Star Darlings; The Starlight Mirror

XIII. Queen Jupiter's Story

While the thunderstorm around the cake was gone, it was at this point that Sage began to question why Hoshi kept on referring to the Star Darlings and herself as "princesses". "Okay, Hoshi, please be real with me. Why do you keep insisting on calling us princesses?" Sage asked Hoshi. Hoshi looked at Sage deeply for a few seconds. "Well, Sage, I don't know how I can say this, so I'll just show you and the others why." It said, vaguely. Hoshi brought Sage and the Star Darlings back to the lavender fields, but this was a completely different place. It was more like the ruins of a castle, in the middle of the ruins were twelve stone statues of twelve beautiful women in different gowns. "And how does this explain your reasoning?" Sage asked. But Hoshi ignored her as it began thinking deeply. "O Spirits of Queen Jupiter, Venus, Sun, Ceres, Pluto, Moon, Neptune, Mars, Earth, Uranus, Saturn, and Mercury! Appear in front of me." It said. The twelve statues began to glow in different colours, resembling the Star Darlings' colours. "What the-" Sage breathed. Standing in front of them were projections of the same twelve women but in color. Queen Jupiter, the one with long lavender hair, a tiara with a star jewel, and a lavender dress that resembled a chiton with a thunderstorm design, opened her eyes and smiled at Sage. "Sagittarius." She sighed. Sage cocked her head to one side. "Just the same, as usual." The lady added, jeeringly. The other queens were sharing cute moments with the Star Darlings, and some of the SDs were somewhat accepting of these women being their mothers. "Okay, Your Majesty, it's time you explain to these girls what you and the others mean by past lives," Hoshi said to Queen Jupiter. "I will Hoshi, I will." She answered.

The twelve women looked at the Star Darlings with more serious looks on their faces. "Girls, I know you don't remember us, and there's a reason why." Queen Ceres, the woman with long blue hair, a bluish-teal leaf crown, and a long white and blue gown that had a winter-fantasy design to it, said. "And with the trouble going on here, it's only fitting we'd tell you." Queen Saturn, the purple queen with a Hime cut, loads of jewellery, and lots of circular designs on her light purple gown, said. It was then Queen Jupiter cleared her throat.

"Long ago, The Zodiac Realm was a very prosperous and peaceful land. All twelve of you lived in different parts of the world. You, Sagittarius, lived with me." Queen Jupiter began. "You all were also named after your respective zodiac signs if you haven't already guessed." Queen Venus said, she was the pink one and was (possibly) the most beautiful of the queens. "We know." Libby answered. "But that's beside the point, anyway." Queen Jupiter interrupted. "The Platinum Period is what we lived in, a time of peace and tranquillity, a thousand years to be exact. Us Zodians lived long happy lives, you even made friends with the other eleven princesses. But then, that very day came." Queen Jupiter and the other eleven queens' faces morphed into sad expressions. It was there that Queen Jupiter drew an oval of energy which created a screen. "Then, the Negasociety came and tried to take over the Zodiac Realm with the intention of taking down the monarchy." Queen Jupiter continued. "So, I and the other eleven queens joint together to form an alliance with one another. The war between us and the Negasociety lasted for ten years, and thousands of lives were lost in the disaster." The screen showed a very unpleasant projection of people being violent to one another, Sage felt a tear roll down her cheek. "But among those lives lost, were all twelve of you." Queen Jupiter said, more serious. The projection then showed the Star Darlings in princess dresses, eleven of the queens, and thousands of dead soldiers and civilians lying on the ground, unconscious. The Star Darlings had very mixed reactions to this. The screen disappeared. "And so, all alone and unable to handle your losses, I held the greatest treasure of all my hand; The Celestial Wand, in my hand and commanded the phrase: "Zodiac Healing Revolution!" to reincarnate everyone and send them somewhere else to live happy lives. This feat also erased the entirety of the Negasociety, except Rancora. And as I lay on the ground losing energy, I used it to split the wand into twelve makeup pacts to send them to the modern day, and also put Hoshi in suspended animation. With that, I perished and I and the other queens were reborn in spiritual forms." Queen Jupiter concluded.

"No way." Sage said, rubbing one eye. "Do you have your Star Pacts with you?" Queen Sun asked, she was the yellow queen with big yellow hair similar to Leona. The Star Darlings took out their makeup pacts, which all started to glow. "Our Star Pacts!" Leona exclaimed. "What's going on?" Gemma asked. They levitated towards the queens. "Watch." Queen Jupiter said. The makeup pacts disappeared, but the Star Darlings themselves began glowing. Soon, their Star Darlings costumes were changed. They now had simple-looking boots, their tops were the same, their headbands were removed, they now had three layered skirts each one being lighter in shade than the previous up above, they now had bubble-like sleeves, and some had animal features, like their respective signs - Astra gained ram horns, Tessa gained bull horns and a nose ring, Cassie sprouted crab eyestalks, Leona grew a lion's tail and ears, Vega got angel wings, Scarlet gained a scorpion tail, Sage grew horse ears and a tail, Clover grew goat horns, and Piper got faux fish-fins on her arms and legs - Hoshi appeared to like these new forms, as did the queens. "Now, Hoshi, take the Star Darlings to Rancora's base." Queen Jupiter said to Hoshi. Hoshi drew a circle that formed into a portal and beckoned the Star Darlings to get in, as the twelve girls left, the queens disappeared.

Author's Note: If you love Greek Mythology, you'll definitely appreciate some aspects this chapter. Like how the Platinum Period is equivalent to The Golden Age (according to Hesiod), the 10 year war that's similar to the Titanomachy, the ancient Zodiac Realm being based on Elysium, and so on. A lot of this is also similar to Sailor Moon, with the girls being princesses and Queen Jupiter being the Star Darlings equivalent of Queen Serenity, etc. Also, fun fact: this was originally Chapter 7, but I pushed it to the end as it didn't make a lot of sense to have six Star Darlings talk to twelve Queens...