"Oh my gosh! I wish I could see the looks on your faces! Hah! I mean seriously, there was no way I was ever going to pick one of you," Star said wiping a tear from her eye. The attitude her image was giving off was a stark contrast to the stunned silence that everyone in the throne room was experiencing.

Everyone wondered if this was some kind of joke, or if they had heard things wrong. It had sounded like she had just named Asterossa as her heir, but that was… that was just impossible, wasn't it? There was no possible way she could do that. Astro more than anyone was waiting for her to continue, sure that this was just his mother's way of getting a quick laugh or way to get at the Commission. She couldn't be serious.

Star's laughing finally died down, and she let out a sigh. "Okay, right, where was I…? I Star Butterfly, of sound mind, name my eldest son Asterossa heir to the Butterfly Kingdom. He will inherit my wand, title, crown, and all that goes with it." Oh stump, she was series. This was happening. He felt his hearts start to beat faster, like pistons in a machine. This was… this wasn't how this was supposed to be.

His mother's image changed to a warm smile. "Asterossa, if you're here, I just want to say that I'm sorry. I know that you didn't ask for this. I know that you didn't want it. But this wasn't something that I did on a whim," she explained. "I've watched you grow up, make mistakes and learn from them. Take on all the qualities of a leader. Work yourself to make mewni better for everyone, monsters and mewmans alike."

"Things were never easy for you, but you never let it stop you. You kept on going, and you ended up earning the respect of everyone around you. I know that you can do this. I know that you'll rule wisely and fairly. You might not like wearing the crown, but you'll be amazing at it. You'll make us all proud. Have confidence in yourself. Listen to you friends and family. And do what you think is right. It's kept you on the right track so far."

With that, the image suddenly vanished, and there was a very long and very unsettling silence. Nobody knew what to say after what they had just heard. They were just all too shocked to say anything. Astro finally managed to snap out of his daze and looked around. Everyone's jaw was dropped. His grandmother, the Commission, Sarasim, Breeze, the other royals and nobles.

Everyone except Nia.

"Did you know?"

His sister flinched when he said the words, and then slowly looked up towards him. "I… might have had a feeling about it. But you know, I-"

Astro narrowed his eyes. "Nia… Did. You. know?"

The blonde stared back at her brother, and then sighed. "It was my idea," she muttered under her breath, just loud enough for him to hear.

She didn't think it would happen so soon though. She figured she had a few more years before… well, anything like this happened. She had thought about telling him about it, but she knew he'd try and turn it down. Astro opened his mouth to say something to her, but someone else spoke out.

"S-she can't do that!"

"Princess Titania is supposed to be the Queen!"

"What is this?!"

Astro and Nia turned around towards everyone else. It was clear the announcement had shocked them, and everyone was reacting in various ways. Many of the nobles looked confused, others offended, and some just sat silent, their expressions difficult to read. "This had to be some kind of mistake! There's no way Queen Star would name him the heir! Everyone knew Nia was to inherit the throne! This is… this is fake!" shouted a noble girl, who had been the first to cry out earlier.

Nia stepped towards them. "Everyone, calm down. This isn't fake. I know nobody was expecting this but my mother did name him the heir, and she did it because I asked her too. I renounced my claim to the throne and-"

"Why?!" another noble called out. "Why would you do that?! Your family has led mewni for generations! Why would you do something like this now?! And in a crisis like this?!"

Nia frowned. "First of all, my brother is family. He's as much as Butterfly as me or my mother. In fact, he's technically even more of a Butterfly since he's a trueblood. And second of all, I'm TWELVE! Why is it so important for me to lead? Astro had way more experience-!"

"This isn't about experience or bloodlines! This is about mewni! And… and other stuff! I don't know! He just can't be king! There's a million things wrong with this!"

Nia was about to speak out against the boy again, but then Hody stood up. "This is your plan? We waited around all this time just so you could childishly throw the entire court into chaos? And for what? Because you're too afraid to take on the responsibility that was supposed to be yours?" Hody asked. "I have no idea what you're or your mother was thinking giving this bastard the kingdom, but-"

The blonde raised her hand up, and a strong gust of wind blew through the room, silencing everyone. Nia looked furious. "That's enough! We all know the history of the Butterfly family! Eclipsa vacated the throne, Meteora turned it down, and my mother took over because nobody else would! Whether you like it or not, Astro is the rightful heir to the throne! He's a trueblood, and he's-!"

"He's a boy!" Rhombulus suddenly cried out. "The Butterfly Queendom is just that! A Queendom! You can't name a boy as an heir! There has to be a rule against that!"

More than a few people glared towards him, but then Moon spoke up. "The law states that a born to the royals line he's to be named heir until a girl is born. The only other living trueborn Butterflies are Eclipsa and Meteora, both of whom have already rejected their claim to the throne," she explained. "Astro is technically next in line."

There was silence for a moment, but then Hody spoke up again. "He's a bastard. We all know what that means. By law he doesn't have any rightful claim to anything."

Maria frowned towards him. "That shouldn't matter. He still-"

"He's not a bastard."

Everyone stopped and then looked towards the back of the room. Nia and Astro were both surprised to see Eclipse, along with Globgor and Meteora making their way inside. "Sorry for running a bit late everyone. We had… some issues to take care of," Globgor said chuckling nervously.

The Butterfly siblings were both surprised and relieved to see she was alright. With all the confusion and chaos going on, they hadn't gotten the chance or time to check on them. They figured between Globgor and Meteora that they'd be alright, but it was just nice knowing for sure they were safe and sound.

Hody didn't seem to share their relief however. Instead, he scowled towards the Queen of Darkness. "What are you talking about? Everyone knows Asterossa was-"

"Asterossa was the result of a relationship between Rosetta Butterfly, a trueborn Butterfly, and Typhon. Yes," Eclipsa said. "But he's not a bastard. Typhon and Rosetta were officially wed before he was conceived."

Hody scoffed. "There's no record of that."

"There was no record of anything," Eclipsa said amused. "Could you imagine if it had been? I doubt we'd be here having this discussion right now. Regardless, it is true. The two were married. And I should know. I was there. In fact, I was the one who officiated the entire thing."

Everyone began to mutter amongst themselves. Eclipsa was no longer a Queen, but she still held noble status in the court. If she was the one who officiated it, then that meant it was ligament. "I don't believe you. You have an obvious bias for him, and I think you're only making it up to-"

"Why the fuck do you even care Hody?" Slick said, looking annoyed. "If we could send your ass back in time and show you the damn wedding you'd still bitch and try to make some excuse of why this wouldn't work. Astro's the king now, get over it."

Hody growled and turned towards him. "You think he's suited to rule mewni?!"

"I think he's a shit ton more suited than you," Slick said bluntly.

Before the two could begin bickering again, Tor spoke up. "I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but… I think this is the right call." Both Hody and Slick turned towards him in disbelief. Even his brothers were surprised. Tor, who made his disdain for monsters all too clear, was actually supporting this? Was he sick?

"The hell is wrong with you?!" Hody asked.

Tor scowled at him. "I don't fucking like it either. But in this situation, who the hell do you want calling the shots? Him, or the twelve year old little girl who clearly doesn't know what she's doing. You can all sort out this other bullshit later, but for now I say we-"

"Are we just supposed to throw away the years of tradition because it's convenient for us?" one of the older nobles asked.

Tor turned towards him. "FUCK tradition. This is about survival. And our best odds at that are with Asterossa. Nia said it herself, she doesn't know what the fuck she's going. At least she's smart enough to pass it off to someone who does. Now if you want to contest this bullshit after the dust is settled, fine, but right now we need to fucking figure out how we're gonna get to that point," he said, glaring.

The nobleman shrunk under his gaze, wanting to argue further, but unwilling to risk the wrath of the acting king. "This just doesn't feel right. How can we have a ruling king of mewni? We've always been led by a queen," another girl said.

Slick clicked his tongue. "And, with all due respect, until Star they'd all majored fucked up in a way or another. I say we break the most and go with something that might actually work," he said. He knew Moon and Eclipsa were in the room, but he meant what he said. He didn't know why this was such a big deal anyway. Star had made her choice. Why the hell were they arguing against it?

The members of the Commission all looked rather concerned. The possibility of Astro becoming a ruler was… well, frightening to say the least. But they had always been reassured by his disinterest in the throne. But now, what they feared was about to become a reality. Typhon son, a monster, on the throne.

"If I may say my peace-"

"No, you may not," Nia said, pointing at Omni. She didn't want them trying to influence or twist this to their favor. The whole reason she asked her mother to do this was so that they couldn't meddle with it behind their backs, like she knew they would.

Sting and Draco had been silent the whole time. This was technically a matter between the mewman, but since it involved their new king. "If Asterossa was named king of mewni… I think the tribes would accept the decision," Sting said. "To be perfectly honest, it should have been his anyway. Typhon was the rightful ruler of mewni in the first place, so this is a long time coming."

Hody scowled towards her. "I don't recall anyone asking you for your input. This is a matter for the royal court to decide. You should just be glad we let you stay here."

Sting narrowed her eyes. "In a discussion about my king, I think I'm entitled to say my piece. And if me being here is such a problem, you're free to try and remove me," she said, raising her tail up threateningly. She had known about Hody and his treatment of Asterossa for some time, and frankly she was looking for a reason to be rid of him.

Hody looked like he was going to step forward, but Maria stopped him. "I… I think that if both Queen Star and Nia felt this strongly about this, then we should respect their wishes and-"

"Yeah, because that's totally not coming from a place of bias. It hasn't even been five minutes and she's already trying to secure her spot as Queen."

Maria's eyes went wide, and then turned around towards the young noble who spoke. "Excuse me?! Just what are you implying?!"

"I'm pretty sure you know what I'm implying…"

Maria looked like she was about to lunge after him, but Hody grabbed her arm. While he was definitely going to have words with that punk later, he didn't think now was the time for his sister to lose her temper.

Everyone continued bickering on with one another, and even Sarasim couldn't seem to get them all to settle down. But then suddenly Astro began to move. Everyone watched as he grabbed Nia by the arm. "I need to talk with my sister, alone." The two siblings made their way out of the now dead silent room, leaving an air of confusion and chaos behind.

"Why?"

Nia looked up at her brother confused. "What do you mean?"

He glared down at her. "Don't act stupid Nia. Why would you do this? Why now? Why at all? You know that I didn't… I must have mentioned a thousand times that I didn't want the throne. Why would you pass up your birthright? Why would you pawn it off on me?" he asked. He didn't understand this at all.

The girl frowned at him. "Astro, it wasn't like I was doing this on a whim or anything. I really thought about it and… and I just thought this was what would be best for mewni."

He scoffed. "Does that look like what's best for mewni in there? It's a madhouse. Listen, I know that you were nervous about ruling, but if this is your way of pawning off your responsibilities on me then-!"

"You think I wanted to do this?!" Nia suddenly snapped. "You think I wanted to just pass it all off to you?! To just throw everything on your shoulders?! I didn't!"

"Then why did you?!" he asked.

Nia balled her fist up. "I tried Astro. I tried really hard to be a good ruler. To be like mom, and to be like you. I went to Earth, I took my lessons more seriously, I tried being more mature. I wanted to be a good Queen. But it was never going to work. I'm not a natural leader. I never was. I get people to like me, but you get to follow you. Even when you were little," she said.

Astro shook his head. "Nia, you're young. Of course you're not a full fledged leader yet. But you still have time to learn and-"

"We don't have time!" Nia snapped. "This is happening, right now! And even if it wasn't, do you really think I could bring everyone together? Do you think the tribes out there would be willing to follow me?" she asked.

Astro frowned. "We were working on that, it might have taken some time but…"

"It was NEVER going to happen Astro," Nia said simply. "As much as I really wanted it to, it just wasn't. You're the son of Typhon, and a treeborn Butterfly. You went from the bastard of the Butterfly family to the hero of mewni. You might be the one person in mewni who can actually bring monsters and mewmans together."

Astro could tell by the look on his sister's face that she had put honest thought into this. He could tell she was serious, and genuine, and… frustrated. He knew just how much he wanted to live up to their mother's reputation. To be seen as a Queen even half as good as she was.

He could only imagine what it must have taken for her to look at herself and decide that her sitting on the throne wasn't what was best for mewni. And… logically, he had to admit she made a few good points.

He never doubted she would make a fine Queen, not for a moment. But seeing how against the alliance the monster tribes had been at first… she was right. There was little chance that either she or their mother would have ever been able to sway them.

This wasn't her trying to shirk her duties or pawn them off. This was honestly the most logical thing that she had been able to come up with. What she genuinely thought was the best way to finally bring peace to their dimension.

But still…

"I… I don't want it…" he muttered.

Unlike his sister, he'd never even once thought about sitting on the throne or ruling. In fact, he wanted nothing to do with it. Him becoming captain of the guard had been enough of a burden for him. One he had carried because at the time he just didn't think he could refuse it. But the throne? Just the thought of it terrified him. The weight of a ruler was crushing, suffocating even. And it frightened him.

Nia stepped forward. "Astro, I know this is going to sound mean, but… right now, I don't care what you want." His eyes went wide as he looked back up towards Nia, who was giving him a stern look. "All I care about is mewni still being around when this is over. If you want to whine to me and mom about it later, fine. But right now, you need to stop sulking and go lead everyone. Because that's what mewni needs…"

The shouting and yelling in the throne room was still in full force, and the tension was so great Higgs and Sarasim worried if an actual brawl would end up breaking out. But then the doors burst open, and the Butterfly siblings made their way back inside. Everyone's heads whipped around to meet them as they walked back to the front of the room.

When they reached the throne, Nia walked off to the side to join Higgs and Sarasim, while Astro stood in front of the throne. He turned to face everyone, and then let out a sigh. "I didn't ask for this…" he said, reaching up and rubbing his head. "I didn't want any of this. I didn't want to be king of the monsters, and I certainly didn't want to be king of mewni. I still think this… this is a mistake," he said bluntly.

Everyone looked at him confused. What exactly was he trying to say here. "But even if I don't want this, I… I want to help mewni. To protect mewni. It's my home, and all I've ever wanted to do was try and make it better. And for whatever reason my mother and sister think me taking the throne is the way to do that. But I don't want anyone to follow me if they don't really want to. So…" He gestured towards them.

They all looked confused for a moment. Was he… was he asking them to pick for themselves whether they would follow him or not? That certainly wasn't how things ever worked in the past.

Slick chuckled from his seat. "Damn, you're being dramatic as fuck right now. You already know I'm all in. I'm gonna skewer those bastards and get my folks back," Slick said, narrowing his eyes. All this throne nonsense didn't matter to him. All that mattered at the end of the day was reducing them.

"Um… I think he means the Spiderbite kingdom will support you," Muddine added. Her brother really needed to work on his way with words.

Tor grunted. "You already know where I stand on this. You're sure as hell not everything I wanted in a king, but you're hands down better than everyone else here. The Johansen kingdom is backing you," he said.

Jagur straightened his glasses up. "I don't have any problem following you Astro. You've always had mewni's best interest at heart, and I believe given this or any other situation that you'll continue to do what's best. The Jaggy kingdom will back your claim," he said.

"I'll back you up too!" Pigeon Jr. called out.

"We're not official members of the court yet," Amber called out from the back of the room. "But, I don't see any reason not to support you. We'll help any way we can."

Astro nodded towards her thankfully. It was good to see she was back on her feet, and reassuring to know he had one more kingdom's support behind him. A few other royals and nobles spoke out and voiced their support, some with more enthusiasm than others. But there were still some who remained silent.

Hody scowled as he sat with his arms crossed. Despite his sister's nudging, he hadn't said a word. And there were a few other nobles who remained silent as well. Astro frowned. He knew that there were still going to be some that didn't go along with this. Even in such a dire situation, the royal court could be rather stubborn.

He opened his mouth to speak, but then someone else stepped forward. "Are you all truly so stupid that you're going to hold on on this, even at the cost of family lives?" Breeze asked as she stopped and turned in front of Astro.

"Breeze, what are you doing…?" Astro asked. He was trying to win them over, and he didn't think insulting them would really do that.

"Stating the obvious. While we all sit here and bicker about who should sit on the throne, the Ten are out there preparing to kick us out of our own dimension. Our own homes. And we're wasting precious time we could use to come up with ways to stop it because a handful are too ignorant to see the simple facts. Astro is the only one capable of leading us right now."

She raised her hand and pointed at him. "He's the son of Typhon, the king of the monsters. Which means he has the loyalty of the major monster tribes. He's also a trueborn butterfly. He undeniably has the strongest claim to be a ruler of mewni than anyone else in this room, Eclipsa and Meteora included."

"But, even if we were to ignore all that, just look at everything Asterossa has done, everything he's accomplished. He became a knight when he was just twelve years old, a first in the history of the Queensguard. He became a hero to the common folk, mewmans and monsters alike."

"He started negotiations between the giants and the kingdoms, he brought an entire new generation of monsters into the Queensguard. He's bled more than anyone for mewni, protected the kingdoms, and he did all this despite the fact that the three of the people who the kingdom works with murdered his own family."

"He was named captain of the queensguard, he was named king of the monsters, he was named king of mewni. And NONE of this was because of his birthright, because he had no birthright. Until ten minutes ago he was a bastard," she said, glaring towards Hody. "Everyone in mewni rallies behind him, because he earned their trust. He should have earned ALL of yours by now. So pull your heads out of your asses and just let him lead. It's not as if any of you are going to step up and do it. You couldn't if you wanted to."

Breeze shot a glare towards everyone in the room, and there was another very long and very tense silence. Higgs clicked her tongue, while Sarasim and Nia both smirked. Astro looked rather surprised. He hadn't expected Breeze to be against this, but he didn't expect her to put so much effort into convincing them either.

Hody grunted before standing up. "I hate you Asterossa. You know that, don't you?" Maria looked at her brother in disbelief. Was he being serious right now?

Astro frowned back at him. "I've noticed."

"I don't like you. I never have, and I never will. Frankly, I think there's plenty of other people more competent to rule than you," he said bluntly. Astro balled his fist up, and Maria looked like she was about to stand up and clock her brother. "That being said, for whatever reason everyone else seems to think you're worth rallying behind. And backing you is much quicker than trying to change all their feeble minds. So, for now, you have the support of the Waterfolk kingdom."

Both Maria and Astro looked surprised. Hody sat back down and crossed her arms. He really didn't like this. Not one bit. But the court needed to be united if they were going to stand a chance here. Even if it had to be under him of all people.

"Well… I suppose given the circumstances, a ruling king is better than no one…"

"We'll back your claim to the throne as well."

Astro looked around as the last few holdouts among the noble houses began to voice their support. He supposed if Hody of all people was offering his support, then there was no reason for anyone else to hold out.

"Our crowning of a king was better…" Draco muttered towards Sting.

Astro looked towards Breeze, and gave her a thankful nod. She nodded back, and he turned towards everyone else. This was not how he planned for things to play out. This wasn't how he wanted things to play out. But… at least everyone was on the same page for now. He doubted things would go smoothly, but it was a start.

Still, he couldn't help but feel that weight on his shoulders from earlier had grown that much heavier. Sting walked beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Your father would be so proud to see this," she said. "I'm happy for you."

Astro sighed. "Someone has to be…"

A/N: And here is it! Asterossa, the King of Mewni! I've going crazy doing my best not to spoil this! I had to be subtle with stuff in the future AU, dodging certain questions, all types of crap! But it was worth it to have one genuine surprise in the story lol! I did try to drop subtle hints about it, with telling how Astro was stepping up with his responsibilities and that fic with Moon teaching the other. There was also that one-shot with Nia and Eclipsa. Remember when Nia was thinking about what was best for mewni? Yeah, this was it.

So, tell me what you guys think about the twist! Did it deliver. How do you think Astro is going to deal with his new title? Will be he able to get the tribes and kingdoms to work together? Gonna have to keep reading to find out.