Tears - Chapter One - Gateway
Tears are the natural way of expressing sadness. Did you know that tears are also the natural way to express weakness? When you cry, you focus all your energy on what is causing you to cry, be it a death or something else, leaving many gaps in your mind. During the time somepony is crying, if something or someone tries hard enough, and has enough power to overcome the barriers of the mind, they can effectively take control of the thoughts of the pony, using crying as a gateway into the mind, if you will. The pony who is being controlled has very limited control over their own actions, but can still voice their thoughts inside their mind. Thoughts only the other pony can hear.
Now this explanation is done, and so the story must begin. Keep an open mind and who knows? You might learn something you never knew...
Today was quite possibly the worst day of all days for Princess Luna. First, she didn't get to eat breakfast, putting her in a terrible mood to start, second, the repairmen had to replace the roads on Canterlot St., redo the sidewalks on Manehatten Way, AND begin the construction of a new road, which meant that she had to fill out the appropriate paperwork, and, to top it all off, she also had an additional ninety papers to sign! As she finished her duties for the day, she gathered her things and sluggishly trotted back to her office.
"We just want to get some food!" she said to herself, pouting as she placed the papers down on her desk and took a seat. Retrieving a quill and an inkwell, she began pulling papers off of the stack to sign. It went on for one hour, the same movement over and over. Pull a paper off of the stack, sign and stamp. Pull a paper off of the stack, sign and stamp.
As the number of papers to be signed diminished to near zero, Luna sped up her writing, hoping to get out of her office and get some well-deserved food. As she hoped, she finished earlier, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Now we can finally get some food!" Luna said to herself, joyfully rushing off to the kitchen to collect some food.
"We will need this, this, this, and this." she said, picking up a box of cereal, a jug of milk, a few spoons, and a few bowls. Slowly, as not to spill anything, she made her way back to her bedroom. As she walked, she could hear the sound of... Ponies talking? Although talking was not uncommon in the castle, the place this talking was coming from was. It was coming from the throne room, and it was loud enough Luna could hear it.
"What is going on in there?" Luna thought to herself, peeking into the throne room. What she saw was typical. More ponies praising her sister. Ponies would never praise her, they would always shun her away because they thought she was evil, but would always praise her sister. Upset by this, Luna picked up the items she had been carrying, and ran off for her room.
Entering her room, Luna set the objects down, flopping on her bed. She sat there, silently fuming, wondering what she could do. Nothing she had tried in the past worked to gain the trust of the ponies, making them hate her more instead. Silently, she wondered what she did to make them not trust her. As far as she knew, she had always treated them nicely, with respect, hoping the same would be given back. Never once had she treated them wrongly, disrespected them, or done anything bad to them. She had always tried to treat them fairly.
"What did we do to deserve this?" she thought aloud, her anger growing.
A knock sounded at the door, and a guard peeked inside.
"Princess, your sister asked me to come and retrieve you for lunch." the guard said.
Standing up, the princess of the night trotted out the door, intent on joining her sister for lunch. The princess walked to the kitchen without so much as a peep. As she arrived, she pulled out her chair and sat down, right next to her sister.
"Sister, I've been meaning to ask you this for a while.."
"Why do ponies always praise just you? Why can't they praise both of us? We are the two ponies who keep this world in harmony!" said Luna.
"I... I do not know, Luna. Maybe they only praise me because they see me as the one who controls the source of light?" Celestia said, attempting to offer some answers.
"And we don't provide something useful?!" Luna snapped, anger coating her words.
"Luna, never once did I say anything like that!" Celestia replied, attempting to keep her calm.
"If our moon were to disappear, nopony would notice, but if your sun were to disappear, everypony would instantly notice!" Luna yelled, her Royal Canterlot Voice making the windows vibrate with her rage. Celestia sat, motionless, shocked by what she had just witnessed. Never once had Luna used the Royal Canterlot Voice on her. Even when they were fighting, she would refrain from using it.
"Lulu... What has gotten into you? Your moon is just as important as my sun, and if your moon disappeared, I'm sure everypony would notice!" Celestia said, feeling a bit hurt by her sister's words.
"No, sister! Nopony would notice! They sleep through our night, and they never admire the beautiful constellations we make!" screamed Luna, her mind full of rage. Suddenly, her mind decided she couldn't take any more. Throwing the closest object, which happened to be a plate, a resonating crash of glass breaking sounded throughout the room. Luna got up and galloped out the door, tears flowing freely. She ran out the gates, into the paths behind Canterlot, and all the way up the mountain the city was built on, only resting when she got to the plateau on top. She collapsed to the ground and began to cry. She cried for what seemed like hours, her tears wetting her royal blue mane, dripping to the ground.
"I just want to be respected... Liked like my sister... Admired by somepony..." she sobbed, as the sky started growing darker, before settling on a color near black. Luna looked up, noticing the change in the sky.
"Wha.. What is going on here?" she said, slowly backing up. A trench began opening around the area, encircling the mare. A dark blue light pulsed from the trench, and a figure appeared, appearing to stand on the light. Luna noticed the pony essentially looked identical to her, except her mane was dark black, and her eyes light yellow.
"Hello, pony! Could you en.." began the princess, before being interrupted by the other pony.
"SILENCE." it said, it's eyes turning a dark red color.
"YOU WERE CHOSEN, PRINCESS. RESISTANCE WILL NOT HINDER MY PROGRESS. YOUR MIND SHALL BE MINE." spoke the pony, and it dove at Luna, not giving any time to react before the two collided. The other pony appeared to go straight through her, except the pony was nowhere in sight. Luna began to feel a tiny bit tired, maybe a nap wouldn't be so bad? She laid down, and closed her eyes, and was almost instantly drawn to sleep.
