Been rereading RH Junior's Parting Words when I had a sudden epiphany: All that stress of being Celestia's student, all that studying, all those tests from both the school and her mentor, Twilight must have had quite a stressful foalhood. All that stress at such a young age, it's no wonder Twilight's so neurotic and and anal-retentive, and a gods-damned miracle that she's not suffering from a more serious medical condition.

But what if she did?

What if, before the start of the series proper, while Twilight's still a filly, all that stress actually causes the likes of a psychotic break, or even a full-blown stroke or heart-attack (just a few examples, feel free to use what you want.)?

The idea wouldn't be about whether or not she recovers (she does, at least to a point), but how much things would change if such a thing were to happen. How would Celestia react? How would Twilight's family react? How would Canterlot, and possibly all of Equestria react? How much would Twilight change? How much would Twilight's relationship with Celestia change? How much would the future change?

Dang. That is one deep thought I never thought about. Being Tia's student would have some consequences and problems....

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I didn't go so far as her having had a stroke, but I assumed she had some sort of obsession or symptoms of anxiety because of the pressure put on her from a young age. Whether it's medically accurate to call it mental illness or not, she has had this expectation of brilliance and pressure to succeed hanging over her since she was little, and she's clearly got stress problems that have followed her into adulthood. Like ... she threw her whole treehouse because Spike suggested a test wasn't such a big deal. That's not a quirk, that's at least a personality disorder.

As to everypony's reactions ... I kind of feel like Twilight would blame herself as soon as she woke up in a hospital and try to apologize for buckling under the pressure. Celestia would be devastated with guilt, is my guess. As soon as it occurred to her that this was her fault for asking too much of her student, she'd feel awful and start cutting back Twilight's workload; she might even insist on greater medical treatment than Twilight would. And if I were Twilight's parents? I'd intervene hard. Keeping problems secret from her, trying to handle everything she normally would without telling her ... now that we've met her mom, I think Twilight Velvet might go so far as to lock her in her room to keep her from working. Poor little Spike would probably do some of that himself; he'd feel responsible, because he's just like his mom in a lot of ways, and he'd run himself ragged trying to do everything for her.

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And if word spread around that Princess Celestia may have caused her student, a young filly, to have suffered from a heart attack or stroke? How would Canterlot, indeed all of Equestria react? I'd imagine this would be a PR nightmare for Celestia.

6246931 What is to say she hasn't. Perhaps Twilight is on some form of medication (maybe even self medicating), but we just don't see it (because it's a kid's show ) in the show. We do see that she can grow paranoid as seen in the episode lesson zero (I think), so who is to say that that was the first time it happened. Maybe Twilight had a similar psychotic break when she was younger.

Still it is an interesting concept.

Just had a thought: You know how Pinkie Pie threw a surprise party for Twilight on her first day in Ponyville? Imagine that if Twilight had a heart condition due to a heart-attack during foal-hood. I can see Twilight trying to keep herself calm, less she has another heart attack, and Spike coming to Twilight's defense and scolding Pinkie.

6246931 Has this been picked up by anyone yet?

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I don't think so. You interested?

6291739 Yeah. I think I could make it work in a couple chapters.

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After seeing the ratings on your stories, I can barely wait to see this.

6292416 Thanks. I hope I'm able to meet your expectations.