Astral was counting drops of water again, although not out of boredom this time, but because he was trying to block out the feeling of sheer terror that was creeping its way through his body. Lying in his dirty jail cell, the pegasus pony thought about how much of a fiasco this day had become. His attempt to buy groceries had taken a downward turn and hadn’t stopped at level zero, oh no, it kept going down. So much so that Astral was almost certain that he would never see the light of day again let alone his apartment. Any minute now the Princess of the Night, his ruler and one of the most powerful creatures on the planet would walk through that door and she was going to be his doom, he could just feel it.

The distant sound of hooves made him sit bolt upright, in a panic he got up and did a little jig on the spot to calm himself down. Noticing his dirty coat, Astral tried to brush the grime out in a last minute attempt to make himself presentable. Just before the hooves entered the cell block, he flattened his mane with a hoof and put on a winning smile to look normal. On the inside he was anything but normal, Astral’s heart rate was threatening to burst his chest open and his brain was a scrambled mess. It felt like a single push would be all he needed to melt into a sticky mess on the grimy jail cell floor.

“...yes I know,” came the captain’s voice, “Anyway, right this way princess.”

A dark blue hoof stepped into the room, and with it came one of the most majestic beings Astral had ever laid eyes on. He had seen her before, but there was always a crowd between the two as she stood up high. But at that moment there was just three of them, and the princess was only a few hooves away. Princess Luna, in all her glory was walking up to his cell, he felt himself shaking slightly and almost fainted when they made eye contact. The god-like being stopped outside his cell and looked down at him. Astral could feel a bead of sweat slowly make its way down his forehead. He was waiting for her to give the captain the order to keep him there forever, or worse vanquish him from the face of the planet.

“It took over seven guards to take him down?” was what she said instead, looking to the captain with a raised eyebrow.

The captain had followed in and chuckled good naturedly at her comment, “Well, he’s surprisingly nimble, they had to corner him after he escaped their first attempt to restrain him.”

“Most distressing then! This creature looks quite unfit, it is a wonder he managed to evade capture for so long. Maybe you should train your soldiers a bit more if the likes of him can best them.”

Astral felt some of his fear fade and indignation rise at those words. He wasn’t that unfit, he did try to exercise as much as possible it was just… difficult when he never needed to go anywhere. Also not to mention that writing took up a huge chunk of his life. He shook his head and returned his attention back to the conversation.

“Well even so captain! Changeling magic or not, this is quite unacceptable! I’ll be speaking to my sister when she gets back. I remember when I was younger I could take on at least three of her guards simultaneously before it felt challenging. But even at the prospect of an impromptu sparring with the guards out front yesterday was enough to render them unconscious. ‘Twas a tragic sight to see.” The princess shook her head sadly.

“Very well your majesty, I’ll be sure to double their training sessions to meet your standards. But please don’t scare the new guards like that again,” the captain rolled his eyes when she wasn’t looking, “Now about our prisoner…”

The princess perked up, “Ah yes, of course.” she walked over to Astral’s cell and straightened her back in a regal manner, “Salutations prisoner, I am Princess Luna, Ruler of the Night and you are a suspected changeling who has attempted to impersonate the newly instated Captain of the Guard. Now while I might have usually just done away with you -Astral gulped-, my sister has made it clear that I be fair and stay within the confines of the law. So changeling or not, how do you plead?”

Astral jumped up suddenly, “Not guilty your highness! I’m merely a writer, I didn’t even know changelings existed until a few weeks ago, this is all some huge misunderstanding. And anyway, I don’t look anything like the captain over there, my cutie mark isn’t even the same…”

He turned body to the side so they could both see his quill cutie mark and Luna looked thoughtful.

“I have to agree with him,” the captain spoke up, “While our colours are identical, his figure is completely different from mine and his cutiemark has been confirmed to be a quill since this morning. If he is a changeling, he’s not a very good one.”

“Now this is an interesting conundrum!” grinned Luna, “And it only takes a single spell to reveal a changeling in disguise, but alas, I… may have been distracted when my sister was trying to teach me it.”

She trailed off mumbling to herself, and then perked up suddenly.

“No matter! We need only await her return, which will be in a day or two, and then we shall see if he truly is who he says he is.”

Astral blanched at this statement.

“I-I have to stay here? For two days?!”

The Princess waved him off, “No, no, I’ll have the captain look after you so you don’t have to reside within this cell.”

Astral let out a sigh of relief while the captain raised an eyebrow at this statement, “As you wish, your highness.”

“Don’t act so down, captain. I’m sure you two will become the best of friends,” Princess Luna turned and trotted happily to the exit, she stopped in the doorway and happily raised a hoof, “Now follow me you two look-alikes!”

“Uh Princess, I can’t leave the cell.”

The Lunar Princess grinned sheepishly, “Er apologies, here we go!” with a mighty crunch the whole door came off its hinges and hit the ground with a metallic thud. Astral Quill stepped out cautiously and followed. On their way out he saw the prison guard looking dismayed as he saw the damage the princess had caused, “not again…”

The three of them stepped out into the fresh air and Astral smiled as he breathed it all in. Luna had stopped and turned back to look at them both.

“I am going to cast a spell that binds two ponies together, if one is to walk more than 50 hoofsteps away you will be teleported to each other. This will ensure that if indeed you are a changeling, you won’t get very far before the captain will squash you.”

Astral gulped as he looked at the captain who was looking back with a bit of a smirk. Astral also noticed just how muscly his doppelgänger was. Luna lowered her horn between them both and a string unravelled itself from its tip. It floated in the air and then began to weave itself between the two. There was a flash as the spell finished and the princess and the captain continued forward. With some trepidation, Astral followed.

Astral was lead through the front of the castle this time, where he was in awe at the vast, intricately designed entrance hall, with its gold and purple walls each showing numerous large banners. A red carpet lead up a set of stairs to a beautiful stain glass window at the end of the room. The captain laughed at Astral’s expression and leaned in close, “It gets even better you know.”

He wasn’t wrong. The entered a long hallway in which, on either side, were even bigger stained glass windows, each depicting incredible art pieces of important historical events. It was hard to not sit there and ogle at each new masterpiece. The captain had started to be push Astral every few steps as he kept stopping to enjoy the view.

It took some time, but they finally came to a pair of large wooden doors bearing a single painted crescent moon on each. Astral realised where they must be.

“Now it’s under a bit of construction, but this is my office.” said the princess as she stepped inside. She turned and gave a wide grin.

Unlike the rest of the palace, this room was painted a blue to match its occupant, with a fancy midnight blue design to trace the walls. At the front of the room sat a desk with a bookshelf off to the side. There were a couple stands that had been erected to hold a length of dark cloth to block half of the room. But one of the corners had fallen down to reveal a large bed behind it, as well as sleeping mask and a dress hung from a wardrobe. Luna cleared her throat as she noticed where Astral was looking and magicked the cloth back onto its stand.

With graceful flourish Luna sat at her desk and motioned to two chairs which sat in front of it. The two ponies took their seats and Astral noticed a nameplate on the desk which read “Princess Luna - Ruler of the Night”. The princess straightened up and put on a professional manner as she started. Astral couldn’t help sniggering, as he could tell she was very much enjoying this office setting.

“Alright, at this moment I am going to assume you’re innocent until proven guilty, so I would like try and get to the bottom of this before getting back to my normal duties.”

The captain spoke up, “I must admit that if Astral is who he says he is than this must be one of the strangest incidences of my life.”

Luna nodded, “I certainly agree that this whole situation could be very coincidental, which is probably why the guards immediately thought ‘changeling’.” she turned to Astral, “Alright, please state your full name, current address and occupation.”

Astral’s eyes flicked nervously to the ceiling for a moment and then looked back at his princess.
“Erm, my name is Astral Quill, I live in Canterlot, have done all my life really, and I’m a writer who’s written multiple works of fiction-”

Luna interrupted him with a shout, looking shocked. “Wait! Thou art Astral Quill, as in the Astral Quill, who wrote ‘The Midnight Escape’?”

Astral looked taken aback, “Uh, yes that’s me. I take it you know my work?”

Luna floated over a number of hardcover books from the shelf and placed them in front of her. Astral recognised each one as his own written works.

“Verily! We hath read all thy works at least four times! Hath thee completed thy new novel yet? We hath been pesteri- We mean... ‘inquiring’ of thou publishers but they don’t seem to know.”

Astral was dumbfounded, he was pleased, very pleased in fact that Princess Luna not just liked, but loved his books. But at the same time being thrown in prison, accused of being a changeling, having a doppelgänger who was the Captain of the Royal Guard and meeting a princess was just too much for him right then. He looked helplessly at the captain, who cleared his throat.

“Princess, perhaps we should continue on with this investigation. I’m sure Astral here would love the chance to talk with you about his new book when we know he’s innocent.”

Astral let out a relieved breath as Luna sheepishly reigned herself in.

“Verily, I mean, yes you are quite right Astral Storm.”

“Astral Storm?” Astral sat up and looked at the captain, who smiled back.

“That’s right, Captain Astral Storm, newly instated. Been with the royal guard for a fair while now.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me, almost the same names as well?”

Princess Luna glanced at Astral Quill, “Yes, now, ignoring the changeling theory, I have some ideas on a possible solution. It might go nowhere but…” She now looked at the captain who was looking interested. “I know, captain, that you grew up with your father, General Rocket. Did you ever hear about your mother?”

“No he uh, never really spoke about her much,” the captain said before sitting up straighter, “Hold on, you don’t think…”

A grin began to creep its way up Princess Luna’s face, “That’s exactly what I think.”

They both turned to Astral, who felt himself shrink under their growing smiles.

“Astral, did you know your father very well?” asked the captain.

Growing ever more confused he responded, “Um, no, I’ve always lived with my mother… why?”

They both looked at one another and Astral began to understand, his eyes widened, “Wait. Wait a second.”

Author's Note

So now he's met Luna, and his whole world has been tipped on its head. I wonder how much more fun Astral is going to have before he can get back to his novel?

Writing while doing uni is hard I wrote this part over the Easter break, cause I can only write when I have the time to think, but my homework has been keeping me from it. I'll have my mid year holidays is a few weeks so I'm hoping to finish the story during them.