This isn't my usual stuff I know, but MLP has just died for me. And so I've moved onto something I actually think could suppass it.

Begin!

Pedestal

It hurt.

It was a bubbling sensation of various emotions, all jammed and stirred and forced together into one horrible, almost evil feeling.

Regret.

Star Butterfly rarely regretted anything she did. Oh, she knew she made mistakes and always did her best to rectify them, but her devil may care attitude towards life made the feeling of regret almost nonexistent.

But this…this was different. She had caused this to happen, she had pushed her best friend in this direction and encouraged it from the start. So what right did she have to regret it?

What right did she have to regret the fact that her bestie, her rock, her world had begun to date Jackie Lynn Thomas?

None, she thought, her chest aching with a ghostly pain. I have no reason to regret this, but I do. I couldn't see what he meant to me until it was too late. And now it is too late. Jackie has Marco in her evil little hands and I…I don't have him at all anymore.

This wasn't quite as true as Star believed it to be, but in her bout of emotional angst she couldn't see beyond her own misery, like most teenagers.

But that was what he was here for.

A flash of light startled Star out of her thoughts and straight into battle mode, her wand in her hands and glowing with suppressed power before her new arrival had even begun to get his bearings.

"Who are you, what are you doing in my room?" Star demanded, her teeth bared in a grimace.

The stranger looked almost human. He had brown hair and blue eyes, and even his clothing was a typical male attire of a black t-shirt and jeans. The only thing that suggested otherwise was his skin, an almost watery substance that flickered and danced with various colours.

He smiled at Star almost fondly and put his hands up in a show of peace. "Fear not little Star, I am not here to hurt you. In fact, I'm actually here to help you with your current predicament."

Star squinted at the stranger and lowered her wand arm slowly, her trusting nature as always overriding any sense of potential danger.

"Well thank you I think," she said reluctantly. "But I really am not in the mood for riddles right now."

The stranger chuckled and tilted his head to one side, a crooked smile across his face. "You really are nothing at all like your mother. A breath of fresh air I must admit, for even when young…Moon was rather stiff with others."

Star stared at him for a couple of seconds before biting down a snort of laughter and shaking her head. "Okay crazy dude, I think it's time you got home and I got back to bed."

"Crazy, me?" the stranger looked at Star, his smile now a grin. "Oh most likely, but if you go back to bed now before listening to what I have to say, then an Earthen saying will very much come true."

"Wha-?"

"You make the bed you lie in, Star Butterfly. And Marco Diaz will not lie in it with you."

Star's foot stopped and hovered in midair, her head snapping back to look at the now serious stranger with confusion and a little fear.

"Marco in my bed, what?" the hearts on her cheeks glowed ever so slightly as the thought crossed her mind. "What are you talking about, who are you? Are you trying to say you're going to hurt Marco!"

Fear clouded her thoughts as the image of her best friend in pain crossed it, and she instantly pointed her wand at the stranger…only to find her hand empty.

"I mean him nor you any harm," the stranger intoned softly, Star's wand held in his right hand. "As I've said, I'm only here to help you. In fact I'm here to help both of you."

"You stay away from him!" Star yelled, panic and fear still permeating her mind. Without her wand and Marco nowhere in sight to back her up, Star was more than a little frightened.

Could she take him on physically, she was no slouch without her wand, but this stranger seemed to exude power.

"I am NOT here to hurt him," he repeated, his tone firm and eyes hard as they stared into Star's. "I know how impulsive you are Star Butterfly, but if you could simply stop and think for a moment, you'd realize that I could have killed you at any moment, yet have not. Why is that, could it be that I am actually here to help you?"

The stranger's words took a few moments to sink in, but the truth behind them was hard.

He had my wand, but I don't think he actually needs it to hurt me.

Slowly but steadily, Star's chest stopped heaving and her pulse slowed down to a more reasonable level.

"Very good," the stranger intoned softly. "Now that I have your attention, allow me to help you."

"With what?" Star asked, genuinely confused.

"What else, but Marco Diaz of course," he said, smiling as Star's eyes widened a fraction. "Your heart aches for him, its pain echoes across time and I found myself drawn towards it, as I have many times before with so many others."

Despite the randomness of the situation, Star found her thoughts consumed once again with Marco and her regret.

She looked down at her bare feet. "Marco and I…we're just friends," she said slowly, swallowing the lump in her throat. "We're just friends, he's happy with Jackie and he doesn't…he won't ever lo…"

"It doesn't have to end the way you think it does Star," the stranger spoke, his eyes sad as he looked at the broken Princess. "Mr Diaz's and Miss Thomas's story is one I've seen happen so many times, and more often than not it always ends the same way."

Star looked at the stranger once again with confusion written all over her face. Her eyes were shining with emotion she fought daily to keep buried.

"What do you mean?" she asked quietly.

The stranger floated over to her bed and sat down upon it, before patting the space next to him and waiting. Star hesitated but walked over nonetheless, sitting down beside him.

"Marco has been attracted to Jackie since he was in the third grade," the stranger began, ignoring the pain he felt from Star upon saying this. "He looked at her one day and was simply blown away by what he saw. Her hair, her attitude and the way she smiled at him when she gave him that nod.

"And ever since then he's had her on a pedestal. Close enough to see but never touch, except now he can. And that's the problem with their relationship."

Star, who had been both listening and trying so hard to reign in her hurt, was momentarily distracted by this and looked at the stranger with something almost akin to tentative hope.

"What's the problem in their relationship?" she asked.

"The problem is the pedestal," the stranger answered, smiling sadly. "It's always the same. Marco's had her on that pedestal for so long that he doesn't actually know anything about her beyond what he's observed and imagined. He doesn't know the real Jackie Lynn Thomas, and when he does, that's when the pedestal begins to fall."

"You're saying they're going to break up?" Star asked, hating the way her heart leapt and seemed to fill with overwhelming happiness.

The stranger seemed to think for a moment before holding out his hand, which quickly began to glow. Then in a flash of light, the river-like substance had a little Marco swimming in it.

"Aww he's so cute," Star gushed, her little hearts glowing pink as she looked at the tiny Marco.

"That he is," the stranger chuckled, shaking his head. "But he is more than cute, look as he swims and I shall explain his branching paths."

Star watched as Mini Marco swam down the strangers arm before stopping at his hand and choosing to swim towards his thumb. Upon doing so, a watery hole in the fabric of reality appeared before Star, showing a much older Marco and Jackie shouting at each other.

"Ah, the Jackie Path," the stranger mused. "Straight to the point then it is. Down this path, Marco and Jackie stay together beyond high school. They marry and have a single child a few years later, but with many fights in-between. Later down the road they have a divorce, their child goes back and forth between them and eventually upon growing up abandons both of them to their hatred of each other.

"You are Marco no longer talk at this point, Jackie didn't like how close you still were beyond high school and put a stop to it. So in the end, Marco dies friendless and alone."

The hole closed, a very old Marco sitting alone in a dark room as his eyes closed for the last time along with it.

Star gaped at the stranger in shock at the revelation, unable to believe that such a thing could actually happen to her best friend.

"Then I have to break them up somehow, I can't let this happen to Marco!" she cried, jumping off the bed and racing to the door, only to find it locked.

"Wait Star Butterfly, there is more for you to see," he said quickly, gesturing with his free hand to her to come closer. "Time is like a river you see, it flows and branches off in many different directions. The Jackie Path was one of the more probable ways for the two to end, but there is more than Jackie in Marco's life, there is you."

"Me?" Star echoed, her eyes glued to Mini Marco as he swam out of the Jackie Path and towards the stranger's ring finger. Once more the hole opened, and Star couldn't stop herself from sighing as an adult Marco appeared inside it, sitting next to an older version of herself with a crown atop his head.

"Ah, the Star Path," the stranger intoned, smiling to himself fondly. "I do like this one, and I think you will too."

"W-What happens in it?" Star asked, her curiosity at its peak as she sat back down.

"Why, you and Marco of course," he chuckled as her face lit up. "Down this path, Marco and yourself become lovers. And because of your prior friendship, which was already as tough and strong as it could possibly be, it makes your relationship unbelievable. He knows you, he isn't afraid of losing you if he makes a mistake because he knows that you are always stronger together than apart. And you know this too.

"You were never on a pedestal for Marco, you were his best friend. You were the only person in the world he could truly be himself with, and he loves you for that."

The hole shimmered slightly and the image of the two upon their thrones was replaced with the two of them holding the other, their mouths engaging in a passionate war.

Star's wand could have burst into flames and she wouldn't have cared. Marco loved her in this future, he loved her! But he was with Jackie now so…

"Ah ah ah, remember Star Butterfly what I said about branching paths," the stranger said knowingly. "This is but a potential path for the both of you, one that could become true in time."

"Mr and Mrs Butterfly, King and Queen of Mewni. I must admit that I do so enjoy peeking into this future, the two of you make quite a pair. You're impulsive even then, but he tempers your fire and because of it, your land is the best it has ever been."

Marco and me, married…King and Queen of Mewni! Oh…

The stranger snapped his Marco-less fingers at the currently drooling Star, snapping her out of her trance.

"Oh, sorry," she mumbled, her hearts bright pink while she watched in fascination as the future image of Marco finished undoing her bra.

Then it closed.

"That's as much as I want to see thank you," the stranger muttered. "Regardless though, this is one very much probable path for the two of you."

"How can I make it happen?" Star asked eagerly, her previous hatred of her hope long gone after seeing what Jackie would do if Marco stayed with her.

"You wait for the pedestal to fall," the stranger said, closing his hand and crushing Mini Marco, who had all of a second to squeak. "And then you be his friend, he'll come to realize how important you are to him once his eyes are actually open to other possibilities."

"But they might stay together!" Star cried, the horrible image of old Marco dying flashing before her.

"Maybe," the stranger agreed, shrugging his shoulders before snapping a grin at her. "But I doubt it, they're arguing at this very moment."

Seeing Star's look of disbelief caused the stranger to sigh, but smile a crooked smile at her nonetheless. "Trust in me Princess, I really have seen it all before. Just be his friend and be there for him when his heart gets broken. You love him more than enough to do that."

"So…don't try to break them up, just wait?"

The stranger grinned at Star and stood up. "Time is on your side, Star. Trust me, I know."

And with a flash of light, the stranger was gone.

Star stared at her wand, which lay where the stranger had sat, and picked it up.

"Be his friend," she muttered quietly. "Wait for the pedestal to fall and be there for him when it does." Star looked up through her window at the moon and smiled with a new hope. Then she realized what the stranger had said and smiled.

"Arguing at this very moment huh," she echoed, her smile cheeky if not somewhat sultry. "Well I won't try to break them up, but he never said anything about letting Marco see what he's missing out on."

With a quick succession of movements, Star undid the first button on her nightgown, allowing a bit of cleavage to show. She then walked over to her nightstand and pulled out a small bottle, one that she knew for a fact Marco liked the scent of.

You're not as subtle trying to smell me as you'd like Safe Kid. Star grinned as she sprayed two bursts on her skin, before putting it away and mussing her hair to look a bit wilder.

A summoning spell later had Star liking the way she looked, turning this way and that way as she gazed at her new mirror.

"You're gonna knock the wind out of him girl!" she whispered confidently, only to be broken out of her admiration by the sound of the front door closing, rather harshly at that.

Time to shine Star.

Quickly, she dashed over to her door and opened it, before stepping out at just the right time for Marco to bump into her, knocking the two of them to the ground with her atop him.

"Shit, sorry Star I…" Marco seemed to freeze right there and then as he took Star in. His eyes wandered up and down her in a way that made Star want to gobble his face.

"No, I'm sorry Marco," Star crooned every so subtly, enjoying the way he shifted as her thigh brushed against his personal area. "I'm a bit sleepy and wasn't looking where I was going."

As if to make a point of this, Star reluctantly got off of Marco and stretched as she yawned, pushing out her breasts in the process and unknowingly giving her bestie something nice to look at.

"I-It's okay, I just…I'm going to…go, to bed…now." Marco could barely process a single thought as he stared at Star, his anger at his girlfriend vanishing momentarily as his friend gave him a show.

Suddenly he felt guilty. Here he was in a relationship and he was ogling his best friend who likely had no idea what she was actually doing to him.

But Jackie was ogling Shane's fucking ass, why can't I have a peek?

Sadly his morals won out and he looked away, his face red as he stumbled onto his feet. But just as he was about to go, as he had previously stammered out, to his room, his eyes were drawn to Star's retreating figure.

Or more bluntly, her swaying hips and tantalizing backside.

"Fuck my life," he muttered, forcing his gaze away and trudging off to his room.

Star heard the door close behind and grinned to herself.

Gotcha!

This wasn't going to be a long wait at all. She could almost see the cracks upon that silly pedestal.

The End?

Do you want some more?

I've recently gotten into SVFOE and I ship Starco so hard. Now don't get me wrong, I actually do like Jackie as a character, but I just can't see them working out with, as the story has said, that stupid pedestal Marco has put Jackie on.

Anyway, if you want some more then gimmie a SHOUT!

Stay snuggly!