Wand and Wards: Chapter 3 (Patreon)

Star stared at the metallic contraption in front of her. It’s as if someone showed a blacksmith a cart from the side and they ended up only making a flat copy of it. She wasn’t even sure someone could ride it until her cousin just sat on the seat of one before circling around her. Taylor looked at her expectantly but Star was a fish out her elements here. “Umm Taylor… I don’t know how to ride this.” Star said as she poked at the bike leaning against the shed. How does someone travel with these? She expected some horse or other magical contraption but this was something else.

“Do you not know how to ride a bike?” Taylor asked to which she just stared at her. Her cousin palmed her face as she then added “Wait, don’t answer that. Let me just find my old training wheels for you.” Her cousin then dismounted and went back to the shed to find them.

Star hummed as she scratched the top of her hand with her wand before she suddenly got an idea. She slowly brought down her wand before offering an alternative solution. “Hmmm… you know, I could just magic our little problem away but I don’t know, granting life to the bike? ”

Taylor stopped in her rummaging and turned around before giving her a flat look. “No.”

“But it’ll be easier than having to wait!” Star whined. It’s been forever since Taylor went to look for these training wheel’s and she’s already bored.

“Can we just agree that giving something life is just a bad idea?” Taylor sighed out in exasperation. Star pouted but reluctantly nodded at that. She wasn’t that good at giving something life, that she has to admit, but she’s better in other stuff.

“Ok fine… but what if I just turn this bike into a Warnicorn?” Star then suggested. At least this idea didn’t involve her giving life to an inanimate object! It's just a simple transformation and she can totally handle that better than animation.

“Star, I don’t know if I should be impressed or horrified that you can suggest something worse than the one you made earlier.” Taylor replied with a dumbfounded look on her face. “Do you know what a Warnicorn even is?” She asked slowly as she looked her straight in the eye.

“Well duh, I tame them all the time.” Star answered with a scoff. Everyone knows about Warnicorns. After all, they were the symbol of Mewni’s might. They were the most majestic of creatures and the only steed she’ll trust to ride in battle. She let out a dreamy sigh as she remembered all the wild ones she tamed just last week. Everyone

“Bwah?! No, that’s not the point I’m trying to make Star!”  Taylor replied as turned back to find that wheel. “A Warnicorn is a half a ton of magically reinforced flesh and bones that has a Brute rating of… I don’t know, 4? A Warnicorn, even a tamed one, would be way overkill for Earth Bet’s roads.” Her cousin explained but Star wasn’t quite convinced. She kept staring at the bike and wondered just how fast she could cast her spell. Before she could attempt it however, Taylor asked her something that pretty much stopped her dead in her tracks “Star… how many times has your Warnicorns kicked a cart?”

“Oh I don’t know… maybe a dozen times since last week? Cost me a bit of my weekly allowance…oh.” Star frowned a bit as she remembered all those broken carts then she remembered just what the horseless carts of this universe are made off. It wasn’t sounding pretty the more she thinks about it.

“And how much more expensive do you think a horseless carriage made of steel and glass would be then?” Taylor then asked as she dug in deep into one particular pile.

“Ohhhh oh… yeah. Let’s not do that” Star replied, agreeing with her cousin while she cringed at the idea of having to ask her mom to repair it when she’s already this close to getting sent to Saint Olga’s. She wasn’t confident enough with her repair skills especially with something she’s not yet familiar with .

“Good cause I found them.” Taylor replied as she pulled out a pair of tiny wheels.

Waving her wand, she readied a spell as she shouted “Let me magic those on for you cuz!”. She was bored enough as is and she was going to be helping!

“Can we not suggest magicking away the problem for one second?” Taylor begged as she motioned for Star to stop. The spell fizzled out into sparkles as Star aborted the spell halfway through. She slumped in disappointment at that. She’d been stopped two times already. Oh she had just gotten the wand yesterday but she needed to cast magic. It’s in her blood!

“But-” She whined, trying to reason with her beloved cousin and try to see things her way but she was shut down before she could make her impassioned plea.

“No buts.” Taylor made it clear that she wasn’t going to tolerate any hijinks as walked up to Star’s bike and started attaching the wheels. Star sighed as she zapped the ground and made a chair made of plants pop up from the ground to sit down on. She stayed put for now, letting Taylor work on it while there she was stewing in her boredom.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long before Taylor was finished. The bluenette wiped away a stray sweat from her brow as the bike stayed upright thanks to the two wheels. Why they didn’t have these in the first place was a total mystery to her. It would be so much easier now that she didn’t have to worry about tipping over. “All done. Hop on and just follow my instructions ok.”

Star nodded as hopped on and found it a bit more comfortable than a saddle. “Push on the pedal when you want to go forward. Squeeze this lever if you want to stop and push this if you want to warn people they’re too near.” Her cousin then explained, pointing at each part of the bike before pushing the bell attached to the handle. The ringing it made was amusing and the fact that she could repeatedly squeeze it was extremely entertaining. Even her straight laced cousin lightened up for once as she simply shook her head. “Ok, ok, I’ve had enough.” She giggled as she reluctantly stopped ringing the bell despite how entertaining it was.

With her protective armor in place and her feet firmly on the pedal of her bike, Star pointed ahead as she commanded her cousin “Lead on my trusty general! Adventure at the boardwalk awaits!”

Taylor only rolled her eyes while a soft smile graced her face before she started pedaling away. Star followed along without much problem. Once she got rolling, she found that riding a bike came naturally to her. The fact that the seat didn’t chaff against her thighs was a huge plus though she wouldn’t trade this for a ride on a Warnicorn. They just held a special place in her heart.

While they rode along the streets of Brockton, Star couldn’t help but wonder why Taylor would rather do things manually than get magical help. She wanted to know why so she asked her, “Didn’t uncle teach you magic? You are royalty after all. It is your birthright and what not.”  

“Yeah, what about it?” Taylor asked as she motioned for them to stop as the lights on one of those street lights turned red.

“Why aren’t you using it more often? It’s amazing and it makes things easier. Why go through all the trouble when you can wave the problem away?” Star asked, genuinely curious as to why her cousin didn’t use it more often. She had the cheek marks showing that she did possess magic but she has yet to see her use it once.

“Well, I could but I don’t.” Taylor replied enigmatically making Star pout.

“But why?” She asked once more.

“Because I don’t want to rely on it too much. I don’t want it to be a crutch when I could just as easily do things with my own two hands.” Taylor replied as the lights turned green once more.

Star wasn’t quite satisfied with the answer but she chose not to comment on it any further. “So you do use magic but you don’t do it most of the time… When do you use it? I want to see you fire something sparkly!” Star just nodded along before asking away. She was now curious about her cousin's magical ability.

“Maybe when a villain drops by at the docks.” Taylor replied with a smile.

“I’ll hold on to you one that one, cuz.” Star then said. She wondered what kind of villains lived around this part of the multiverse.

-x-x-x-

The Boardwalk was everything that Star wanted right now. It had everything that a princess needed. Shops a plenty, food stands everywhere, and even a carnival with rides. Those rides might not be magical but they as well be with the cries of excitement from the people riding them. Not only do they have an endless selection of stalls to choose from, there were also so many street performers around. One in particular had a parade of life size knitted dolls walking after her.

“Taylor, this is amazing!” Star shouted as she practically vibrated in place. There were far too many choices and everything was just so amazing and interesting that she couldn’t choose which one to go to first. They could take a ride but there was also a wide selection of stores selling clothes and she couldn’t forget about the food stalls. All those posters showing this extra large meat sandwich called the ‘Challenger’ were making her very hungry right now.

“Settle down Star. You know we can just come back here next weekend. Also, aren’t there things like the Boardwalk around the multiverse?” Taylor asked as she led them around. There were some people pointing their magic mirrors at them but Taylor merely waved her hands and there were sparks and curses as people got stung by sparks of electricity. Star whistled at that. She almost didn't catch that with how casual the gesture was.

“Well yeah but this is the first time I’ve been on this one!” Star answered. It got boring for her if she kept going to the same place every time. It was one of the reasons why she loved exploring so much. All the new things she could experience was a thrill all on its own.

“You know, mind if you let me pick where we should go? Feeling kinda hungry right now” Taylor asked. The growling of Star’s stomach reminded her that she hadn’t eaten anything else aside from breakfast with how she spent almost the entire morning barricading herself in her room.

Her reply however was quickly cut short as people started screaming and running away from something; Star was already on alert as she pulled out her Wand while Taylor cursed out as both of them would soon find the source of the commotion. A giant yellow spherical head was chomping away and swallowing people whole while people desperately tried going away.

“Go for the fat ones Uber! There!” A man wearing a color costume shouted from atop the head while his companion steered their monstrosity. Both of them laughed away as they caused chaos and mayhem.

“Of all the times... Hey Star, ready to kick some ass?” Taylor asked as she cracked her knuckles.

Star grinned as she raised her wands, which started glowing brightly. “Thought you’d never ask.”

Taylor’s cheeks glowed brightly as she stomped towards the two villains. “Hey Dumbasses! Still haven’t learned from last time!?” She shouted, stopping the two in their tracks as they slowly turned towards Taylor and Star.

“Well wouldn’t you look at that folks, it seems like today’s Ghost is here and wouldn’t you know it, it’s an Inky and Clyde!” Shouted the thin one as he looked over at his shoulder.

“Lol. I don’t know Leet, I think these two are more of a Mario and Luigi pair.” The muscular one then said as he leered at them. She felt kinda dirty from the look. She reminded herself to hit that one with a Narwhal blast a bit lower than usual.

“You know, I say they’re more of a Peach and Daisy. Hey Taylor! Why didn’t you tell us you had a cousin? Would have saved us a lot of trouble when you don't have to choose between me and Uber!” Leet shouted, making Taylor’s brow twitch as she gritted her teeth.

“Oh dream on Leet, she’s obviously into me-! No fair!” Shouted Leet as he ducked just in time to dodge a blast from Taylor.

“Oh it’s on!” Uber shouted as their ride started chomping away towards her.

Star smiled as she waved her wand and aimed her spell. “Narwhal Blast!”