Today was a normal day.
Twilight Velvet had worked on her book. In fact, she had written what she thought was the greatest chapter she had even written in a book in the history of all things books. But she had re-read it minutes later and realized the whole thing was comparable to spoiled milk, scrunching up the type-write page in a fit of rage whilst catching it on fire.
She had worked around the house, finally helped the neighbor with a particularly stubborn charm on a wood stove, and rearranged her supply of quills. Then, while the sun was still high in the sky, she got ready side-by-side with her husband, Night Light, to go meet up with their kids.
Kids was a bit of an understatement, as for all of her foals had long since grown into full, functioning adults. Shining even had a wife and a foal of his own. After picking them up from the train station, they walked aimlessly around Canterlot with little to no plan. They had reminisced over large buildings, places of interest, and places of embarrassment. She had pointed out where she had went to school to learn how to use a type-writer in the first place, noting how the school had made her use it without magic. At the time, it seemed frustrating. Now, though, she wouldn’t even dare to tap with her magic, as that was the way she had learned it.
Her family used to be normal. They had a son and a daughter, separated by about four years. Their son went to train with the Royal Guard during his teen years, apparently doing well enough to become a captain at one point during his service. Their daughter went to the School for Gifted Unicorns after an unfortunate accident involving an egg, a sonic rainboom, a determined filly, and an interesting introspective on how it felt like to be a houseplant for several seconds.
Now- well, she could never in a million years predict where they would end up.
The son, Shining Armor, found a soulmate in the form of- not only a princess, but an Alicorn princess. He was assigned to guard her during a trip to the Griffon Empire. It was an unusual occurrence, mainly because Princess Candace wasn’t even eighteen at the time of the mission, along with no supervision from any adult-leaders. Long story short, she accidentially declared war, ended said war with a peace treaty within a half-an-hour, and both ended up falling for each other in said half-hour. Now, Shining Armor is legally named Prince Shining Armor, and they both have a six-month-old Alicorn foal.
Their daughter, Twilight Sparkle, named after her Mom Twilight Velvet, kept to her studies until Princess Celestia forced her to go make friends in a quaint town named Ponyville. It was a bittersweet and ultimately rushed goodbye from the two parents. It was only later that they found out Princess Celestia was testing Twilight, and eventually Twilight herself ascended to Alicorn-hood and became a princess
So both their foals turned into monarchs. And Twilight Velvet and Night Light were both royalty. Basically.
A day out with the family was always nostalgic to Velvet. It was a blissful feeling that overtook her senses. All at once, it seemed the day had turned into a blur of ice cream, amusement parks, and laughing. She didn’t even know when it had happened, but before they knew it, the whole family was in front of a local theater buying tickets. Night had set, and Luna’s moon was raised above the horizon. A brisk cold air loomed over the capital of Equestria as Velvet egged her husband to buy tickets quicker, as to get inside faster.
“Hello there. How can I help you todaaaa-” The gray griffon manning the ticket booth’s beak slid wide open as he stared at the group of ponies in front of him. Three Unicorns, Three Alicorn Princesses, and a foal. (Who was one of the Alicorns, currently on her Dad's back.) “Uhh...”
“Hey, bud.” Night Light said. He was a blue unicorn stallion, wearing down in years. His eyes were bright and full of life, even if his mane had began graying a little while ago. “I don’t know if you know, but we’re kind of a big deal.” He put his elbow on the ticket stand, leaning forwards. “Mind if we- you know- get the V.I.P seating?”
“Uhh… s-sure..?” The griffon said. He used his claws to begin poking at a type-writer in front of him.
“Nice Type-writer.” Velvet complimented, also leaning forwards, and quite possible invading the personal space of the griffon. Night Light rolled his eyes, moving away to allow Velvet to fan over properly. The griffon, credit where credit is due, tried his hardest to ignore the pony almost pressing against the glass. Twilight Velvet was almost a dead-copy for her daughter. She had the same proportions, same horn-length (pre-ascension) and same mane and tail style. The only difference being coat, cutiemark, and mane. Her coat was a bright pearly white, her mane a purple with streaks of gray.
“Umm…” The griffon said, almost pretending to not notice her as he kept typing up the tickets.
“Is that a Ticket-Master Custom Dark Ride?” She asked, leaning even further forwards, her head ducking under the boundary of the glass separating him from the outside world. The griffon began sweating profusely as he leaned backwards, away from the crazy mare. “I love the Dark Ride series. They are really fun to type on! You see- I actually met the creator of Black Ink Studios a little while ago-”
“Honey, dearie…” Night Light put a hoof on his wife’s shoulder, pulling her back. “Give the poor boy some room to breathe.”
“Oh. Right. Sorry.” She sheepishly backed up, letting Night Light deal with the tickets. The sounds of back and fourth talking, plus the addition of a foal crying caught her attention. She turned around to face the scene.
There was her family. Shining Armor, the only unicorn, was sitting on the concrete, bouncing up and down a fussy Flurry Heart with his leg, who apparently didn’t want to calm down, even after being fed and changed. Twilight was watching, Candace listening intently as she spouted hundreds of ways to calm down a foal read straight from a book. Apparently, Shining got fed up with Twilight, and proceeded to dump Flurry onto her with words: ‘if you think you can calm her better, then do it!’
Velvet laughed as she shook her head, turning back to Night Light. He dropped several bits from his magic on to the counter. She watched inquisitively as the griffon scooped them up, depositing them into the Type-Writer.
“Ooh, you even have the Business Cash-Register Add-on pack? R-Right, sorry.” She laughed. Night Light took the tickets in his magic, spreading them out to the group. “You had to pay?” She asked.
“Of course. Did you think we could get in for free?”
“Yes. We're royalty.”
“Heh, I wish.” Night Light shook his head, holding out a ticket for her. She exchanged magic, taking the ticket in her own aura. A light breeze blew past, making Velvet shiver, suddenly want to get inside the theater quicker.
She looked at the ticket. It was a simple white piece of paper, torn at the edge,stamped with the name of the show and a V.I.P pass in red.
It was the stamp next to the total price that made her stop.
Silence reigned over the bustling family. Of course, they were still talking and conversation like nothing had happened. But right in that moment, Velvet looked at her ticket with wide, open eyes.
The world shattered around her.
She didn’t even know when it had happened. As far as she knew, she was out on a night with her family. Her husband, daughter, son, granddaughter, and daughter-in-law. They were going to go see a play. And they were going to have fun.
But that wasn’t where her attention was. Not by a long shot. She let the ticket float down onto her white hoof. An innocent ticket. An innocent ticket that shook her to her core. No. Surely the griffon manning the stall stamped it wrong. Right? There’s no way this can’t be a mistake!
But there it was. Stamped right on the front.
Elder’s Discount.
“Hey, hun. You coming?” Night Light asked, brushing against her and giving a little flick with his tail. She was shaken out of her stupor for a moment, looking up and watching as the family started to walk into the theater without her.
“Oh- uh- yeah.” She nodded, picking the ticket back up with her magic and walking forwards. She read it again. And again.
Woah. She thought. That’s weird.
…
When did that happen?
It was like the weight of life, all at once, suddenly collapsed onto her withers. Reality struck, and it struck hard.
How long has it been since she was a young mare? Her first pregnancy was twenty-five years ago. To Tartarus with it- her most recent and last pregnancy had been twenty-one years ago. Even some of the things that she thought were recent were… less than recent. Sharp Shot, her first and last coltfriend before Night Light, had also gotten married. Last she saw, he even had his own children. Velvet was trying to wrap her head around this. It felt so recent. But in the grand scheme of things…
Velvet flopped onto one of the plush V.I.P seats. Sometime during the walk up to the V.I.P balcony overlooking the theater, Night Light had acquired Flurry Heart. He was bouncing her up and down while making baby sounds. Apparently, Grandpa had a little foal magic with him, as Flurry seemed to instantly calm down.
She looked at Flurry. Really looked. That foal shared genes with her. If Velvet and Night had decided not to have a foal that night twenty-five years ago, she wouldn’t be sitting here, staring at her granddaughter.
How crazy is that? One night, twenty-five years ago, they just decided to have a foal. Randomly, out of the blue, they just decided to bring another pony into the world.
Insanity set in.
A pony is incredibly complex. Thousands of emotions. They have their own thoughts and feelings, aspirations, and goals. They get offended when you say the wrong thing at the wrong time, and they shower you with love when you say the right thing at the right time. They grow, adapt, and live. They have a heartbeat, blood supply, lungs, and everything else that makes a pony- well, a pony.
Now, completely out of her control, she had a granddaughter.
That pony she had made twenty-five years ago met another pony that was just randomly made. And similarly, they just… decided to have a foal.
Velvet looked up to her husband.
When did they get old? Seriously old. Her gut twisted as she watched Night Light continue bouncing Flurry. His usually dark-blue mane was turning gray. And it wasn’t just beginning- no, half of his mane was already gray. This wasn’t the beginning of their elder years. They were a decent amount of time into it.
She always remembered her grandmare as an old and frail lady. Now, right here, Velvet took a sharp breath as she realized she was the old grandmare now. The proof was in front of her. Flurry was the proof.
“H-Honey?” Velvet asked. Night Light turned, apparently almost instantly picking up on the sudden panicked tone in her wife’s voice. Night Light quickly dumped the filly onto Twilight, who seemed to not anticipate the sudden addition of a wing to the face.
“Yes, dear?” He asked, rearranging himself so he was facing her.
“D-Do you remember Sharp Shot?” She asked. Night Light looked up and to the right, the gears in his head turning. He looked back down, shaking his head. “From High-School?”
“Oh! Oh, yeah!” He nodded. “What about him?” His voice gaining a nervous edge. “I don’t mean to alarm you, but…” He looked over his shoulder at the three Alicorns and single Unicorn. “I think it’s a little too late to have second thoughts over marrying me.”
“N-No.” She shook her head, wiping the sudden sweat from her forehead. Night Light took notice, suddenly realizing his wife was probably in the middle of a panic attack. “I mean… do you remember when I broke up with him?”
“You mean dumped for me, right?” He batted a hoof against his mane, fluttering his eyes seductively. Velvet felt something rise in her chest for a moment.
“Dumped is a strong word. You were still such a nerdy colt.”
“Specifics, specifics…” He waved a hoof. He let it fall back to the seat, turning back to Velvet. “Are you alright?”
“When did we graduate?” She asked out of the blue. Night Light blinked.
“Err-” He scratched his chin. “Gee, must’ve been 1377? Well- I graduated in 1377. You graduated in 1376.”
“Night Light, what year is it?” Night Light let out a laugh at the sudden question. Before realizing she was being dead serious.
“Honey, it’s 1423. You know this… at least, I hope you do.”
“So then…” She swallowed her spit. “How long has it been since we graduated?”
“Had to be about… forty-five years, give or take.” He said, doing the quick math. He refocused his eyes on his wife, and suddenly noticed that she was profusely sweating. Even more than before, as the dim lights in the theater bounced off her now wet coat. It wasn’t even that warm in here. “Honey, are you okay?”
Forty-five years was a long, long time. Wars have started and ended in that time. Many, many ponies have died. Even more had been born. A princess had returned after a millennium, while two had ascended into princess-hood. Both of which were sitting two seats down to her left.
Once again, if she decided not to have a foal twenty-five years ago…
“Honey?” Night Light asked. She wasn’t just sweating anymore, but also breathing heavily. “Hey, hon-” He was about to reach out, when suddenly, both of his cheeks were viciously squished by two white hooves.
“Night Light, we’re old.” She said quickly. He blinked again.
“That’s… flattering.” He said through the hooves. Velvet let go, suddenly covering her face with her hooves. Night Light once again started to reach out a hoof when she started talking again.
“Right now, don't think of me as your wife.” She took a shuddering breath, her face still hidden. “Think if you saw me on the street randomly. No idea who I was. Take me for some stranger.”
“...um, right.”
“Now, look at me.” She removed her hooves, looking up.
Night Light was almost taken back. Her white coat had been graying, and much like his own mane, her purple streaks had whitened significantly. It had been long since her hay day, and through the bags under her eyes, it showed. She was old.
Almost.
“Yup.” He nodded proudly. “We’re older than shit.”
“Language!” Twilight said from the seat to his left, turning to shoot her father a glare as she covered the ears of a little Flurry Heart. Cadence cringed, taking Flurry away with magic from the two grandparents and depositing her on her own lap.
“And you’re okay with that?!” She whisper-shouted.
“Well- why not?” He smirked. “As long as I’m here with you- well, getting older isn’t really that big of a deal.” He coyly wrapped a hoof around Velvet, pulling her across the armrest between the seats.
“B-But..!” She struggled. “W-What if one of us dies first?” She exclaimed.
“That’s… morbid.” He asked, loosening his grip. He noted how his hoof was covered in sweat.
“But it’s true!” She batted her own mane from her eyes, trying her hardest to ignore the fact her mane was also graying. “M-My Mom and Dad are g-gone! So are y-yours!” She breathed hard. “We’re next! A-And if w-we’re old, that’s-”
And Night Light applied the illegal maneuver.
“Calm.” He said, pushing a hoof onto her chest. “Look into my eyes.” And so she did.
The facade of an old, graying stallion seemed to melt away almost instantly. In the bagged skin, she could still see the same glowing eyes that she fell in love with all those years ago.
Black, thick-rimmed glasses. A film-o-sound movie playing loudly with grainy, high-pitched squealing audio. It was some dumb film from decades ago, way before the invention of color film. Colts hooted at a mare in a one-piece bathing suit on a lively beach in the crest of a cave. Velvet suddenly wrapped her body around the colt as a changeling-monster appeared out of the murky water, grabbing the leg of the mare. Night Light, not knowing what to do with a mare, jerked back, accidentally landing muzzle-to-muzzle with the mare of his dreams.
And then reality came back. And she was still kissing Night Light.
She understood now.
As long as Night Light was there, everything would be fine.
And she melted.
“Um-” Shining leaned over Twilight’s shoulder. “Why is Mom crying?”
“I think she just realized she’s old.” Twilight responded.
“Oh. Good.” Shining nodded. “I remember how inconsolable Dad was when he did.”
“Shush. The play’s starting.”
And so it played.