No sooner had key Ring opened his mouth to continue the history lesson did the bell cut him off. Shutting his mouth he glanced up at the clock and adjusted his glasses to make sure he was looking at it correctly.
With a heartfelt chuckle he began, “Well I guess that’s it for to-” the history teacher’s voice was drowned out by the mixture of fillies and colts cheering then by the thunderous hoof fall that followed.
Key King shook his head though never stopped smiling. Sometime later he found himself at the town square to pick up things for a quick supper. He hadn’t decided on what he was going to make for himself and had been so lost in thought that he didn’t see the mare walk out in front of him. With an obstacle now in his way and not paying attention the red coated stallion walked right into the mare and toppled over her when he lost his footing, sending both of them to the ground in a mass of feathers and fur. Rubbing his sore horn Key Ring opened his eyes and saw who the unlucky mare he had ran into- a grey Pegasus mare with a yellow mane. He recognized her as the mail mare who often gave him the wrong mail, which always would result in Key Ring having to go around town on a hunt for his own mail.
“I-I’m so sorry,” the grey mare stuttered out as she got to her hooves and dusted herself off. The mare then proceeded to try to dust Key Ring off while she apologized for not looking where she was going. Key Ring laughed and took a step back to avoid any further brushing from the mare, waving his hoof in front of his face, “Not a problem. As long as you’re not hurt that is. You’re not . . . are you?”
“O-Oh, no. I’m fine.”
“Then no problem,” Key Ring gave a definite nod, “And to be honest it was also kind of my fault too Miss . . . uh . . . sorry I don’t even know your name.”
“Ditzy,” the Pegasus said, “It’s Ditzy Doo.”
“Oh you’re Dinky’s mother,” Key Ring said recognizing the last name belonging to one of his new students, a unicorn filly if his memory was to be trusted. With his mind back on the filly he remembered something and his attention snapped back to the present, “Uh Mrs. Doo if I may, I need to talk to you about your daughter.”
“Dinky? Did she do something wrong?” Ditzy asked a hint of concern in her voice. The Pegasus’ worried expression only made the teachers words harder to say, “Well that’s the problem. She really hasn’t done anything wrong wrong . . . but her grades have been slipping as of late. I was hoping you'd know the reason. I’ve asked myself but she isn’t willing to talk to me.” Key Ring turned his head then muttered out, “Maybe if it was Cheerilee she might be willing to open up but me . . . I guess I’m too new for her to talk so openly too.”
“I think it might have something to do with me dating,” Ditzy said with her head down. Key Ring would admit he might not be the best stallion at reading the signals, but Ditzy to him certainly looked disheartened. He quickly tried to think of something to say to lighten the atmosphere. When he had thought of something he trotted beside Ditzy and bumped his flank against hers. Ditzy had falling into her thoughts and let out a yelp from the unexpected hit, her wings beating quickly to keep her standing. The right wing also managed to smack Key Ring on the chin on an upward swung, knocking him to the ground.
“Oh Celestia I’m so sorry!”
“Nah, I think I deserved that,” Key Ring said and stood back up, rubbing the spot where he had been hit. The hit seemed to spark another thought in the teacher’s mind and he acted quickly on it, “If you have a daughter why are you dating? I thought you were married?”
Ditzy looked away and didn’t seem to want to answer his question. At least that was what Key Ring gathered and nodded his head, bowing his head low enough that his horn touched the ground, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pried. In fact let me make it up to you!”
“You don’t have too.”
“I insist!” Key Ring said and hooked one of Ditzy’s front legs under his, the key hanging around his neck tapping against his chest, and began to drag her off.
“What!?” Key Ring asked when he heard the snort escape the mare despite having tried to hold it back with her hoof. Ditzy shook her head and tried to say it was nothing but Key Ring raised his eyebrow and asked again as they entered the fast food restaurant, “No come on, tell me what’s so funny.”
“Sorry but when you said you’d make it up to me I didn’t think it’d be fast food,” Ditzy said with a hint of yet another giggle then apologized. Key Ring however just laughed and dug out a few bits from his pocket, “Well a teacher’s salary only goes so far. I hope you don’t think I’m cheap.”
“No,” Ditzy chuckled again, “Not at all. After all the dates I’ve been on something quaint is actually a nice change of pace.” Ditzy stopped at the counter then looked back at Key Ring, her eyes narrowing, “You’re not dating another mare, are you?”
“Hard to find a special somepony when you’ve just moved to town”
“No Legion of fanmares?”
Key Ring’s laughter was all the answer she needed for an answer. Sitting down to wait for their food to be brought over she continued, “Food allergies?”
“None that I’m aware of”
“What about angry mothers?”
“Ditzy I’m in my mid-twenties, if my mother wants to be angry with me she can’t do anything about it,” Key Ring said with a nod then proceeded to take a sip from his drink, “Besides my mother lives all the way in Canterlot.”
“Well that’s a relief.” The two carried on a lighthearted conversation while they waited for their food to arrive, though the conversation was more Ditzy asking Key Ring about life growing up in Canterlot and how he was liking Ponyville.
“I swear I’d never been so scared in my entire life! I seriously thought Princess Celestia was going to kill me!” Key Ring laughed as he finished his favorite story from his colthood growing up as a student of her school, though he had just barely passed the entrance exam. Ditzy for what it’s worth was laughing just as well which warmed the stallion’s heart seeing her more upbeat. When the food arrived he began to dig in with a feverish pace, stopping when he saw Ditzy looking at him with wide eyes.
“Oh. Sorry,” Key Ring wiped his face free of the condiments. When they had finished their meal Key Ring waited and pushed Ditzy’s chair in as he had been raised to do. She thanked him and looked around, “So . . . . I guess I’ll be going then.”
“I guess if you want. We can always do something else.”
“Like?”
“Why don’t you pick,” Key Ring offered and waited while the Pegasus thought about it. When she had something in mind she looked back up at it- at least he thought she was looking at him, with her eyes always looking in two different directions it was kind of hard to tell. “Do you like karaoke?”
“I can say I’ve never tried it before, but you only live once, right? How far is it?”
“It’s just down the road,” Ditzy pointed out the window towards the darkened building that housed the karaoke bar. Key Ring nodded his head and turned his horn to the restaurant’s front door. The air filled with the sensation of magic being formed and a small light emitted from Key Ring’s horn before shooting over to the door. The beam of magical energy didn’t seem to do anything and the stallion calmly walked over to it, opening it, “Ladies first.”
Ditzy rolled her eyes and stepped through the door. For a moment she was confused. Instead of stepping outside into the calm of a Ponyville at dusk she instead had stepped into the lobby of the karaoke bar, the ponies inside not acting any different than if she had just came from outside. Key Ring stepped through and seemed to find some amusement in his date’s confusion. He gently pushed against her again to snap her out of her confusion, offering her an explanation, “My special talents happen to be doors, keys, locks, and the like.”
“Oh . . . .” Ditzy said looking back at the door as she followed, still confused but decided to let it go. She never understood how unicorn magic worked anyways. The next hour was spent with the two ponies watching the unfortunate pony on stage singing their heart out. More than once Key Ring had tried to get Ditzy to sing a song but she always kindly refused; Key Ring on the other hoof outright refused to get up and sing. His flat denial soured the mood a little. Of course it was fun to hear people sing but the point of a karaoke bar was to get up and sing yourself. Key Ring seemed to finally understand this and with a groan stood up, popping his joints after having sat down for so long. “I guess I can do one song.”
“Really!?” Ditzy immediately sat back down and felt her face grow red from having shouted a bit too excitedly. Key Ring had walked back over from the music selection box, able to hear her even across the room, and nodded, “Yeah kind of no point of us being here if one of us doesn’t look like a silly filly. And I might as well break the ice.”
“But only one,” Key Ring reminded Ditzy and she nodded happily, clapping her hooves together. Her smile vanished when Key Ring reminded her it’d only be fair that since he sang a song she’d have to sing one as well. When the song Key Ring had chosen finally came up he took a deep shaky breath and walked onstage. He was so nervous he had forgotten to let the breath out, his normal ashy red coat turning purple, then remembered to exhale and inhale.
Key Ring nodded his head to the heavy bass as the song begun, holding the microphone with his magic. He paced back and forth across the stage, wishing he had his hat on now, and then began to sing. Despite knowing the song he was always half a hoof behind the actual song. Ditzy had to admit that he wasn’t as bad as a singer as he had made himself out to be; at least not at the parts that required him to sing at a higher pitch, when those came his voice would raise until his voice squeaked from the strain.
Thankfully for Key Ring the number of times he had to raise his voice where low and he managed to make it through the song while making himself look only slightly like a fool.“That was great!” Ditzy complimented with a side of applauds. Key Ring sat down and nodded his head with a smile on his face.
“Yeah thanks,” he said and wiped his forehead free of sweat, “I bet you’ll be a whole lot better than m-” Someone whistling cut the red stallion off and both ponies turned to see a dark green unicorn saunter over to Key Ring, obviously drunk, and put her hoof around him. “So hun why didn’t you tell me you were coming here? I would’ve emptied the place just for you,” the drunk mare said and nuzzled against him. The mare looked back at Ditzy with a small scowl and then gave Key Ring a kiss on the cheek, “I see you brought the Herp-a-Derp too. How cute, trying to score points with the single mother, huh?”
“I-I think I should go,” Ditzy said and bolted for the door before Key Ring could stop her. Thankfully whatever magic the stallion had used to connect it to the fast food place had long since disappeared, allowing her to go outside and take to the skies.
Outside and looking around desperately for Ditzy, Key Ring sighed in defeat. His ears perked up when he heard hooves behind him. He didn’t even need to turn his head to know who it was. “You did that just to ruin our date, didn’t you?”
“Mhmm,” the unicorn confirmed as a green ring of fire appeared around her. The fire traveled up her body as it returned to her original Changling form. “It’s part of the plot after all.”
“What plot?”
“Oh you,” the Changling said pinching Key Ring’s cheek hard then shook it, “You act so cute when you play dumb.”
“Whatever.” Key Ring knocked the hoof away from his face, “I’m still going to have to apologize to her.”
“Eeyup.”