Star becomes acting Queen and plans for Marco and his warriors to delay Meteora from reaching Castle Butterfly long enough for Star to find Moon and destroy the monster princess.
Tropes:
- Back for the Finale: Talon Raventalon, from "Night Life", and Jorby, from "Lava Lake Beach", are some of the people Marco chose to team up with. Additionally, the giant monster from "Marco and the King" makes a reappearance before Meteora drains his soul out.
- Sir Lavabo and the knights featured in "Trial by Squire" are all present in the episode, but they don't really play a relevant role.
- Bait-and-Switch Boss: When Marco uses his Princess Turdina persona to lure out Meteora, he hears thundering footsteps, only for it to actually be the monster River met in "Marco and the King". Then he gets his soul stolen by Meteora, who then attacks Marco.
- Batman Gambit: Marco's plan is basically to use Meteora's hatred of him to lure her into a trap.
- Berserk Button: Not only does Star get mad at being called just queen instead of acting queen, she blasts Sir Muscleton when he calls her "baby girl".
- Bottomless Magazines: Averted. Spider with a Top Hat's Gatling Good weapon runs out of ammunition after a few moments of sustained fire.
- Call-Back:
- Star still hasn't forgiven the Magical High Commission for their conspiracy regarding her family, refusing to accept counsel from "liars".
- Marco finally brings up that even though he's been aged back to normal, he still has 16 years worth of experience from Hekapoo's domain.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Marco and his team being slaughtered by Meteora while Star has lost her memory in the Realm of Magic.
- Closest Thing We Got: Star tries to recruit Lavabo the laundry knight to fight Meteora simply because he's the only person in the castle to demonstrate any initiative. Marco is quick to veto that idea and volunteers himself, instead.
- Continuity Cavalcade: Tom apologizes to Marco for all the stuff he did in "Blood Moon Ball", "Mr. Candle Cares", "Friendenemies" and "Naysaya". He even apologizes for the events of "Monster Arm", despite having nothing to do with that one.
- Continuity Nod:
- When Star gets the Magic High Commission out of the war room, Omnitraxus repeats his line from "Mathmagic":Omnitraxus: Omnitraxus Prime has spoken!
- Star brings back that she was babysitted/trained by the royal guards, something she already mentioned in "School Spirit".
- Star's dilemma about being (acting) Queen during a crisis mirrors almost exactly how it was for Moon back in "Moon the Undaunted".
- When Star gets the Magic High Commission out of the war room, Omnitraxus repeats his line from "Mathmagic":
- Cooldown Hug: When Marco tells Star that she doesn't need to act brave around him, she gives in to the stress of the situation and asks for a hug.
- Cool Helmet: Pony Head is given one by Talon during the Lock-and-Load Montage. Unfortunately, it ends up obstructing her vision.Pony Head: Um... I cannot see. Can everyone else see? Because I cannot.
- Cool Shades: Talon hands these out to the "Marc-nificent Seven" in preparation for a "victory photo".
- Crazy-Prepared: Star put a reminder on her mirror phone to go off every few seconds to remind her of who she is. In addition, Star stuffed a bunch of additional mirror phones with the same reminder into her boot just in case she lost the first. Unfortunately, even that isn't enough.
- Cross-Referenced Titles: The titles of this episode and the following one together form the phrase "divide and conquer".
- Crush Blush: Star blushes and turns away after Marco accepts her order to delay Meteora, and they both blush when one of the chefs interrupts their hug.
- Easily Forgiven: Averted; Star still isn't on good terms with the Commission.
- Fastball Special: Pony asks Talon to throw her at Meteora. It doesn't work.
- Feeling Their Age: Sir Scarsguard, who commanded the guards for three generations, and taught Star how to use a sword, is now an old man who can barely hear anything that's happening around him.
- Get Out!: Star isn't happy to see the Magic High Commission at the war meeting, and demands they leave immediately. Hekapoo gets recruited by Marco for his squad, but Omnitraxus and Rhombulus never come back.
- The Glomp: When Star finds Moon, she runs over and jumps at her, wrapping both her arms and legs around Moon's body.
- Godiva Hair: Exaggerated. While in the Realm of Magic, Queen Moon's long hair covers up her entire nude body as if she were sticking herself out of a giant bush.
- Godzilla Threshold: Star travels into the Realm of Magic to save Moon, even though she acknowledges that she could lose herself in the process.
- Healing Spring: The river of magic in the Realm of Magic heals Moon of both Meteora's soul sucking and the corruption on her arms from using the "Darkest Spell".
- Hold the Line: Marco and his team have to hold back Meteora until Star comes back. It slowly fails, and their comrades dwindle one by one.
- Hope Spot: Star manages to snap out of the Realm of Magic's stupor thanks to a bunch of her pocket phones remind her who she was, and she even turns into her butterfly form and opens a portal with every intention of leaving, but at the end she's overtook once again by the magic's influence.
- I Can't Hear You: Sir Scarsguard, one of Mewni's longest-serving veteran knights, is unfortunately deaf as a post.
- Innocently Insensitive: Sir Dashing of Muscleton calls Star "baby girl". He probably didn't mean anything negative, but it gets him blasted by Star.
- Insistent Terminology: Star is the acting Queen, mind you. Calling her just queen ticks her off, because that makes it sound like they won't get her mother back.
- Lock-and-Load Montage: The "Marc-nificent Seven" prepare for Meteora's arrival by donning armor and readying their weapons.
- The Magnificent Seven Samurai: Marco's team, which consists of himself, Tom, Kelly, her friend Jorby, Pony Head, Hekapoo and Talon Raventalon. He even dubs them the "Marc-nificent Seven", although there were only five members at the time. For added flavor, Tom dresses up like a samurai and Marco carries a katana-like sword.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Star has been Eclipsa's defender since they first met. But, she has Eclipsa chained up for indirectly leading to Moon's disappearance.
- Pet the Dog: Even after her fight with him earlier on in the season, Hekapoo still joins Marco's "Marc-nificent Seven", and tries to save him from Meteora by using her clones to keep Meteora from stomping on him and telling him to run.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: As soon as Star is done getting information about the battle between Moon and Meteora, she has the guards chain up Eclipsa again. After all, it was because of her meddling that Meteora escaped and Moon went missing. It's really hard to blame Star for feeling that way after losing her mom.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: Sir Muscleton emits a very high-pitched squeal when Star blasts him.
- Shout-Out: Tom's outfit and topknot resembles Prince Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender.
- Swiss-Army Weapon: Pony Head's artificial horn can use a number of attachments, such as an axe, mascara brush, or chainsaw.
- We Need a Distraction: Marco volunteers to delay Meteora until Star can rescue Moon.
- What Would X Do?: Star is constantly trying to refer to what would Moon do in every situation, now that she needs to act as Acting Queen.
- While Rome Burns: Thanks to the mind-altering properties in the Realm of Magic, Star pretty much abandons Marco to his luck, despite her best efforts to remain grounded.
- The Worf Effect:
- Mina Loveberry is, in Star's words, a one-woman army... but they already sent her out against Meteora, and she got her soul sucked out. One assumes this is why Mina meant to destroy Heinous/Meteora before she got to the point where she was stronger than her.
- Marco defeats the Spider with a Top Hat during his brief training with Star, deflecting all the lasers with a sword. Keep in mind that this is said to be her strongest spell.
