---

Marco's Point of View

---

Some days...some days I wonder if I did the right thing, coming to Mewni.

I mean, I like it here. Being a squire, training to be a knight...it was way cooler than being in high school. But, I miss my parents sometimes. Alfonzo, Ferguson...even Janna, though she was here a lot anyway. Not sure how...but I don't think skipping school bugs her. I even missed Jackie. Not romantically, but I realize I was kind of a jerk to her.

Life was easier, but I guess that's the trade off. Knight training was awful today. Even though I was able to best Higgs in the sparring session, she and the other squires pantsed me in front of the knights. And of course, I was wearing my pink boxers with the goblin dogs on them. Talk about embarrassing. Ugh.

So I was hoping afterwards, Star and I could blow off some steam, go on an adventure or a ride on Nachos. But she burst out of her room, crying, and pushed me to the ground.

"You idiot, Marco Diaz!" She sobbed.

I was speechless as I stammered out gibberish to her.

She wiped her eyes. "How could you tell Tom that we kissed. He just DUMPED ME!"

"O-oh..."I stuttered. "I'm...I'm sorry Star." I got to my feet and rubbed the back of my neck.

She sniffed and turned away from me. "Why...why did you tell him, Marco?"

I sighed and admitted, "I...thought one of us would die when fighting Meteora. He refused to leave my side, so I thought I owed him the truth. I was hoping he'd leave to go find you. And to be real? I didn't want to die with that on my conscious."

She turned abruptly and hugged me. That's...weird, but not out of character for Star. "I'm sorry Marco...that totally makes sense," She replied, "I'm just...a little upset about it. I thought maybe you did it...on purpose."

I pushed her off of me, a little upset. And with the day I was having, the accusation was hurtful. "Star, I'd never do anything to hurt you. You should know that," I snapped at her.

She bit her lip and cried more, and I immediately felt regret. I hugged her again and apologized, "I'm sorry, it's been a rough day and I know breakups are the worst...can your awesome squire do anything to make you feel better?"

She sniffled and whispered in my ear, "Will you make me some nachos?"

All I wanted to do was lay down, but I forced a smile and nodded. "Totally. I'm on it."

Of course, making the nachos with so much on my mind, I burned my hand on the cookie sheet because I didn't notice the hole in my oven mitt.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I shrieked through the whole castle.

Of course, who would burst into the room, but my old friend (cough, cough) Higgs.

"I'll save you, m'lady-whaaaaaaaaat?" She asked as she surveyed the scene in the kitchen, watching me wave my hand frantically and run it under cold water. She burst out laughing, "Holy cow, was that girly scream, YOU?!"

"I burnt my hand, okay?!" I huffed, defiantly.

She leaned against the door frame, cracking up. "Oh my lord, I can't WAIT to tell the other squires about this."

So I dropped the nachos off in Star's room, giving her some privacy as she was crying her eyes out on the mirror-phone with Ponyhead. I found myself on a balcony of a not-often visited tower of the castle, staring out at the Mewni sunset.

"This sucks," I said to no one, out loud. "Here I thought being on Mewni would be all about being a knight and fighting stuff with Star. But it's just making nachos and having to put up with jerks like Higgs, then searching. I'm worried about Moon too, but I need a break."

I leaned against the rail and looked out across the kingdom as the sun dipped behind the trees. I sighed. "Maybe tomorrow will be better. I hope everyone on earth is okay."

---

Star's Point of View

---

I had come looking for Marco with half a plate of nachos. We were supposed to share these! These were nachos to make BOTH of us feel better! I must have been on the phone with Ponyhead when he brought them, because I turned around and they were just there. But...nachos were always something that tasted better when we shared them! Marco knows that. Or...he should.

I looked around for him, and I found him moping on some deserted tower. Seriously, this place is way bigger than it needed to be.

I ducked behind a wall as he was talking to himself.

"This sucks," he said, looking out across the sky. "Here I thought being on Mewni would be all about being a knight and fighting stuff with Star. But it's just making nachos and having to put up with jerks like Higgs. I'm worried about Moon too, but I need a break."

He leaned against the railing, and I felt a pang of guilt; Marco had lost his soul, and left everything behind to be here, with me. "Maybe tomorrow will be better. I hope everyone on earth is okay," he sighed, giving the kingdom one more sad smile before turning back. I hid around the corner, and thankfully he turned the other way to head to his room.

I bit my lip. Eclipsa and I ordered the squires to go through hardcore training, because we needed more knights to hunt down my mom. And Marco was working over time, going with me after training sessions to find her.

Tomorrow was Saturday, so no training. You know what? I'm going to cheer him up! He's always been there for me! And I had just the idea...

I ran back to my room and hit redial on my mirror. Ponyhead answered almost immediately.

"HEY GUUURRRRRRRRRRL, want to talk more crap about Tom, because like, for truth, I never much liked him anywaaaaaay..."

"Pony, no," I cut her off, shaking my head, "I need your help with something."

"Ya gurrrl, what you need? Black market candy?" She asked.

"Ah, no." I laughed. "Remember when I lost my favorite warnicorn as a kid, and my dad took us to the circus? Well, let me run this by you..."

---

Marco's Point of View

---

I woke up with a yawn and stretch. Finally, a day off, and I finally got to sleep in. I must have been dead tired; it was almost noon. Maybe Star will want to catch a movie with me or something; she needed a serious break from the constant searching.

As I finished getting dressed I took a deep breath of that morning Mewni air. But…wait…it smelled like popcorn? "Huh. That's Weird. Well, I guess I'll find – AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"

As I opened the door and stepped out, I found my room had been placed in the sky, and I was falling three stories toward the ground. Before I smacked onto the dirt, a trampoline appeared under me, bouncing me at an angle so I landed perfectly onto a set of empty metal bleachers.

I clutched my chest to try and slow my heart down. "Good thing I went to the bathroom before leaving…" I said to myself.

"Yeah, I remembered to send that with you!" Came a familiar voice from behind me. I jumped to my feet to the row of bleachers in front of me and whipped around, relaxing a bit as I saw it was just Star.

"Star? What are you doing?" I asked, finally calming down a bit.

She smiled, and from behind her back, shoved a bucket of popcorn into my hands. I raised an eyebrow at her and started asking, "This doesn't – oomph!"

That was as far as I got before she shoved an entire glob of cotton candy directly in my mouth. To my utter confusion, she just cartwheeled down the bleachers and into the open field. I should probably just roll with whatever this is; at least the cotton candy is good.

Star cleared her throat, and produced a microphone from her hands. It amazed me how quickly she managed to master wandless magic. "LADIES AND GENTLEMAN!"

I looked around and swallowed my cotton candy. "IT'S JUST ME, STAR!"

She put a hand on her hip, "WILLING SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF, MARCO!"

"Wha…?" I muttered to myself.

She twirled and changed her clothes to a ringmaster leotard, complete with top hat almost as tall as she was, the long, fancy white gloves, and one of those long fancy cigarette holders, except it had a lit sparkler in it. "WELCOME TO THE CIRQUE DIAZ SOLEIL!"

She held her hands to the sky, and in a burst of light, a circus tent unfurled from the air, draping itself over the field. I oohed at the display, and looked down to see Star had conjured up a fireworks display, and was already lighting the end of it with her sparkler.

The display went off with bangs of green, orange, red, and blue, filling the tent with light. I was in awe, and applauded as the display's finale made a big light display of my own face! Then I gasped as the whole tent caught on fire. Smoke began to fill the tent, and Star and I screamed. I ran for the exit, but I didn't even get to the bottom of the bleachers before Star yelled, "FIZZY SODA FIRE EXTINGUISHER!"

Before I knew it, a wave of cola swept me off my feet, filled the tent, put out the fire, and flushed out of the sides of the tent. I laid on the muddy ground, next to Star, as the soda soaked into the earth.

I laughed and clapped. "Great circus, Star."

She rolled over and faced me, angrily propping herself up on her elbow. "It's not DONE, Marco Diaz!"

She snapped, changing into a clean ringmaster uniform, and me into a clean hoodie. "Now get back to your seat! It's not audience participation time yet."

I laughed and saluted her. "Sure thing, your highness."

"Now, ladies and gentlemen," she announced to...well, just me, I guess, "what would a circus be without JUGGLING CLOWNS?!"

She snapped, and I jumped as she appeared right next to me, and plopped a big cigar into my mouth. She lit it with her sparkler, and I noticed mine also was acting like a sparkler. And it tasted like gum? She pointed my head at the field before I could ask her about the candy cigar, and I noticed Alfonso and Ferguson were standing in the center ring, dressed like clowns.

They stood there a minute before waving at me, excitedly.

I laughed and waved back. "I missed you guys!"

"WHERE ARE THE BALLS YOU SAID YOU'D JUGGLE?!" Star yelled, frustrated.

I giggled. "I don't think Alfonso and Ferguson know how to juggle, Star."

"He's right, we don't!" Alfonso yelled.

"Sure you do!" Star said, snapping, and dropping twenty red rubber balls on top of each of their heads.

Somehow, through sheer luck they each managed to keep three balls in the air. I laughed and clapped - that's probably the most talent I've ever seen the two of them display.

Star wasn't as impressed. "MORE!" She hollered, snapping, this time changing the balls into...chainsaws?! Thankfully, they weren't running as they both immediately dropped them on their feet. They hurriedly picked them back up and kept juggling them, impressively enough.

"MORE!" Star yelled.

"Star, I think that's enou...oh." I muttered as the chainsaws ignited on fire. Immediately, the clownsuits that Alfonso and Ferguson were wearing caught on fire, and they let out a high-pitched scream as they ran in circles.

"Stop drop and roll!" I screamed to them.

"Oh no oh no!" Star yelled, biting her nails. "TSUNAMI RINSE CYCLE!"

She blasted them both with a wave of water from her hands, putting the fire out and washing them right out of the tent. I laughed and put my head in my palm. "Great clowns, Star."

She cartwheeled back down to the muddy field, chomping on her sparkler. A few moments later, Alfonso and Ferguson joined me in the bleachers.

"You guys okay?" I asked.

"She never said anything about juggling!" Ferg whispered, "Just if we'd be clowns!"

I chuckled. "Probably just got ahead of herself."

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" Star yelled. "FOR OUR NEXT ACT, OUR CUNNING KNIFE THROWER, HEKAPOO, AND HER FEARLESS ASSISTANT..." She read her card, confused, "Hekapoo?"

Hekapoo portaled in with, pushing a giant wheel with one of her clones strapped to it. "Yeah, whatever."

I applauded. Knife-throwing acts always had me on the edge of my seat as a kid. Star spun the wheel with the Hekapoo clone on it, and blindfolded the original.

"Watch and be amazed as our knife thrower outlines her clone!" Star announced, turning to watch.

I held my breath as Hekapoo chucked a knife, threw it...and it sailed five feet past the wheel. I burst out laughing. So did Ferguson and Alfonso.

"To your left more!" Yelled the clone.

"Hekapoo, I thought you said you knew how to do this!" Star whined.

"Shhh!" Hekapoo retorted, haughtily. "Marco!"

"What?" I shouted, but as I did, the clone yelled, "Polo!"

"Not Marco Marco, Marco Polo!" Hekapoo sighed angrily, throwing another knife that sailed three feet over the top of the wheel.

"C'mon, follow my voice, you butt!" Yelled the clone.

Finally, Hekapoo threw a knife that impaled the clone, making her disappear, and the knife sunk into the very center of the wheel. Hekapoo took off her blindfold and fist-pumped. "Yes! Bullseye!"

I laughed as Star groaned. "You're not supposed to hit the person on the target," instructed Star with a sigh.

"You're not?" Hekapoo asked, perplexed. "To be fair, that's what circus' were like ten thousand years ago."

She shrugged, opened a portal, and left with her wheel, causing me to laugh harder.

Star just stared after her for a good minute before sighing, and snapping, causing a giant firework rocket to be strapped to her back. "OUR NEXT ACT - ME! YOUR FEARLESS RINGLEADER! WILL JETTISON MYSELF THROUGH THE HOLE I PURPOSEFULLY PUT IN THE TENT EARLIER! AND CREATE THE MOST WONDERFUL OF RAINBOW EXPLOSIONS!"

"Is that safe?!" I yelled through cupped hands.

"NO QUESTIONS, PLEASE!" Star yelled, taking her cigarette-sparkler and attempting to light the fuse behind her back, but it wasn't quite within reach. She looked up at me and gave me a nervous smile. "Can uh...can you light my fuse, Marco?"

I chuckled and walked down to the field. "You know, you don't have to do this for me?" I asked before doing anything drastic.

She pinched my cheeks, causing me to turn red. "Please Marco, how often do I get to strap myself to fireworks? Now light me."

"You're the ringmaster," I said with a smirk, holding my candy cigar up to the fuse before running back to my seat.

My friends and I watched it awe as the rocket flared up into the afternoon sky, with Star attached, going through the hole in the tent...then it sputtered out, and began falling.

And falling.

"Star, fly away!" I yelled.

"I can't, I'm strapped too ti-"

WHUMP!

I cringed as Star face-planted into the ground, and then a split second later, the firework exploded into a rainbow cacophony of sparks and bangs.

I coughed as the smoke cleared, and shouted, "STAR! Are you okay?!"

From her spot, face first on the ground, she raised a hand into the air and gave me a thumbs up.

I laughed. "Do you need a hand?"

She shifted to a thumbs down and pushed herself up onto her feet. "Let's uh...let's just move on to the next act."

She sat on the ground and snapped, conjuring a tightrope across the tent, with a platform on each end, and on each platform was a Warnicorn balancing on a giant beach ball.

"Oh, this looks awesome!" I said, my friends nodding in agreement.

Suddenly, a pair of hands covered my eyes. "Guess who, son!"

I laughed and took the hands off my eyes. "Mom, it's not a surprise if you say, 'son.'"

I stood and hugged my mom as she laughed, "I know, I'm just really happy to see you. Make sure you come when your little brother is born next month."

"Of course," I assured her, as she sat down next to me. "Where's dad?"

"Oh, he's up there!" She pointed, smiling.

My face fell as I saw dad had just climbed onto the back of one of the Warnicorns, with Janna climbing onto the back of the other. Star conjured up a rope net under the tightrope, thankfully.

I bit my nails anxiously as the warnicorns began crossing the tightrope on their giant beach balls, gasping as both Janna and my dad performed a handstand on their respective Warnicorns horns. The two warnicorns met in the middle, high-fived, and then went back to their respective platforms backwards. I hollered and cheered; I was thoroughly impressed. I had no idea my dad or Janna could do that! Next, Janna's warnicorn crossed the rope while bench-pressing her over his head, then my dad's took a turn to do it. I applauded, then, the two warnicorns crossed again as my Dad and Janna did handstands, but this my dad and Janna flipped over each other to land on the other Warnicorns.

I cheered, but then one of the Warnicorns sneezed, causing both of them to lose balance as the other one yelled, "BRUH, GROSS," and shoved him. I held my breath as they all fell and landed in the net...except my dad, who fell about a foot to the right.

"DAD!" I yelled.

"Gnarly faceplant, Mr. D," Janna said as I ran up to him, my mom waddling behind me.

I rolled my dad over and he looked pretty dazed. He said, "Dios Mio, Marco...since when were there five of you?"

"Oh dear," mom said, "better cut me a portal, hun. Need to get your dad looked at."

I nodded and took out my scissors, cutting a portal back to the front of my house.

"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Diaz! I thought the net was big enough!" Star gushed, biting her nails. "Please let me know if he's okay!"

"Oh don't worry Star," My mom assured her, "Mr. Diaz falls out of things all the time!"

"It's true," I told her, as I closed the portal behind my parents, "I think he's had worse. The Diaz's are tough."

"Okay..." She said, rubbing the back of her neck. "You uh...ready for the next act?"

"Sure!" I exclaimed, laughing. "This is the most fun I've had at the circus in a long time."

She smiled before shoving another tub of popcorn ito my hands. I went to say something else to her, but she shoved a hot dog in my mouth hole instead. I...should have seen that coming, but I walked back to the bleachers,keeping my hands in my pockets so Janna couldn't gank my wallet, as she had joined us.

I looked out of the tent hole. It was already starting to get dark. This has been quite a day.

"FOR OUR NEXT PERFORMANCE, WE WILL BE TAKING THE OLD EARTH STANDARD OF PUTTING YOUR HEAD IN A LION'S MOUTH...AND MAKING IT...BETTER!" Star announced with vigorous jazz hands. And I mean, VIGOROUS jazz hands.

"How's she going to do that?" I whispered to Janna, but she just shrugged.

Star snapped, and Ponyhead appeared in a burst of smoke, as well as a dragon the size of a house. It waved to us - seemed like a friendly enough creature. Star tucked Ponyhead under her arm and climbed up a set of stairs to the dragon's mouth.

"Open wide, please?" She asked the dragon, politely.

The dragon nodded and opened its mouth. With large smiles on both of their faces, Star shoved Ponyhead into the dragon's mouth.

"That seems a little anticlimactic," Janna muttered.

I gave some polite golf-claps, "Yeah, a bit," I agreed.

It was then that the dragon chomped down on both Ponyhead and Star, closing them both in with one bite.

"WHOA, THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" Janna cheered, jumping to her feet.

"STAR!" I yelled, anxiously.

Suddenly, the dragon made a face like it smelled something awful, and spit the two of them out onto the field. Star and Ponyhead looked horrified, covered in yellow-ish dragon spit.

The dragon stood up and brushed himself off.

"Roy, what the heck, you weren't supposed to EAT US!" Star griped, wiping herself off.

"Sorry Star. Luckily for you," the dragon replied - Roy, apparently - "but your friend tastes awful. Just, really, the worst thing I've ever eaten."

"Oh wow, okay, like you're some big hotshot," Ponyhead huffed, floating away angrily. "Whateverrrrrrrrr, you like, owe me big time, Earth Turd."

There was an awkward pause as Star just stared after Ponyhead.

"So uh...are you going to just wire me my pay?" Roy asked, "I understand I messed up, so if you need to deduct three percent, I understand, but any further will warrant discussions with my attorney."

"Get out," Star replied, flatly, pointing to where Ponyhead had left.

"You have until Friday!" Roy said happily, waving at us as he left.

Star took a deep breath to compose herself, and shot a wave of magic into the sky. Not sure why, but then she turned back to us and announced, "IT'S TIME FOR THE GRAND FINALE! FOR THIS, I NEED A VOLUNTEER FROM THE AUDIENCE!"

As if on cue, Ferguson raised my hand. Before I could even put it down, Star pointed to me and said, "YES YOU! THE HANDSOME YOUNG MAN WITH THE CUTE MOLE IN THE RED HOODIE!"

"Jeez, flatterer," Janna laughed. "Knock em dead, tiger."

Hesitantly, I walked over to Star in the center of the ring. "So, what do you need me to do?" I asked.

She snapped and a cannon appeared in front of us. "You're the star of the circus, Marco! So I'm going shoot you to the stars!"

"WHAT?!" I yelled, jumping back. "O-o-o-oooooh no. You are NOT shooting me out of a cannon!"

"Whoo, come on Marco, you can do it!" Ferguson yelled.

"You're the man, Marco!" Alfonso yelled.

"I'm fairly confident that you'll live dude!" Janna said, slightly louder than her usual speaking voice.

I bit my lip. Could I...do this?

"Marco," Star said, putting her hand on my shoulder. "You're going to love this."

I shifted uncomfortably. "Well...alright. I...I guess."

"You trust me, right?" Star asked, grabbing my hand.

I smiled. "Of course I trust you."

She slapped a helmet on top of my head. "Good, now get in the cannon."

My friends all whooped and cheered. I clenched my fist. I can do this! I got this! I'm Marco Diaz! Red belt! Squire! Above average cook!

---

Star's Point of View

---

I grabbed Marco's hand upon seeing his confident smirk, my heart racing. I was a bit nervous about this too. I spun him around, and with all my strength, threw him up into the air, and he landed in the cannon, butt first.

"You sure about this?" He yelled.

"Like 85 percent." I teased him, aiming the cannon at the hole in the tent.

I kneeled down and lit the fuse with my sparkler. "EVERYBODY COUNT WITH ME NOW!"

Ferguson, Alfonso, and Janna call counted with me, "TEN

NINE

EIGHT

SEVEN

SIX

FIVE

FOUR-"

BOOM!

"Guess that was a shorter fuse than I thought," I laughed, watching the cannon explode in a flash of light and fireworks, sending Marco up and out of the tent.

I put my hands on my hips and smiled proudly as Marco disappeared into a twinkle in the sky. The crowd cheered, and I took a bow.

At least one of these acts went off without a hitch.

---

Marco's Point of View

---

"AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!" I screamed, rocketing up out of the tent, into the cool night sky, wind stinging my face and ripping the helmet right off my head.

As gravity kicked in and I paused in the air, I realized the night sky in Mewni was beautiful at this height.

Then I screamed as I began to fall, but within a split second, I was caught by Cloudy. "I got ya!" He cried.

"Oh, are you the blast of magic Star shot out before calling me up?" I asked.

"Yooooooou got it!" Cloudy replied. "Star thought you'd like this."

I took a deep breath to center myself, and relaxed. It was beautiful up here. I smiled as Star, in her golden form, flew up to me. "Hey Marco. Mind if I sit there?"

I scooted over, and Star plopped next to me on Cloudy. "I'm sorry, Marco."

I gave her a confused look. "For what, Star?"

She brought her knees up to her chest. "I uh...overheard you last night. When you were moping on the tower."

"Oh," I replied, looking out to the sky. "Yesterday was a really bad day. Higgs was a jerk and...well, just a lot happened."

Star grabbed my hand, and I went red. She said, "I know we've had some ups and downs since you decided to stay here...but I want you to know I really appreciate everything you've done for me. So I wanted to throw you a circus. Cheer you up."

I laughed and put an arm around her. "I appreciate you too, Star. You're always there for me. And this is maybe the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me."

"Even though everything went wrong?" She asked.

"Everything went hilarious," I laughed, "I mean, as long as my dad's okay, I can't remember the last time anything made me laugh so hard. Did you see the look on Ponyhead's face when that dragon spit you guys out?"

She laughed. "Yeah, that was great."

She laid her head on my shoulder for a minute as we watched the stars. "So you don't regret staying with me?"

I gave her a light hug. "Never."

"Good!" She exclaimed, "Because I have some ideas for next year's act..."

I rolled my eyes. Never a dull moment.