Chapters Astral Quill was a writer. He had written many short stories over the course of his career, and even a few novels, usually about fantastical adventures in far off places. Contrary to his writing genre, he liked to live a fairly quiet life, preferring to stay at home and write than explore or travel. The blue-grey pegasus was at that moment lounging on his couch inside his apartment and little did he know that despite his efforts, his life was about to become almost as interesting as any one of his adventurous protagonists.
Astral hadn’t been outside his Canterlot apartment in a couple of weeks, this may seem a little excessive, but when this pony had a brainwave he wouldn’t stop writing until he had the story completed. And at that moment he was immersed in the writings of his new novel which was about insectoid ponies who could change their form at will, tricking and deceiving their way into a pony’s heart to steal their love. While an impressive breed of antagonist, his idea hadn’t come out of thin air, for creatures just like these had attacked his home city less than a month ago.
During the royal wedding between Princess Cadance and the Captain of the Guard, a mighty swarm of these creatures managed to break the shield protecting the city and attacked. These ‘Changelings’ had attempted to take over the kingdom but thanks to the help of Shining Armour, the Captain, and his fiancée they had launched all changelings miles in every direction.
Astral had had a particularly bad experience with a changeling trying to abduct him while he was in the middle of cooking himself some lunch. Suffice to say there was a lot of screaming involved, but Astral Quill had been able to snatch a frying pan and batter the poor changeling in the head until it was unconscious. He had run, screaming from the house, yelling about monsters and found that that everypony else was suffering from the same issue. Astral then retreated quickly inside and sat down on his couch, the frying pan nestled in his front hooves. He decided in the end to wait until the Princess sorted the mess out, giving the poor changeling a good whack every time it tried to get up.
In time, the changelings had all been blown from the city and everything was normal again. But sadly for Astral, the changeling he held captive had been inside his house when the shield came. Suffice to say, there was a changeling shaped hole in his kitchen window at that moment and Astral scowled every time he looked at his missing window frame.
It was only until that fateful day that he finally decided to do something about it. Astral was going to leave his house that day to purchase some wood to board up the hole until his insurance paid for the damage. Oh, and he was also buying some food, one could only survive for so long on canned beans.
Putting down his notes, Astral stood and stretched, bones cracking as he did so. He sighed in satisfaction before grabbing his saddlebags and some money then heading out the front door. Luckily he was within a short stroll from one of the cities main markets and headed towards it. The Silverstar Market was themed from the newly returned Princess of the Night, Princess Luna. It was painted to match her dark blue coat, and other similar tones and each stall or shop had a night related name.
Astral’s first stop was a shop named ‘The Moonlit Bakery’, where he picked up enough rolls and sliced bread to last for another couple of weeks. Continuing through the market area he quickly filled up his saddlebags with necessities until he ran out of room. With a nod of satisfaction, Astral Quill walked over to a construction stand and purchased a few wooden planks and a pack of nails.
The whole trip had only taken half an hour, and in no time at all Astral would be back home to continue writing his book. Well, after he covered up the hole in his room first. Turning to head back the way he came, the pegasus hit something hard and the next thing he knew he was lying on his back, shopping and wood rolling away from him. With a groan of irritation he got back onto his front and stood up, supported by a helping hoof.
“Apologies citizen,” said his assailant, “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
With a sigh Astral calmed himself as it mostly his own fault. Although now he had to go around picking up his shopping.
“It’s alright, I was in the same boat. Too preoccupied with the ground I suppose.”
Astral flinched as he saw that the pony he had walked into was a royal guard, which explained why it felt like he had walked into a brick wall. Astral gave the guard an awkward smile and then went about picking up his fallen purchases. He had lifted a plank onto his back and was about to pick up the next one when an armoured hoof grabbed his own. Shocked, Astral looked up to see that the guard was regarding him with a look of suspicion.
“Can you come with me sir?” asked the guard.
Astral pulled his hoof away and stepped back in surprise. The guard took a good look at him and his expression turned into one of alarm.
“Guards!” the royal guard shouted to his fellows. The armour clad pony had taken an aggressive stance and was looking at Astral with gritted teeth. Astral looked tentatively behind, seeking out the monster that would make the guard act with such hostility. There was nothing behind him but a few shoppers who were watching the scene warily. Astral turned back around and gulp, for where there had been one guard now there were three. He began to back up slowly.
“Ok guys, let’s just calm down here,” Astral tried to placate, “Before we do anything rash can you tell me what’s going on?”
He felt his backside hit something hard. Something familiarly hard. Turning his head, Astral saw yet another guard standing right behind him.
“Aheh, hi…”
The guard frowned, and then pounced.
Astral struggled on the ground as the guard pinned him. Ahead he noticed one of the planks he had bought earlier sitting close enough to reach. In a moment of insanity Astral grabbed it with a hoof and clumsily whacked the guard which was currently pushing his face into the cobblestones.
This was enough apparently, as the guard’s grip slackened for a moment and Astral stood up shakily and began to canter away. The adrenaline in his system helped Astral sprint and dodge a guard that dived at him, but he was an unfit writer so he was bound to slow down soon.
The panic inside the pegasus excelled anything that he’d felt before, save maybe that changeling attack. What was going on!? This whole situation wasn’t making any sense at all. And it seemed like he couldn’t reason with the guards, so his only option was to run, lest he ended up squashed into the pavement. Astral ran down a side street, looking to lose his pursuers.
“Halt!” cried one of the guards from behind him.
“Not until you tell me why you’re arresting me!” said Astral in a panicked voice over his shoulder.
He zig-zagged through side streets, and stopped when he noticed two pegasus guards had blocked his path. A few seconds of panicked thinking and he face-hooved. Astral was a pegasus . With a flap of his wings, the writer-gone-fugitive took off.
“Seize him!”
Two hooves tried to grab him, but missed and instead snatched his saddlebags. Astral’s bag tore open and all his shopping fell, along with the owner.
“Sunnova b-” cried Astral as he hit the ground seconds later with a heavy thud.
“Think you can get away with this, changeling?” growled the pegasus guard pinning him down.
“Changeling?” Astral cried with a mouth full of cobblestone, “How am I a changeling? I have a mortgage!”
He would have tried to get up, but all that running was too much for him so he had almost no energy left. It was the end, he thought as more guards piled on top of him. Their weight made Astral begin to feel faint and in his dizzy state he could feel restraints being put on him and the guards lifting him up onto one of their backs. Astral watched helplessly as the guard holding him began to take him away, presumably to somewhere that he wouldn’t be leaving for a while, and not as comfortable as his home this time. This day really couldn’t get any worse.
A stray bit of chain hit Astral in the eye and he groaned.
Author's Note
Just a little idea I had rattling around in my head. Something fun I hope. More chapters coming soon!
This was the first time Astral Quill had been to the Royal Palace. Despite living in Canterlot his whole life, he’d never particularly had an interest to see the place as he had a good enough view from the upstairs room of his apartment. In any other circumstance he might have been enjoyed the splendour of architecture that was his rulers’ castle, but right now, surrounded by guards and locked in an uncomfortable amount of chains he simply wasn’t in the mood.
“I know this looks bad guys,” said Astral, “But there has to be a reasonable explanation for this.”
“Quiet changeling scum.” growled one of the armoured ponies.
“Really? ‘Quiet scum’ has to be one of the most overused guard terms next to ‘halt’ and ‘seize him’ which have both been used in the last ten minutes,” groused Astral, “Also, not a changeling!”
His bit of cheek earned him a smack on the head.
Instead of going into the palace proper, they headed to a side entrance which seemed to lead down stairs. They entered, and after a few minutes, the atmosphere became increasingly gloomy, the painted walls had stopped a few minutes back and every surface was now an ugly grey colour. The stone passage opened up to a small office, where a desk sat and a guard was sitting there reading a book. He stood up as soon as they walked in and unlocked the gate which, Astral presumed, was where the cells were. It certainly hit him then, that he was in a bad situation. He was being hauled into jail . What would his mother say if she found out about this? He had to be the first pony in years to be thrown into the Canterlot Jail for pony’s sake!
They entered the room where a dozen cells sat next to one another on each side of the wall. A guard pulled Astral off his colleague's back and began to take off all the chains. Astral had been internally panicking so he didn’t hear it when the guard asked him to walk into the cell. And he was abruptly cut from his musings when the guard decided to throw Astral into the cell instead. He landed against the wall, on his back and looked back at the now upside-down guards.
“Hey guys, do you think that maybe we can talk about this?”
The door closed with a metallic clang and the guards left, and with them went the only hope that there was a way out. He stood up and walked to the bars.
“Could I at least have some paper and a pencil?” he called out.
“Shut up in there.” a voice called back.
“GREAT,” exclaimed Astral and banged his head against the bars in frustration, “Ow...”
Astral had been bored out of his mind before, but never had he been bored and scared for his well-being at the same time. It was an odd feeling. In his attempt to make the hours go by a bit faster he had begun to hum some songs he knew, which grew to outright singing until a guard came in to tell him to be quiet. So he just sat there counting water droplets that were falling from a crack in the stone ceiling.
Maybe this was all a prank, he had asked himself as the drops fell. He could imagine it now, in the next Canterlot Weekly ‘CHANGELING PRANKS GONE WRONG. GONE WILD’. He shook his head, that was the stupidest thing he’d heard all week. If it was a prank, they would have stopped it by now. He hoped.
“Three thousand, two hundred and twelve. Three thousand, two hundred and thirteen...”
It was another hour later when someone finally came in to see him.
“Stop counting and stand up straight, the captain is here to see you.”
Astral stood up and peered at the guard curiously, “Why would Captain Armour want to see me?”
The prison guard looked at Astral in confusion before laughing, shaking his head and poking his head out the entrance..
“Just in here sir,” Astral could hear the guard’s voice call out.
The sound of hoofsteps came from the room outside and the Captain of the Royal Guard walked through the doors. In that moment, it all made sense and yet… it didn't. As the captain stepped inside he locked eyes with Astral and frowned slightly. Astral could only gape.
“So you're the one they caught in the market today.” stated the captain.
For the pony standing in front of him, looked exactly like Astral. It was as if he was looking into a parallel universe, one where he'd become a guard instead of a writer. They had the same everything, same face, same colours he wondered if the cutiemark was the same. Though he doubted it, as he was clearly not a writer. But there were some differences, Astral noticed, the guard was obviously fit while Astral was most definitely not. And there were small scratches and scars around the captain’s body which matched the demeanor and way in which he held himself.
Astral had so many questions to ask, but instead of the obvious elephant in the room, he came out with:
“I thought that Shining Armour was the captain?”
Inside, Astral was face-hooving like there was no tomorrow. The captain looked at Astral with a raised eyebrow, “I’d have thought, that you of all creatures would know that Armour has now left and taken the role of Prince for the Crystal Empire.”
Astral stared, “The crystal what now?”
“You are pulling my leg right?” he asked, “It’s been over the papers for days, I was appointed as the new captain just recently. And this is the reason you went with my form, right?”
“No! What? I-” Astral was trying to say too many things at once so stopped for a moment, “Ok, so number one: I’m not a changeling. And number two: Why in the name of everything that is good and holy does the captain of the royal guard look like me?”
“Why do I look like you? That's something I should be asking you, changeling.” the captain smirked, he acted as if this whole event was amusing. Alas, Astral couldn’t follow the sentiment, as this was his neck on the line.
“As I said, most probably amounting to a thousand times, I am not a changeling! I'm a writer! My name is Astral Quill for Celestia's sake, I've written like five novels!”
“Astral Quill? Now that's interesting.” was the response from the Captain.
“Really? That's all you got out of that sentence?”
The guard rapped on the bars with a hoof, “You need to show some respect changeling.”
“Yeah because I should respect the ponies who locked me up for nearly no reason. ” Astral growled back.
“Why you snivelling little-”
The two were almost nose to nose when the Captain rolled his eyes and pulled the guard back.
“Calm yourself guard, there’s no reason to be acting unprofessional now is there?”
“Sorry sir.”
The prison guard looked abashed, and Astral felt his exasperation beginning to ebb.
“Can you just let me go? I’d like to get back to my novel.” grumbled Astral.
“Novel? What’s it about?” asked the captain.
Astral cringed for a second, “Aheh changelings.”
The captain laughed, and Astral grumbled some more, feeling embarrassed.
“Alright, we’re not going to let you go just yet. Either you’re a changeling who is very good at acting like an idiot-”
“Hey!”
“-or you are who you say you are, but either way I need to get the Princess to come down and make sure.”
“P-princess Celestia? She's not coming here is she...”
Astral had stiffened up in fright. He loved his ruler, just like everyone else did, but he was also terrified at what would happen if somepony was to get on her bad side. If the Princess believed he was a changeling, he didn't know what she might do. Send him to the moon? Or worse, turn him to dust where he stood. He shuddered at the thought.
“No,” answered the captain, “She's in Manehatten at the moment.”
Astral gave a sigh of relief.
“But Princess Luna is, and I’ll go and get her so sit tight.” he gave a grin before walking out. The prison guard stared daggers at him before following.
Astral had gone rigid again.
Author's Note
Putting Astral into this situation is turning out to be so much fun.
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.
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
