//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Cause And Distress // by pabrony //------------------------------// "Lieutenant, you may let the next petitioner in," Princess Celestia instructed from across the throne room. "Yes, ma'am." Two unicorns made their way through the massive door as it slowly creaked open. One was sapphire blue with a navy blue mane and a two moons of differing sizes as a cutie mark. The other had a light gray coat with a white and violet mane and three small stars on her flank. "Night Light! Twilight Velvet! How nice to see the two of you," Princess Celestia said happily as the two unicorns approached her throne and bowed. "How have things been going?" "Everything has been quite well for us recently. We're actually going to Las Pegasus for our second honeymoon in a few weeks," Night Light said as he nuzzled his wife. "That's great to hear," Celestia beamed. "I always love hearing that the ponies of Equestria are doing well. So what is it that I can assist you with this wonderful day?" "Well, Twilight hasn't written in a couple weeks and we were wondering if you might have heard anything from her," Twilight Velvet said to the large alicorn. "Honestly, I haven't," Princess Celestia replied. "It's kind of odd for her not to contact me a least once a week." "Likewise," Night Light said, his brow somewhat furrowed. "We were wondering if you had looked into this lack of communication from her yet." "With her busy schedule as the Princess of Friendship, I'm sure she's just having difficulty finding the time to get letters written to everypony," Celestia said with a touch of nervousness in her voice. Twilight's parents looked at each other before Velvet spoke up. "Okay, but have you looked into this lack of communication from her yet?" "I was planning to give it until the end of the week to hear something from her before sending somepony to Ponyville to investigate," Celestia said as a small bead of sweat began to form under her flowing mane. Luckily for the princess it wasn't noticed by Twilight Sparkle's parents. "Oh thank you so much, Princess Celestia," said Twilight Velvet as she breathed a sigh of relief. "We appreciate this. Have a pleasant day." "I wish you the same," Celestia replied as the bead of sweat was slowly began making its way down the right side of her face. "Oh there is one more thing," Night Light said as he turned back around. "I forgot to mention the fact that we just returned from Ponyville and we also know why Twilight hasn't written. Take a look for yourself." Night Light levitated a newspaper out of the saddlebag he was wearing and held it in front of Celestia's face. The newspaper was a copy of the Foal Free Press and the headline of the main story read: LOCAL HERO ADMITTED TO MENTAL WARD Accompanying the headline was a photo of Twilight Sparkle, her mane in shambles and a deranged look on her face. "You see, Twilight's friend, Applejack, mailed this to us two weeks ago after our last letter from Twilight," Velvet told Celestia as her tone began to shift from pleasant to angry. "We just spent the past week in Ponyville to see if this story was true and to try to find out what the hay happened to send her over the edge." Celestia began to sweat a little more as she became increasingly nervous. "Did you know about this?" Night Light asked as his anger slowly began to build. Celestia thought for a moment before answering. While she had already known about her beloved student being treated for a mental breakdown, whatever her answer was, would definitely affect the relationship with Twilight Sparkle's parents. "Y-yes," Celestia conceded hesitantly. "I learned about it the day it happened." Velvet then charged the throne before being grabbed by her husband's magic. "Y-you... you... how the buck could you do this?" she raged. "She's our daughter! She may be a grown pony but she's still our daughter! Why didn't you have the decency to send us a letter or better yet, bring your cowardly body to our home and tell us yourself?!" "Easy dear." "No way! Twilight is in a room with padding on the walls and a ring around her horn so she won't hurt herself. And... and this chickensh-" "Language dear," Night Light interrupted as he began losing the magical grip on his wife. "To Tartarus with my language. We've ponied up thousands of bits to her for our baby girl to study under this... this... yellow bellied ruler," Velvet shouted. "And the fact that she knew about this whole incident and didn't tell us is complete bull-" "Language." Celestia sat on the floor in front of the angry parents of her most faithful student, waiting for the best time to respond. Between Velvet's rage and the lump in her throat, however, she didn't know if or when that moment would arrive. "I can't believe you would keep something this important from us," Velvet continued as tears began streaming down her face. "Have you kept this from Shining Armor and Cadence as well? Or are they in on this little conspiracy also?" Celestia remained silent as the tongue lashing continued. Shining Armor had been present when Twilight had broken down but under orders from the ruler of the sun, he had kept it from his parents. She had hoped that Twilight would be in and out of the hospital before any of the newspapers caught wind of the event. "Are you just going to sit there on your fat posterior or do you plan on giving us an answer at some point?" Velvet asked as her vision worsened as more tears filled her eyes. After a couple more minutes of Velvet's tirade, Night Light finally added his two bits worth as Velvet turned to cry into his neck. "So now for the sixty-four thousand bit question. How many times has this happened to our daughter?" As Celestia's eyes darted back and forth between the unicorns, she swallowed hard and gave her reply.