Cause And Distress

by pabrony

Early Signs

"Mommy! Daddy! Help me!" shouted Twilight as she ran into the house.

"Twily what's wrong?" Twilight Velvet asked as she wrapped her forelegs around the six-year-old filly.

"I-I was reading my...my science book under my favorite tree and...and..." Twilight cried as her body shook in fear.

Night Light joined his wife in comforting their daughter as her crying continued to increase.

“There it is again!” Twilight shouted. “He won't leave me alone!”

“Sweetheart, there is nopony here besides us,” Velvet reassured. “Shining is at the castle hanging out with Cadence.”

“B-b-but I know I heard a...a stallion's voice call my name,” Twilight insisted. “And it was really, really creepy. Daddy, please call the police to arrest him.”

“Nighty, would you be a dear and see if you can find somepony creeping around outside?” Velvet asked her husband who simply nodded and left the room. “Twily, everything will be okay. Your father is going outside to see he can find anypony.”

Twilight sniffled and buried her face in Velvet’s neck while continuing her fearful sobbing.

“When is Shiny going to be home?” Twilight whimpered.

Velvet gently rubbed her daughter’s back as she answered, “He’s going to be coming home after dinner. Don't worry.”

“Can...can you see if he can come home now?”

Velvet normally wouldn't accept this type of request from either offspring but considering the sheer terror that Twilight had been in minutes earlier, she obliged the request as soon as Night Light returned from outside.

“Thank you, Mommy,” Twilight whispered. “And you too, Daddy.”

---

A couple hours later, Shining Armor finally returned home. However, he didn't arrive alone.

“I'm so sorry it took this long to get back here, Mom,” Shining said. “Cadence insisted on coming along after Dad told me what happened. So we had to wait for some guards to become available.”

“How is she?” asked Cadence.

“We ended up having to give her one of her anxiety pills to finally get her calmed down,” Velvet replied quietly. “She fell asleep about an hour ago and Night Light laid her down on her bed.”

“Do you mind if I sit in her room with her for a little bit, Mrs. Velvet?”

“Not at all. Whatever happened to her was stressful and seeing either you or Shining, when she wakes up, would probably be a welcome sight,” Velvet answered.

“Where's Dad at?” Shining asked as Cadence made her way to Twilight's room.

“He's talking with Twily’s doctor to see if she may have had some sort of anxiety attack. He should be back soon.”

“I am truly sorry I didn't come home right away, but Cadence insisted on coming and-”

“I understand. I was a lovestruck teenager at one point myself,” Velvet interrupted. “And I'm pretty sure your father understands as well. How about you join Cadence so that you both can be there for her when she wakes up.”

“Sure, Mom,” Shining said, giving his mother a kiss on the cheek and then headed toward Twilight’s bedroom to join Cadence.

---

Two years later…

Twilight sat in the office of Dr. Psych for her weekly visit, her right eye twitching occasionally.

“How was this week, Twilight?” Dr. Psych asked as he sat down on the chair next to her.

Twilight rubbed her hooves together and looked at the artwork on the cherrywood panels covering the wall. It had been a rough week for her and she wasn't exactly thrilled with the prospect of having to share it.

“It was...okay,” Twilight answered.

“Did anything exciting happen? Like a family vacation or trip to a sporting event?”

After thinking for a moment, she replied, “Well, I met somepony at the library that likes books as much as me.”

“Really? That's great to hear,” Psych said.

“She's my age and we might be getting together at her house this weekend,” Twilight told him.

“That's good that you are making friends other ponies your age,” Psych praised. “How have the other things been?”

“Well, the, uh, other pony...he, um, introduced me to a, um, a friend of his,” Twilight said nervously as her eye twitching began to increase steadily.

“Oh? And when did this happen?”

“HE JUST WANTS TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR FRIEND!” Twilight shouted at the top of her lungs. “So stop complaining.”

Dr. Psych took note of both the outburst and the twitching and scribbled a few notes on the parchment in Twilight's file. “What did he say?” Psych whispered.

“He...he got mad that I told you about his friend,” Twilight said quietly. “I forgot that she was supposed to be a secret.”

“Quite alright. I won't ask about his friend. I'm just wondering how you and he are getting along,” Psych said.

“Well...he's been kinda weird the last couple days.”

“Weird?”

“Yeah, it seems like, I don't know, like he doesn't like me anymore. He tells me that stuff that's bad for me is good and stuff that's good for me is bad,” Twilight said as she subconsciously drew circles with her right hoof.

“Okay then,” Dr. Psych said before a brief pause. “Can you tell me what some of those things are?”

“Mostly like cleaning stuff but that can make you really, really sick,” Twilight elaborated.

“Uh huh,” Psych mumbled as he jotted some more notes down on the parchment. “Tell you what, Twilight. I'm going to end our meeting early today so I can talk to your parents. Will that be okay?”

Twilight nodded before giving the psychiatrist a quick hug and trotting out to the waiting room.

---

“Do you think she will be able to handle the stress if she gets accepted into CSGU, Dr. Psych?” asked Night Light worriedly.

“In her current state, no,” Psych replied flatly. “However, there is a support group for young colts and fillies that have psychological disorders that I recommend that may help.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Velvet said to her husband. “She could make some new friends while she's there.”

“There is one more thing I’d like to recommend. I'm not sure if you will be open to the idea though since we've had this discussion before,” Psych said.

Night Light and Twilight Velvet looked at each other, frowned and then returned their attention to the doctor and shook their heads.

“I'm sorry but we aren't adding to the amount of medication that Twily is already on,” said Night Light.

“While I'm supposed to keep our meetings confidential, I can discuss parts of the meetings with their parents if the patient is an adolescent,” Psych said before letting out a deep sigh and continuing. “Twilight had an episode during our session today.”

“An episode?” Night Light asked.

“Yes, I asked about her ‘friend’ that has been ‘talking’ to her for the last two years and she had a sudden outburst. It was though she was shouting at somepony else that wasn't in the room,” Psych explained as he crossed his hooves on his desk.

“She…she did that?” Velvet asked.

Dr. Psych closed his eyes and slowly nodded.

“How will it affect her ability to perform spells if we agree to try her on this medication?” Night Light asked.

“I'm not going to lie. It may set her abilities back slightly but not enough to keep her out of CSGU,” Psych replied.

Velvet looked at Night Light and asked, “So what do you want to do?”

Comments

[Mystic Sunrise]

Yep. Confimed Twilight is mentally broken. Here at least. Age should not be an excuse. She's too smart. I say something else.

[pabrony]

8834672 Stay tuned for her condition to be revealed in a future chapter.

[Vaguely Demented]

Paranoid schizophrenia? Or is she actually being visited by Discord or something?

[DragonxFlutter]

Hm...could this be foreshadowing to some of her future adventures? Maybe the voices are a shadow of chaos? Perhaps a particularly bad waking dream?

hak, mabe she jes crzy?