starting off a series of older mane six portraits with my favourite horse (i was gonna upload with all the mane six at once but im impatient lol). this is around the age she would be in the season 9 finale, but obvs i hate the concept of her being the only leader of equestria or even opening a friendship school - so in my nextgen she’s kinda not that
 
princess of magic, well respected scholar, and dedicated soccer mom to 3 kids. she is the definition of busy.  
not wanting to repeat the mistakes of her own parents, she never makes them undergo any royal duties theyre uncomfortable with, and is incredibly supportive of each of her kids passions, often maybe a little too much. She lets birdie transform her room into a bird sanctuary, shows up to (almost) every one of summer’s concerts, and feeds lucky’s ravenous reading habits.  
forgets to take care of herself sometimes. rainbow will often find her passed out in the library after staying up all night working on lucky’s latest science project.  
tries to be the cool mom, really isnt. spike and birdie speak in cryptic memes and she pretends to understand but truthfully she has no idea.  
has a lil tufty beard. just because i think its cute (and so does rainbow).  
a mix of age, and the amount of alicorn magic growing and adjusting in her body, her physical appearance changes - yellow streaks, her eyes earning a pink gradient, a gradient growing on the tips of her wings - and notably, faint, sparkly freckles. theyre not always visible, and particularly come through at sunset (real twilight hours).  
this horse is PACKED full of trauma baby - but with a loving wife, supportive friend, and happy lil family, at this age she is much better at managing her symptoms.  
im still on the fence on whether or not velvet and twilight make up (im leaning on the side of no) - but in twi’s eyes celestia is her mother and no one else can convince her otherwise. celestia has all but signed the adoption papers (its kinda too late for that tho lmao).  
Because of this, and her undeniable mommy issues, she’s incredibly defensive of celestia. it’s a little unhealthy at times (i mean, if you watch early seasons of mlp, you see twilight freak out any time that they have to prepare for a visit from celestia- a kind of, remaining behaviour from years of being expected to be perfect by her bio mother) - but as she gets older she manages to have a healthier attitude about it. still ready to throw hands at any moment though
 
idk i just wanted to draw my favourite horse again