Chains That Bind

Chapter 12

"How 'bout this?" Star asked, holding up yet another dress.

PonyHead looked up from the pile of clothes and made a disgusted face. "Gurl, I don't wanna sound rude, but that dress looked as if it was dumped in the sewer of ugliness and was fished out of it by some kind of hideous enhancer machine or something."

Star sighed and placed it back on the rack. Sure, she enjoyed shopping once in a while, and it was nice to be out with her friends. But what's the point with buying all these outfits when she's probably never going to wear them again. Her royal uniform will be her permanent outfit.

Janna came back from her section of the store with her clothes on her arms. "Still haven't decided yet?"

Star shook her head. "Nah. And I don't even understand why I should. I'm never going to wear these."

Her mystical best friends nodded, "true. But who knows? Maybe the rules will be bent."

Star and Janna looked at her confused. The young Earth girl already knows of the royal history and rules and it being changed was a chance from one to none. Heck, Star was almost shipped off to St. Olga's School for Wayward Princesses just because she didn't follow the rules of being a 'proper' princess!

PonyHead raised an eyebrow at them. "Really? Star you're about to become the Queen of Mewni. Queen! As in the head of the planet."

"Aren't kings supposed to be the head?"

The girls jumped at the sudden question from Jackie.

"Sorry, I just found the clothes I wanted and I happened to heard what PonyHead said. But anyway, aren't the kings supposed to be the heads?"

Star shook her head. "Not in Mewni. The women leads and males have to follow."

Jackie frowned, "but what if you were born a guy?"

Star scratched her head. She hadn't heard that question in a long, long time. But thankfully, she knew the answer.

"Well, Butterfly women tend to give birth to females with a rate of 99.98%."

Janna whistled.

"But if there is a son in the Butterfly family, then his sibling, if it's a girl, would be the heir to the throne."

Jackie frowned. "That's kind of sexist."

"It's not much of gender but of protection."

This made the three girl look at Star asking for explanation. PonyHead never knew about this and it intrigued her. The Mewman princess sighed, magiced up a mild cotton anti-eavesdropping spell and explained while browsing through the racks of dresses.

"My family has this....curse I supposed. It all started with Queen Urania the First- the very first Butterfly. Now keep this story under tight lips. No one else outside the royal family must ever hear of this."

The girls nodded.

"Okay well, Grandma Urania was cursed. It began at the dawn of Mewni. There was no king or queens yet but there was like this overseer and he had a son. The son and grandma Urania fell in love with each other. But grandma Urania had a friend. That particular monster friend also loved the son to the point of obsession. She knew that the son's dream was to have a son of his own one day with a loving wife by his side, so she cursed my grandma Urania to make it near impossible for her to do so. Once everyone found out, she was hunted down. She was such in a panic to leave her house that she accidentally knocked down a few potions in her house and the results permanently made her look like a monster."

The girls gasped.

"Is this why monster are discriminated in your planet?"

Star nodded, "mostly. It is said that every monster in Mewni is a descendant of grandma Urania. I think the name of her friend was Teras."

Jackie frowned, "but that doesn't explain why females are superior that males."

"Oh yeah. Well, while Teras was at hiding, the son-"

"Can we have his name too?" Janna asked.

"Forgot his name. It started with an M. Milo? Mill? Mike? Mira! That's the son's name! Mira!"

"Isn't that a girl's name?"

Star shrugged, "but back to the story. Mira died. Teras didn't know that one of her potions went of during her quick escape and when Mira went to chase her, it blew in his face and well....... you could figure out the rest. During his burial, his body suddenly became magical dust and grandma Urania suddenly got an idea. She ran back to her house and made the wand. And yes, that's the same face I made when I found out. But with it, she defeated Teras. But it took her 9 years. She may have taken down Teras but spared her children. They weren't killed, but they were outcasts. When grandma Urania gave birth, it was a son. A son no one knew about. Because after 4 months, he died. His heart couldn't take the magic in his veins."

Star took a deep breath.

"The only way to save them was to remove their magic and even then they only had 18-30 years to live. Their heart is weak so they're spared from princely duties so that stress may not affect them. They couldn't leave to go anywhere without a bodyguard and caretaker. They'll die naturally. As long as nothing else kills them first.

Star grabbed a dress and turned to her friends before grabbing her wand. The same wand they could no longer look at the same way ever again. She smiled faintly before dismissing the spell.

"No one tells a soul about this."

Janna swallowed hard, "yeah. Not one."

Star nodded and went to try on the dress.

The girls never knew how dark the Butterfly family history could be. But then again, every family history has at least that one dark story. But at least they-aside from PonyHead-didn't have to know their direct roots. One of their ancestors might have done something truly wicked but they were spared from knowing.