The Story of Calming Keys and Shadow

by ButterscotchCandies

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance, Original Character
Length: 5222

Calming Keys meets a mysterious mare named Shadow.

Calming Keys is a pianist in Canterlot who never really liked being around other ponies. His life is then turned on its head when he meets a mare named Shadow, who just might be the special somepony he's been searching for.

Published 2016-02-15 01:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2016-02-15 01:50:01 UTC

The Story of Calming Keys and Shadow

The Story of Calming Keys and Shadow

Hello, my name is Calming Keys. I am a pianist who lives in Canterlot. I run the Twin Piano's Night Club with my sister, Melody. I'm not exactly what you would call a confident pony. Sure, I would play up on stage in front of hundreds of ponies, but I never spoke to any of them after the show was over. I just went home while Melody stayed and mingled. She would always come home a couple hours later and tell me about how much I missed out on and all the fun she had. Inside, I wanted to stay and talk to the ponies there, especially the mares, but I was afraid to. I know that may sound crazy, but hear me out. You see, all my life I've had one failed crush after another. Ponies never really seemed to like me in that way, so I'm always afraid I would meet somepony I liked and go through the same old torture session all over again. I knew I was never going to find a Special Somepony of my own.

But, there was one night that changed my entire life...

Me and Melody had just finished our show and had gone to the bar in the back. Don't get the wrong idea though; we only serve soft cider and punch there. The last thing we need is a bunch if inebriated ponies stumbling around and making a mess of the club. I digress.

"I think they liked it." Melody said to me as she was taking a sip of her punch.

"Eh, I guess." I replied. "It wasn't anything spectacular."

"Always the modest one aren't you brother?"

"Hey, better to be modest than to be a total jacka-"

"As I was saying," she cut me off. "I think they liked the show."

I looked around the club and saw all the ponies. Some were talking, some were drinking, and others seemed to be scanning the room.

Looking for Melody no doubt. I thought to myself. Not that I was jealous of my sisters popularity, mind you. I just knew that she got along with literally everypony.

"I think I'm gonna go home now." I told her.

"Aw, really? Again?" she protested.

"Sorry, this scene's just not for me."

"Whatever, just leave like you always do." she told me. She then stomped away leaving me at the counter alone.

"I wonder who stomped on her daisies today." I said to myself.

I exited through the back door and began walking along the street. My eyes kept darting around, instinctively looking for any danger. Looking up at the sky, I saw that the moon was shining high and was surrounded by a circle of luminescent clouds.

Breathtaking I thought to myself.

However, something seemed off about the moon tonight. For some reason, there was a dark blot on the very edge of it, sort of like somepony had squirted a droplet of ink on a canvas. Then the dark blotch began to grow bigger and bigger before eventually detaching itself from the moon and hurtling itself towards the ground. I followed the object with my eyes and watched it crash into a nearby alley. I turned the corner to see what the heck this thing was! There was a swirling ball of darkness in front of me that burst into a blueish-purple mist. The mist distorted and twisted itself into what looked like a crude idea of a pony. Then, pieces of black shadow began attaching itself to the mist. Suddenly, two wings burst from the sides of the mist and two closed eyes appeared. The eyes opened and the mist then materialized into a solid shape. When the mist dissipated, one of the prettiest mares I'd ever seen was standing in front of me. Her coat was violet and had patches of black on it. Her hair was like a patch of the night sky and her tail like a swirling shadow. Her eyes were purple and luminous and her Cutie Mark was a yellow crescent moon.

"He-hello." I stuttered, still trying to process what had just happened.

The mare turned to look at me. "Hi." she said. Her voice was like velvet.

I stood there like an idiot for a few seconds and finally broke the silence. "I'm Calming Keys."

"I'm Shadow." she said, sounding uninterested in everything.

"Shadow." I parroted. "That's a pretty name."

Shadow quickly turned her head away from me. "Thanks." she said through gritted teeth.

Now you've done it. I thought, kicking myself for being too blunt. "So how are you do-"

"Not meaning to be rude, but I have somewhere to be." she interrupted.

"Of course." I said, stepping to the side so she can exit the alley. She trotted out of the alley and started walking down the street. Then, she spread her wings and took off into the sky.

I watched her fly away, still not fully understanding what just happened.

"A patch of darkness falling off the moon and turning into a pretty mare?" Melody parroted my story the next morning. "I knew you had a hyperactive imagination big brother, but this one takes the cake."

"I'm telling you, it really did happen!" I insisted.

"Sure it did." she replied, her voice teeming with skepticism. "Anyways, do you have everything in order for tonight's show?"

"I think so." I said

"Good, cause the last thing I need is your fantasies getting in the way of our performance."

"Fine! You want proof? I'll go out and find her again!" I shouted as I stormed out of the house.

I trotted down the street, stomping my hooves as I went.

"What right does she have to write off my experience as made-up?" I asked myself.

"Maybe it's because only you saw it and nopony else did?" a velvety voice replied behind me.

"How do you know? You weren't even ther-" I turned around to talk to the pony who had replied to find Shadow standing there.

"Um, hey there Shadow." I said leaning up against a building. "I didn't see you there."

"Maybe that's cause I was behind you you Casanova wannabe." she said, her velvet voice turning into sandpaper.

"Right, sorry." I said, snapping back to what I'm really like. That is, shy and stupid.

"So, what was with all that huffing and puffing?" she asked.

"My sister Melody says that-"

"A patch of Shadow falling from the moon and becoming a pretty mare to somepony who just so happens to be the loneliest pony in town sounds a little hard to believe?" she finished my sentence for me.

"How did you know what I was going to say?" I asked her.

"Maybe you were too busy drooling to figure out that I was present for my own spontaneous appearance." she said, her words like venom in the air.

"Sorry." I apologized. "Let me make up for my stupidity by inviting you to this club I go to." I suggested.

"You've seen me twice and you're already asking me out?" she asked.

"No, no, no." I said. "I just meant that you'd really like it there."

"I can't bear to see ponies being miserable so...sure." she begrudgingly agreed.

"Great." I said, barely being able to hold in my enthusiasm. "I'll see you there."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Calming called the place a club, I expected something like that Vinyl Scratch character's place where raves happened almost every night. Turns out this is more of a fancy club. If I would've known what type of place it was, I probably wouldn't have agreed to go in the first place. That being said, I can't blow Calming off after seeing him so happy to know I was going. It's like he doesn't think I know he's into me. It's more obvious than an Alicorn among Earth Ponies. As I waited in line, I saw the white and pink neon sign that announced the place.

Twin Pianos Music Club. I thought to myself. What a weird name

"Next!" the bouncer letting people in yelled.

I walked up to the front door where he was waiting there impatiently.

"Do you have an invitation?" the bouncer asked.

"Not exactly, but I was invited by Calming Keys." I replied.

I could see that he was surprised by this. "Go right ahead." he said.

What was that for? I wondered. Is Calming famous or something? I walked into the club and took it all in. There were rectangular tables in the back loaded with punch bowls and cider barrels and tons of circular ones that faced towards the front. All the tables sat on a checkerboard floor with red rugs on it.

Fancy Schmancy I thought to myself. In the center of everything was a circular stage. On the stage were two grand pianos being played by two ponies; a pink pegasus with a red dress and glass slippers and-

Wait, is that Calming?! I thought to myself.

Sure enough, there he was sitting across from the other pony and playing the piano in time with her. As I recovered from the initial shock, I took a good look at the way they were playing. Calming was only playing on the first 44 keys of the piano, while Melody played on the other 44.

So that's why the club is called that I thought to myself. The Piano Twins are playing Twin Pianos; clever.

When the song ended, the mare whom I can only assume is Melody walked to the front of the stage.

"As always, there will be an intermission before our last song." she announced "Feel free to talk to either of us if we happen to cross paths."

With that, she literally jumped off the stage and went to the back where the punch was. Calming followed suit and seemed to be whispering something to her. I knew he was probably talking about me, so I listened in.

"Do you even know how to play it?" Melody whispered to Calming.

"Of course I do, I learned it the other day." he replied.

"I don't know how to play it though." she informed him.

"Here." he said. His horn started glowing and it sent a stream of magic into Melody's head. "There, now the song is in your brain." he informed her.

"Ok; but if things go wrong, you're taking all the backlash." she warned him.

"I'm sure they'll love it." he said as they started walking back up to the stage.

Guess I was wrong. I thought to myself. But what is that little headache planning? I wondered.

"Ok fillies and gentlecolts." Melody announced. "Tonights closing song will be Heartmender by Equestria's own Glaze.

Who the heck would have a donut topping for a nickname? I wondered. Oh well, might as well listen to it. It sounds interesting enough.

"Ready?" Melody asked the crowd. "1, 2, 3, 4!"

After the song, my jaw was agape. I mean, I've heard of sappy, but this was sappier than one hundred maple trees. I was going to walk right up to Calming and let him know just how much his obvious plan to win me over had failed, but I didn't. I couldn't. The way he so obviously directed that song at me was just too sweet, even to a mare like me.

Maybe he is worth hanging around after all. As I thought this, I felt my cheeks grow hot and a smile spread across my face.

After the show, I jumped off the stage and looked for Shadow. I knew Melody wouldn't mind me deserting her. She was probably already chatting with other ponies. After a couple minutes, I saw her sitting at a table by herself. Too excited to wait anymore, I instantly teleported to her.

"How are you doing?" I asked, sitting down in the chair across from hers.

"My, my, what an entrance." she said with false surprise.

"Yeah, one of the perks of being a unicorn." I said. "You're probably pretty fast with those wings though." I added trying not to sound offensive.

"Yeah." she replied. "I bet I could swoop down and pick an apple off a tree guarded by six ponies and still not get caught."

"That's pretty impressive." I said.

I could tell Shadow was thinking about something. She kept twiddling her hooves and was avoiding looking at me.

"Would you mind if I walked you home?" I asked her.

She looked up at me dejectedly. "I don't have a home." she replied.

"Oh, ok." I said. "Would you like to just take a walk then?" I offered.

"It'd be better than this place." she said in her usual, irked tone.

You're not fooling me with that tough mare front I thought to myself.

Shadow quickly hurried to the front door of the club. "Let's go before I change my mind." she called to me.

The moon shone high above us as we walked down the sidewalks of the darkened city. Shadow and I walked in silence for a while, keeping our distance from one another.

"So," I began, breaking the awkward quietness. "I know it probably wasn't what you expected, but it means so much to me that you came."

"Why? Do other ponies run away the second they see you?" she joked.

"They might as well." I replied. "They always say they have somewhere else to be or have other plans. But I know that they just want to get away from me."

"Sounds better than what I've been through." I heard her say under her breath. I didn't pry though, she sounded upset.

We arrived at the Canterlot Gardens. In my opinion, the most beautiful place in all of Canterlot. We walked past the famous fountain of the gardens and sat down on a bench. Another bout of awkward silence occurred. This time though, it felt nice. I was in the most beautiful place in Canterlot sitting next to the most beautiful pony in Canterlot. At this thought, my cheeks heated up like wood fire stoves.

I looked at Shadow, who was looking up at the stars. My eyes then made their way down to her hoof, which was lying down on the bench.

What would happen if I just held it for a bit? I thought to myself, reaching for it. I quickly decided against it though. Nice try. Like a pony this pretty would ever be interested in you. I told myself.

Suddenly, I felt something warm and soft take hold of my hoof. I looked down to see that Shadow was holding it in hers. My cheeks went from fire to lava in no time at all. I looked up and saw that she was looking directly at me, her lavender eyes penetrating my blue ones. In that moment we leaned close to each other and our lips touched. The world around me melted in the fire that erupted in my heart at that moment. Nothing else mattered except us two. When it was over, the world materialized around me. I quickly noticed a wave of heat washing over me. I need to cool off before I melted!

"I'm going to get a drink from the fountain." I told her.

Stumbling over my own hooves, I made my way over to the fountain and used my magic to guide the water into my mouth. I could've sucked all the water in the fountain up to try and cool myself down after what had happened. After drinking what felt like a gallon of water, I turned around and looked at the bench which was now empty.

Shadow was gone.

All the happiness I had felt in that moment we shared died and was reincarnated as sadness. I don't know how long I cried for, but I know that at some point, I subconsciously teleported myself to my room in mine and Melody's house. It might have been me falling asleep, but I thought I saw the sky grow dark outside.

"Why does life have to be so hard?" I asked Melody the next morning.

"Well, if it were easy, it wouldn't be any fun." she said half-jokingly.

"I guess." I said, my voice nothing but a monotoned string of words

"Look bro, if you really like this pony, then why don't you just tell her?" she asked.

"I know she won't reciprocate it." I whined.

"How do you know?" Melody asked.

"Because of the way she talks to me." I answered. "She's always like 'Stop acting stupid' and 'Keep your distance'."

Melody shook her head as a smug grin spread across her face. "You don't understand mares at all do you?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Mares are tough on you for one of two reasons," she said. "It's either A, she's not into you, or B, she's totally into you."

"That's still a 50/50 chance." I responded. "Why take the risk?"

"Because you'll never know for sure unless you try." Melody replied. She then sat down and gained her serious voice.

"Look Calming. I know how you feel." she started.

"Fat chance." I spat.

"I do though. When I was in school, I had this extremely cute colt in my class. I would always focus on him instead of the teacher. I really really liked him. However, I was too nervous to tell him that. Then we moved to Canterlot, and I never saw him again."

"What's your point?" I asked.

"My point is that if you don't tell, you'll never know for sure if they felt the same way and the regret will eat you alive." she replied. "In the words of Shia LeHoof, 'Just Do It!'

"You're right!" I said, confidence filling me like a burst dam. "I'm going to find her and talk to her."

"Though, I'd put off telling her just yet." Melody interrupted my overdramatic declaration.

"Didn't you just say I should go for it?" I asked.

"Listen Calming, timing is everything. Give her a few days to get her thoughts in order, and then tell her."

"Ok." I said. "But I'm still going to go talk to her." I declared while walking out the door.

"Good luck!" Melody called out to me before I left.

I was walking down the street when I spotted Shadow. Not wanting to startle her, I actually walked up to her this time.

"Hi Shadow." I said. "How have you been?"

"I've been fine." she replied. "How about you?"

"I can't complain." I lied.

After some silence, I addressed the elephant in the room. Actually, it'd be an elephant on the streets, but I digress. "I'm sorry for what happened last night." I said. "I didn't mean to scare you off. I can just be a complete idiot sometimes."

"No need to be so cruel to yourself." she said. "I actually left because I thought I was being too forward."

"Really?" I asked. "I assumed you were the type of mare who wasn't afraid of anything."

"Everypony has fears Calming." she told me.

"So...do you want to come to the club tonight?" I offered.

"Sure. Just don't play any more sappy songs." she joked.

"You have my word." I said, giving an over the top bow.

"You're pushing your luck, Calming!" she shouted at me.

"Sorry." I said, bolting up and giving her a sheepish smile.

The show that night went off without a hitch. Ponies really seem to enjoy us. I guess I never really noticed because I was too busy thinking about how much I wanted to go home. Afterwards, I jumped off the stage and began looking for Shadow.

"Actually staying after big bro?" Melody asked me.

"Yuck it up all you want, but I need to find Shadow." I replied.

"Oooooh. Somepony's in loooove." she said in a sing-songy voice.

"Real funny." I shot back. Then I saw Shadow at the back and went to see her.

When I got there, she was sitting next to a stallion and she had a disgusted look on her face. I wondered why, then I got my answer.

"Hey there." the stallion said to Shadow, his words extremely slurred. "Are you an adopted puppy? 'Cause I wanna take you home."

Shadow just sat there.

"Why ain't you talking' ta me?" the stallion asked.

I stepped in front of her and faced the stallion. "Maybe she doesn't want to talk to an inebriated oaf such as yourself." I said.

Shadow's eyes widened.

"I think the lady can talk for herself." the stallion said.

"Why don't you just get lost?!" I shouted pushing the stallion away.

"Ooh you's in trouble now!" the stallion shouted before he started swinging his hooves wildly at me.

I managed to dodge most of his swings, but he still laid some heavy blows on my face. I would've fought back with all I had, but I couldn't scare Shadow with my ferocity, so I took the blows like a wimp. After a while, the stallion passed out and I was left a bruised mess.

"You're really stupid, you know that?" Shadow told me as she was putting ice on a black eye I'd received in the scuffle.

"I couldn't fight back." I said. "I could've scared you."

"That's nice and all, but you don't need to get the stuffing beaten out of you just for me." she said.

"Hey, it let's me see you for a few more minutes, so maybe it wasn't all bad." I said with a smirk.

"Shut up!" Shadow said, though by the laughter in her voice I knew she was blushing.

After I was done healing, I walked Shadow out of the club.

"I'm going to walk by myself tonight." Shadow said as she turned to leave

"Ok." I replied. "Hey, before you go, I want to give you something."

"What is it?" she asked turning back around.

Just wanting to get it over with, I teleported to her and kissed her on the cheek.

Shadow's eyes went wide. "I...uhhh...gotta go." she said, but rather than running, she disappeared in a flash of black mist!

"What the?!" I cried out after she was gone. "Where did that come from?"

Rather than try and figure it out, I went back inside the club.

"How'd it go Loverboy?" Melody pestered me when I got back inside.

"It was...ok." I responded.

"By the way, I totally saw you get beaten up back there." she added.

"Stop it!" I raised my voice.

"Fine" she said, before she flew up and started shouting at the top of her lungs. "Hey everypony! My brother's in-!"

I teleported home before I could hear the rest of it.

That night, I stayed awake thinking about Shadow. What was with the black mist? Why did I not know about this already. Where did she even come from? These questions and more are what made me go to sleep at three in the morning.

When I woke up, I found a letter next to my bed:

Dear Calming,

Please meet me at the park at 3:00 this afternoon. I want to talk to you about something.

Sincerely,

Shadow

Getting to 3:00 felt like an eternity today. I was still wondering what could be going on before I realized that my questions would hopefully be answered come then. When the clock struck three, I instantly teleported to the park. I saw Shadow sitting on a bench and sat down beside her.

"Hi." I said.

"Hi." she replied.

At this point I'm used to it, but there was still a long moment of awkward silence between us.

"So." I began. "What did you want to tell me?"

Shadow looked around to make sure ponies weren't around to hear. She let out a sigh and explained herself...

"I was born on the moon." she began. "Nightmare Moon's initial rage at being banished went away and turned into crippling loneliness. She couldn't bear to spend a millennia all alone so, using her dark magic, she made me. I was her little filly to take care of. She loved me like any mother would."

She continued. "When I got to the age I am now, she began to grow worried. She knew she would eventually outlive me one day. As a solution, she placed me into a deep sleep that would put my body in a form of stasis. Then she left me on the dark side of the moon."

"When I woke up, she was no longer there. I looked everywhere, but couldn't find her. Not having anything else to do, I decided to start sharpening my skills in the dark magic that was bestowed upon me at my birth. I learned to teleport, pick up and throw objects, and eventually I used my powers to form the dark blot on the moon. As soon as I'd built up enough power, I shot myself to Canterlot so I could find my long lost mother." she looked up at me. "And you know the rest."

I was dumbfounded by what I had just heard. The mare I lo...liked a lot was actually a manifestation of Nightmare Moon's dark magic?!

"Wait a minute." I said after recovering from the initial shock. "If you were created with dark magic, then why aren't you evil?"

"She created me to be a daughter, not a devil." she explained.

Yeesh, this mare is even more mysterious than I thought. I thought to myself

"And what makes me so mysterious?" Shadow asked me.

"Well for one you-wait a minute!" I shouted.

"Yeah." Shadow said with a sheepish look on her face. "I may or may not be able to read ponies' thoughts as well."

I immediately flashed back to all the times it seemed like she was reading my thoughts and responding to them accordingly. Turns out she was!

"Anything else I should know?" I asked.

"If you tell anypony what I've told you today, I'll make sure to break you physically, mentally, and emotionally." she said, a serious look forming on her face.

"I won't tell anypony, not even Melody." I promised.

"Thank you." she said before giving me a peck on the cheek. A look of affection spread across her face. Her face the became alarmed and she quickly summoned the black mist and whisked away.

"What was that?!" a pony passing by asked me.

"Magic trick?" I said unconvincingly.

"Alright then." they said before going about their business.

Shadow, you are one interesting mare. I thought to myself.

Melody and I were playing at the club. While playing, I snuck glances at the crowd to see if Shadow was there, but she wasn't. When we finished, we were doing the typical 'Thank you for coming.' speech when I spotted Shadow in the crowd. She spotted me at the same time and a look of alarm came across her face. In an instant, she ran out the door, but I ran after her. While running down the streets, she used her powers to throw garbage bins and stray bricks my direction. Thankfully I learned how to conjure magic shields or my skull would be crushed by now. Shadow eventually peeled off into an alleyway to throw me off. When I got there, she was trying to teleport away, but I grabbed her hoof just in time before being consumed by the black mist.

When I had the bravery to open my eyes, I found myself on the moon. At first I was panicking before realizing that I could somehow still breathe. Looking up, I saw Shadow standing in front of me.

"We're not really on the moon you idiot." she said in a cold tone.

"Then where are we?" I asked.

"We're nowhere." she said. "This is a pocket dimension I go to when I teleport."

"Wha-?"

"No point in explaining it, let's just go back to Canterlot" she interrupted. At the word, the black mist enveloped us again and when it dissipated, we were back in the alleyway.

"What do you want?" she demanded.

"Why are you acting so mean all of a sudden?" I asked.

"Why? Why?!" A black storm cloud formed above her head and started shooting lightning. "Because I only cared about one pony all my life, and she up and ditches me without even saying goodbye! I can't risk putting care into another pony! They'll just leave me too!" she exploded at me before collapsing to the ground in tears.

I walked up to her and started stroking her mane. "Look Shadow, I know how you feel. My entire life, I've been from one emotional roller coaster to the next. I thought that I couldn't fully care for somepony either."

"How is this supposed to make me feel better?!" she said through her sobs.

"Because I found a pony that I knew I could care for that I could actually be with and who liked me back. I found you Shadow."

After this, she wiped the tears out of her eyes and stood up. I stepped back, waiting for her to teleport away. Instead, she grabbed me by the hoof and gave me a hug tighter than a knot.

"Calming?" she said to me.

"Yes, Shadow?" I asked.

"W-Will you be my special somepo-" before she could finish the question, I wrapped my hooves around her neck and gave her a big kiss on her lips. I felt her reciprocate the embrace and knew she felt what I felt.

Shadow and I walked back to the club, hoof in hoof. When we got in, Melody was on my case immediately.

"Where did you run off to?! Why didn't you tell me?! Why are you and Shadow h-holding hooves?" she screamed then became confused.

"Melody, me and Shadow have decided to become Special Someponies." I announced to her.

After that, she literally flew up in the air and started cheering. I'd never seen her so happy.

Suddenly, I felt myself fly up in the air. Looking up, I saw that Shadow was flying me around as well. Looking down now, I saw that the ponies on the ground were dumbfounded by what was taking place.

"Shadow, put me on stage, I have an announcement to make." I requested.

"Whatever you say." she complied. She then gently dropped me on the stage.

"Fillies and Gentlecolts." I began. "Tonight, me and my sister Melody will be preforming an encore song."

The ponies in the crowd started cheering.

"Melody? If you will?"

At the word, she dive-bombed into her chair and started the song. "C'mon everypony!" she shouted

So that's the story of how a mare of dark magic fell from the moon and became my Special Somepony. At about the 2 month mark of us dating, she was the one to drop the 'L Bomb' first. I naturally reciprocated it. At about 1 1/2 years, we moved in together. Now we've been going strong for 3 years and have been very happy.

All of that joy aside, I'm still really nervous. 'What do you have to be nervous about?' you may be asking?

Don't tell anypony, but I plan to propose to her soon.

To Be Continued In...

The Wedding of Calming Keys and Shadow