Prologue

The fire blazed with an uncontrolled fury, as wood and cement alike crackled and disintegrated under the intense pressure of the blaze. The little house, once cozy and kept, now fell to ruin as flames consumed every part of the country home. Above the scene of destruction, a lone moon shone in the night sky, watching over the scene as a large pillar of smoke rose up from the flames to greet it and the rest of its bright shining companions. The flames in the house grew and grew, spreading through the once peaceful house, bathing all inside in its hot breath of destruction that wasted no time in devouring its prey. Finally, with a mighty crack the house gave in to the fires uncontainable will and collapsed in on itself, allowing itself to be consumed by the flames.

…

Farther from the blaze, a lone monster walked alone, his back to the smoke and ashes that were slowly rising up into the night sky, with no signs of stopping. The monster in question was a tall, muscular frog. Buff Frog, as many had become accustomed to calling him, wore a green military like top with a skull belt wrapped tightly around his waste, the muscles that made up his name sake visible underneath his shirt. His normally green body was, at the moment, covered head to toe in soot making his features difficult to make out in the darkness of the night. He panted heavily his eyes darting around constantly as he walked, every little noise making him jump.

The reason for his paranoia seemed to be the small bundle he held securely in his beefed up arms, wrapped up tightly in a soft, red blanket. Despite the muscles that coated every inch of the monster's body, he held the bundle gently, letting it rest safely against his chest. As he slowly pushed on through the forest, fighting branches and bushes alike out of his way, he was extra careful not to let the cloth covered object get hit with any stray branches as he battled his way through the unforgiving vegetation.

Eventually, the frog monster found the path of resistance lightening its hold as, with one more mighty push, he became freed from the forest's entrapment now standing in the middle of a silent clearing. He took a moment to catch his breath, checking over the bundle in his arms for any damages. Unlike the monster, the bundle was free from any soot or ash, the cloth clean and fresh in the monster's arms. As carefully as he could, he turned it over until a face could be made, peeking through the swaddling cloth. It was a boy, not even a year old, his tanned face peaceful as he slept. Small, tufts of brown hair rested on his forehead, his normally brown eyes closed tightly. A small mole was just under his left eye, but that was easily overshadowed by the twin suns on both cheeks, which even now glowed bright red in the darkness of the night. The cloth slowly rose and fell with his breath as he slept, the child's mind at peace unaware of the disaster only a short distance away and how close he had come to being a part of it.

The monster smiled at the cute, little bundle of joy he held, a smile of both joy and sadness. "No worry, Marco," the monster said in a thick Russian accent. "I will keep you safe. You will live normal life with other Mewmans. This is promise." The baby moved a little, snuggling closer to the monster, seeking his warmth and the frog smiled, pulling the blanket a little tighter around the baby.

Suddenly, the baby became uncomfortable, squirming around in his grip, no longer content in his dream-like state. Buff Frog was confused for a moment, trying to shush the squirming child, until he heard the snap of a branch behind him. Buff Frog turned, already on guard, holding Marco as close to him as possible. He squinted trying to see the source of the sound, until another monster emerged from the shadows. This one was a tall, lizard-like creature dressed in a finely made suit, one you would expect a business man or lawyer to wear. But this monster was neither.

Toffee, in fact, was the newest leader of the monsters and Buff Frog's boss, taking over after the old leader had passed away under "mysterious circumstances". Very little was known about Toffee, due to his often distraught nature, showing very little emotion towards anything. Very few monsters were even sure how he had gotten his position, most of it hidden in rumors and secrets. But none the less, Toffee had assured the monsters that he would bring them into a new age of freedom and help them gain justice from the Mewmans who had stolen their land. And, so far, he had yet to go back on his word, keeping true to all his promises. In no time at all, Toffee had already begun making major changes in the monster's poor living conditions, providing his fellow monsters with food and essentials that many of them had gone without all their lives, building confidence and hope in their new leader and his intense methods.

But for all the good things Toffee had done for his fellow monsters, an equal number of bad were being inflicted on the Mewmans. With Toffee in power, no Mewman was safe. Monsters, who had once been submissive and domicile, were now openly attacking them, killing any group who wandered too far from the safety of the Butterfly Kingdom and into their land. And Toffee not only encouraged it but demanded that they act out more, to take back their land from the "monsters" who had stolen it in the first place. The attacks, for the moment, were random and not very common place, just the monsters defending what they knew was theirs. But there was no doubt the relations between the Mewnians and the monsters were about to take a turn for the worse, as Toffee continued to poison his monster's minds with hatred. And the monsters, tired of oppression and seeking prosperity, seemed to be buying his lies, as their contempt grew every day and acts of violence became more and more frequent.

Buff Frog, a trusted and well-known member of the monster's society, however, openly defied Toffee's plans coming to the defense of the Mewmans, claiming them to be capable of understanding and change. His words mostly fell on deaf ears, but a few monsters were getting confused at the frog's statements, still unsure what the right solution was.

And so here the two were face to face with what they considered their equivalent rival. Buff Frog stared open daggers at the lizard, while the more controlled Toffee, only gave him a look of passive indifference, a look he seemed to have mastered.

"Buff Frog fancy seeing you here this late at night. I hope you weren't planning on running off on me, now were you?" he said, his voice as emotionless as his face. Buff Frog felt his anger boil at the mere sight of the lizard, but he tried desperately to keep it in check, hoping to find a way out of this situation with the least amount of trouble.

"Toffee," Buff Frog greeted, but the anger and suspicion in his tone was as obvious as his accent and Toffee gave the slightest hint of a smile, enjoying watching Buff Frog's armor break. "What are you doing here?"

` "I saw the smoke and came to see what I could do to help," Toffee reasoned, gesturing to the smoke that still rose up from the distance. Buff Frog followed his gesture, but only gave him a glare in return, not believing a word the monster was saying.

"Really, you come to help," Buff Frog asked accusingly, but Toffee showed no emotion over the frog's cold demeanor simply replying, "Yes of course, but it seems I was too late. A nasty fire broke out and completely destroyed the home I'm afraid, killing everyone inside. But it seems you were more successful than I," he continued, his eyes coming to a stop at the still-kicking baby, his face morphing into one of dark hatred for a second, before immediately shifting back to the blank expression he normally wore. .

"Yes," Buff Frog began, the suspicion never leaving his tone, keeping a secure grip on the struggling Mewman child, who was quite uncomfortable with Toffee's lingering gaze on him. "I see fire and manage to pull baby out before it harmed."

"Curious, cause it seems that the boy has not a burn anywhere on him, nor any soot or ashes unlike yourself. It seems almost as if he was pulled out before the fire. But then, that would make no sense." Buff Frog's eyes narrowed at the comment. Toffee and he held a glare between each other for a moment, before Toffee suddenly shrugged the subject off like it was nothing. "No matter," he said, reaching out a hand to Buff Frog, making Marco scream even more. "Give me the boy so that I may... handle the situation."

"Handle?" Buff Frog spat, unable to contain his hatred anymore. "You will kill boy."

"I will do what's necessary," Toffee replied, his voice suddenly becoming hard. "You know what our goal is, Buff Frog. You know what must be done."

"He is innocent child-"

"It is a Mewman," Toffee hissed, anger in his tone for the first time since the conversation started. Buff Frog jumped at Toffee's sudden rage, Marco's body shuddering against him. "There are no innocent Mewmans."

Buff Frog stared at Toffee silently, his eyes dark with hatred as he softly whispered, "Perhaps then you would like to explain to other monsters why you kill Mewman baby. A baby under the name Diaz no less."

Toffee's seemed visibly unsettled at the mention of the name, trying his best to remain expressionless. All monsters knew the weight the name carried. The Diaz's had dedicated their lives to peace amongst the monsters and had become a symbol of harmony between the two races. No monster would dare to indicate harm against any under that name, their family alone free from the monster's revenge, including Toffee's. Toffee considered his options. He had only recently become leader of the monsters and his lack of experience was beginning to show. Though the monsters followed him, they still seemed weary to give him their full support. He didn't have the same level of trust Buff Frog held amongst the monsters and if he was going to make any progress he needed Buff Frog. And things were even more shakey now than ever before, as recently a new threat to his position arose when that pipe-squeak Ludo had began wrangling his own group of monsters from under Toffee's nose, attempting to claim himself as leader. Though he doubted it would go anywhere, Ludo's name was well-known amongst the monsters and he needed Buff Frog's own influence to keep them under control. Moreso, Toffee's more violent methods were beginning to be off-putting to the other monsters, none having the stomach for the more radical approach to "freedom fighting". His want to eradicate as many Mewmans as possible, putting many on shaky footing. Though they wanted change they weren't quite ready to start a war against the Mewmans. They were all new to killing, none really sure if his approach was a good one. If word got out that Toffee had killed a defenseless child, even a Mewman, it could be the end of all he had accomplished. As much as he hated Buff Frog, he had no choice but to comply.

Buff Frog knew he had won, as Toffee's face slipped back into its indifference once again, all anger and venom gone from the monster's features, his hands behind his back. "Very well," Toffee said his voice showing just the slightest hint of anger beneath it. "You may keep the child. But you both now belong to me. You will remain by my side and do exactly as I ask."

"No! I must raise Marco away from monsters-"

"If you wish for the boy to live, you will not question my decision. He will abide by my rules and remain so until I see fit. Do we have an understanding?"

Buff Frog felt his anger growing, his grip tightening on Marco just slightly. He and Toffee shared a gaze, one that seemed to last a lifetime, both hard and cold, both waiting for the other to yield. The only sound in the forest was the moans and grunts of the restless boy in the frog's arms. Finally, Buff Frog looked away, barely whispering "Yes, is deal," before drifting off into a guilty silence. He knew he had already broken his promise, but there was no way he could fight Toffee and still keep Marco alive. Toffee had bested him after all, he had lost.

"Good. Make sure to hurry home. It's not good for a child to be out this late at night. Who knows what could happen to him," Toffee said, his voice just dripping with arrogance, before he turned on his heels and walked off, disappearing into the shadows from whence he came. As he did, Marco calmed down, managing to drift off to sleep once again.

Buff Frog stared at the child for a moment, feeling guilty, as he watched the boy slowly fall back into his peaceful sleep, unaware of any wrong in the world around him. Buff Frog felt a tear in his eye as he softly whispered, "I'm sorry." Behind him the smoke continued to rise, like a signal in the night, alerting all of the disaster that had just occurred.

A/N: Hello everyone and welcome to my new Star story. As you may have guessed it's gonna be pretty alternate universe but I will be using elements from the show, like a good fanfic writer should. I hope you enjoyed and don't worry there will be more coming soon. I really have a lot planned for this one, but I needed to keep the first chapter short and sweet. I plan to update again in about two weeks or so and the next one will be a bit longer, so there's that. Until then, fill free to leave me a comment and enjoy our awesome Battle for Mewni movie event. I know I will! Love you all! Till next time!