"HAPPYBIRTHDAYHAPPYBIRTHDAYHAPPYBIRTHDAY!" Dinky squealed, jumping up and down on her adopted mother's back. Birthdays were the best days in their household, because no matter whose it was, both Ditzy and Dinky got lots of muffins.
One of Ditzy's eyes opened to the squintiest squint so she could check the time. "Dinky... it's 5:30 in the morning." She mumbled.
"But Mister Time Turner is already here!" Dinky whined. That got Ditzy's attention and she rose from the bed, rubbing her eyes and smiling. Her coltfriend, the town's clocksmith, was notoriously terrible at keeping time in spite of the many, many timekeeping devices that he surrounded himself with, but when it came to her birthday, he appeared to be on cue like Robin Hoof's arrow.
Wait, no, it was 5:30, what the hay was he doing here so early? Yawning, Ditzy trotted downstairs to open the door, revealing a flustered-looking brown stallion, whose mane was even more sticky-uppy than usual. "Hello, Ditzy-Doo!" Time Turner said in a jolly, slightly nervous voice. "Happy birthday!" He passed a beautiful bouquet of red roses to the mailmare.
"Um, thanks... but aren't you a little early for the party?" Ditzy asked, blushing.
Time Turner grinned. "Ohh, by several hours, I should think! Buuuuut I'm not early at all to give you your first present!"
"Can we have muffins yet?" Dinky shouted from behind Ditzy. Time Turner chuckled. "Hello, Dinky! Tell you what, pop off back to bed now and you can eat half of my muffins later when we get back, eh?"
Dinky lit up. "Okidoke!" She ran back up the stairs. Ditzy raised an eyebrow, making Time Turner shuffle slightly. "Weeeeelll, I suppose we could spare her tummy and just hide some of the muffins. But come along now! Don't worry about her, we won't be gone for long!"
Time Turner's excitement melted any concerns Ditzy might have had. Rolling her eyes, she followed the stallion through the town and up to a specific high hill that overlooked the entirety of Ponyville. Gorgeous red, orange and yellow colors hung in the sky as the sun was about to emerge from behind the mountains. A bronze haze covered Ponyville. On its own, it was a view to kill for. But it also happened to be the place where she and Time Turner had first met.
Ditzy shivered as she walked mile after mile in heavy, cold rain back home after a fruitless trip to Manehattan for a chance to work at a bigger mail company there that could've provided her with more money to look after her new family, young Dinky. Of course, as a pegasi, she could've easily dispelled the weather, but Ponyville's weather was under strict regulation and the water was needed to feed the crops. And in her hurry to get back home, she'd forgotten all about it. How typical of her! Now she couldn't even fly because of the thunder. Her only positive thought was that at least she'd be getting home sooner than she thought, given the whole "No way, nohow" response she got from the company.
After getting doused in mud by passing carriages a few times, Ditzy had decided to forego the road altogether and travel across the fields, hoping to reach home faster by taking a shortcut. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Now she was just lost and miserable, and thanked Celestia that she hadn't dragged Dinky along for the trip to see just how pathetic her new mom could be...
Ditzy's self-deprecating thoughts were interrupted by a strange voice in the wind: "WOO-HOO!" Her mind playing tricks?
"HELLO?! MISS!"
The mailmare looked around, until one of her eyes focused on a small green tent heavily obscured in the rain, where a brown stallion's head was smiling at her as if it was the most beautiful and relaxing summer day.
"Um, hi?!" Ditzy shouted back uncertainly. The stallion waved at her with his hoof to come closer, so she did.
"Would you care for some tea?" The stallion asked in a cheery tone. "I was just about to have some, and you look rather cold if you don't mind me saying so."
The offer seemed to be too good to be true, but Ditzy braced herself. "I-I'm not sure. I should be getting home." she said, more to convince herself than the stallion.
"To Ponyville, miss?" the stallion asked politely. "By the time you'll get back there, you'll be a sorry mess! That is, if you can even find it!" He popped back into his tent and emerged with a paper bag. "At least take some muffins with you!"
Dolly zoom on Ditzy's face. "... you got MUFFINS?!" Without further ado, she dashed into the tent.
"Oh!" Ditzy said as she realised she was dripping water everywhere. "Uh..."
Improvising, the stallion(who, now that Ditzy could see him clearly in the lantern light, was remarkably handsome, with a light chocolate brown mane, stunningly beautiful deep blue eyes and an hourglass cutie mark) took his picnic blanket that had been warmed by the tea kettle and wrapped it around Ditzy. "There, that's better, isn't it? Hello, I'm Time Turner!" He extended his hoof, and Ditzy shook it.
"D-Ditzy Doo."
Ditzy herself didn't particularly care for her slightly derogatory name, but Time Turner seemed to love it. "Dit-zy Doo! Ditzy Doo! Great name, Ditzy Doo! Very charming!" He then swatted himself. "Oh, the tea!" He poured both of them a cup. "We can drink at the same time, if you think I've put something in it."
The thought hadn't even occurred to her, but it seemed smart. "Sure." She said and sipped a little. It was a simple peppermint type, just the sort to calm the nerves.
"You're the local mailmare, aren't you?" Time Turner asked. "I think I've seen you around a few times. Mind you, I am terribly busy. Trying to keep every clock in Ponyville right on time's practically a fulltime job. I don't know what ponies do with them! Probably give them to foals and fillies to fool around with. That, and taking care of my time machine!"
Ditzy blinked. "You've got a time machine?"
Time Turner smiled mysteriously. "Maaaaaaybe. So, what brings you all the way out here? We're far from the road."
Ditzy's face heated up. "Uh... it's kind of a long story." she said, hoping to deflect the conversation away from her daft choices.
"I forgot the pegasi were making it rain today. Really very embarrassing. But at least I brought the tent. And these." He handed the paper bag over to Ditzy, who sniffed it, making her mismatched eyes both roll in different directions. "Mmmmm, muffins..." They were cold, but that just made the taste come out better.
The two kept on talking, so invested in each other that they didn't even notice the rainstorm end and the sun slowly sink behind the mountains. Ditzy couldn't follow much of what Time Turner was saying, about clocks and his theories on the flow of time, and his mysterious blue time machine that may or may not be bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. But the brown stallion was so easy on the eye, and so captivated by Ditzy's every word that it didn't even matter. She got the impression that he didn't really talk to others that much.
Time Turner glanced at his watch and gasped. "Jiminy Cricket! Look at the time! Me and my big mouth, rambling on." He turned the tent flap aside to reveal a pitch-black night outside. "Oh dear." Ditzy facehoofed.
"Why don't you take the lantern with you, miss? And the blanket too, for that matter. You can return them whenever you want, we live in the same town."
"O-out there? I can't go out there." Ditzy mumbled. "Look at my awful eyes, I've got a terrible sense of direction as it is!"
Time Turner frowned. "What's awful about your eyes? I'd trade you mine any day, I'd get twice the work done."
Ditzy blinked. No one had ever complimented her eyes before.
"As for the journey... I suppose I could come along, though I don't trek out very much, so I don't exactly trust my own sense of direction in the dark." Time Turner thought aloud. "The chances of us getting lost or worse, hurt, would be pretty high."
"So..." Ditzy hummed.
In unison, the two turned around and looked back into the very tight tent. "I'll sleep outside." Time Turner said.
"It's cold!" Ditzy protested.
They looked into the tent again. "Well, um... which half-side would you prefer?" Time Turner asked.
Both ponies slept in deeply in that day, as their bodies produced just enough warmth to be perfectly comfortable in the outdoors. Ditzy was the first one to wake up and nearly had a heart attack there and then as she found herself muzzle against muzzle with Time Turner.
POMF!
Ditzy's wings blew out from her back, causing the tiny tent to collapse. 2nd near heart attack.
This obviously woke the stallion as well, who tossed the fabrics off of the two. Fortunately, by that time Ditzy had managed to force her wings against her body again and Time Turner remained oblivious. "Uh, sorry! I guess I freaked out a little." Ditzy mumbled and laughed nervously.
"No problem, miss. We ought to be on our way anyway." Time Turner said and quickly packed up all of his belongings. Before the two could head down the hills though, Time Turner stopped and gazed at the town before curiously glancing at his watch. "Do you know, I've never slept through an alarm before."
"You had an alarm?"
"Yeah. Was planning to have a picnic at dawn. Ah well, I had a lovely time as it was. Some other time, maybe!"
Ditzy's eyes widened in awe as she took in the brilliant sight of dawn. Now, she thought she was lucky to have eyes that looked in two directions at once after all, just so she could take it all in.
"It's beautiful, Timey. I love it." She murmured softly and drew closer to the stallion, who seemed to be distracted by something.
"Hmm? Oh, the dawn! Yes, lovely colours. But your actual birthday present should arrive riiiiiiiiiiiight..." he stared intently at his watch and took a knee. "... now!"
Ditzy looked around in confusion. "I don't see anything else."
Time Turner tapped on her hoof, smiling. "Down here, Ditzy-Doo!"
The mailmare looked down below, and saw the clocksmith hold a fabulously intricate ring composed of minuscule gears and wheels. Time Turner bit his lip, and appeared to be genuinely scared for the first time since Ditzy had met him. "I-I-I did think of buying a big diamond and all, but-but it felt better to... um, anyway! Miss Ditzy-Doo, you've made my life a thousand-bah, million, no... infinite times better since I met you on that rainy hillside. I've spent my whole life making one gear after the other, pondering over this and that, always thinking, always planning, never actually living. And then you trotted in out of nowhere, and I had a friend. Someone who can listen, but also someone who can tell me to stop talking. I love you, Ditzy. I love your beautiful yellow mane, I love your cloudy grey fur and I especially love your golden sunny eyes. Being with you makes every single tick of the clock worth it. Will you do me the honor of being my bride?"
Ditzy choked up and gasped.
"Ditzy?"
"Y-yes..."
"Yes?"
"YES!"
"YEEESSS!"
After they were finally done kissing, Time Turner placed the ring on Ditzy, and winded it up, making it play their favourite song, so they'd have something to dance to. "You think of everything, Timey." Ditzy breathed.
"Oh, you've seen nothing yet." Time Turner smiled. As the song concluded, a whirring, groaning sound filled the air. Ditzy looked around in fright as a shape began to materialise around them. "What's happening?!"
"Told you I had a time machine..."
