Content
Meteora and Mariposa didn’t return home that night. They made makeshift beds out of whatever they could find, like they had when they’d lived on their own, and they talked. They talked about everything. Everything that had happened that day, everything that had happened years and years ago, and everything that could happen the next day, and all the days following.
They pieced together, eventually, a theory of how it all worked. After all, Meteora actually knew a good deal about magic when it wasn’t being erased from her mind; between her years trying to suppress it as Miss Heinous, her time spent wielding it after she learned of her real heritage, the years she’d spent learning from the old women of the mountain, defending her sister, not to mention all the years she’d spent this third time around studying her mother’s old books.
Magic, was a force of nature. Like the weather or the ocean. It flowed in self-sustaining cycles across the multiverse, through the many creatures that wielded it. Whatever Star and the other queens had done, they’d broken the cycle, stopped it, interrupted it. Without the natural flow, all that remained accessible were the tiny puddles of magic left over in its users, cleaved from the source.
But still managing to flow between themselves.
Star and Marco had both used the wand, they’d both wielded magic. But even a Butterfly as powerful as Star didn’t have enough residual magic left in her to wield after the Cleaving. But when she and Marco came together to make Maizy, what little was left flowed between them, combined, multiplied.
Remnant magic could be transferred between previous users. Like Star and Marco to Maizy. Or Maizy to Meteora.
And if they could concentrate just enough magic in one spot, letting nature take its course, then maybe…
★ ★ ★
“Mariposa!” Marco exclaimed, surprised and greatly relieved.
“Mariposa!?” Star echoed, whipping around. “And Meteora!”
Indeed, the two teens stood in the doorway, both scowling with stern faces. The adults didn’t seem to take much notice of that detail at first, though.
“Thank goodness! We were so worried about you!”
“Yeah! What happened? Where were you? We’ve been taking turns searching all night long! Eclipsa and Globgor just went back out.”
“We know,” Mora replied, stone-faced. “We’ve been waiting for them to leave.”
“What? I don’t get it. What’s going on?”
“Is Maizy with you too?”
Neither teen responded immediately. Neither did Meteora’s belly, now inconspicuously flat after a long night of reminiscing and digesting. Mariposa was the next one to talk, shadows of anger and grief behind her eyes.
“Breakfast burritos.”
“Wh- Whaaa?” Star asked cartoonishly.
“We want breakfast burritos,” the Diaz girl demanded flatly.
“Burritos?” Marco asked, just barely starting to catch on judging by his face. “Those haven’t… been around in years. We don’t have any. Where did you even hear about those?”
“Must have been from one of your stories,” Star figured. “Ohhh, I miss old food soooo much. Burritos, tacos, corn- Gobblin Dogs! Oh I’d kill for another Goblin Dog. Oh, and of course ♪Marco’s Super Awesome Nachos♪”
Mariposa felt her throat choke up when she tried to respond, so Meteora took over.
“We heard about them from you. When you promised us.” She kept most of the edge from her voice- which still left a lot to creep in.
“Promised…?”
“When did we…?”
The couple looked at each other, confused.
Mariposa felt the tears threaten to return. It’s true. They don’t even remember…
“Do it, Mora.”
“My pleasure.”
Meteora Butterfly, exiled heir to the once great throne of Mewni, raised her hands and aimed her palms.
A younger Star and Marco might have reacted more quickly, but these two has-beens hardly even saw it coming. There was a twin burst of sparkles, and the famous heroes disappeared.
From view, that is. And only for a moment. A rippling green beam extended from each of the clawed hands, winding backwards like a magical fishing line, and through the air came floating two miniaturized forms, flailing in vain.
Meteora turned her hands up and let the pair fall into them.
“Star!”
“Marco!”
“What’s going on!? Was that magic!?”
“Last chance to change your mind,” the half-monster said, turning to Mariposa with captors in hand. They’d already talked, and Mora was already quite sure of her own choice, but even now she would go along with whatever her sister wanted.
Mariposa’s only reply, was to silently reach over and pluck Star Butterfly from her accomplice’s palm.
Meteora grew an evil, devilish smirk, as her claws closed around the remaining tiny human like a cage. This was it! She could do it right now. She could just ignore him and toss him into the abyss like she’d done with his daughter. But no… Why rush? She brought her comparatively enormous face in close so she could hear him clearly.
“Meteora! Stop! Let’s just talk! Tell me what’s going on.” His deep, masculine voice sounded rather commanding. At full size, that is. Now it just sounded flimsy and weak, even without the hint of fear that was creeping in.
“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do this, ‘Princess Turdina’,” she hissed.
“Princess…?”
“You still remember that name, don’t you? I sure do.” The teen rolled her hand a bit just to watch her prey stumble. “The name was a bit more believable when you were still a kid and you could fit in a dress. I seriously doubt you could pull off the ‘princess’ look if you tried it again now. The ‘turd’ part on the other hand…” She shifted hers again and he stumbled toward her face. Her pointed teeth snapped shut just in front of him with a loud *clack*. “…maybe I can help you with.”
*guurgle*
“Ahhh! No! W-Wait! Stop!”
The monster girl gave an evil, vengeful chuckle.
“Mora.”
Meteora looked over at her sister’s call. She could see just from looking, the last fading traces of sympathy still clinging to her heart behind the flaming anger.
“You don’t have to play with him,” was all she said.
The monster girl frowned and nodded. She got it. Even though he had betrayed them both and ruined their lives (Mora’s more than once), he was still Mari’s brother. That was worth at least a little mercy.
“Alright, Marco,” she sighed. Her hands started to glow again. She left him floating in midair and then gradually he started to grow! Bigger… bigger… until he was almost back to his full adult size again!
“You’re unshrinking him!?” Mariposa asked, surprised.
“You’re… You’re letting me go?” asked her brother, just as confused.
“Pfff!” Meteora laughed. “Of course I’m not letting you go! But I don’t think I’m going to make a habit of eating people, so if you’re gonna be my last one, I don’t want to try it the same way as last time.”
“Last time?”
But even though he was back to normal size, his captor didn’t have any problem ignoring his question.
“I think I want to try it the way my dad could do it,” she explained, baring her teeth in another devilish smile.
“Stay back!” Marco tried to retreat, but with a flick of clawed fingers, his arms and legs became magically bound.
“Marco! No! Mariposa, help him! Meteora! Meteora stop!”
“Say goodbye to Maizy for me.”
Those were the last words that left Meteora’s mouth before it began to open, wider and wider, stretching beyond any normal proportions like something from a horror story, her body cloaked in a dark green glow of newly resurging magic.
“No! M-”
They’d never know which of the girls he was calling out to with his last plea when Mora’s maw plunged down upon his head. With a loud, wet, smack, daddy Diaz’s face plowed straight into the monster’s gullet.
Meteora felt her throat bulge. Honestly, it was more than a little shocking, and maybe even a little scary. But she wasn’t about to back out now. And once she gave it a moment for the initial surprise to wear off, she found the sensation almost… exciting, somehow. She was pushing herself in ways she couldn’t have even dreamt of a few hours ago. She was finally using magic! Just like she’d always dreamed! Just like she’d always been destined to! And she was finally getting her revenge!
And even sweeter, she was finally getting that good food they had been promised all those years ago. Sure, it wasn’t all-you-can-eat breakfast burritos, but she had a feeling this was better.
*tslk-gl-UMP*
With an awkward jerk of her head and all the dexterity she could muster from her magically enhanced throat, she swallowed hard against her meal’s head, shoving her face forward. He slid surprisingly easily, plunging much deeper into her gullet, shoulders wedging themselves firmly inside.
“She… She’s eating him! Mariposa please! You have to do something! Tell her to stop! MARIPOSA!”
Whether the younger Diaz heard or not, all she did was stare at her siblings. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t have any mixed feelings, or that she wasn’t freaked out at all by Mora’s crazy demon mouth. But she also had to admit she was kind of… impressed. Almost… proud. Grobb- that is, Mora- hadn’t used magic in years, but here she was right out of the gate, pulling off spells she’d never even tried before. Mari always knew her sister was the coolest…
*shlurk*
“Hhrrmph!?”
Meteora felt a sudden tug against her throat, pulling her over onto her hands and knees, and more importantly nearly pulling her meal free. In all her engrossment, it seemed she had neglected the binding spell on Marco’s feet, and he’d kicked so hard against the ground he’d almost gotten out! She panicked for a second, flustered. Had she bitten off more than she could chew!? Oh, she was gonna look like such a dork if she-
“Oh no you don’t!”
With Star held firmly in one fist, Mariposa leapt onto Marco’s legs, pinning them down as he readied himself for another attempted escape. There were tears in her eyes as she spoke.
“It’s over, Marco! I’m helping Mora bring back magic, and you and Star can’t stop us! We’re taking back the life we deserve!” She braced her whole body against her brother’s. “So you need to get- in- her- GUT!” She shoved, and shoved, and shoved and-
*SHULP*!
Marco’s body shot forward on the last push with a massive, slurping gulp. He plunged all the way in past his hips, immediately bulging out Meteora’s belly.
Mariposa closed her eyes and flinched, and when she opened them again her head was resting on his thighs, and her eyes were staring at the insides of Mora’s maw, green-glowing, pale-pink flesh flexing and glistening all around. She felt something take a strong grip around the back of her shirt’s neck.
*GULP*
The hungry monster maw squelched and squeezed, just as she was yanked back from its grasp. Mari watched from a much more comfortable distance as Marco’s knees disappeared into the living abyss, Mora’s mouth beginning to close tighter around her meal, as she set her sister safely back on the ground.
With that little scare out of the way, Meteora decided to make quick work of the rest of him. With a bit of focus, she packed his legs and feet away in another series of quick swallows, sitting back up in the process, just in time to give her overly engorged gut the room it needed to expand.
“Phahhh,” she breathed, airways finally clear. “Whoa! That was… wild. You alright, Mari?”
“Yeah… yeah yeah yeah totally yeah…” the other girl replied as she nodded, for the moment both meekly terrified and thoroughly impressed. She might have stayed stunned for a moment longer, or shifted to dwell on the fate of her soon to be ex-brother. But instead, she realized: her hands were empty.
“Wait! Where’s Star!? Ugh! I must have dropped her!”
“There!” Mora pointed. She instinctively tried to jump up and give chase, but the fresh, unfamiliar weight in her belly kept her anchored in place. So Mariposa made the move instead, scrambling up, dashing and sliding to grab hold of her little escapee, just before the blonde would have managed to dive under some furniture.
“Gottcha!”
“Heh! Nice one Mari!”
The victorious girl walked back over to her sister at a leisurely pace, holding the struggling Butterfly in her grasp once again.
“No! No! Mariposa, please! I don’t know what’s gotten into you but you have to stop! Marco’s in trouble! Stomachs are not good places for people! I know you! You’re a good kid! This- This has to be Meteora’s idea, right!? Don’t listen to her! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME!? DON’T LISTEN TO METEORA!!”
“You quit badmouthing my sister!!” screamed Mariposa, venting her emotions in the tiny Star’s face. She took a little breath, then flopped down on her butt next to Mora like a deflated balloon, but with her gaze still firmly fixed on the squirming little blonde.
“Mariposa! Is that you!? Help! Get me out of here!” came her brother’s muffled cries.
“Keep your mouth shut or I’ll CRusH yOU!” Meteora’s threat took on a demonic tone as her stomach contracted with a sharp squelch.
“Ah!” Marco yelped, receiving the message.
“Mariposa, please. Whatever plan you have, whatever idea she put in your head, you’ve gotta stop!”
“It was my idea,” the young Diaz snapped in retort.
Star’s tiny face looked dumbstruck- if you squinted enough to see it.
“I was the one who asked if we could bring magic back. I was the one who said we should use you two to do it,” Mariposa declared.
“It’s true,” Meteora agreed. “I was joking when I said I should just eat you guys out of spite. At first, at least.”
“That day, in the other dimension, when you two came to take us away, we almost fed you to that creep, Wyscan the Granter. I was the one who stopped us… But I should have let him have you.”
“S-so you’re just going to FEED ME to METEORA!?"
“That would probably be the smarter plan,” Mariposa acknowledged with a hint of resentment. “If we concentrated all the magic we could find into her, we’d probably have a better chance at restarting the flow. But… I just couldn’t.” Her eyes narrowed in anger, tears threatening to return once more. “You were the one who said it,” she whispered. “YOU said you would MAKE SURE that we grew up together… And you didn’t. … I saved you and let you split us up…” She glared with a look to rival her sister’s. “I had to do this myself.”
The vengeful girl didn’t leave another single moment for words. Instead she flung her mouth open and tossed her hand hard against her lips.
*gl-urk*
Mariposa sat there, eyes closed, chest heaving, heart pounding, and felt the faint sensation of the tiny mewman’s descent down her throat. She’d swallowed with all the callousness and venom she could muster. And she’d meant every word.
“You… You did it.”
Mari opened her eyes and looked to her sister. The half-monster sibling was smiling at her, proudly.
“Heh, yeah, I really did.”
“Not bad, right?”
“Um… kinda gross really,” Mariposa admitted with an awkward chuckle. “…Must be more of a monster thing,” she jabbed playfully, injecting some humor into the fairly tense air.
“Oh! How could you!?” Meteora feigned. Their victory was settling in. They’d w-
“Hey!” Marco called, interrupting their banter. “What’s going on out there! What did you ‘do’? W-Where’s Star! Where’s Maizy!”
“Geeze, Marco, give it a rest already!” Mora growled, glaring at her now wiggling belly. “If there’s anything left of Maizy you’re already sitting in it. And it’s too late for Star too, Mari just swallowed her,” she gloated.
“No… No! You can’t-”
*glooorp*
“Meteora, I-”
*gurg*
“I thought you’d changed! I thought you were good! M-Mariposa is definitely good! There’s no way she would-”
*slorph*
“Well I used to think you were good too, Marco,” his little sister replied spitefully. “Guess we were both wrong.”
“No! Nooo!’
The pale-pink belly thrashed and shook in protest. Meteora growled.
“Does that… hurt?” Mari asked, with some mix of concern and morbid curiosity.
“Nah, not really,” the bloated teen admitted. “I kinda got used to it after Maizy, he’s just annoying.”
“Oh…” Bending over unconsciously with no belly of her own to get in the way, Mariposa stared unintentionally at the wriggling lump for a few quiet seconds.
“You kinda wish you could try it yourself, don’t you?” Mora accused.
“What!? No way, I-” But Meteora was wearing her ‘you can’t lie to me it’s written all over your face’ look. “Ugh, fine, yes. I think it’s cool you have magic stretchy powers and do kinda sorta wanna know what it’s like. You did say you liked it, after all.”
“Say no more, Mari.” The monster grinned deviously. “Come here, come here so I can reach ya.”
Mariposa scooted around so she was face to face with her sister, her legs partially squished under the Marco-bulge between them. Meteora reached around it as best she could and tried to put her hands properly on her sister’s midsection.
“Hey! Quit tickling!”
“Well quit squirming! Let me just…” The clawed hands started to glow green. And Mariposa stopped laughing the instant she felt a new pressure building in her gut.
“Mora…?” she asked nervously.
“Don’t worry, I got you.” She knew her sister didn’t have monster innards, but they had magic now. She could help with that. Mariposa’s belly started to shimmer with the same rippling green glow, and then it started to grow.
“Mora…!?” Mari exclaimed as she watched her stomach quickly swell way beyond what should be possible. She stared in a mix of horror and utter fascination. “Mora? When does it stop? …Grobb… Grobb!”
“Almost… almost… and there you go! One fully sized Star Butterfly, former princess of Mewni, for your culinary pleasure.”
“…Whoa…”
It was just about all she could say, staring down at her enormous dome of a tummy. Enormous, wiggling dome!
“Hey! Hey! Why did it get so tight all of a sudden! Gross! Mariposa let me out of here!”
“Ugh, she sounds just like Maizy,” Meteora complained.
Star wriggled and writhed, shaking Mari’s belly, which had bulged out so large that it was now pressed up against Mora’s belly, shaking hers as well.
“Wha- What’s that!? What’s going on!?” Marco yelled.
“Marco!? Is that you!? Are you okay!?”
“Yeah but I can’t get out! What are we gonna do!?”
“Just- ugh- try harder!”
“Pfff,” Mariposa finally laughed, both from the tickling sensation, the utter absurdity of the moment, and the completely horrible joke that just flew into her brain. “Mora! Your breakfast burrito is wiggling my breakfast burrito.”
“Oh, how terribly rude of me,” the horned teen replied, sarcastically affecting her mother’s posh accent. She reached out and grabbed her gut, shaking it back and forth herself even harder.
“Whoa-whoa-whoa-” Marco complained as he was sloshed around. And of course the extra motion only wobbled Mari’s belly even more.
“Pf-hhahah,” the Diaz girl laughed.
They kept up the bit for another few seconds, until the combined protests of ‘stop’ and ‘cut it out’ started to get too annoying.
“Alright, alright,” Meteora finally acknowledged, letting their bellies settle.
“Yeah, think that’s eno-UUURP.”
Mariposa felt her cheeks burning as her stomach’s gurgling filled the following silence, before the inevitable.
“Hahahaha!”
“Nice one, Mari!”
“Eww, gross!” Star complained.
“I guess breakfast burritos make people gassy,” Mora joked.
“I! AM! NOT! A! BURRITO!” Marco protested.
“Sure, su-uuuurp.”
They shared another round of laughter.
“So, any regrets, Mari?” her sister asked. “I still say you probably deserved to get Marco more than me.” She had given the other girl several opportunities to change her mind on who she’d get to eat.
“No, no, you wanted him more, I know.”
“Yeah,” Meteora admitted with an evil grin as she passed a hand over her gut.
“You sure we’ll still be able to bring back the magic, even though you don’t have Star? I mean, she was the most powerful princess in Mewni’s history.”
“Second most powerful,” the prideful half-monster corrected. “And, yeah, I think as long as the two of us try together, it shouldn’t matter who she ends up in.”
“Girls, please, you have to listen to me,” came a muffled plea from Mariposa’s belly. “Magic is bad, you don’t want it to come back. Trust me!”
“Hm… what do you think, Mari? Should we trust her?” asked her sister with a sarcastic grin.
“Oh yeah, sure. She’s never lied to us before or anything.”
“No, you have to believe me!” Star insisted. “Magic only causes trouble! Big trouble! Monsters and mewmans were fighting over it for generations. It’s oppressive and dangerous and it almost destroyed the whole kingdom. Getting rid of it was the only way to make peace.”
“You know,” Meteora sighed, “I’m not sure what’s sadder.” *gurgle* “The fact that every other queen let a fifteen-year-old wipe out a fundamental part of nature on a whim, or the fact that all these years later, as an adult, you still think it was the right thing to do.”
“Ouch,” Mariposa remarked.
“It’s tru- *glorp*!” Star insisted.
“Listen to her!” Marco supported.
“Are you kidding?” the younger Diaz asked spitefully. “How can you believe that? Or did you really just never think at all about the life me and Mora had together? She had magic, I didn’t. She was part monster, I wasn’t. She never ‘oppressed’ me!? We loved each other!”
“Yeah! I protected her! I couldn’t have done that without magic,” Meteora added. “How could you think magic was the problem? Magic was never the problem. It was always the people. All those stupid, stupid people. I mean come on. Mewmans, humans, monsters, they all still hate each other, that’s why my family had to move all the way out here. You didn’t make ‘peace’ when you took the magic, you just made everyone too weak to fight.”
“Not to mention, you basically destroyed both worlds in the process.”
“No! I- I brought the worlds together! I- I mean the magic did, I didn’t even mean to-”
“See, there she goes again, blaming magic,” Mariposa remarked.
“Yeah. Listen Star, when you get digested in a few minutes, don’t worry, Mariposa isn’t doing it, it’s her stomach.”
“Digest- Oh no no no, girls, please. Listen, I’m sorry, okay. I know I messed up a lot when I was a kid, but I promise everything I did was for the best.”
“Yeah, the best for you and your boyfriend,” Meteora growled. “You two got everything you could have ever hoped for. You got each other, a daughter, a family. Meanwhile everyone else around you got their lives destroyed. Some of them literally! You killed entire races of creatures that depended on the flow of magic to survive.”
*blurble* *churn*
“I-” a little, muffled sob could just barely be heard through Mariposa’s belly. “I was trying to save everyone.”
“Hey! Leave her alone!” Marco demanded. “It’s not like you haven’t done some pretty horrible things yourself Miss Heinous!”
“Do NOT call me that!”
*squelch*!
Meteora clenched her belly and shoved at it angrily for good measure.
“They stole me from my mom when I was a little girl and brainwashed me for years!” *squarsh* “You have no idea what it-”
“Mora! Mora!” Mariposa managed to grab one of her hands over the awkward bulges between them. “It’s okay. That’s all in the past now.”
Meteora let out her breath. Her belly rumbled like low thunder, which faded out to a weary grown from its occupant.
“Ugh… why…” Marco muttered. “Why… give her a free pass, but not your family?” he asked.
“Because she is my family,” Mariposa snapped. “And because…” she looked at the frown on her sister’s face. “…she knows it was wrong.”
“Wrong?” said Star, finally speaking up again. “Wrong!? This is wrong! You’re wrong! Everything is wrong!” Mariposa’s belly started wriggling harder and harder as her breakfast got its second wind.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Meteora muttered.
“You can’t just EAT ME and my whole FAMILY! You’ve got to let me out! Out! Out! Ou- Wha!? No- No no no no NOOO!”
*SQUARSH*!
There was a bright flash of light, and Mariposa’s belly went silent, say for a few fading gurgles.
“Star!? Star!” Marco cried.
“Was that…?” Mari asked.
“I think so,” Mora answered. “That’s how it was with Maizy.”
The Diaz girl nudged at her belly. It was still quite full but it felt… different, now.
“Surprised yours finished before mine,” Meteora admitted.
“Yeah… Metabolism and junk?” the other teen shrugged.
“Still, I guess that means Marco here isn’t far behind.”
“Star…” the man whimpered.
*guuuuurgle*
“Give it up,” Meteora instructed bluntly. “It’s over.” She caught Mari’s eyes shifting toward the still-living bulge, and the familiar sadness creeping into them. “Just… say goodbye to our sister.”
*glrk* … *splorp*
“Mariposa?” he asked.
She didn’t respond.
“Is this really what you want?” came his soft, muffled question.
“…Yeah.”
“…I’m sorry.” *glorp* “…We should have done better.” *slosh* “…Made a… better ending… for everyone.” *glorsh*! “Take care of her, Meteora.”
…*blorp*
…
“…That was… it,” Mora confirmed.
Mariposa closed her eyes, wiped away a tear and blindly reached out to her sister for a hug. They were in a pretty awkward position, but Meteora did her best to bend over their twin bellies and put her arms around her sibling’s back.
…
“…So -*sniffle*- what now?”
“Now? … Now I think we’d better get out of here. Before my parents get back.”