Chapter Text
"Do you actually think she'll like them, or are they just going to rot away in your dorm and make a mess?"
Marco stared down at the bouquet in his hands; it was gorgeous. He'd had some eccentric woman at the local florist help him pick out the perfect combination to express gratitude. Every flower had a specific meaning to convey just that— he knew because that same lady had rambled on for almost an hour about each one. They were for Star, as thank you for insisting she was the one who had destroyed the library the night they were attacked. Not that she faced any consequences in the end. As far as he'd heard, the school had received a hefty anonymous donation to sweep everything under the rug.
"I dunno, I think she'll just be happy to see you. You didn't have to spend so much money on that thing." Janna walked alongside him, hands stuffed into the pockets of her jacket. She'd been tagging along while he was out shopping, mostly due to the fact he wasn't cleared to drive on his own again yet.
Almost a full week was how long he'd been out in the hospital after the incident. Not a single doctor could find a reason why he wouldn't wake up. Supposedly every test they ran suggested he was perfectly healthy. They'd really been starting to panic near the end, then he just… woke up on his own and been feeling perfectly normal since. A good thing too, since apparently Star was starting to consider dragging him off to her home dimension to figure out if it was something magic related.
He'd touched the wand, according to what Star had told Janna. He didn't really remember anything past climbing into Sabrina's car to head home from the bar. He certainly wouldn't be touching it again, though, not if he could help it.
Firefly— the little Warnicorn made of pure magic that had apparently been a creation of Star's that night— glided along behind them. She'd grown attached to him and supposedly Star hadn't been able to convince her to leave his side while he was in the hospital. Star had also felt far too terrible to just cast her back out of existence. So he had a pet now, he supposed. And he'd named her accordingly. At least he'd taken to calling it a her. She didn't really have a gender, she was just a physical manifestation of magic, but she was graceful and ethereal. She deserved to be a her, rather than an it.
Janna stepped ahead of him to unlock her dorm, holding open the door so he didn't have to struggle with his hands full. He could hear Star rambling away to someone already, which felt odd considering she didn't exactly have a whole lot of friends on earth. At least not yet.
"Star? It's Marco. And Janna, I guess."
"Man, I should have shut the door in your face," Janna muttered.
"Marco!" Star had launched herself off the bed where she was lounging, crossing the room with alarming speed. Her hand was still bandaged up, and it would have to stay that way for a while after the skin graft they'd given her. Speaking of—
"You are not supposed to be running," Marco scolded, narrowing his eyes at her over the bouquet of flowers. "Get back to bed and sit down. I'm coming."
"Yes! Tell her Earth girl. That's exactly what I have been saying like—the past hour. She does not sit still."
Marco froze mid-step, his eyes snapping to the source of the voice. There, settled down on Star's bed with her legs folded neatly underneath her, was a… unicorn? Or maybe a Pegasus, if he took into account her wings? Yet she seemed far too small to be either, at least by Earth standards. Her eyes were frankly huge, to the point that they reminded him of a deer or maybe even a bug, and they were staring right into his soul now that he'd made eye contact.
"Who is—"
"Oh! This is Lilacia! Or Pony, if you'd prefer. Pony, this is Janna and Marco." Star gestured to each of them as she introduced everyone, grinning so wide she was showing off those scarily sharp canines of hers. She seemed excited to be introducing her friend, which he found oddly endearing.
"Pony? I've heard a lot about you. I thought you were too busy to visit or something?" Janna spoke up.
Pony raised an eyebrow, before promptly ignoring the comment entirely. "Yes! Star has talked so much about you, Marley!"
"Marco," Star corrected and Pony ignored that too. She moved to get up, although instead of standing on her legs like Marco had very reasonably expected, she hovered just above the bed. Without using her wings either, mind you. She glided down towards them like she was riding the air itself. It reminded him a lot of Firefly, who was watching Pony very warily from over his shoulder.
Marco shrunk further back behind the bouquet the closer she hovered, she was staring him down like he was prey.
"Wow, you are so pretty. Star said you were pretty but I didn't realise you were like, actually cute outside of her terrible standards, you know?"
That was… oddly flattering, albeit a little insulting to Star. Marco's face flushed, unsure of how to answer and what to say. It didn't help that he could hear Janna snickering to herself behind him. Asshole.
"I never said that!" Star immediately blurted out. She was just as flushed as he was while she reached out to slap a hand over Pony's mouth (which he hadn't expected to work for a horse face), ushering her back towards the bed. Pony seemed less than pleased.
He trailed along behind them, contemplating wether or not he should just hand over the flowers and make some excuse to leave. He didn't really want to hang out with Star while she was preoccupied with her friend— but he hadn't had much of a chance to see her since being discharged from the hospital. He'd spent the first few days at home with his dad and Mariposa. He just…didn't really like having new people dropped on him without warning.
Star pulled her hand away from Pony once they'd reached her bed, wiping it against her shirt with an appalled expression that suggested Pony had absolutely licked it. Probably served her right for dragging the poor girl around.
"I, uh, the flowers are for you. By the way," Marco spoke up, holding them out to Star who very tenderly took the bouquet in her arms. "They're a 'thank you' for covering for me."
"Awe, you gave me plants." She sounded genuinely appreciative, admiring them for a moment before adding, "What do I do with them?"
"It's a human thing, you keep them in your room and watch them die." Pony answered, gliding closer so she could shove her nose…or…snout? Into the flowers.
"Oh…"
"No, you don't watch them die, Star. Well— Okay, they do die. But they're meant to be pretty, you keep them in water so they last longer." Marco corrected. Maybe flowers weren't the best choice of gift for her, now that he was really thinking about it. But, in his defence, he thought appreciating flowers would be universal between dimensions. And Janna's suggestion had been to buy her a slinky.
"I love them, Marco. Thank you!"
Her wand formed in her hand, and Marco took an immediate step back. "Oh, Star. I don't think—"
"Rejuvenating water blast!"
A jet of water burst out of her wand, hitting Janna square in the face where she stood across the room. It only lasted a few seconds, but Janna looked absolutely drenched by the end of it. Her beanie had fallen down over her eyes, still dripping water, her hair and clothes soaked.
"Oh, sorry Janna," Star apologised, she looked as sheepish as she sounded.
"B-fly, I love you, but why did you create the water without anything to like…put the water in?" Pony questioned.
"Woah," Janna murmured, mostly to herself. She'd pulled the beanie from her head, staring at it in a mix of fascination and bewilderment. "My hat is so clean."
"I, uh, I dunno. I just cast before I think." Star sounded dismissive, waving Pony away with one hand. She set the bouquet very gently on her bed before crossing the room to grab an empty ceramic pot— one that she had sitting as decoration in the corner— which she hurriedly carried over to Janna to set it down in front of her. "Here, drip into this. I need that water for my flowers."
Janna stared at the pot in confusion for a moment, her eyebrows furrowed. Then (when she seemed to stop trying to rationalise Star's requests, Marco assumed), she started to wring her beanie out into it.
"I feel, like… I just had a really nice spa day. I feel so smooth."
"Why doesn't she just like… make more water?" Pony questioned, leaning in closer to Marco so she could whisper it under her breath.
"I don't know…"
He'd only known Star for a short while, but she'd always been like this. Taking weird shortcuts that weren't even really shortcuts at all. It was like she didn't understand there were far easier non magic methods to get things done. He couldn't even blame it on being raised with the wand, since she'd apparently only had the thing since her most recent birthday.
"So…" He trailed off, but the silence was getting awkward. "What brings you to this dimension anyway? Visiting Star?"
"Actually, I'm here on business. Stupid magic business I can't talk about." Pony huffed, her ears pinning back against her head as her face scrunched up into something as close to a pout as a horse could get. "The fact I get to see Star is really just a bonus."
Magic business, of course. He should have guessed.
"Right…"
Silence fell over them again, and Pony seemed content to leave it that way for all of ten seconds. Her gaze shifted to the window, and Marco swore he saw a hint of panic in her eyes before she spoke. Not that he had a chance to see what she was looking at before her horn glowed, and the curtains were yanked shut by seemingly nothing.
"Hey! Let's take Marley to the Bounce Lounge! He'd love that place!"
Still not Marley, but whatever.
"What?" Star paused what she was doing— which was mostly just assisting Janna in wringing out her jacket— to stare over at the pair with furrowed brows. "Marco's never been out of this dimension before. I don't know…"
"Yeah, woah. He's supposed to be resting; the doctors said—"
"He'll be fine!" Pony insisted, cutting Janna off. She was antsy, glancing back at the window again. Marco followed her gaze to try and figure out what kept drawing her attention, but she'd hurriedly drawn the curtains before, so there was nothing to be seen. He could only assume it was just students out and about, walking between lectures or their dorms.
Star frowned, "No, if the doctors—"
"Okay well, we're going now! You can stay here or you can come, up to you!" Pony was almost frantic as she sliced through the air with her horn, splitting the very fabric of their dimension open into a swirling portal coloured a bright purple. Before he could so much as protest, Pony was shoving him straight through it with such force he stumbled over onto the surprisingly soft ground.
It seemed like the ground in this dimension was made out of something that resembled clouds, although far more solid. Still, it was bouncy and soft to the touch, like a pile of bedding.
Had he just been inter-dimensionally kidnapped? This was not how he'd planned for his night to go, but he was starting to realise that hardly anything ever went as planned when Star was around. He took a deep breath, steadying his rising nerves. It certainly helped that Firefly had followed them through. She hovered near his face, nudging at his cheek. Having her nearby always provoked a strange sense of warmth and calm, and sometimes he wondered if maybe it was one of her magical properties.
"Pony. I didn't agree to this," He hissed, glaring up at her. She was hovering above him, staring back at the portal whilst ignoring him entirely. She seemed alert, almost nervous. It was freaking him out a little.
Then the portal rippled, and both he and Pony tensed— at least until Star stepped through. She seemed frustrated; it didn't take a genius to guess why.
"Pony, no. We're going—"
"Oops, portals closed." Pony hummed innocently. She really seemed to like cutting people off. On cue, the portal began to flicker before fading out entirely. "Well, while we're here why don't we show Marley around? Have some fun!"
"Star's also supposed to be resting," Marco pointed out. He took Stars uninjured hand when she offered it to him, allowing her to pull him to his feet. There was music playing in the distance, something lively. This really didn't seem like the sort of place you could kick back and take it easy. "She had a surgery, she should be home."
"Marley, I'm a healer or whatever. I'm sure I can figure something out if one of you starts dying," Pony assured him.
"That's not-"
Pony pressed a hoof against his mouth, cutting him short. "It's fine. Everything's fine."
Star let out a frustrated groan, dragging a hand down her face. "Okay, fine. I'll hang out with you, but only for an hour. And you have to take Marco home first, Deal?"
Pony grimaced. "A deal on the hour, a no deal on the taking anyone home…sorry…" She avoided meeting Stars eyes as she flashed her a sheepish grin, slowly drifting off in the direction of the music.
"Pony! You can't just—agh!" Pony was already out of earshot at this point.
"She's not usually like this," Star apologised. "I don't know what's going on with her." She walked over the cloud-like material with practised ease as she started towards the music. Marco, on the other hand, wasn't have quite as easy of a time.
It was like trudging through thick snow, but worse. And the feeling of it compacting under his shoes sent a shiver up his spine. He hated everything about this. Star seemed to notice his struggle, pausing to turn around and scoop him up with one arm, hauling him over her shoulder with so little effort that it was frankly impressive.
He lay dangling like a sack of potatoes, accepting his fate. "It's alright. What is this, a club or something? We can probably just sit and drink. Hang out. Let her do her thing."
"Alright," Star sighed. "But only something that isn't fermented. The stuff here is a lot stronger than what you have on earth."
"Fermented? Oh! Yeah… not in the mood to get drunk anyway."
The louder the music grew, the more the cloud thinned out, until eventually it gave way to a lavender and white checkered floor. There was flashing neon lights around them, and the chatter of people that had previously been drowned out by the music.
Star set him down on his feet, and only then did he really get a good look at the place. The Bounce Lounge wasn't exactly indoors like he'd expected.
There was a vast starry sky above them, void of clouds and somehow unaffected by the light pollution, yet no moon to be seen. It seemed the entire club was suspended on that odd cloud material, floating in some kind of void.
There was a huge purple stained glass ball that the club seemed to be using as a disco ball of sorts, although it seemed to be producing its own light rather than reflecting it. The main area was huge, with a vast dance floor already packed with people, and the outskirts of which was lined with hundreds of very comfortable looking beanbags—or maybe they were just oddly shaped sofas? They seemed a lot more solid. They were all organised around short rounded tables for guests to set their drinks.
There were a few cloud staircases leading up to other smaller islands, such as the one that contained a sort of DJ booth, another being what he assumed must be some kind of bathroom—thankfully that at least was actually enclosed in a building. There was also one solitary photo booth nestled in the corner. Maybe he'd have to give it a go— he liked photos.
The people here all resembled fish of some sort, with tails of varying shapes and lengths instead of legs, they hovered above the ground much like Pony, seemingly swimming through the air. They were like strange mermaids, just…without any water.
He felt a little underdressed for something like this. He was in his usual red hoodie, nothing special. Star wasn't much better suited, in a pair of grey sweatpants and an obnoxiously colourful rainbow hoodie. Pony must have braided a few sections of her hair with little ribbon clips of various colours throughout. Not that it did much to tame her very unruly loose curls. She looked sorta like a unicorn had thrown up over her. Very…Star.
Pony had already claimed a table near the entrance, gesturing them over with her wing. "Come sit your fragile butts down here!"
Star exhaled sharply through her nose, grabbing him by the wrist to tug him over to the table. She let go to drop down into one of the seats with a huff. Practically pouting, at this point. Marco settled down beside her, biting back a giggle. It really wasn't that bad. Extremely inconsiderate, sure, but it wasn't like it would kill them; it was only for an hour. And, honestly, it was kinda amazing here. He'd never seen anything like it, probably because this wasn't his dimension. He could just… go with the flow for a little while, so to speak. Especially with Firefly here with him.
"Are you mad at me, B-fly?" Pony complained, her own pout was beginning to rival Stars.
"I'm not mad," Star answered with a sigh. "I just don't understand why you're being so…" She trailed off, gesturing with her hands. "You know, pushy."
"Aren't I allowed to wanna spend some time with my best buddy?" Pony whined.
"With me? Sure! But you can't just drag Marco between dimensions, you only just met him! He isn't used to magic or portals."
"Yet you have no issue using your wand around him even after it almost killed him?" Pony challenged, raising an eyebrow. Or, the area above her eye that would have been an eyebrow, if horses had them.
"What? That's different! It's not gonna do anything unless he holds it!"
This was starting to get very awkward, and quite frankly it seemed like a conversation they should probably be having alone. He scanned the Bounce Lounge for some sort of out, his attention landing on that oddly earth looking Photo Booth.
"Hey, why don't we go take pictures?" He suggested, cutting into their conversation. Pony jumped at the excuse, eagerly nodding her head. She was already jumping up from the chair to glide towards it.
"Yes! That is actually a great idea! Let's go take pictures, B-fly!"
Star blew a strand of hair from her face, glaring at nothing in particular as she stood, lifting Marco by the back of his hoodie to set him on his feet. He really needed to talk to her about boundaries when it came to manhandling him like this.
"Come on, Star. Photo booths seem right up your alley. I don't like having plans dropped on me either, but if we're here for an hour, why not try and have some fun? It's cool here." He suggested, offering a smile with far too much teeth to look natural.
Star sighed. "It is cool here," She agreed, "Pony and I have been visiting since we were thirteen. I'm not trying to be lame about this. She's just so… inconsiderate sometimes when it comes to my feelings. It's all about her, you know?"
Actually, he did know. Janna hadn't always been the best with taking others into consideration either. His entire teenage years had been spent getting dragged into shitty situations by that girl. They'd stopped speaking over it briefly, back when they were fifteen. Although obviously that didn't last.
"Just try and enjoy it while we're here. You two can talk it out once we're back on Earth, and you won't have had as much of a shitty evening. You guys aren't gonna work anything out arguing in the middle of a club."
"Yeah… You know, you're smart sometimes." Star hummed.
"Thanks?"
Pony was holding the curtain open for them by the time they reached the booth, practically bouncing where she hovered. Even despite their talk, Star looked less than enthusiastic as she pushed past her to get inside, Marco following suit.
The typically dark booth had been illuminated by Firefly, still hovering over his shoulder. It was about what you'd expect, a glass square separating the camera from the party goers and a very worn out sticker with arrows directing you where to look. This thing was probably ancient, and didn't look like it ever got that much maintenance either. Marco could only hope it was cleaned on occasion.
It probably would have been pretty cramped in there if Pony wasn't so small, but as things were, the three of them fit comfortably. Well, poor Star still had to lean down to keep from smacking her head.
There was some kind of slot that seemed to accept both notes and coins, but Marco couldn't imagine it would take Earth money. A small, pocket sized portal opened in front of Pony. She stuck her head through only to pull it back out with a few crumbled up ten dollar bills in her mouth. American ten dollar bills at that.
Huh, so this Photo Booth was from Earth? That explained why it wasn't very… tall people friendly.
"Uh, does this dimension also use American currency?" He questioned, and Pony looked at him like he'd just said something mindbogglingly stupid.
"Of course not," She dismissed. "Not everything revolves around Earth, Marley. The Bounce Lounge just trades stupid Earth paper for actual gold so you can go take pictures."
"Right…of course."
"Not that I ever pay, I get all my Earth paper from Earth."
Who was Pony stealing from to get this money? Because she sure as hell wasn't earning it honestly. He supposed it was none of his business really.
Pony jammed her snout against the slot until Star finally took mercy on her and plucked a note from her mouth, smoothing it out to slot it in for her. Pony immediately dropped the remainder of the notes, giggling to herself in anticipation. "Okay, wait, everyone lean in and look happy to be here."
Star managed a smile, and Marco struck the most over the top, hand on hip pose he could muster up. He knew how to look good in pictures; he had to know when he was friends with Brittney. That woman was chronic about getting pictures together for her socials, and he was not about to look any less than photogenic in front of her ten thousand or so followers. Firefly watched him for a moment before she followed suit, rearing up and turning her head to the camera.
Pony leaned in over Star's shoulder, putting on her best attempt at a smile too. The camera flashed, and of course he switched poses for each photo the booth took— four in total— because he wasn't a square.
"I wanna go see how they turned out," Marco gushed. He went to book it out of the booth only to find himself snagged by the back of his hoodie. Pony only let him go once he'd turned around to raise an eyebrow at her.
"Uh, actually, I want to take more photos! Mhm, just us two. Mark the occasion we became friends and all that. Star can go wait outside with the pictures." Pony was already shoving Star towards the curtain, Star letting out a sound of protest.
Not that she really had much room to say no when she was already evicted from the booth at this point. Honestly, it was impressive Pony could shove her at all. Apparently she was stronger than she looked.
Pony watched the curtain, waiting for something. Only when Star could be heard wandering around the side of the booth to wait for them did she speak again, her usual carefree expression dropping into something far more serious, something that seemed… worried?
"I need you to help me with this, Marley. Okay? Because I really cannot stand Star giving me that look." She immediately whined. "I mean, yes I kidnapped you. Yes, I'm refusing to take any of you home. But I actually have a very good reason."
"Like what?"
"Secret magic business, Marley. You know I'm here on work. Just cover for me, pretend to be having a good time until it's done so Star doesn't look so…" She trailed off, shrugging her shoulders, a strange jerky movement around her withers.
"Mad? She's justified in being mad, Pony. I'm not gonna—"
Pony turned away to grab one of the ten dollar bills off the floor, resuming her attempts at jamming it in the slot.
"Okay, thank you! I knew you'd understand."
Before he could protest further Pony finally found the angle for the booth to accept the bill. There was a brief pause before the camera flashed, catching him entirely off guard. Then again, and again. It was only by the final picture that he'd collected his thoughts enough to smile. Firefly seemed to reflect his feelings, ears pinned back as she glared in Pony's direction.
God, this girl was really good at being frustrating. He turned to yank back the curtain, stepping out just in time to see Star in the process of collecting the new set of photos, the first batch already in her hand. She seemed confused as she looked them over. "Why does Marco look so bewildered?"
"She paid for the pictures before I was ready." Marco dismissed, leaning in to get a look. He did look sort of bewildered.
"Awe, look at us! These are cute! Well, I mean, Marley kinda looks lost, but memories are still memories even if they are kinda ugly. I look good though, and that's what matters most, mhm." Pony beamed, having glided over to Star to get a look at the pictures from over her shoulder.
"Don't be mean," Star scolded, rolling her eyes at the comment. Marco appreciated the backup, even if he didn't particularly care how good Pony thought he looked. He didn't care much for her in general.
The music was still blaring, lights still flashing and people still chatting and laughing. He hadn't realised quite how much he was appreciating the repose of the Photo Booth until he had to step out of it. He didn't mind music if he could dance, but neither he nor Star were in much of a condition to even think about that.
Quite frankly, the idea of sitting and doing nothing at this club for an hour was quickly starting to loose its charm. Why had Pony picked here of all places?
"Isn't there somewhere a little more…entertaining we can hang out?" He voiced aloud, hoping maybe it would help with Star's deflated mood too.
Pony huffed like the question was just more work for her. Pursing her lips as she thought it over. "I guess there's the Amethyst Arcade. We can all stand around and play, or I mean—I can watch Star play. It is very hard to work those machines with hooves."
"Oh! I can show Marco my high score on Cavern Invasion!" Star beamed, clasping her hands together in excitement. Apparently she forgot she was hurt, immediately cradling her injured hand to her chest with a wince.
"Need to not do that… Anyway, to the arcade!"
"Oh yeah! There's that enthusiasm girl! To the arcade!" Pony seemed thrilled that Star was actually showing interest in doing something together, and she quickly cut open a portal for the group—this one an icy blue in colour.
He wasn't much of a fan of stepping through one of these things again, but hey, an arcade did sound like a fun way to pass the time. He'd been to the arcade back on earth plenty of times before, usually with Janna. He like the rhythm games, he was good at them too. Unfortunately, that just meant Janna forced him to play them over and over again so she could commandeer his tickets.
He was pulled from his thoughts as Star took his hand, tugging him through the portal behind her. She let him go the moment they were through, which he certainly appreciated. Again, he'd really have to talk to her about boundaries when it came to hauling him around like that.
The arcade was huge, far larger than he had anticipated. There were rows upon rows of games all of various shapes and origins, he swore he could spot a few from where they stood that he recognised from Earth. The entire arcade seemed to be in some sort of cavern, the rocks were tinted slightly purple, and there were bright glowing gemstones of various colours incorporated within what served as the lights in this place it seemed. At the centre of it all, up a staircase to a large raised platform, looked like some kind of prize collection. It was packed full of all sorts of trinkets and toys he didn't recognise.
But, more strange than the arcade itself was the people currently wandering about, one of which he almost trampled upon taking a step forward. They were…shapes? Two dimensional shapes with little arms and legs and various numbers of eyes in positions that didn't seem natural. It was unsettling, to be frank, but he tried his best not to stare.
Star was already booking it for one game in particular, he and Pony simply tagging along behind. He'd have a look at this high score of hers then try and figure out how to get some tokens to go play a few games himself. There were plenty he wanted to try, so many games he'd never seen before. It certainly beat the same old twenty or so games at the arcane back on Earth.
"Pony, token." Star held out her hand in anticipation, Pony rolling her eyes at the demanding tone. She opened that same little pocket sized portal she had earlier directly above Star. Instead of landing in her hand, however, a large satchel that Marco assumed to be full of arcade tokens dropped right on her head. Star let out a startled yelp.
Pony snickered when Star shot her a glare, snatching up the satchel off the ground. Marco barely stifled a laugh, and even Firefly let out a sound that sounded awfully like a laugh.
Star grumbled to herself, setting the satchel on the machine beside her while she navigated to the leaderboard. She turned to beam at him the moment it was open, gesturing to the screen with such a strong sense of pride that it almost seemed a little over the top for an arcade game.
Marco squinted, because of all the three letter combos she could have picked for her name this really wasn't what he'd expected.
"Tom." He read aloud, "Why'd you pick Tom?"
"What?"
Star spun back around in such a panic it suggested that she had, in fact, never picked Tom at all. She stared at the screen like she couldn't quite believe it before letting out a wail so mournful you'd think she'd just been told her first born child was killed. Passersby all stopped to stare, and Marco awkwardly waved them off.
"Oh no…" Pony murmured, immediately gliding over to rest her head on Stars shoulder. "Come on girl! It's okay! You can just set a new high score!"
It was unclear by how much Tom had beat her when the entire scoreboard was his name at this point, but he prayed for Star's sake the difference wasn't too atrocious. He felt bad for her, it was hard not to when she was acting like the world had ended.
Star buried her face in her arms as she leaned against the arcade game, screaming into the fabric of her hoodie. She stayed there for a brief moment before she finally pulled herself together, lifting her head with narrowed eyes.
"You're right, I can kick this guy's ass. I beat my own score all the time!"
She pulled open the satchel, grabbing a token with renewed determination. Marco was pretty sure Pony wouldn't have to worry about her complaining they were out here for over the designated hour anymore. In fact, he was a little worried they wouldn't be able to get her to leave…
"You wanna watch, Marco?" Star asked, but she didn't take her eyes off the screen. As fun as it sounded standing here doing nothing but watching Star get pissed off at this arcade game, he was pretty sure he'd rather walk around.
"No, but you have fun. I'm gonna walk around with Firefly." He had been about to turn away before he realised he didn't have a single token to play with. "Can I have some of those tokens?"
"Have at it." Pony answered, grabbing the bag in her mouth to hold it out. He grabbed a handful, since figured he could always come back for more if he needed them.
"Don't get lost!" Star added, which quite frankly might be a genuine concern in this place. He'd try his best.
Pony glanced between him and Star. She looked conflicted, and if he had to guess, it was probably because she was meant to be keeping an eye on him. He sighed, giving her a thumbs up. He'd be fine. She returned the gesture with a nervous smile.
"Okay and if you get yourself in trouble just scream really loud. I think I'll recognise your voice; it's very annoying."
Marco didn't even bother gracing that with a response.
He took to wandering at first— this was a brand new dimension after all, and there was so much to look at even just contained within this one Arcade. That and he couldn't quite make up his mind on what to play first. That was the burden of too many options, he supposed.
He'd been so preoccupied taking everything in he hadn't noticed the bucket of water in his way until he'd already toppled it over right in front of the poor little yellow triangle janitor busy trying to get through mopping this section of the arcade.
He winced, making brief eye contact with the guy, who was somehow scowling without mouth. He looked absolutely done with life, not that Marco could blame him.
"Sorry…" He trailed off, squinting at the name tag, "…Bill?" An oddly human name for a two dimensional shape, but then again, so was the name Tom.
Bill didn't answer him, begrudgingly picking up his bucket. Marco took that as his cue to leave him to his work. Admittedly he was just happy his shoes hadn't gotten soaked. Wet socks were no joke, he would rather go without shoes and socks at all if it came down to that.
He'd barely walked much further when something caught his eyes, a crowd of people all gathered around what looked to be a game of Dance Dance Revolution between a circle person and a… Well, Marco wasn't sure what this other guy was, but he definitely wasn't a local.
He was far more humanoid, with purple skin and deep rose-pink hair that was swooped rather comedically to one side. It made him look wind swept. Nestled within the wavy hair were a pair of curved tan horns. His ears screamed bat, which gave off vampire energy, in his opinion. Marco might have assumed he quite literally was one if it weren't for his long tail with a pointed end. He looked strikingly similar to some human depictions of demons. And he dressed very…human, too. In fact Marco was quite sure the clothes had to be from Earth.
He wore a pair of jeans, ripped and black with chains dangling from the belt he wore with it. His pants were tucked into a pair of combat boots, the kind with an impossibly thick sole to add height without quite being tall enough to be considered a platform. Even worse, in Marco's opinion, was the heavy leather jacket he wore over everything.
And yet, under it, this demon wore what could only be described as a band shirt. A band he recognised, seeing as it was one of his favourites; Love Sentence. Marco knew for a fact it was custom, though, because he knew of arguably every piece of Love Sentence merchandise to exist.
It was black, album art plastered on the front in different shades of red and some purple. It was a real album he recognised, but all the colours had been changed to match his aesthetic.
To top it all off, he had a plain black bandana tied around the lower half of his face. It was like he was trying to be some stupid, edgy biker guy.
Marco moved to join the crowd, taking extra caution not to step on any of the shapes gathered around. He'd already bothered enough of these poor people. The demon was really going at it, the poor guy he was up against didn't stand a chance…especially considering this was definitely Dance Dance Revolution, from Earth. It was made for humans, and none of these shapes had legs long enough for it not to be a major workout. Really, this was never a fair match in the first place.
"Why's everyone so invested?" Marco asked, crouching down to speak with the hexagon standing beside him. It wasn't exactly a very riveting thing to watch on its own.
"That guy is offering up over ten thousand tickets to anyone that can beat him, but if you loose you gotta give him all of yours," they briefly explained. Judging by the handful of tickets they had clutched in their hand they were planning to give it a shot as soon as they had the chance. The poor thing barely sounded like they could be any older than thirteen, or at least the shape equivalent of it. He… wasn't sure how their aging worked.
Firefly scrunched up her nose, and Marco was sure she was thinking exactly the same thing he was.
"He's scamming you," Marco stated very matter-of-factly, "There's no way any of you can win against him, its probably how he's been getting all these tickets in the first place."
"Well, maybe. But even on the off chance, could you imagine what that many tickets could buy you?"
Probably like, one or two decent items. Arcade prizes were expensive, at least on earth anyway. But Marco didn't want to burst this kid's bubble on that front.
A burst of disappointed groans and a few boos from the crowd pulled Marco's attention back to the game, where it seemed like the demon had just claimed himself even more tickets. The shape that had been taking a shot at beating him looking very dejected while he dumped a small stack of tickets into his hand.
Alright, he couldn't take this. It was just plain sad.
"Hey!"
The demons turned to look at him. He seemed surprised for a moment before quickly shaking off the shocked expression.
"A human? Who let you out of your dimension?" The demon questioned, although the stupid smirk on his face suggested he was just trying to be a dick.
"I let myself out." He did not. But saying that sounded way cooler than admitting his magical pony friend opened him a portal. Kidnapped him through a portal, technically, which was probably worse.
He weaved through the crowd, pulling a token from his pocket to slot it into the machine. It was only then he realised he didn't exactly have any tickets to gamble with. Not that this dude was aware of that; it was probably better that way if he did lose.
"Oh, you wanna play?" The demon acknowledged. "Alright, we can play. But, just so you're aware, you just cut past a line of like… ten people."
Whoops. He glanced behind him and sure enough there were plenty of less than pleased faces.
The demon held out his hand. "Token?"
"Why do I have to cover your side?" Marco complained, grabbing another from his pocket to chuck it in Tom's direction rather than placing it in his hand. He had to scramble to catch it before it hit the ground and rolled away. He shot Marco a glare before he inserted it.
All things considered, Marco was actually decently confident he might have a chance to win this, then maybe he could go buy himself some weird alternate dimension arcade prize. He was good at these games, and the demon was probably at least a little tired at this point. He, on the other hand, was fresh and full of energy. As much energy as someone who had recently come out of a short coma could be.
Oh, yeah. He definitely wasn't supposed to be challenging people to Dance Dance Revolution games while on bed rest.
"I'm Marco, by the way."
"Tom, pleasure to meet you." His voice was smooth, in an obnoxious sort of way. Like a teenage boy trying to make himself sound hot by lowering it a few notches. It irked Marco to no end already.
Tom? Wasn't that the name listed on the leaderboard that Star was losing her mind over?
"You don't look like you belong in this dimension." Marco acknowledged, letting Tom work on selecting a song, he didn't really care what they danced to in all honesty, and Tom seemed to have something in mind.
"Probably because I don't. But I get around, I like to travel. I'm from Mewni, uh, dimension number… something, I don't remember."
The exact same realm that Star was from, what were the chances of that? Small world, or dimension, he supposed. That familiar 'let's go!' flashed over the screen, some pop song he didn't quite recognise beginning to play. He kept his gaze fixed on the screen as they started, seemed Tom had set the difficulty as high as he could.
"You seem to know where I'm from already," Marco noted, continuing their prior conversation. Although, admittedly his attention wasn't really on their conversation.
"Been to Earth plenty of times, it's one of my favourite dimensions."
Yeah, he'd gathered that much by the way Tom dressed.
He heard Tom curse under his breath as he missed a step. But really they were decently evenly matched at least from what Marco could gather. He didn't exactly have much of a chance to look over.
"What's so great about Earth? It's kinda boring compared to everything else, isn't it?" Marco asked, the arrows were quickly starting to blur together at this point, his body felt like it was moving an auto pilot, as it always did with games like this. Yet he barely missed more than one step.
"It's only boring to you because you're used to it. Mewni's boring, in my eyes, but it would probably blow your mind. "
The pop song hit its chorus, the speed picking up the moment it did. Marco risked a glance over at Tom, his jaw was tight, eyes narrowed. He seemed agitated that Marco was actually putting up a decent fight.
Firefly was really getting into it, too; she wasn't playing, she couldn't, but she was spinning in eager circles beside him like a BeyBlade. He couldn't tell if it was her attempt to cheer him on or if she was just getting her boogie on.
"You’ve definitely played this before," Marco called over the music, not breaking stride.
"I've been playing this since I was a preteen, I've practically mastered it," Tom retorted.
Marco arched an eyebrow. "Funny. Your side says you just missed three in a row."
Tom growled under his breath, tail flicking with irritation. He stomped harder, as if trying to force the machine to give him a perfect out of sheer intimidation.
Marco saw an opportunity when he noticed Tom was about to miss yet another step, and even well aware it was a childish move he quickly jumped to press the arrow for him.
"Figured you might need the help," He spoke up, unable to wipe the grin off his face as he turned back to the screen.
Tom let out a short laugh, sharp and just a little too loud. "That's hilarious, very funny."
Marco barely bit back a laugh, he was more amused over how clearly peeved Tom seemed to be about being outplayed than the joke itself.
A silence fell over them, not that Marco had ever found silence uncomfortable. Especially not with the pop music acting as background noise. He was having fun, a lot of fun. So much so he almost didn't mind the fact Pony had technically kidnapped him earlier. He was really in the rhythm now, hitting almost every step as a 'perfect' on screen.
He was so in the zone that the sudden heat that crept up his leg didn't strike him as odd until Firefly let out a startled cry and the smell of smoke finally hit him. His leg was on fire.
He let out— in his opinion— a very justified scream, immediately stumbling his way to the floor. He knew logically he should start rolling, but in the panic of the moment all he could think to do was frantically slap at the flames with his hands. The shapes around him all seemed equally as panicked, speaking frantically amongst themselves in a language he didn't understand. Strange considering he'd just spoken English to one of them—why did they speak English?
Firefly wasn't much help, watching by his side in equal panic. Then again what would she ever be able to do about it in the first place? She'd never shown any sign of magic, even if she was made out of it.
The chaos only stopped as someone tossed an entire bucket of water over him— it looked like it had been commandeered from Bill, sorry Bill— completely drenching him. It stank like cleaning chemicals, but at least he wasn't on fire, and he knew it would have been diluted. He stared down at his now-scorched jeans with shaking hands. There was no way he was unharmed under that mess, yet he didn't really feel any pain.
His gaze shifted back to Tom, still playing, entirely unbothered. And the realisation of who had caused this hit him immediately. He'd really set him on fire to win a game.
"Holy shit, you're fucking crazy!"
"That's your opinion," Tom dismissed, as though he hadn't just physically-magically assaulted him. The music stopped and Marco didn't have to get up and look at the scores to know he'd probably lost the game at this point. Asshole.
"And you cheated," Marco muttered, wincing more out of habit than pain as he hesitantly prodded at the exposed skin of his calf. It was— extremely surprisingly— intact. In fact it looked perfectly fine. It was like he hadn't been on fire at all. Well, if you ignored his ruined jeans.
Maybe the fire was magical, like everything else in these stupid alternate dimensions. Maybe it wasn't a threat to him in the first place, only his clothes. That didn't mean he wasn't still upset about having a perfectly good pair of jeans and the sanctity of dance dance revolution ruined all at once.
"I didn’t—" Tom stopped short, exhaling sharply.
Marco glanced up from his leg as the demon dragged his hands down his face, careful not to shift the bandana he wore even then. He held all the shame of a man who’d just realised the weight of what he'd done.
"I'm sorry," Tom continued, practically forcing the apology through his teeth. It didn't seem like he had much practice with apologising. He shoved his hands in his pockets, making his way over with as much concern as you could expect from a demon who was willing to set you on fire just to win an arcade game. "How bad is it?"
It dawned on Marco that Tom was not aware of the fact his fire hadn't burnt him, which meant he'd probably intended it to do so. If he wasn't offended before, he certainly was now.
"How bad— Why would you light me on fire at all?! Why was that your first response to the situation?! You could have shoved me, literally anything else!" Marco snapped, and Tom's guilt was quickly replaced with that all too familiar frustration.
"It was an accident!" He insisted.
"Bullshit, how do you accidentally light someone on fire?!"
"It was an accident!" Tom repeated, his voice dropping into a tone that rather ironically could only be described as demonic. It was loud, so loud it shook the walls of the arcade. Tom's hair engulfed in flames in the same moment, as did his tail and hands, and all three of his eyes glowed a bright red. He looked terrifying and, needless to say, it sure shut Marco up.
He stared up at Tom, frozen in place, and apparently his fear was evident in his expression, because Tom immediately murmured out another half-hearted apology. Slowly, he forced his clenched hands to relax, sucking in a shaky breath. The flames slowly faded to smoke as he let it out, his eyes losing their glow.
"Alright, look—" Tom began, but the words had barely left his mouth before he was yanked into the air by some invisible force, letting out a startled scream. He was glowing—literally glowing. There was some kind of gold aura encasing him.
Marco would have laughed in his face if he wasn't so confused. Especially since Tom was squirming like a toddler throwing a tantrum; he looked ridiculous. Served him right.
"Okay. Simmer down, Lucitor!"
Marco groaned, because he definitely recognised that voice.
Sure enough, prancing over the rows of arcade machines towards them was Pony, looking very proud of herself indeed.
"Wha—Lilacia! Put me down!" Tom hissed, and there was that voice again. The flames practically engulfed his entire body this time around. It was almost impressive how quickly Pony was able to rile him up. Although, then again, she seemed to be a natural at frustrating everyone who spoke to her, and Tom wasn't exactly a shining example of patience.
"Nuh-uh, not happening. Why on Mewni is Marley on the ground looking sad and wet?" Pony snapped. Tom let out an exaggerated groan, growling something in a language Marco didn't recognise. Pony rolled her eyes, responding with just as much venom in that same strange language.
Whatever it was she said, it seemed to startle Tom out of his tantrum, the fury in his eyes fading into something more nervous.
"What did you tell him?" Marco looked up as Pony finally reached him. Her eyes immediately dropped to his scorched jeans.
"He isn't allowed to leave the Underworld, so I told him if he keeps pushing me, I'm gonna tell his mom he's been sneaking out. It always shuts him up." She leaned in closer, "Did he actually hurt you? Because I'm not playing, I'll chuck him right back home to his mother."
"I can hear you!" Tom called down to them, arms crossed tightly over his chest. He was up there pouting over it now, it seemed.
"That's the point, Thomas!" Pony called back. Tom immediately cringed at the use of his full name. Which was hilarious, by the way. Thomas Lucitor sounded stupidly posh.
"You know him?" Marco asked, watching the way Pony's horn began to illuminate a bright gold, she rested it gently against his leg only to seem confused, the glow fading.
"Oh, yeah. Our kingdoms have some age-old alliance. So I have to be polite and dance with him at balls… that kinda thing."
So Tom was a noble of some sort? He was probably the last person he'd suspect to hold any importance. But, he certainly had the mindset of someone used to getting things handed to him on a silver platter, so he supposed part of it made sense.
"I thought you were like, burnt or something," Pony added, interrupting the thought.
"Oh, no. I guess it didn't burn through my jeans as much as I thought it did." It was the only reason he could come up with as to how he was entirely unscathed.
"Well, why are you still on the ground then?"
"I— Give me one second! Jesus. I just got set on fire, forgive me for being a little frazzled," Marco grumbled, shifting to his knees so he could stand. And wow, moving around in wet jeans might as well be a form of torture. It was almost as bad as wet socks which— for the most part— his shoes seemed to have protected him from.
"Looks like you're off the hook," Pony called up to her captive, the glow around Tom faded and he fell the ground with a very unceremonious thud. Firefly seemed pleased, lifting her legs to her mouth to hide her amusement. Marco didn't bother hiding his own, snickering under his breath.
"I have never met another person who knows my title and still is this disrespectful to me almost every time we interact," Tom muttered, wincing as he stumbled to his feet and clearly trying his best to play off the obvious limp he now walked with.
"Star—" Pony began.
"Other than the Butterflies!"
"Alright, seriously though, Star is here. She's just hyper focused on replacing a high score you took from her. So trot off before she realises there's a demon in this dimension." Pony grumbled.
Tom laughed, loosening up at the mention of his stupid high score. "Oh yeah, I forgot I did that."
"What happens if she knows there's a demon?" Marco interrupted. He couldn't see why it would matter to Star. Well— aside from the fact this particular demon had briefly lit one of her friends on fire. She would probably be pretty understandably peeved about that.
"Oh… You know…" Pony trailed off, making an effort not to look him in the eyes. "Let's all say goodbye to Tom! Bye Tom!"
"What? Lilacia don't open—" Tom was gone in an instant, disappearing through the portal that tore open under his feet with a rather hilariously timed and abruptly cut off scream.
"That guy was kind of jerk," Marco muttered and Pony nodded in agreement.
"'Kind of' is putting it lightly." She replied, "Come on, let's go watch Star fail at beating his high score for another few hours."
"What? I'm walking around!" Marco protested.
"Yeah… no. You lost walking around privileges when you immediately went and got yourself set on fire."
Marco huffed— so much for trying out the arcade games. Was it too late to ask to head back to the Bounce Lounge?
"Can I at least go home and change my pants?" He pleaded. They were already driving him crazy.
"No. No, you cannot."
Marco was well and truly fed up with that stupid Cavern Invasion arcade game by the time Pony finally decided to let him head home. He'd stood watching Star fail for almost three hours, with his jeans soaking wet for two of them. His social battery was drained dry and, quite frankly, he was nearing his breaking point with even Star near the end of it.
He had no clue what Pony's issue was She'd dodged any request to head home earlier, and she'd disappeared for the last hour before she finally turned up again to open him a portal.
Star didn't come with him, of course not. Cavern Invasion had her in a choke hold right now and Pony wanted to stay and hang with her for a while longer. So it was just him and Firefly, not that he minded; she was currently fast asleep in his hoodie pocket. He just wanted to take a hot shower and get comfortable in bed before it was too late to get through his nighttime routine.
The portal had opened in Janna and Star's dorm. It was oddly quiet when he stepped through. The first thing to catch his eye was the vase Star had grabbed earlier, now shattered over the floor, pieces spread around the room. In fact, the entire dorm seemed trashed.
To be fair it was always sort of trashed anyway— its residents weren't exactly tidy people— but this was something further than just mess.
There was furniture laying on its side, stuff tossed about the room, like a hurricane had hit. He took a hesitant step away from the portal, which slowly shrank closed before he could change his mind and return to Pony for backup.
It was only then that he noticed the duvet from Star's bed laying on the floor in front of him. It was torn open, like some kind of animal had gotten its hands on it.
"Marco."
He flinched, whipping his head around towards the sound only to be met by none other than Janna. She was sitting cross legged on top of Star's bookshelf, the pocket knife that she always kept on her was out and open. She looked rough, covered in small cuts and scrapes.
"What happened?" He asked, keeping his voice just as hushed as hers. "Why does it look like you let a wild dog loose in your bedroom?"
"Climb up, I'll tell you," Janna beckoned, holding out a hand to him. He didn't exactly trust the bookshelf not to tip over if he tried, but it seemed a lot more preferable to be on high ground when he had no explanation of what caused this.
"Fine."
He caught something move out of the corner of his eye when he stepped towards her—a vine? It slithered from beneath Star’s bed, followed by a flower, then more vines. The mass slowly took shape, almost feline in form, and he quickly realised that it was made entirely from the bouquet he’d brought her.
He froze, locking eyes with the creature. It stared back, unblinking, with eyes made from a pair of daisies. They made the creature look awfully beady. It was... strangely cute. But he could put two and two together, he knew this thing was probably a lot less than friendly.
It crept between Marco and the bookshelf like it knew exactly where he wanted to go. He took a cautious step back, then another.
“Huh. That's where that went. Uh, Don’t blink,” Janna warned. "Trust me, it likes to jump you when you aren't looking."
"Great. Thanks," He muttered, tone dripping with sarcasm. How did he keep getting himself into these situations? He was supposed to be resting, not being set on fire and sliced to pieces by a sentient bouquet. Served him right for stopping by to thank Star in the first place, he supposed.
"What's got you so grumpy? It's not my fault your overpriced flowers gained sentience."
"What's got me—I'm being attacked by flowers, Janna! A little help?"
The creature let out a shrill hiss, tail lashing behind it. Marco stumbled, nearly tripping over Star’s backpack in his scramble to back away, which he immediately snatched it off the ground to hug it to his chest. It was better protection than nothing at all and he certainly wasn't afraid to wack this thing with it if he had to.
Janna let out an exaggerated sigh. "Alright, hold your horses." She vaulted off of the bookshelf, pocket knife still clutched in her hand. She landed on the ground with a thud, the creatures head snapped towards her to bare its teeth, which seemed to be made entirely out of thorns. It's interest in Marco was dropped entirely in favour of Janna.
"Jesus, it hates you." Marco crept forward, taking advantage of the fact it had turned its back to him. The backpack remained clutched tightly in his arms.
"I've been trying to catch this thing for hours. I think we're like, arch enemies or something at this point." The brief exchange of eye contact was all it took for Janna to catch onto his plan. She held her ground even as the bouquet poised itself to pounce.
Marco lunged forward, slamming the heavy backpack onto the creature’s back. He pressed his full weight onto it, pinning it down to the floor. The creature let out a furious screech, thrashing underneath him. In the struggle it managed to whip its tail against his leg. He let out a pained hiss, the thorns jutting out of its tail digging through into into thigh. It wasn’t anything more than a few shallow cuts, but it still hurt like hell.
Thankfully, he didn’t have to hold the thing down for long—Janna was fast. The moment it hit the ground, she lunged forward to thrust the knife into the plant’s neck. The sound it made— a wet, sickening crunch— had Marco gagging. He turned away, squeezing his eyes shut.
"I can't look."
He'd never enjoyed watching things die— he couldn't even stomach those animal documentaries. This was no different, at least not in his mind. There was something deeply unsettling about the way the flower monster gradually stopped struggling under the backpack.
"Sheesh, that was an ordeal," Janna huffed.
Marco cracked an eye open to peer over at her. She shoved the pocket knife into her jacket pocket as she stood, extending a hand. He took it without hesitation, trying his best not to glance back at the now motionless pile of flowers. He realised something, his breath hitching and he only relaxed after frantically feeling around in his pocket for Firefly. She let out a tired and very displeased sound. He had no clue how she slept through all that.
"Sorry, Firefly. Go back to sleep."
"You look like shit, by the way. I'm taking you back to your dorm. You're supposed to be taking it easy."
"Says you," Marco retorted with a laugh. "Have you looked at yourself?"
"I'm allowed to get beat up, I wasn't recently discharged from hospital," Janna shot back.
A silence fell over them, one that wasn't exactly comfortable. It wasn’t that he minded the quiet— he just knew Janna well enough to know she was holding back something she wanted to say.
Their steps echoed through the hall as they stepped out of the dorm. He figured it must be decently late at this point; he'd been gone for hours.
"You're allowed to be freaked out you know. About the hospital stuff." Marco spoke.
Janna shoved her hands in his pockets, she didn’t show a flicker of emotion but that was just Janna for you. She was difficult to read, but it didn't mean she was void of any feelings.
"I think I was most freaked out pulling up on campus to all the sirens and shit. And I kept reminding myself it probably wasn't you. That it's just me freaking myself out because of the last time." Janna sucked in a sharp breath, "Then it was you. And now all the paranoia feels justified, and it's just… stressful."
"I get it… Dad was freaked out too. I don't want to sound like a broken record, but I really think therapy would—"
"Not going," Janna immediately dismissed, shaking her head. "When you get your degree maybe I'll let you dig around in my head if you want, but I'm not talking feelings with a stranger."
Marco didn't press it, mostly because this conversation never went anywhere. He'd tried to convince her plenty of times before. Instead he reached out to take her hand, intertwining their fingers.
"I'm not going anywhere. Who else would subject you to the sibling treatment? You'd end up with only child syndrome or something."
Janna scoffed, but he could see the tension in her shoulders less slightly. "Guess I'd have to start bothering Mariposa."
"She'd wear you down within a day. She's going through her chaos phase."
"Isn't every phase her chaos phase?" Janna snickered.
"Oh yeah. She was born into it."
"Hey, by the way, why does it look like you set your jeans on fire?"
Marco could only let out a groan. "I'll fill you in after I've slept." Interdimensional travel really took it out of you.