the prince, himself is getting exausted.

One night, while Marco is busy with thinking and theorizing what Mina is up to, the explorer and Star was hanging out in the roof of the house. Mina decided to step up with her plan.

"Well, you Butterflys are a lot of fun, except for that boy. What's his name again?" She asked.

"Oh, Marco?" The girl responded.

"Yeah, Marco. Where did you say he's from again?" The explorer asked.

"Sorry Mina, but I can't tell you. I promised Marco not to tell anyone where he is from. He is sometimes paranoid and doesn't trust people that much. Maybe that's why he doesn't have much friends." Star stated.

"Wait, that does mean you don't trust me?!" The explorer shouted while acting hurt.

"Wait! It's not that, it's just-" The girl didn't have the chance to finish her statement as Mina started shouting at her.

"Well, why don't you trust me? I thought we were best friends. If you don't trust me, then fine. I'll go!" The explorer said as she stood up and is ready to leave.

Star can't choose upon telling a secret or keeping her word. If she told her the secret, Mina will like her and they will be best friends, but it will make Marco angry at her. Then again, if she kept her word, Mina will leave and Marco will thank her. Her mind was racing with so many thoughts but due to Mina leaving, she took one poorly made decision.

"Wait! I'll tell you! just don't leave!" The girl shouted in desperation, making the explorer turn back at her.

"So..." Mina started.

"He's from Terra. It's a magical place in another dimension. Where king and queens still rule the land and gold is used for trading." Star blurted. Hearing that, Mina looked at her with a sly smirk.

"That place looks rich... in natural places." The explorer said.

"Yes, it is." Star stated.

"How do we get there?" Mina asked.

"Well, the only way to get there is through dimensional portals, created by dimensional scissors, Marco have one." The girl stated.

"Well, he wouldn't mind if we borrow it, right?" Mina stated while nudging the girl.

"Yeah, I think so..." Star said half-heartedly.

"Well, you thought right." Mina stated, as they both let the night pass by.

The next morning, Star walked towards Marco's room and knocked. "Hey Marco, it's me, Star. May I talk to you for a moment?" She asked. There was no response.

The eerie silentness worries the girl. The door creaked open as she tried to open it but other than that there was pure silence. "Marco?" The girl said in a worried tone, then suddenly someone grabbed her inside and the door slammed shut.

She looked at the one who grabbed her and saw that it's none other than the prince himself. Marco looked exhausted and physically tired from fatigue, making Star worry more.

"Whoa Marco, what happened to you?!" The girl asked.

"I've been up for days spying at Mina and I'm still not tired!" Marco shouted, though he is obviously tired.

"Marco Diaz! What did I tell you about tiring your body?!" Star shouted quite motherly.

"I know, Mom. But I can't stop now, I'm very close to finding what Mina is plotting." The prince said to the girl, not realizing he called her, Mom. He then immediately got back working on the photos in the wall. "She's up to something terrible, Star. I can feel it." He stated as he took up some random photos.

"She's hiding something, everything she does, doesn't make any sense. She's frequently going to a museum and she's packing an axe, Star. An axe! You need to stay away from her until I figure out what's she's plotting! Don't trust her, Star. Never trust her." He stated before facing the wall and working with the photos again.

"Marco! Just because you don't trust the person, means they're evil. You are acting very strange and you're maybe just jealous of her." Star stated.

"This isn't an act of jealousy, Star. I know that she's plotting something despicable and it's up to me to keep you and you're family safe." The prince said.

"Marco, you're acting paranoid again! No one is in danger, and you just lack sleep. You need to rest and keep away from this investigation stuff."

"I told you, I don't need sleep and I am not paranoid!" He shouted as his eye twitched involuntarily.

Star just let out a sigh. "Marco, you're not thinking right, Mina is our friend and not our enemy. You just need some rest. You looked so pale and tired." She said as she guided the prince.

"But Mom-"

"No buts, Marco Diaz. You must sleep, understand?"

"Yes, Mom."

"Good. And quit calling me Mom. It feels weird." Star stated.

"I'll leave you some toast and orange juice downstairs if you need to eat. Oh and if you need me, I'll be in the Isolation Point with Mina. It's a place where no one can hear you scream... with enjoyment." She said as she left the room.

A few seconds later, she pokes her head back to the room. "Oh and I'm borrowing your dimensional scissors. Bye!"

It took a full minute before Marco fully comprehend what she said. Then suddenly a realization hit him. He began to fully analyze things as visions flew in his mind. They all make sense now. The gifts, the lies, the stories, the weapons, the threats, they all make sense now.

Mina is gonna mug Star!

She will use the weapons to eradicate Star and take her belongings while using the dimensional scissors to escape.

Marco wasted no time as he immediately ran down the house, though temporarily stopping to take the toast and juice Star left for him.

He ran fast outside the house but no matter how fast he is he couldn't reach the car Star was in.

He immediately took out his scepter and casted a spell. "Turbo Eagle Summon!" He shouted, as a giant eagle came out of the scepter. The eagle made a sharp screech before grabbing him almost immediately and soared high into the air.

The eagle flew high in the gloomy sky and quickly gained on the car. Marco aimed at it and tried casting some spells to slow it down or stop it.

"Lightning Ice Transform." He shouted as the scepter shot out blue lightning but it missed the car and hit a few trees instead, thus freezing them completely. While Mina and Star are completely oblivious of his attempts.

The prince didn't give up after that as he immediately tried to cast another spell.

"Terrific Trapping Tapes!" He shouted as a fence of police tape suddenly appeared in front of the car. The car just rammed it anyway.

"Okay, let's get serious. Ultimate Stopping Hyperblast!" Marco shouted as he blasted a nearby bush, in immediately transformed into something else... a stop sign. Of course, Mina just drives past from the sign without having much care. "You've got to be kidding me!" Marco said in annoyance, then he readies his wand to cast another spell.

"Syrup Tsunami Shockwave!" He shouted, but before he could aim the wand, a flock of birds and a swarm of insects suddenly crashed at him. He accidentally pointed the wand at himself, thus blasting himself with sticky syrup. The eagle immediately disappears in a puff of smoke the moment the spell hit it, causing Marco to be dropped at mid air. Luckily some of the plants broke his fall but still caused pain. Despite the pain, he immediately stood up to find Star.

Meanwhile, Star and Mina had reached their destination, a huge terrifying and gloomy mountain. The car stopped and they quickly got off it. The explorer was glad her plan was working while the girl was starting to have regrets.

"Here we are, the Isolation Point." Mina said, as lightning flashed and thunder crashed, frightening Star a bit.

"Why does it feel so gloomy all of a sudden?" The girl wandered as she stepped towards Mina. "So what do we do now?" She asked.

"You open a portal, using the scissors you got from Mark and we will be doing business." The explorer stated.

"Marco, his name is Marco." Star said.

"Whatever. Just open up the portal already." Mina commanded, Star quickly complied as she ripped open a portal to somewhere else. She haven't visited Terra before so she don't know the exact location, but Mina doesn't know that. Then she became completely worried when the explorer started to draw an axe of out the bag. Then a downpour began.

"Wait, what's that even for?" Star asked.

"Oh, haven't I told you? We are going to plunder Terra." Mina said while taking the axe.

"What?! We can't steal from Terra! Stealing is wrong!" Star shouted.

"C'mon, Star. It's easy! We just need to take all the stuff without being caught. We could get anything we want. It's really fun!" The explorer stated. "Don't you like fun?"

"I do like having fun, but not this way, stealing is wrong, and it's bad! We can't take what is not ours, it's just not right!" Star shouted, while getting soaked by the rain.

"So you're not gonna join me? Fine then. But since you know too much, I'll just get rid of you!" Mina shouted. Thunder roared and lightning flashed, the wind howled visciously as the explorer raised her axe, ready to take the girl's life at all cost.

Just before she could bring down the axe, a magic blasts suddenly hit her hand, causing her to drop the weapon. Marco was standing afar with his scepter raised and smoking from the last spell he casted, fully wet from the rain. Mina clutched her hand in pain and glared at the prince.

"Mina, stay away from Star." Marco commanded.

"Marco!" Star shouted as she ran towards the prince.

"Star!" The prince shouted as he hugged the girl. "Are you okay? Did she hurt you?" he asked, Star just hid behind him.

"Marco, you're right! Mina is up to something terrible! She's wants to steal from Terra! We can't let her!" Star stated as she whimpered in fear.

"That's right! I want to plunder Terra, I want to take all of it's riches and leave it in ruins. My plan was perfect but you rejected me and you're a fool for not joining me!" Mina shouted.

Hearing that Marco's eye twitched, his fist clenched, his scepter glowed and his heart burned with anger. "You! You could've done anything bad too me or my kingdom! You could've stealed every ounce of gold on my kingdom or fooled anyone with your dirty tricks! But never, ever, ever, insult my best friend! Star is the best girl in the whole world and you have no right to judge her, you lunatic!" He shouted as he started blasting the explorer, whom he manage to hit in the right arm and the left leg.

The prince kept firing powerful beams of magic at Mina, which the explorer just easily evades. Just then, the explorer thought to fight back, causing her to throw the axe. Marco screams as he barely misses the axe, causing him to drop off from his serious mode and started to wimp.

"Star! This lady had really lost her marbles!" He shouted in fear.

"Oh I've got 'em right here." Mina stated as she revealed five marbles on her hand, one on each finger and threw them at the prince causing him to slip and fell unto his feet, dropping the scepter in the process.

Having no choice, Star immediately grabbed the scepter and started blasting Mina. To her surprise, she aimed better than the prince as she accurately hit Mina in the chest causing her to fall on her back. Lightning flashed and thunder roared, the downpour had stopped but the fog still present as Star looked menacingly at Mina.

"Surrender now, Mina. You are clearly outmatched!" She shouted as she glared threateningly at the explorer, whom just merely laughed at her. Then out of nowhere, Mina took out a pile of powder and blew them at Star, causing a puff of smoke that distracts and irritates the girl. "Ugh, where do you get all of this things?" She said in annoyance and irritation.

Then Mina stepped up and walked backwards to the edge of the cliff, with something hidden in her back.

Star wipes the powder out of her face and points the scepter at the explorer. "Give it up, Mina, You've

Star wiped off the powder from her face and pointed the scepter at the explorer.

"Give it up, Mina! You have no where to run!" She shouted.

"Oh, have I?" The explorer stated with a sly smirk as she reveal the dimensional scissors at her hand, causing Star to gasp.

"How did you get that?!" The girl shouted, however, Mina didn't answer as she just kept walking to the edge.

"Well you may have won this day, Star. But I will get you and someday you will regret not joining me. So long, Butterface." She stated as she gave one last mocking salute before letting herself drop off the cliff and rocket down at mid air. She then pulled of the scissors and created a portal to somewhere. As she entered the portal, however, the dimensional scissors got stuck on a twig, forcing her to leave it behind. Star watched how the explorer sunk into the portal, before completely vanishing in the air. The girl couldn't help but sigh of relief at Mina's disappearance but she is also a bit worried about the threat she got from the girl.

She walked towards Marco's still unconscious body and sat near him. "Marco, I just wanted to say sorry for not listening to you. I mean I have suspicion that Mina isn't gonna drag me to good things but I let her drag me anyway. I should've listen to you but it took me seeing Mina's true colors and battling her to realize, I was wrong, so sorry." Star apologized, then she heard snoring near her and saw the prince still asleep, still exhausted from his investigation. Star let out a giggle before laying down near him, only to stand up again and use the scepter to blast up a blanket she could lay on, before laying down near the prince again. Then sun shined gently at the two, Star didn't pay much care, not really noticing that for the first time in history, the sun brighten up the gloomy mood of the Isolation Point.

Post A/N:

This chapter is the last for today. I, honestly, want to update ten chapters for this day. Yes, ten! But I realized, it's impossible to write and post ten chapters at the same time, especially when you got a two week time limit, and less time to write. Writing takes some time and process for the story to be great. Anyway, the reason I want to post it all today is because today is my birthday! Hooray!

I'll be your expecting reviews and I also appreciate them. Also do you know where to post a fanart? I got a pencil sketched fanmade poster of "The Battle for Mewni." but I don't know where to post it. Any Ideas?

Anyway, that is all. The 13th Narrator signing out.