When did that happen?

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.