Twilight and Rarity sat at a cafe, Twilight sipping on a cup of tea. The lavender mare seemed more than a little nervous, her eyes darting about as her marshmallow friend gave her a smile.

"Relax darling! There's no reason to be so nervous! It's just a blind date!"

Twilight sighed and shifted her gaze to her friend. "Yeah... b-but all I needed was a date for Hearts and Hooves Day... isn't this kind of... rushing things?"

Rarity gave a small sigh, pressing a hoof to her forehead. "Twilight, darling, listen to me... are you listening?" Twilight gave a soft nod. "Good! Now, a date does not mean you are in a relationship with somepony... well, not specifically... there's dating, and then there's DATING dating! You see?" Twilight simply shook her head and Rarity stopped to ponder for a moment.

"Think of it like this then, Twilight... you're having lunch with a potential Special Somepony. It may work out, it may not. Just relax darling, and remember that this is just a small date! Don't aim to please, aim to connect!"

Twilight sighed and nodded. Rarity turned her gaze and almost gasped placing her hooves over her muzzle. "There he is! I'll be just a little bit away if you need to talk or anything!" Rarity got up and trotted off, seating herself at a nearby table. Twilight looked around for the pony she had seen, unable to discern who exactly she was talking about.

Eventually, a stallion approached her and took a seat, a stallion she knew to be none other than Time Turner. She had to admit, she and the local clock-setting pony had very little in the way of interaction, so she had no idea what to expect. He took a seat and smiled a bit at her, a smile that seemed a bit excited and at the same time friendly.

"Why hello there! Hey, I know you, you're the Librarian!"

Twilight giggled a bit. "Ah, yes, yes I am... my name's Twilight Sparkle, by the way."

Time Turner nodded. "Right! Right... well, people call me the Doc- I mean, Time Turner! Yeah, that's the name I meant, Time Turner! Yep!" He gave a big smile. "Sorry, can't say I've taken much time to actually socialize as of late, I've been... well... busy a lot lately."

Twilight sighed in response. "I know what you mean... I've been busy with my studying mostly. Magic, science, history... it's not that I don't love studying, but apparently it interferes with my social life."

Time Turner laughed. "Ah, school girl eh? Interesting, interesting, yes very fascinating. Can't say I've ever been on a date with a schoolgirl myself..." he stopped to ponder to himself. "I dated a queen once though..."

Twilight quirked a brow. "You've dated a queen...?" Her eyes widened and seemed to behold some wonder. "Was it Princess Celestia?"

Time Turner stared in confusion then laughed a bit. "Wha-- no! No no no no... Sweet heavens... well.." he stopped and thought. "Though there was this one time a century or so ago that she and I-- ah, but that's a story for another time."

Twilight blinked. "A... century!?"

Time Turner stopped himself and laughed again. "Oh no! I was being figurative; as in it was a long time ago, and nothing happened at all, don't worry yourself none. Nope! The queen I dated I actually married, and... aahhh... well, let's just say that could have ended better." He turned about. "Where's our waiter?"

"You're... married?"

Time Turner laughed. "Oh no, not anymore. She's dead."

Twilight gasped. "... wha... how!?"

Time Turner shrugged. "Oh, murdered... yes... yes, there was a big funeral, lots of ponies in attendance... you don't forget that sort of thing no matter what."

Twilight didn't know what to ask first. So many questions, so much to wonder... where does one begin?

No, she'd push that all on the back of her brain for now.

For now.

"So... uhh... tell me about yourself?" she said a bit, trying to find footing.

Time Turner hummed. "Where to begin... well, as you know, I'm Ponyville's local clock-setter. Make sure all the major clocks of town work functionally; after all, we can't have ponies going around forgetting what time it was now can we? No, but, that aside, I generally assist the Mayor, and she gives me tasks--"

Twilight smiled. "Ohh, so you're her assistant?"

Time Turner laughed. "More like errand boy, though a few years ago she and I traveled together for a while. We go back a ways."

Twilight smirked. "Really now? Where to?"

Time Turner opened his mouth to speak but stopped. He hummed then, seeming to try to think of a way to say something.

"We've been to the griffonlands... uhh.... and... also.... the... Crystal Empire! Yes! We met the Princess and everything!"

Twilight smiled a bit, but soon that smile turned into a quizzical, puzzled look. "But... the Crystal Empire appeared AFTER she became mayor... and from what I know she hasn't left to go there since..."

Time Turner bit his lip. "Ah, did I say Crystal Empire? I meant Canterlot!" He laughed a bit nervously.

Twilight sighed a bit. Eventually, the waiter arrived. "I see your companion has arrived... will you order now?"

"Yes please."

"If anything she's MY companion..."

The two ponies stopped to look at each other. Time Turner's expression seemed like somepony who had said too much, and Twilight was blushing a bit.

"Uhh... I mean... I'm ready to order."

The waiter nodded. "What will you have?"

Twilight sighed a bit. "I'll just have a dandelion sandwich with some hay fries and a refill of my tea, please?"

Time Turner shrugged. "What she's having."

The Waiter nodded and turned to walk away.

And then silence fell again.

Twilight stared at anything but the stallion across from her. Eventually, she gathered the courage to look at him, to notice that he was tapping his hoof on his chin, staring at her. She blinked a bit, blushing. "So, what was with that companion thing?"

Time Turner laughed. "Uhhh.. nothing! Don't worry! It was just a slip of the tongue, old joke somepony told me once. I go on adventures, drag other ponies with me, they're my companions, old joke!"

Twilight sighed a bit. "I see... so... any interesting stories?"

Time Turner laughed. "Well, I've got a lot of interesting stories, but some of them are, ah, shall we say, rather sensitive information and I'm sure you'd rather not hear them, spoilers and all..."

Twilight groaned internally.

Thing is, Twilight is a pony of logic, and reason. This pony seemed to confide in neither of these two concepts - heck, she didn't know how, but something about the very pony himself seemed off, out of place. She couldn't quite pin how though.

"So... what happened between you and Celestia?"

Time Turner sighed. "Oh, it was a long time ago... she had just witnessed the death of a close friend and locked herself in her room for days... during that time, the sun rose and fell at confusing intervals, and lots of ponies thought the end of the world was coming... it took some convincing but I finally got her to come out of her room and stop making the sun act so wibbly..."

Twilight seemed to ponder this over.

"Wait... she... I heard about that... but... wasn't that thirty years ago...?"

Time Turner smiled widely. "Yes I look very young for my age."

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"So dear, how was it?"

Rarity and Twilight were trotting down the path. It was early into the evening, and Twilight seemed a bit down.

"Oh Rarity... don't get me wrong... he's cute... but I'm not sure he's right... I mean, if there's any hint of truth in what he says, he's got to be at least somewhere between 40 and 50 years old... not that I mind older ponies, but that just seems a bit... out there..."

Rarity seemed shocked. "What? I was fairly certain he was closer to our age..."

Twilight nodded. "Not to mention all the things he said... I mean, he talked about marrying a queen... then he said she died. I don't think I've heard of any queens being killed in the past fifty years..."

Rarity sighed. "Twilight, I'm sure you're overthinking this. Maybe he simply thought of her as being queen-like? Sort of like how most ponies look at Celestia?"

Twilight concdeded to that. She did overthink things a lot

Rarity gave a grin. "Besides, I think I've got somepony in mind for tommorrow!"

Twilight groaned a little. She was not looking forward to this. Suddenly, there was a loud whirring noise. "Wha... what's that?" said Rarity. The two ponies followed the sound to an empty alley.

"Huh... I could have sworn a large blue box was there earlier..."

"There you are overthinking things again darling... you're just nervous is all. Go home and relax a bit!"

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TO BE CONTINUED...

Author's Notes:

Tried to fix up my writing style a bit. Hope I didn't disappoint!