If Star vs. The Forces of Evil was a donut, I wouldn't even own the hole. I'm not 100% sure who owns it. I know it's not me. I think Disney and Daron Nefcy own it. Maybe.

Please enjoy the story. Comments would be appreciated.

Parallels

Chapter I

"So is it true?" Marco asked.

"Kinda... I think."

They had been watching television, when they came across an episode of NOVA. It was about the Many Worlds theory. Marco had been travelling to different dimensions with Star. He was immediately interested to see if PBS would shed any light on his experiences.

"When you first got here, you said, and I quote, 'I'm a magical princess from another dimension.'" Marco said with his voice pitched higher to sound feminine. He added the sweeping gesture of a hand waving a pretend wand to create a flaming rainbow. Star giggled at his imitation of her.

"I guess I was focused on the 'magical princess' part of that at the time."

"Well I did turn a bug into a monster. By the way, did they ever find that guy?"

"He was fine." Marco assured her. "We've traveled through different dimensions together a bunch of times, but I haven't stopped to think about what that really means until now. What exactly are different dimensions? They aren't different planets, right?"

"They're here, and also not here. It's hard to explain. They're like different versions of the world. This world."

"So the other dimensions aren't higher dimensions. You don't exist in 5-D space and can't perceive time as a physical dimension. You're not a ghost behind the bookshelf..." Marco narrowed his eyes and grinned, "...or are you?"

Getting the joke, Star giggled. "Right. They're different possibilities of the same four dimensions you and I are used to."

"Possibilities? What do you mean?"

"For a dimension to exist, it has to have at some point been possible."

"So by virtue of both dimensions existing, Earth could have been Mewni, if some things happened differently."

"Yes, but we don't quite know what the different events were. If the differences were small, they could have happened so long ago that they could have had huge consequences over time."

"You just described the Butterfly effect. Appropriate."

Star smiled.

Marco continued, "So maybe, Mewni might have become Earth if magic didn't exist there."

"Well, magic does exist here too. It's just hidden."

"And Ludo's dimension is also Earth, but maybe some event caused everything to... What's the word I'm looking for?... monsterify?"

Star agreed, "That would explain why so many look like Earth animals. Combined with people. And other animals. And fungus..."

"So dimensional scissors cut holes in the divisions between dimensions so we can travel between them."

"Right."

"But how do they work? They're magic too, right? How do they know where to take you? I haven't noticed any controls."

"Well, they just do. Like if I wanted to open a hole to Mewni, that's where the exit will be. They're magic."

"And the time I opened a hole to the monster dimension." Marco paused for a moment to think. "But there and Mewni are really different from Earth. What about another Earth? What about a place so similar to Earth, that maybe you couldn't tell the difference?"

Star's eyes widened, and her jaw dropped slightly. "Whoa. Mind blown, man!" Star got an excited look on her face. "Let's try it, Marco! Let's go to another dimension like this one!"

Marco looked worried and incredulous at once. "Uh-oh. How would we do that?"

Star explained as she dragged Marco to her room. "We just do something. Something small. According to the theory, a dimension where the opposite happened would then have to exist! Then we would use the scissors to go to that dimension!"

Marco caught on. "Like flipping a coin?"

"Marco! That's perfect! Flip a coin onto the desk, and after it lands, we'll find the dimension where it landed on the other side!"

"That seems like a pretty small difference. Would we even be able to tell that anything is different other than the coin?"

"Who knows?! No guarantee that that would be the only change. But lets try it!" Star grabbed the dimensional scissors.

"Hang on." Marco left Star's room for a moment and returned wearing a fanny pack. "Okay, now we're ready."

Marco produced a quarter from his pocket. After carefully setting it on the thumb of his right hand, he flipped it into the air. They watched as it dramatically arced above their heads tracing a parabolic path as if it were moving in slow motion.

The coin descended towards the surface of the desk, colliding with a satisfying clink near the edge. It made another hop through the space above the desk after the quarter rebounded from the horizontal plane. The coin returned to the desk and after a third bounce, started to spin on the polished surface.

Star and Marco placed their faces close to the glossy surface of the desk. They watched the quarter spin intently. The way the coin's movement caught the light made it flash like a tiny strobe. A little shiny disco ball. Star began nervously chewing on the end of her wand. The pink hearts on her cheeks became green cent(¢) symbols. Tiny beads of perspiration appeared on Marco's forehead. Their eyes grew with anticipation, the spinning currency reflected in them.

This coin sure knew how to take its sweet time.

The coin's balance changed and it tipped slightly. A result was imminent, but the coin had not yet settled. As it oscillated and rotated, it made a vibrating metallic sound against the desk.

You could cut the air in the room with a sharp blade because it was so thick with tension.

A deafening silence enveloped the room as the coin finally ceased its motion. The eagle seemed to give them a knowing wink. Tails.

Suddenly, a sharp blade cut the air in the room. A dimensional portal opened. Star and Marco emerged from it.

"Marco! It worked! The coin's on the desk! It's tails!"

"Star? Uh, we're... here."

The four teens in the room looked confused or surprised. They locked eyes with their counterparts.

The screaming then commenced.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!..."

They hadn't thought this all the way through. If the two dimensions were so similar, of course there would be another Marco and Star there... here.

"What the heck happened?!" Marco interrogated the two familiar visitors.

"We were trying out the Many Worlds theory! We flipped a coin. It came up heads!" the other Marco answered.

"So did we! It came up tails! But why did you come here before we came to you?"

"Marco missed the toss. The coin landed on the rug." the other Star answered.

It suddenly made sense. The visiting pair didn't have to wait an eternity for the coin to come to rest. It didn't bounce or spin on the rug.

Star and Marco wouldn't need to visit the other dimension to satisfy their curiosity. Instead, it came to them.

Now that the initial shock of the meeting had subsided, the teens regarded each other.

Both Stars squealed at the same time. "Oh my, gosh! Look at you! I love your hair! And your dress!" Strange to compliment each other's hairstyle and clothes if they were identical. "So cute!" They continued like that for a while.

The Marcos were experimenting by shouting random words. Their voices produced an echo as they reverberated against each other.

"Pineapple!"

"Jinx!"

"Motorcycle!"

"Double Jinx!"

"Hippopotamus!"

"Turquoise!"

"GODZILLA!"

"ALBUQUERQUE!"

Somehow, one of the Marcos held his hands up and broke the pattern. "Okay, okay, stop. I think it's pretty clear that we're exactly the same."

"Hey, do you get the distinct feeling that we are messing with universal forces we really aren't supposed to?" one of the Marcos said.

"I sure do, other me. I sure do. For science." came the reply accompanied by a wink and a finger gun pointing gesture.

Interrupting a visual comparison of their wands, the other Star chimed in, "We should go out and explore! Who knows what we'll find that's different?!"

She grabbed the other Marco's hand. Practically dragging him, she ran out of the room and down the stairs. "'Bye, Mr. And Mrs. Diaz!" she shouted as they passed Marco's parents in the living room.

"Adiós, kids!" called out Mr. Diaz in response as they exited the front door.

Back in the room, Star made a gesture simulating fireworks by her head. "Mind blown." she whispered.

"We should probably go after them, huh?"

Star grabbed Marco's hand. Practically dragging him, she ran out of the room and down the stairs. "'Bye, Mr. And Mrs. Diaz!" she shouted as they passed Marco's parents in the living room.

"Adiós, kids!" called out Mr. Diaz in response as they exited the front door.

A moment later, a confused look came over their faces. But, with a slight shake of their heads and a quiet "nah", they dismissed the strange feeling of déjà vu.

Marco spoke as they chased their doppelgängers. "I'm worried, Star. Doubles of us running around in this dimension?"

"Don't worry about it, Marco. They're us! What's the worst that could possibly happen?"

Marco paled.

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