Celestia and Spike have a conversation about her protege.
Celestia always knew something was wrong with Twilight’s psyche, and she worried about what would happen when she wasn’t there to calm her down. So she sat down to talk with a purple and green dragon.
(Takes place about a year before Twilight leaves for Ponyville)
“Okay, Twilight, calm down,” Celestia said one evening. It was just a little before sunset, and there was a problem that had to be solved before her personal student could be sent home. But this wasn’t a problem that the student had to solve, Celestia had to solve the problem that seemed to be happening a little too much recently. Twilight was having a panic attack.
Celestia had told Twilight a dozen times that it didn’t matter that she accidentally forgot to put a comma where there needed to be one in an extra-credit essay that her student had written. She was still going to give Twilight a perfect score because she acknowledged her mistake before Celestia could point it out, but Twilight was convinced that she was going back to magic kindergarten because of her trivial punctuation mistake.
The princess had to find a solution, and fast. It already seemed like Twilight was on the verge of passing out from her attack. This is the 3rd time this week that this has happened, Celestia thought, and it’s Tuesday! She sighed and decided to try one last thing, something that would definitely work. “Alright, Twilight, I’ll let this slide if you write me a paper on the importance of punctuation for homework tonight.” Celestia didn’t like to punish her student, and she hated it even more when Twilight didn’t deserve it. But sometimes it was the only way to calm the anxious student down. Also, she knew that Twilight wouldn’t mind doing a little extra schoolwork.
“Y-Y-Yes o-of course P-Princess Celestia,” Twilight stammered in between loud, rapid breaths, “I’ll g-get on it r-right away!”
Twilight scooped up Spike, her purple and green dragon assistant, and trotted off to her home to begin writing her paper.
Celestia was glad that Twilight wouldn’t be walking home alone, but she worried that her student was probably getting attacks at home too. They seemed to get worse and worse as the days went on. But how was she supposed to know that Spike would know what to do is Twilight let her anxiety get the better of her? Then, Celestia got an idea, and she prepared to leave the castle.
“Alright, Spike,” Twilight said enthusiastically. “Do we have everything that we need?”
“Yes, ma’am!” Spike replied with an equal amount of excitement, though most of it was forced.
“Are you sure?” Twilight asked. “Everything has to be perfect!”
“I’m sure, Twilight, You’re not going to stay up all night writing that, are you?”
“Well, when else am I supposed to write it?”
“Tomorrow is Teacher Examination Day, you could write it then.”
“I promised the Princess that I would write it as soon as I got home, and that’s what I’m gonna do.”
“But-”
“No buts, Spike, we need to get to writing that paper.’
Spike sighed, it was no use. Twilight had been pulling all-nighters to work on an assignment or read “just one more chapter” since she was a filly. He had woken up in the morning to find Twilight either sleeping on an open book or with bloodshot eyes because she hadn’t slept at all. Sometimes she didn’t sleep at all for days on end. Twilight’s habit worried Spike. He had seen first hand what happens when ponies don’t get enough sleep. But he couldn’t control Twilight, she was his caregiver, and she could do what she pleases, no matter how self-destructive it was. However, he had to give Twilight credit, she had mastered a spell to make her eyes less bloodshot when she went to class. It was a complicated spell, but she did it with ease. She had found it when-
‘Spike!” Twilight yelled, “I asked you to please make some coffee.”
‘Okay, okay, I’ll get right on it,” Spike said as he walked over to the coffee machine. Once the brew was done, he headed upstairs to give it to Twilight, who was in her study. “Please don’t stay up all night.”
Twilight smiled, “Don’t worry, Spike, I’ll be fine. Now go get ready for bed, I’ll be there in a few minutes to tuck you in.”
“Fine”, Spike unenergetically replied before brushing his teeth and getting into his small bed. After a few moments, Twilight came in, tucked him in, said goodnight, and walked back to her study to write her paper.
Celestia knew that what she was doing was unorthodox, but she wouldn’t be able to sleep until her worries were eased. Not that sleeping had ever been easy since the incident when she had to banish the keeper of the dream realm to the moon. Seeing her sister’s face every single night in the moon was hard, but she knew that it wouldn’t be too long before she could hug Luna again.
That is, if Twilight could handle such a task. Celestia sensed that Twilight had some sort of connection with the Elements since the day she became her protege. But to wield the Elements, Twilight would have to be both physically and mentally ready for the inevitable battle with Nightmare Moon. It wouldn’t hurt for her to bring some friends along too, Celestia thought.
Celestia teleported inside, hoping that no one would hear. It’s not illegal, Celestia thought to herself, it’s being paid for by the government. Besides, she should be asleep by now. It’s past midnight. Celestia quietly walked upstairs and saw something rather upsetting. Twilight was still awake writing her paper. When Celestia said ‘paper’, she just wanted a report that was about 4 paragraphs in length, but Twilight’s scroll looked to be a few meters long, and she didn’t look like she was close to stopping.
Celestia sighed. Was Twilight up this late often? She would have to ask her on Thursday. Celestia cast a sleeping spell on the purple unicorn before quietly putting her in bed. Twilight wouldn’t wake up for 8 more hours, so Celestia would have more than enough time to do what she needed. She cast a noise cancelation spell just to be safe and turned around to see Spike sleepily rubbing his eyes.’
“Terribly sorry I woke you, Spike, but do you have a minute to talk?’
“Huh? Yeah, sure.”
Spike stretched his young bones and sat up in his bed. “Should we go somewhere where we won’t disturb Twilight?”
“No, you can stay. I cast a sound cancellation spell, so she won’t be able to hear anything.”
“Well, Spike, I wanted to talk to you about Twilight.”
“Twilight? What about her? DId she do something wrong? DId she get a bad grade on a test? Princess, I swear, she’s trying her hardest.”
“I know, Spike, that’s what I wanted to talk about.”
Spike looked at her, bewildered. If Twilight was trying her hardest, then what could be the issue? He knew Princess Celestia wouldn’t break into Twilight’s home in the middle of the night if there wasn’t something important to talk about. Wait...
“Did you break in, Princess?”
“Um, that’s not important right now. Spike, have you noticed that Twilight is a little... jumpier than usual?”
“Well...” Spike considered the question. Twilight had always been anxious, but she had been a little more paranoid these last few days. Possibly because her older brother was going away to an extended training camp for the next 2 years. He would be training to become the next captain, as the current one would step down as soon as he returned. But Shining’s contact with Twilight would be limited. The two siblings had always been close, and they used to visit each other at least twice a week. But now...
“Actually, yes. She’s been acting a little more paranoid than usual since her brother left.”
“Ah, I see.” Celestia had considered the possibility that this was some sort of anxiety brought on by her brother’s absence but Spike’s response made her even surer. Even though he would be able to visit sometimes, they wouldn’t see each other nearly as much. As his training gets harder, his time to visit would decrease. She would have to prepare Twilight before that happens.
“When she gets worried enough, she has these fits, where she’ll start shaking, perspiring, and frantically listing the worst possible scenarios while pacing back and forth. It’s scary, and I don’t know what to do when it happens,” Spike said. He had seen his fair share of Twilight’s attacks in his short life, and they really were frightening. He hated seeing his mother figure in such a state. He hated seeing her in pain.
“Well, you see Spike, Twilight has a special way of processing things. It’s part of what makes her unique.
“Special? What kind of special?”
“Um, It’s called OCD. Many ponies have it.” Celestia decided not to mention that Twilight’s case was one of the most severe ones she’s ever seen so Spike wouldn’t worry.
“What is OCD?” Spike’s attention was caught at the possibility of learning something new.
“OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is when a pony has this need to have something be in a specific order. Some ponies need to have everything in symmetry, others need to keep everything clean. And in Twilight’s case, she needs to...” Celestia hesitated, should she tell Spike that Twilight has Scrupulous OCD? She didn’t want him to think of her as an awful pony. You are an awful pony. You banished your own sister. Celestia pushed the negative thoughts out of her head. She had more pressing matters to attend to: her student’s mental health.
“Princess! What is Twilight’s type of OCD?” Celestia was immediately snapped back to reality by the young dragon’s question. Spike looked up at her with big, green eyes, waiting for an answer.
Celestia sighed, “Twilight has this fear of disappointing a god or deity, it’s called Scrupulous OCD.”
“So, she has this fear of disappointing you.”
“Unfortunately, yes. She has placed me on this pedestal where she thinks that disappointing me will reap unimaginable consequences.”
“Will disappointing you reap unimaginable consequences?”
“To a very extreme extent, yes. But I’m not just going to send somepony to Tartarus for a 99% on a test. She would have to commit a serious crime, such as murder. However, I don’t think she would ever willingly kill anypony.”
“Is her OCD the reason she gets these fits?”
“These ‘fits’ are called panic attacks. OCD is a disorder that is related to anxiety. The attacks are a symptom of her anxiety.”
The panic attacks. The attacks were as scary for Celestia as they probably were for Twilight. Not only were some of the possible outcomes she came up with for situations unsettling to hear, sometimes her anxiety would actually cause her to pass out and Celestia would have to help her come to. Twilight was so young, and she was technically her guardian until she turns 18 in a few months. She was like a daughter to her, since ruling Equestria alone left Celestia unable to settle down with anypony and have foals.
“What am I supposed to do, Princess?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve helped Twilight throughout most of her life, but this is the only thing I don’t know how to help her with, and it’s the thing I want to help with the most. I can’t bear seeing her so scared and not being able to help. What should I do?”
Celestia smiled warmly down at Spike. Twilight certainly is doing a good job with him, she thought.
“Well, Spike, there is a way to help her. Listen carefully, I’ll tell you what to do.”
The young drake was all ears.
“The best thing to do first is calm yourself down. Take a deep breath and count to 10. By the time you’re done, you’ll be calm enough to reason with her. Next, ask her to calm down. It most likely won’t work the first time, but it will certainly help. Then, try to reason with her and bring her thoughts back down to reality. Finally, give her a hug. She will definitely need one after an attack.”
Spike nodded, making a mental note of everything the Princess had just said, but he still had one last question.
“But what if I can’t calm her down?”
“Then you send me a scroll, and I will personally come to help as quickly as possible.”
“Will do, Princess. Thank you for teaching me what to do.”
“You’re welcome, Spike.” Celestia looked over to the bed where the petite mare was still peacefully asleep, “I trust that you will not tell Twilight about this conversation.”
“I won’t.”
“Good. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must get some rest. The sun won’t rise by itself.”
Celestia walked over to the stairs and whispered “Pleasent dreams, Spike,” before walking down the stairs to the door. She teleported outside and thought to herself ”They’ll take good care of each other” before flying back to the castle.
Spike yawned. He was exhausted, and Celestia coming in the middle of the night disturbed his sleep, but he was glad she came. He would be prepared the next time Twilight’s anxiety got the better of her, and he was thankful for that. He closed his eyes and nestled into a long, pleasant slumber.
“Oh no! I’ve overslept! I’m going to be late for class!” Twilight yelled frantically as the sleeping spell wore off. It was 9:30 AM, and classes started at 9:35. Spike woke up from his rest to find Twilight frantically trying to finish her paper. Remembering what happened last night, he took a deep breath, counted to 10, and went into Twilight’s study.
Twilight was frazzled, to say the least. Her mane was messed up from sleep, her eyes were baggy from her lack of sleep, and she was desperately trying to finish up the paper she had been writing last night. Spike walked up to her. “Twilight, calm down.”
“ I CAN’T! I’m about to be late for class! If I don’t finish this paper, Celestia will be so upset she won’t want me to be her student anymore!
Spike knew exactly what to do. “Twilight, It’s ‘Teacher Examination Day’, all classes are canceled.”
“But, my paper-”
“Can wait. Right now, you need to relax, have a cup of tea, and enjoy your morning.”
Twilight took a deep breath, walked over to her couch, and smiled when she saw her #1 assistant walking into the room with her favorite blend of tea. She levitated a cup, took a sip, and sat it down. Spike was sitting next to her, giving her a warm hug. Twilight returned the hug and whispered “Thank you” into the young dragon’s ear, grateful that she had such a good assistantfriend.
