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// Chapter 1 
// Story: Crystal Night (Prologue) 
// by Lily Song 
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Astrial Nights’ POV

Water….That was the first thing I remember hearing when I woke up.  The delicate sound of water droplets hitting a solid concrete floor, over and over again. Drip. Drip. Drip. Just a constant soothing sound that almost lulled me back to sleep.  Almost.  I will admit, it was a struggle just to open my eyes after such a long nap. How long had I been sleeping anyway?  It was unlike Mother to allow me to sleep this long. When I finally decided to open my eyes, I was not in my cozy bed with the pretty light blue blanket my mother had given me the day I was born. I tried to raise my head to look around, but that small movement alone made my small neck sore, as if I had been asleep more than the few hours I surely had been sleeping. After the soreness faded away a bit I was able to look around the small concrete room it would appear I had dozed off in.
I stretched myself out, letting my tiny wings open to their full size as they also seemed to be stiff.  Once I was able to get to my hooves, I noticed that I was in one of the basement rooms on the lower levels of Mothers and Aunt Celestias’ Castle.  I frowned slightly at the fact that I had fallen asleep down here, Mother had told me to never come down here alone and I had obeyed….So why was I here? And why hadn’t one of the guards found me and taken me to my room? 
These questions chased themselves through my mind as stepped down from the small bed I had been sleeping on and trotted to the door, worried that mother would be angry that I had been gone for so long. When I reached the doors, I realized that they were far too heavy and big for me to open by myself, which only made the fact that I was in the room even more confusing. I decided to worry about that later, right now I had to worry about how to get out of this room and find mother so I could explain my absence the whole morning. But how exactly was I going to get out? 
I ended up just shouting, in the hopes that one of the patrolling guards would hear me. I hadn’t even shouted twice when the doors suddenly swung open and two royal Guards that I had never seen before stood in the open door way gawking at me. The fact that I did not recognize them sent a feeling of uncertainty through my small body. I had made it my mission to learn all of the guards names, a small game I had made to keep myself busy while Mother and Aunt Celestia were in royal meetings. 
I took a tentative step back as they continued to do nothing but stare at me with these weird expressions on their faces. Finally I mustered up the courage and stood up straight like Mother had showed me to do when I was serious and spoke, “Who are you?  Where is my Mother, Princess Luna?” 
My Voice seemed to snap the older guard, a light grey Unicorn stallion, out of his daze as He turned to his younger companion, a white Pegasus. “Go and get Princess Celestia! Quickly!” The White Pegasus nodded and turned and galloped off up a long flight of stairs. I frowned and glared at the Unicorn guard in suspicion, “Who are you?” I asked again. This time the Unicorn looked at me and smiled softly, his soft green eyes glowed warmly as he dipped his head respectfully, “How was your nap, Astrial Night? My name is Sword Light, and my companion and I were sent to watch over you.” He suddenly stepped back and motioned with his head towards the stairs the other guard and taken, “If you will please follow me, I am sure you must be hungry after such a long nap.” I hesitated for a second, but the mention of the possibility of food seemed to trigger something in me because my stomach growled loudly. I fidgeted my hooves shyly and my wings fluttered as I nodded in consent. Sword Light turned and lead the way up the stairs and I followed. Who were these ponies? And why were they getting Aunt Celestia instead of Mother? I pondered this as we stepped through a doorway at the top of the stairs and I was blinded by sunlight….