Main Characters: TWP, Twilight Velvet
Cameos: Night Light, Commander Kain, Twilight Sparkle
Original Start Date: April 18, 2013
Twilight Velvet arranges papers on a desk before the start of class. Her students file into the lecture hall, slowly filling every seat. With the class nearly full and almost time to begin, Twilight Velvet steps to the front of the class.
‘Welcome back to Magic History,’ Velvet greets. ‘I have graded your practice exam. As you know, the test was anonymous, but I’m a little worried about the results. A only third of you knew who Starswirl the Bearded was. About a quarter knew Princess Luna was the original wielder of the Element of Magic. What worries me most is that half you didn’t know who the current Element of Magic is.’
A stallion in the middle of class raises a hoof. ‘Who is the current Element of Magic?’
Twilight Velvet stares in shock. ‘You really don’t know?’
The stallion shakes his head.
‘She is my daughter!’ Velvet shouts. ‘Princess Twilight Sparkle is the Element of Magic! It is on the syllabus that she will be giving a guest lecture in a few weeks!’
‘OH!’ too many students groan.
Twilight Velvet glares at her class, her expression screaming ‘get out of here’.
Twilight Velvet goes to lunch at a local coffee shop. She would dine with her husband, but his class schedule keeps them apart most days this quarter. The mare sighs as she eats and reads recent news stories. She smiles at all the reports still being generated about her daughter’s recent engagement.
A pair of younger mares sit near Twilight Velvet. They keep looking over at the older mare. Twilight Velvet does her best to ignore them.
‘Is that?’ one mare asks.
‘No,’ the other replies. ‘She some prof at uni. Great for naps.’
Twilight Velvet sighs and pretends not to have heard the comment.
‘Yeah. Didn’t think so. No wings. Hey! Did you hear she is engaged?’
The other mare groans. ‘Yeah. To some common earth pony.’
‘I know, right? Her brother is a royal guard and married a princess. She should have married somepony equally as regal, like Octavia Philharmonica.’
Her friend sighs. ‘I’m not into mares, but I’d love to be with Octavia.’
‘Yeah... Not some common earth pony from nowhere.’
‘Definitely.’
Twilight Velvet snorts, takes her drink and leaves. The younger mares watch her leave.
‘Sheesh. What is her problem?’
After dinner, Twilight Velvet and Night Light sit in the lounge reading and grading papers. The stallion yawns as he works. Velvet sighs and sets down her book.
‘Want to do something this weekend, dear?’ the mare asks.
‘Sorry,’ Night Light replies. ‘I’ve been asked to attend an education conference next week, and I need to spend the time preparing.’
‘But we haven’t done anything in forever!’ Velvet moans. ‘We can’t just sit around reading and doing paperwork every weekend. We should be out having an adventure and meeting new ponies.’ She gasps in excitement. ‘We should visit Shining in the Crystal Kingdom.’
‘I am sure Shining has better things to do than entertain his parents when they are bored.’
‘Ni~ght Li~ght! I want to do something fun~!’
Night Light looks up from his work. ‘Can’t you call one of your friends and do something with them?’
Twilight Velvet glares and growls, but then she sits back with a crafty grin. ‘I think I know somepony I can call.’
‘Wonderful!’ Night Light cheers, returning to work. ‘I hope it all works out.’
‘Me too,’ Velvet agrees, trotting away. ‘I just hope he and Twilight are free...’
‘Mhm.’ Night Light keeps working. ‘Wait. What?’
James pulls a lever on the TARDIS console. He turns a few knobs and presses a couple buttons. Once the power-down sequence is initiated, he turns to his travel companion.
‘Now, the most important part about time travel is not interfering. Don’t get yourself noticed. Don’t stand out. I know I promised you an adventure, but we are not to interfere at all.’
Twilight Velvet smiles at her host. ‘You have nothing to worry about. I’m just glad for the trip. Too bad Twilight couldn’t join us.’
James shrugs. ‘Well, she is responsible and hardworking. She doesn’t just whisk her future mother-in-law off on adventures willy-nilly.’
Velvet giggles. ‘I’m sure she’ll have plenty of adventures of her own.’
James looks around nervously. ‘Okay. Now, we’re doing something very risky. We’re in the future. Just about thirty or so years, but there could be advancements in magic and technology way beyond understanding. So, if you want to, uh, “borrow” something, try not to draw attention to yourself.’
The stallion opens the TARDIS doors. He is immediately confronted by rows of armed royal guards. A bat pony in commander armor steps forward.
‘Mr Wanderer, you’re coming with us,’ the bat pony states.
James sweats under all the attention directed at him. Velvet giggles at her host.
‘Please, Mr Wanderer. Come with us,’ the bat pony repeats.
‘I believe you are required to read me a list of charges,’ James states nervously.
‘You are not under arrest. We need your assistance.’ The bat pony gets out a mobile. ‘Director Heartstrings said that you would be arriving at this spot on this time to assist us with a little scientific emergency we’re having right now.’
James’ eye twitches. ‘Director Heartstrings? Lime unicorn obsessed with humans?’
‘He said to inform you that he is her son and to ask for a “high five”, whatever that is.’
‘I’m sort of traveling with a friend. So if you’ll excuse me...’
‘Please!’ the bat pony begs. ‘You must. My sis-, er, commander asked me to enlist your help. You don’t want to upset her. Trust me.’
James sighs and looks back at Twilight Velvet. ‘What about my friend?’
‘She is free to explore the facility. All the labs are public.’
Twilight Velvet puts a hoof on James’ shoulder. ‘I’ll be fine, James. I am having enough fun just getting out and seeing something new.’
James groans, ‘Fine! I’ll go. Lead on, Commander...’
‘Kain,’ Kain replies. ‘I am Commander Kain.’ He turns away. ‘Follow me, Mr Spar- uh, Mr Wanderer.’
The time traveler raises an eyebrow and follows. ‘Out of curiosity, why didn’t you ask the “me” of this time? How about The Doctor?’
Kain snorts. ‘The Doctor is never available when you need him. As for you and your...’
James stops the other stallion. ‘That is too many spoilers at “your”.’
Kain laughs and leads on. A few guards follow. The rest disperse. One gives Twilight Velvet a guest pass before she leaves. The unicorn looks at her pass, laughs and begins to explore the building.
After hours trotting through a futuristic laboratory, Twilight Velvet is getting bored. Even the automatic doors are not as novel as they first seemed. The mare is currently exploring a biomagical facility, looking at the various experiments. She sighs and examines the nearest workstation. There are no scientists around so she cannot ask about the experiment going on. She taps a vial of glowing purple liquid.
‘Chronometric rejuvenation,’ she reads. ‘What the hell does that mean?’
She lifts the vial to examine it closer. The facility intercom crackles.
`Uh, hey, this is tech support,` James says, earning a laugh from Twilight Velvet. `We’re going to be experiencing some, uh, minor turbulence. Please keep all hooves and legs inside the building and hold tight. ... I hope this works. ... What do you mean, stop pressing the...`
The intercom cuts off just as the whole building shakes. Twilight Velvet tries to keep her balance as the laboratory sways. She grunts and looks for a safe place to stand. The building jolts again, causing her to fall. Her grip on the vial fails, and it spills all over the prone mare. She moans as she passes out.
...
Twilight Velvet wakes to James staring at her face. She blushes and covers her face. James takes a deep breath and hugs her.
‘You’re fine,’ the stallion sighs. ‘Twilight would have killed me if anything else happened to you.’
‘Of course, I’m fine,’ Velvet assures. ‘I just had a little fall when you were doing what you were doing.’
James lets go and looks at Kain. ‘Is there a way to fix this?’
‘Fix what?’ Velvet asks, standing. ‘I told you I am fine.’
The mare looks at the two stallions before her. James glares at Kain. The bat pony nervously picks up a nearby plate. The metal surface has been polished to a reflective shine. Twilight Velvet stares at it for several moments before she realizes it. She is looking at a younger version of herself. She looks no older than her daughter.
The suddenly-young mare stares at her reflection in shock. ‘Well, I don’t know how we’re going to explain this to Night Light.’
Twilight Sparkle sings to herself as she does some paperwork at the end of the day. There is a knock at the door as James enters. Twilight looks up from her work and smiles.
‘How was your adventure with my mom?’ she asks. ‘I hope she wasn’t too upset that I couldn’t make it.’
‘First of all, time machine. I can have you back in time for tea.’
Twilight groans and rolls her eyes.
‘Anyway, we had a good time. Showed off the future to her a bit.’
‘Sounds fun.’
‘I guess. I got roped into helping solve a little science emergency. Seems like they had a cross-dimensional encounter recently and were having an aftershock.’
Twilight stares in shock.
‘Don’t worry. With Discord’s chaos powers bending quantum mechanics to our will, we were able to save the future.’
Twilight laughs. ‘Well, now I am jealous that I didn’t see that.’
James smiles and kisses his fiancee. ‘Oh, and your mom got exposed to a biomagical chemical that caused her age to regress to about as old you.’
‘WHAT!’
‘So, are you and Spike coming over for dinner or am I bringing Del over here after she is done playing with her friends?’
‘What was that about my mom?’
‘She’s fine! Now, about dinner...’
Twilight glares at her fiance, her wings flared in anger.
‘So, uh, trip to Canterlot?’
Twilight Velvet sighs and holds her head as she looks at her husband. Night Light stares at his wife in shock, mouth gaping. The drink he was pouring for himself has stopped filling as the bottle empties on the floor. A door opens elsewhere in the house and Twilight gallops into the room. She stops and stares at her mother. James calmly trots after his fiancee.
‘Mom?!’ Twilight gapes.
‘Hi, dear,’ Velvet sighs. ‘Will one of you get me a mop? Your father just spilled his drink.’
‘What happened to you, mom?’
‘Oh, this?’ Velvet looks at her body. ‘Just a little accident. Unfortunately, a reversal spell hadn’t been developed yet. Or is it won’t be developed yet?’
‘Not important!’
Velvet snorts at her daughter. ‘Anyway, I am stuck like this.’ She giggles. ‘I guess we can finally share clothes like I always wanted. Oh! You’re going to have to ask your friend to come over and alter some things for me. I was, er, am a lot slimmer when I was, no, now am in my twenties again.’
‘But, mom, you’re, I mean... Daddy! Say something!’
James reaches out a hoof and taps Night Light. He gets no reaction. ‘He’s dead.’
‘My wife’s a kid,’ Night Light mumbles.
‘Or not,’ James corrects. ‘Physicist, not physician.’
Twilight Velvet sighs and reaches towards her husband. ‘Dear, calm down. Drink the rug if you have to. That’s where most of your drink ended up.’
Night Light blinks a few times, levitates the rug above him and rings it out into his mouth. He takes a deep breath and looks at his wife. ‘Okay. Now, what happened?
Twilight Velvet also takes a deep breath and explains what happened to her husband and daughter.
Twilight Velvet sighs as she sets up for her next class. Teaching is more frustrating with her younger body. She had to explain her accident to all of her colleagues. Then explain it to all the administrators. And again to each of her classes. It is getting annoying having to repeat the same thing constantly. She should be able to send one email about everything and be done with it.
She takes some relief that her younger self has a few perks. The young stallions now open doors for her and offer to help carry her teaching supplies more often. She has caught more than a few young mares checking their makeup in an effort to return their coltfriend’s affections to themselves. Best of all, rumors of a new, ‘hot’ teacher all seem to fit her description.
With preparations complete, Twilight Velvet turns to her class. ‘Welcome back to Magic History,’ she greets. ‘I had a little accident with an age spell this weekend. If you don’t mind your professor being the same age, or younger, than most of you, we can continue. If my age is too much of an issue, I have talked with my dean and you will be compensated for dropping the class. So, if you don’t have any questions, let us continue from where we left off.’
A student raises a hoof.
‘Yes?’
‘Where are your wings?’ the student asks.
‘What?’
‘This is the Twilight Sparkle lecture, right?’
Twilight Velvet glares. ‘I am your teacher. Professor Twilight Velvet. You can tell because of my colors.’
‘Are you Twilight Sparkle’s sister?’
‘I’m her mother! I just said I had an accident with an age spell.’
‘Oh. Okay. Because you two could be, like, twins. Really hot twins.’
Twilight Velvet huffs and begins her lecture.
The de-aged mare returns home in a sour mood. The young... the other young ponies did not make teaching easy. Too many young stallions hit on her. Too many young mares made catty comments behind her back. It sucks being young again.
Twilight Velvet trots into the lounge where her husband is working. She climbs up into his lap and nuzzles his chest. ‘You will not believe the day I had.’
‘Uh, dear...’ Night Light says, looking down.
‘Yes?’ She looks up at her husband.
‘I think we have a problem...’
Twilight Velvet looks around. Everything seems smaller. She looks at her body. She is the size of a teenage filly.
‘Okay. This is getting wacky.’
Twilight and Spike are at The Power Block for dinner and wedding planning. The young dragon plays with Del while the adults work on their plans. Twilight’s mobile rings.
‘Hello?’ she answers. ‘What?! ... She what?! ... We’re on our way! We’ll meet you at the library.’
‘What happened?’ James asks.
‘Apparently, mom is still getting younger. The spell hasn’t worn off yet. We have to find a counterspell before it is too late.’
‘I’ll have us there in ten minutes ago.’
The adults go to the TARDIS. They stop and turn back to the home.
‘Del, you’re in charge.’ ‘Spike, you’re in charge.’ The adults say in unison. They look at each other then at a nearby perch. ‘Owlowiscious, you’re in charge.’
‘Hoo,’ the owl replies.
The filly and dragon groan as the adults leave.
Twilight Sparkle and Night Light gallop around the royal library. Books and scrolls fly everywhere as they look for age spells. Twilight Velvet sits on a table, looking at the books. She is about the size of Del.
‘Is all this rush really necessary?’ the filly asks.
‘Dear, you left for work the same age as Twilight,’ Night Light starts.
‘Now, you’re about as old as my stepdaughter,’ Twilight finishes.
Night Light looks at his daughter. ‘Really?’
‘Del wanted a mom, and I agreed, but that isn’t important right now.’
Velvet flips through a book, looking at the spells. ‘What about James? Is he finding a technological solution?’
Twilight stops and sets a pile of books on the table. ‘He is trying to find if they ever developed an antidote or control mechanism to the biomagical spell afflicting you. But he might not get very far.’
‘You mean they won’t let him take the solution to the past?’ Night Light asks, reading a scroll.
‘No, he probably won’t get too much further in the future than where they went initially.’
‘Why is that? He has a time machine.’
Twilight takes a deep breath. ‘The laws of time aren’t that simple. Once you are locked into an “event”, then you cannot easily leave the time periods encountered in the event or go to new ones. He might not get much further than a day or so in the future.’
Night Light looks up from three books. ‘How do you know all of that?’
‘Dad, I’m marrying a time traveling alien. This is day one stuff in my life now.’
‘Touche.’
Commander Kain heads to an office to turn in his report on the dimensional realignment. He reaches to knock on his commander’s door when he is grabbed and forced against the wall.
‘You knew this was going to happen, didn’t you?’ James accuses. ‘You and Heartstrings used records from the past to set everything up so that Velvet would get the spell cast on her. You have a cure, don’t you?’
‘We legitimately needed your help!’ Kain defends. ‘Y-yes, we knew what would happen to Twilight Velvet. Sh-she was the one who created the spell, too.’
‘Then she doesn’t regress to prebirth... so there must be a solution. Tell me!’
‘I don’t know it! I swear!’
There is a click as the office door opens. James releases the other stallion.
‘Looks like we’re getting some progress.’
Kain groans and fixes his armor. ‘Of course, she’ll see you. She likes you more than me...’
James looks back at Kain as he enters the office. He turns to face the bat pony’s commanding officer. A tall, skinny yellow-grey bat pony mare with a long pink-purple mane sits at her desk, which has a small plush rabbit and a plush Zorua sitting on it. She smiles kindly at the time traveler.
‘It is wonderful to see you too,’ James greets.
Twilight and her father read as many books at once as they can. Not one spell they find can permanently restore Twilight Velvet. The princess uses one spell to restore her mother back to a filly, but Twilight Velvet quickly starts de-aging again. The studying ponies look up hopefully when they hear the TARDIS materializing.
James trots over and takes a deep breath. ‘I have some good news and some bad news.’
‘You have a cure. What is the bad?’ Night Light asks.
‘To reverse the spell, we combine any age spell you found with the TARDIS’ transmat. That should restore her, somewhat.’
‘Somewhat?’
‘You see, I would have to use the last image of her in the TARDIS’ scan buffer. She would be restored to the same age as Twilight.’
‘I don’t care if she is kept at the age she is now!’ Night Light replies. ‘I just want my wife to be safe again!’
Filly Twilight Velvet sighs. ‘Well, I’ll get another thirty years added back to my counter...’
‘What do you need us to do?’ Twilight asks.
James sighs. ‘Just pick your favorite age spell and start casting. Both of you. When I’m ready, I’ll do the rest.’
James gallops to the TARDIS. Twilight levitates her mother to the floor. Velvet smiles and nods at her husband and daughter. Night Light and Twilight charge spells on their horns and cast their age spells on Twilight Velvet. The filly starts slowly changing back into a mare. A beam of light appears around Twilight Velvet, and she dissolves into the air. Twilight immediately gallops to the TARDIS, with Night Light close behind. They burst through the doors to see James helping Twilight Velvet to her hooves. The mare is her daughter’s age again. Night Light pushes forward and hugs his wife.
‘She should be fine now,’ James says. ‘There isn’t any trace of the biomagical chemical in her system.’
‘I’m just glad to have her back,’ Night Light sighs. He lets go of his wife and bonks James on the head. ‘Don’t ever let this happen again. ... Thank you.’
‘Even if we weren’t family, it was no trouble at all.’
Twilight Velvet stretches her young mare body. ‘Feels good to be back to normal.’ She checks her back. ‘What? No wings?’
‘You don’t have wings, mom,’ Twilight sighs.
‘Well, after all my students saying we could be twins, I just wanted to make that true.’
The younger (relatively speaking) mare groans. ‘I am not looking forward to that lecture.’
‘Hey, let’s go out to celebrate and relax,’ James suggests. ‘Double-Doubles on me.’
The group is instantly teleported to the nearest In-N-Out. Celestia and Luna are waiting for them in their Amy and Selene disguises.
‘Best idea you have had all day, Mr Wanderer,’ Amy states.
Selene adjusts her glasses perception filter as she examines the menu. ‘What is the largest size Neopolitan shake I can order?’ she asks the cashier.
Twilight Velvet joins her husband in line. ‘Don’t worry, dear. I won’t eat like a twenty year old.’
Night Light scans the menu. ‘That makes one of us.’
James and Twilight sigh and join their friends and family at the counter.