Inverno in F Minor

by CrackedInkWell

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Cadance, Dark, Alternate Universe, Sad, Other, Drama, Original Character, Crystal Ponies, Shining Armor
Length: 51644

It really is a tragedy when anyone loses their parents at a young age. Even when it's the only parent you've knew. But what if that same parent is the most hated unicorn in history?

Days after the fall of King Sombra, when the Empire was starting to put itself back together again, a couple of guards have discovered that behind a hidden door, a colt that had a resemblance to a particular, hated king.

A huge thank you to Exanime32 & AlaskanBabe and for helping me edit this. And his Highness PrinceCelestia for the cover art.

Music used in this fanfic are, in chronological order:
-Bach: Goldberg Variations, Aria for Solo Piano.
-Tchaikovsky: Romeo & Juliet, Fantasy Overture (Love Theme).
-Mozart: Violin Concerto No.3 in G (from the Master and Commander Soundtrack).
-Bach: "Great" Fugue in G Minor.
-Vivaldi: Spring, 1st Movement for Solo Piano.
-Beethoven: Ode to Joy (Piano Lullaby).
-Mozart: Tondo Alla Turca for Orchestra.
-Mozart: Adagio from Flute Quartet In D Major Kv285
-Mozart: Sonata No 18 in D, K 576 - Adagio, 2nd Movement.
-Beethoven: Symphony No.5, 1 Movement for Solo Piano.
-Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, 1st Movement.
-Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, 1st Movement.
-Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, 4th Movement.
-Chopin: Nocturne No. 20 in C# Minor.
-Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture for Cannons and Choir.
-Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring.
-Vivaldi: Winter, 2nd Movement for Solo Piano.
-Beethoven: Fur Elies.
-Handel: Lascia ch'io pianga.

Published 2015-04-04 04:40:02 UTC
Last updated 2021-09-13 16:38:04 UTC

2: Found and Lost, in F Minor

“U-Uh…” Shining stuttered, at a loss for words. He was shocked, to say the least. Even though the colt had a different coat (not to mention his horn wasn’t as curved), Prince Armor could see the ghost of the dead tyrant in the foal’s eyes.

Shining turned to his wife, but beyond her wide-eyed expression of surprise, he couldn’t read her face to see what she was thinking.

“Pardon me, your Highnesses?” the couple turned to the nurse. “I think he’s saying that is in part of the hypothermia. At this stage, one of the symptoms that he’s showing is confusion and memory loss. But don’t worry though, give us a few hours and we’d have his core temperature back.”

Cadence nodded, “Yes, I suppose we’ll come back when he’s well.”

“I’ll send a few guards to keep an eye on him,” Shining added.

After they left the infirmary and Shining had summoned a couple of guards, the pair returned to their royal suite to discuss the mysterious colt.

“You gotta admit,” Prince Armor said, “whoever he is, he looks really similar.”

“But how do we know?” Cadence questioned, “After all, it could just be a coincidence that he looks like Sombra. It doesn’t mean that he’s his kid. Besides, if he was, why lock him away from everypony?”

“Well… Maybe the guy didn’t want ponies to know about his son. If I were him, and if I had a colt of my own, and I was one of the most hated ponies in history, I guess I might have done the same.”

“But why?”

“Think about it, wouldn’t you have hidden your kid away when you’re hated by ponies that wanted to see you dead? That if you had a child of your very own, wouldn’t you want to protect them, just in case somepony wanted to have you overthrown?”

Cadence went silent for a moment. “But what if you’re wrong?” she asked. “I mean, all we’ve been going off of is his looks alone. The colt might be someone else’s for all we know. Like I’ve said, we don’t know anything about him. Also, I think you might be jumping into conclusions a little too soon.”

Shining folded his forelegs, “Well… Maybe I am. But what if it turns out that he is?”

The couple went back and forth debating until it was a time that the two of them should interview the young unicorn. By the time they went back to the infirmary, they found that the colt was now fully awake, and a good deal warmer than he had been just a few hours ago.

Cadence gave the young stallion a warm smile, “Hello.”

To the Princess of Love’s confusion, the unicorn jumped as soon as she spoke. “Y-You talk too!?” the colt asked, genially surprised.

“Well… Of course, I can. Everypony does.”

The unicorn shook his head, “No they don’t. Not until you and she started speaking.” He pointed to the nurse, “Which I find it really weird.”

“Why?” Shining asked, tilting his head to the side. “Haven’t you heard another pony talk before?”

“Only me and my Papa,” the unicorn replied.

“By the way,” Cadence interjected, “What’s your name?”

The young stallion still had a look of puzzlement on his face when he answered: “It’s Inverno. Don’t any of you already know me?”

“Not until recently,” Shining answered. “We didn’t know you were even here until a few hours ago.”

Inverno blinked, “Uh… okay? So who and what are you two?”

“I’m Princess Mi Amore Cadenza,” the pink alicorn introduced herself. “But I prefer if you call me Cadence. And this is my husband, Prince Shining Armor.”

“But why are you… like me?” Inverno asked, “You two aren’t made out of crystal-like that nurse over there. So why is that? Are we related somehow?”

“Hey, did you say something about your dad?” Shining inquired, Inverno nodded. “Do you happen to know what his name is?”

“Sombra,” the unicorn said matter-of-factly.

Both Cadence and Shining grew pale, “Uh... What does he look like?” Shining asked.

“You want me to describe him? He’s tall, dark and has a mane that’s black as ink. His horn is something like mine, only it’s curved and red. Oh! And he has the same color of eyes that I have. Speaking of Papa, do you know where he is?” When neither Prince nor Princess answered his question, Inverno inquired, “I mean, he’s the King here, he oftentimes would wear a silver crown, and goes around with a red cape. You have seen him… right? Why are you two looking at me like that?”

“Oh, hay,” Shining sighed. “Look, kid… I don’t know how to tell you this…”

“Tell me what?”

“Um… Inverno,” Cadence said cautiously, “The truth is… Your father… Isn’t around anymore.”

The young stallion blinked, “What do you mean?”

“Kid,” Shining said, “Your dad… your dad is dead.”

Sombra’s son blinked, trying to process what he’d just heard. Then, he began to laugh, “Oh, good one. That’s funny. Ha-ha-ha! B-But really, where is he?”

“Inverno,” Cadence said, giving him a sad look. “This isn’t a joke. Your dad is gone - for good.”

The unicorn stopped laughing. “.... What? No. N-No! That’s not true. It isn’t at all! He’s around here somewhere. M-Maybe I should go find him.” Inverno got up from his bed, where the couple could see that he looked a little too thin, and lacked a cutie mark. The young stallion got up from the bed and headed straight for the door, “Papa?” he called out. The Royals followed him out the door, “Papa? Where are you? I know you’re here! Papa?!”

“Inverno, kid,” Shining called out, “There’s no need to call him out. He’s not here anymore.”

“No,” the colt shook his head, looking increasingly frantic. “H-He’s here somewhere! I know it! Papa! Where are you hiding?”

“Kid, stop,” Shining grabbed the young unicorn’s foreleg, “He’s dead, we saw him with our own eyes. I’m sorry to say this, but Sombra isn’t hiding. He’s gone.”

“N-No!” Inverno shook his head, anger in his eyes, “You’re lying! He’s here! He has to be!”

Cadence stepped forward, an apologetic look on her face. “He’s telling the truth, Inverno. I saw it happen too. I’m sorry to say this… but your father is truly gone forever. He’s not coming back.”

“I DON’T BELIEVE YOU!” Inverno shouted, stomping his fore-hooves onto the floor. As soon as his hooves touched the crystal, there was a loud CRACK as the ground beneath the colt fractured. They saw that the unicorn’s eyes were glowing. “WHERE’S PAPA?!” he demanded.

Shining’s horn glowed, “Kid, you need to calm down.”

“WHERE IS HE?!” Inverno screamed, his eyes glowing like fire, his magic adding a few more cracks to the floor. Suddenly, and unexpectedly for Inverno, he was suddenly lifted off the ground. Looking around, he found himself in a solid bubble. He pounded, he bucked, and he screamed: “LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! PAPA! PAPA HELP! PAPA! PAPA!” Shining struggled to maintain the force field under the colt’s intense thrashing.

Inverno fought against his cage to exhaustion, even his cries to his father grew weaker. “Papa?” Out of breath, he slouched down, his eyes beginning to water. “Papa, don’t do this to me… Don’t leave me alone again.”

Prince Armor lowered the colt to the ground while his wife approached the young pony.

“Shining, I think you can let him go now,” Cadence said, and her husband dropped the force field around Inverno. The unicorn colt looked up at the Princess; he saw that her face held nothing but sympathy. Exhausted, and emotionally broken, Inverno stared back at her, tears flowing down his muzzle. Cadence hugged the tyrant’s son as she watched him come to grips with the truth.

“PAPA!” He whimpered as he cried the word into her withers.

3: Sombra as I Knew Him, in G Minor

It wasn’t very long until the Empire had heard about Sombra’s lost son. The reaction to the news for most citizens outside of the palace was... agitated, to say the least. Despite the colt’s young age, the crystal ponies urged the royals to rid the Empire of the spawn of evil. Mutterings were heard, that if the Dark King had a son, what was to say that the child wasn’t as evil as its father?

However, for those who served on the inside, from the cooks to the servants, and the guards who come in contact with the new rulers of the Empire, a somewhat different point of view was held. The royal couple had given him a room, in which he stayed for several days. The servants, those that were brave enough to step inside the room, found not the offspring of a monster, but rather a depressed unicorn. No matter who entered, he didn’t pay much or any attention to them while lying on the bed. Even of the food they brought him, he ate little, if nothing at all. In fact, for several days, nopony had even heard him say a word.

Cadence reported to her Aunt Celestia about the colt, along with what they found in the hidden apartment once they had managed to reverse the spell within. When the warmth was back, and the apartment adorned with some magelights, they found that the apartment contained a rather disorganized library of the Empire’s lost music. Copies of songs and tunes were found, most of which Inverno had arranged to be played on the organ. Alongside these, they also found some compositions that the colt had written. Most of these were short songs, canons, and a few anthems that were dedicated to his father.

Celestia, in response, said that she and Luna would make their way into the Empire to greet the Crystal ponies, as well as to see if they could get a word out of Inverno.

A few days later, the immortal sisters arrived at the gates of the Empire. Of course, the citizens were there to welcome them, along with the regal couple. Soon enough, Celestia and Luna made their way into the palace, to the room where Inverno was staying. Before they arrived there, however, Shining Armor was called away to another part of the palace.

“Inverno,” the Princess of Love knocked, “It’s me, Cadence. I’ve brought a few visitors that liked to speak to you.” There was no answer from the other side of the door. “We’re coming in,” With that, the door was opened and the three Princesses stepped through.

The pale unicorn didn’t look up; his eyes were turned downward towards the sheets. His hoof was tapping at certain places of the sheet as if he was imagining playing an invisible keyboard. “What do you want?” Inverno asked quietly, yet still sounding annoyed.

“Hello there, my little pony,” Celestia said. Inverno craned his neck upward at the one who spoke.

“Whoa, you’re really tall,” Inverno stated. “Are you one of those giants?” Cadence and Luna tried their best to hold back their snickering.

“No,” Celestia answered. “I’m not tall, it’s just that I’m… older.”

“Really?” Inverno raised an eyebrow. “The older you get, that taller you’ll be?”

“For me, yes.”

“So how old are you?”

Celestia’s eyes widen, “I… I’d rather not say. But what about you? How old are you, dear?”

“Me? I’m thirteen.”

“Ah,” Celestia nodded, “Well then, Inverno, if you don’t mind too much, can we ask you a few questions?”

“Uh… I guess, but who are you two?”

“I’m Princess Celestia.”

“And I’m Princess Luna,” the Princess of the Night interjected. Inverno’s eyes widened, and the colt crawled backward out of the bed in fear.

“Inverno?” Cadence asked in concern.

“KEEP THEM AWAY FROM ME!” the young unicorn screamed.

Luna and Celestia blinked, they looked at each other before turning back to the terrified colt.

“Inverno, it’s alright,” Cadence stepped forward, trying to calm him. “Nopony is going to hurt you.”

“But they will!” Inverno said, hiding behind the pink alicorn. “Don’t go near them,” he warned, “Celestia will roast your flesh and Luna will freeze your bones!”

The Royal Sisters were taken completely aback. “Child,” Luna said, trying not to sound too offended, “Where hast thou heard such nonsense?”

“It’s not nonsense,” Inverno protested. “If Papa says that you two are monsters, then it has to be true!”

Papa. Of course, Sombra would tell him something like this.

“Inverno,” Luna told him, “Look at us. Do we really look like the kind of mares that would commit such acts that thou hast mentioned?”

The pale unicorn paused, he looked at them both. He’d remembered about the ghost stories about the barbaric Princesses of the South. His father had spoken about their cruelties, and the heartless acts that these two had done together. Yet, Inverno saw that their faces, and even their eyes, showed nothing but compassion.

“I… I don’t know,” Inverno honestly answered.

“If you don’t know,” Celestia said, “Then what need do you have to fear us?”

“B-Because… Y-You two may act nice, but what if I trust you too much a-and one of you eats me?”

Luna rolled her eyes, “If only we had a bit every time we heard that,” she muttered.

“If it helps,” Cadence suggested, “I would be right by your side, and make sure that nothing bad will happen to you.”

“Really?” Inverno asked, looking hopeful.

“Of course, the three of us wanted to talk to you... About your father.”

Inverno’s ears folded back, and he turned his eyes to the floor. “Why? I don’t want to.”

“Trust me, talking about him will help.”

The colt hesitated for a moment, before saying, “I’ll do it.” The Princesses motioned for him to continue, “But I have one question though,” Inverno said. “I’ve heard that Papa was blown up, right?” The three mares nodded, “I think I get how he died. But I don’t understand is why. Why did he die? Was it because of me?” The three Princesses could see that tears were welling up in his eyes. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No,” Cadence said, embracing him, “You had nothing to do with it at all.”

“But – but what if I had? Was it because I didn’t practice? Or that my music wasn’t that good? Or was it because I didn’t leave It enough morsels to eat?”

“It?” All three princesses asked in total confusion.

“Yeah,” Inverno nodded, “That must be it. I didn’t give my slave enough food, and now Papa’s gone.”

It took a moment to let that piece of information to sink in amongst the three princesses.

“You had a slave?” Celestia inquired.

“Well, yes in a way. Papa always had a slave to look after me when he wasn’t around. Actually, I would get It replaced now and then, so I don’t always get the same slave twice.”

“Why do you refer the slave as ‘It’?” Luna asked.

“Because up until now, ponies never talked back. I mean, they never said they had a name so I always called all of them It, and they all would get replaced every few days. You know, Papa always said that ‘Ponies are real animals that needed to be trained,’ which is why he gives me the most obedient to be with me.”

The three alicorns couldn’t help but feel a chill going down their spines.

“Inverno,” Celestia said, “did Sombra- pardon me; your father, ever hurt you?”

Sombra’s son tilted his head to the side, “What do you mean?”

“Has he ever slapped you, or yelled at you for any reason?”

Inverno shook his head, “Not to me, he would do that to the slaves because they might have done something wrong like spilling a drink or not coming to the room quickly enough. He never yelled at me… Well, except for that one time.”

“Which was?”

The unicorn sighed, “Papa had given me a few rules. One of them being that I wasn’t allowed to leave my home without him saying so. But he never did. I spent my whole life there and it gets so boring there. All I ever do in there is to practice music on the organ or write down melodies, or copy music. I asked Papa why he wouldn’t let me leave and he says that he might when I’m older. That outside my home is too dangerous and scary for me. Well… one day, Papa had left the door opened. So I got out finding this huge, very bright long room, and it had paintings that actually moved! I was about to peak over the painting when Papa saw me and… He yelled at me. Sure, I’ve heard him yell at the slave all the time, but, at me…” Inverno took a deep, uneasy breath before saying, “He didn’t come to my home for two days. I thought that he was doing the same thing again because he was mad at me… only to find out... that he was... d-dead.”

Inverno’s tears fell from his face like a fountain. “W-Was I s-so wicked that Papa ha-had to-o die?” he asked aloud. All three of the Princesses hugged the unicorn out of sympathy.

“It’s alright,” Celestia cooed, “I promise, everything will be alright in the end.”

4: Inspiration in A Minor

“We have an idea,” Luna said. “How about we get thee out of this room and have some fresh air.”

Inverno looked up at her in confusion, sniffing, he asked, “What does that mean?”

“It means to step outside,” Cadence explained.

He blinked, “I still don’t understand.”

“Come then,” Celestia said as she opened the bedroom door. “Besides, it’s almost time to lower the sun.”

“What’s a sun?” Inverno asked, wiping his tears away. All three princesses snapped their attention to him.

“Come again?” Luna asked.

“Come what again?”

“Didst thou ask what the sun is?”

“That’s because I don’t know what a sun is,” the unicorn simply replied.

“I know you’ve spent your life inside,” Celestia said as the four of them started to walk down the hallway. “But didn’t your father ever tell you about the sun and moon?” At Inverno’s look of perplexity, she instead asked, “Perhaps the words ‘day’ and ‘night’ sound more familiar?”

“Papa never used those words ‘sun’ or ‘moon’ before. But he has mentioned day and night. He said it’s kind of a time that I’m awake or asleep. But what are the sun and moon?”

“Perhaps it might be best if we showed thee,” Luna suggested. They walked until they came across the balcony. The sun was out on the horizon, bathing the Empire in an orange glow. Inverno poked his head out the door, only to wince at the bright light before pulling his head back inside.

“Agh! What was that?!” Inverno said, rubbing his eyes.

“That was the sun,” Celestia responded.

“Why is it so bright?” the pale unicorn asked, “How could anypony not go blind from that thing?” Then he looked up in alarm, “Is something on fire!?”

Celestia giggled, “Oh no, nothing is on fire, and ponies tend not to look at it directly,” Celestia turned to the setting sun. “As of now, it’s time for me and Luna to do our duty.”

“Duty?”

“Come and see,” Cadence gestured Inverno over to where she was. Inverno did, although, he had his eyes shut tightly so he wouldn’t see the great ball of light that sat just above the mountains. “Open your eyes,” he heard Cadence say. It took a while for him to adjust to the light. He started with one eye, then the other but he looked at the floor. Slowly, he looked upward to the horizon.

“It’s… It looks like a golden plate that’s brighter than any fire,” Inverno said, “That it’s hung there in the biggest room that I’ve ever seen. Only, I don’t see any ropes to hold it up.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Celestia said, lighting up her horn. Almost immediately, Inverno saw the shadows all around him had begun to stretch and grow. He saw the sun sinking downwards, as gently as a mother putting her foal in a crib, being lowered down until it was out of view. As soon as it disappeared, the world was plunged into darkness. Celestia turned to her sister; the dark blue alicorn gave a nod and lit up her horn. Crawling out of the sky, Inverno saw a circular object, as white as his coat and covered in countless gray spots all over. It wasn’t as eye-scorching as the sun; instead, the light it gave was softer, and it drowned the land in a blue glow. Soon, he saw a small speck of light emerging out of the darkness, and then another. These specks of light multiplied, almost at random to Inverno.

When Luna was done, she turned to the young stallion, who was looking at her night for the very first time. She smiled, “So, Inverno, what dost thou thinkest of our night?”

“I never saw anything like it,” the unicorn said, “It has so much light, and yet it is still as dark as it is when somepony closes their eyes. These lights look like countless candles on very distant chandeliers.” Inverno went quiet for a moment, “I wish I could write out a song from what I’m seeing, and that I could play it to…” he paused.

“Inverno?” Cadence asked, beginning to get concerned.

“I think I know what to write,” the unicorn said to himself.

“What do you mean?” Celestia asked.

Inverno nodded, ignoring the Sun Princess. “Yes. That’s what I’ll do. When I wake up tomorrow, I’ll start working a memorial for Papa. I think he would appreciate it if it was to be like this,” he pointed to the sky, “It will be solemn. Gentle yet majestic at the same time, and I will sing it in the way that he always liked it. Papa will receive a memorial so that he can be remembered as the great king he was.”

“Oh no,” Celestia sighed.

“What?”

“Inverno… This is difficult for me to tell you. Considering all that has happened, but… the Sombra that we knew…”

“What?”

Celestia shook her head, “I don’t know what your father told you about himself. But from personal experience, I must tell you that Sombra wasn’t as good as monarch that you think he was.”

Inverno blinked, “I don’t understand.”

“To put it simply,” Luna said. “Sombra has harmed many ponies in the Empire.”

“Harmed?” Inverno asked, “Like slapping them or something? So what? I’ve seen him do that to the slaves befor-”

“Inverno,” Cadence interrupted, “You need to stop calling them slaves. These ponies aren’t slaves anymore.”

“Then what do you want me to call them?”

“Ponies,” she answered plainly.

“Whatever. Anyway, I’ve seen him slap a few sl-... ponies before. So what? That’s just because they didn’t do what they were told. How does that make him a bad-”

“He has done much more than that,” Celestia interrupted.

“Like what?” the unicorn asked, getting annoyed. “What did he do that was so bad, huh?”

Cadence sighed, “Inverno, dear, I know that at this state that you want to see proof in what we’re saying is true-”

“Yeah,” he nodded, “It doesn’t sound anything like Papa that I knew.”

“But as of now,” she said, “It’s getting late. I’ll tell you what, tomorrow we’ll show you-”

“Now,” Inverno demanded, “I want to show me now. Unless you have something to back up what all of you are saying, I think that all of you are liars.”

Cadence paused before asking, “Are you sure?” Inverno nodded. “Very well.” Cadence looked over to her aunts. Both of them seemed to have looks torn between worry and alarm. Their eyes almost questioned her, asking if this was the right thing to do. “I’ll take him down to the dungeons. It’s better if he sees the truth for himself.”

5: Prelude to Darkness in B Minor

Prince Shining sighed in relief; he was at last done in dealing with the tedious paperwork that had been cramming his desk that day. He hoped he might have the chance to speak with the princesses this evening to see if-

“Shining,” he heard his wife call out. Turning his attention behind him, he saw Cadence, and the colt close by her side.

“Hey, hon,” He turned around, trotting up to nuzzle her, “Sorry about not getting out sooner. I had petitions coming out of my ears for the past hour.”

“It’s quite alright,” Cadence said, as Shining took notice of the young colt.

“I see that you’ve finally got the kid out of his room for once,” Shining said to his wife before turning to Inverno, “How are ya now?”

Inverno shrugged, “Okay, I guess.”

“So, what brings you out here?”

The colt looked at Shining right in the eye when he asked: “Is it true that Papa was bad?” It was a question that caught the Prince off guard, but Inverno continued. “I mean, those other Princesses said that he’d hurt the sla-”

Cadence cleared her throat and gave him a chastising look.

“Ponies,” Inverno corrected himself, “But they wouldn’t tell me why he was so evil. I mean, it can’t be true! Papa was always good and fair to me! That doesn't mean that he was bad... Right?”

“So… Why are you out here?” Shining inquired.

“Well,” Inverno pointed to his wife, “Cadence is going to show me something called ‘the dungeons’ where my Papa supposedly had done these ‘awful things.’” The young unicorn mocked the Princess’ words, “But I know that it’s clearly a lie.”

Shining turned to the pink alicorn, “Sweetheart, are you sure that you want to do this right now?” he questioned, “I mean, the guy has been grieving for days and now you wanted to show him the dungeons now?”

“Believe me,” she responded, “I don’t want to do this either, but I believe that he’s entitled to know what Sombra was really like. For someone who has lived his life in a hidden apartment, he deserves to know what his father has been doing outside of his little world.”

“I don’t know if this is even a good idea. You do know that showing him might scar him for life.”

“But I want to see!” Inverno interrupted, “I want to see if those princesses were telling the truth.”

“Kid, I don’t think-” Shining began to talk, but was quickly cut off.

“So these dungeons don’t exist then!” the colt deduced, “If you’re not going to show me, then that means that they’re not real. And if they’re not real, then that means that those Princesses were liars, including her!”

“Shining,” Cadence said, “Let me show him, for his own good.”

The prince sighed, “Alright, fine. Let me go with you too, then.” And so, the three of them began their descent down to the lower part of the palace, where Cadence led them to a door. Behind it was a staircase, running downwards into darkness. As they walked down, Shining lit the crystal lanterns to illuminate their path.

At the bottom of the staircase, Inverno spotted something on the ground. He picked it up with his magic to examine it closely. “What’s this?” he asked the couple.

Both Cadence and Shining turned around to see the item in question. “It’s a flower,” Cadence answered.

“But, what is it?” the young unicorn asked, “What’s it for?”

“In this place,” Shining said, “Flowers are a symbol of remembrance for the ponies who suffered here.”

“Come, there’s still more to see.” Cadence urged them onward down a dark hallway, the walls hung with crystal lanterns which Shining lit as they walked past. As they traveled, Inverno saw on both sides bars of iron, each set forming the fourth wall to a small room. Every so often, he would see more of these flowers as they passed by. He saw some that had vibrant colors, while others lay decaying. Sometimes he would see only an individual flower, while other times he could see them tied up in bundles.

At the end of the hallway, there stood a simple door at which the couple stopped. “Inverno,” Cadence looked at the young stallion, giving him an apologetic look. “I am so, so sorry for this.”

Before Inverno could ask what he meant, Cadence opened the door while Shining lit his horn to light all the crystal lanterns inside this room.

At first, Inverno wasn’t sure what he was looking at. He stepped right into the room to get a closer look. One of the first things he noticed was, not only all the flowers in the room, but the portraits, long burned out candles, and even stuffed toys that lay scattered on the floor. But amongst the stuff, Inverno also saw strange objects, that sat about the space or dangled from the ceiling. He saw chains with cuffs that hung like chandeliers, a huge tub made out of wood, oddly-shaped tools and sharp looking knives hanging from the walls. There was a table on which he saw cuffs at one end, and a wheel on the other. Ropes hung from the wheel, their frayed ends tied into loops. He even saw cages, adorned with old, rusted spikes that pointed inward menacingly.

“What is this place?” Inverno asked, turning back to the door. He found the couple standing there, looking sadly into the room.

“To ponies in the Crystal Empire,” Shining explained, “This was simultaneously the most terrifying, and the most dangerous place in all of Equestria. During your father’s rule, if a pony wasn’t working hard enough, or was too sick, too old, or too anything for that matter, they would be brought here, the dungeons, to be given pain without mercy.” Inverno looked away, back at the strange objects that littered the huge room. Shining continued, “In fact, when we got to the Empire ourselves, this was one of the first places that we were shown to by a former slave. Inverno, we found ponies in agony here, stallions, mares, even foals, younger than you.”

“Foals?” Inverno whispered.

“Even worse yet,” Cadence said, taking over for her husband, “Was that after your father had died, we received reports from those ponies of what happened down here. Sometimes, Sombra himself would pay a visit here to either torture them himself or simply force another pony that knew one of the prisoners to carry it out while he dined. Watching them scream in agony was his favorite entertainment.”

There was a part of Inverno that wanted to deny what he was hearing. ‘No,’ he thought, ‘That doesn’t sound like Papa at all. He wouldn’t do anything like this.’ Yet, there in his sight was all the solid proof to dismiss that wishful thinking. There before him stood the very instruments of pain. Some were probably used on someone of his age. For how could he deny something, when such evidence was presented to him?

“Papa?” he asked himself, “Why would you do this? Why would you lie to me?”

6: The Nightmare Fugue in B Minor

That night, after Inverno was put into bed, he went off to sleep with the torture chamber still in his memory. He couldn’t help but wonder how his dad could be so just and fair to him, but not to the slaves that once served them.

In the dim light of his room, his eyes forcing themselves to close, he finally fell asleep.

CRACK!

Inverno awoke in shock at the sound of somepony screaming. He opened his eyes, but couldn’t see anything except darkness.

“W-Who’s there!?” he called out. All around him, he heard whimpers, heavy sobbing, and a low voice, mumbling pleas of mercy. “Hello?” Inverno was becoming frightened. What was going on? Who was crying? Why couldn’t he see anything?

“Oh, you’re awake.” That voice! He knew that voice!

“Papa!” Inverno called out, “Oh Papa, I’m so glad you’re here!” He glanced around in the darkness, “But, where are you? I can’t see you.”

“Of course you can’t,” he replied; yet Inverno noticed that he didn’t sound at all like he was pleased to see his son. Rather, he sounded annoyed, disappointed even. Suddenly he felt a hoof on the back of his head to quickly realize that he was wearing a blindfold… Why was he wearing a blindfold?

At first, the unicorn was blinded, but after blinking a few times, he realized, to his horror, where he was. He was back in the vast torture chamber, only instead of the flowers that he saw, it was now cramped with crystal ponies. Young and old, stallions and mares, even foals, were clustered around the room. They were either chained to the walls or ceiling and those who were trapped in the evil devices, their faces contorted in agony and stained with tears.

Yet, scarier still, was his father, standing in front of him and holding in one hoof the black blindfold. Sombra was shaking his head and had a look of great disappointment on his face. Inverno looked up, only to see that his front hooves were chained to the ceiling. Turning his head down, he saw his hind hooves were shackled to iron balls. He couldn’t move if he tried.

“Papa? Papa, what’s going on?”

His father sighed, “You disappointed me, my son.”

“Papa?”

“And here I thought I was raising a such a good colt,” he said, turning to a part of the wall on which hung the wickedly sharp tools. He picked up a few by his magic, examine one before moving onto the next. “Here I thought I had a son that would one day take over my kingdom, and look what I got.”

“P-Papa, w-what are you d-doing?” Inverno’s voice shook.

“You’ve been very bad,” he said. “First leaving your home without my permission, and now you’ve spoken with the wicked Princess of the South… And I thought you were good this whole time.”

“Papa, I-I didn’t I-”

“YOU DIDN’T WHAT?!” his father shouted, “YOU KNEW THE RULES SINCE THE DAY YOU WERE BORN! AND NOW, YOU TURN YOUR BACK ON ME! YOUR OWN PAPA?!”

“B-B-But…” Inverno fought back the tears in his eyes. “It’s not my fault.”

Sombra shook his head, “Inverno, son, in all the time that I’ve had known you, you almost never break the rules that I’ve given you. In all that time, I had given you the privilege to forgive you, something that none of this filth had. But look at you; you’ve taken advantage of it for too long. Sure, I had forgiven you when you’ve forgotten to feed any of your slaves. Or that you’ve hadn't practiced the organ when you should have had. Or that time that you snuck out of your home. But this,” He finally chose a long knife with wickedly curved blade that made Inverno’s eyes widen. “What you had done is inexcusable.”

“P-Papa, please,” he begged, “Don’t do this.”

“But you had been such a naughty colt.”

“Please!”

“And you know perfectly well what happens to colts that break the rules.”

“No Papa! Don’t!”

“But since I still love you,” his father said, levitating the blindfold back over his eyes. “You get to have the one privilege that none of these pigs get to have.”

“Papa, no!” Inverno pleaded, tears soaking the blindfold and starting to down his cheeks.

“At least you won’t be able to see what is about to happen.”

“Papa don’t!” he cried, “I’ll be good! Please! I’ll remember to feed It, I’ll practice on the organ, copy more music, write more often, never leave home again, JUST PLEASE DON’T HURT ME! PAPA! DON’T!”

“Inverno,” This time, a voice called out to him.

“SOMEPONY HELP!”

“Kid, wake up!” He finally did so with a jolt. He found Shining Armor there, along with the warm light of morning seeping into his room.

“Hey, you okay?” the Prince asked.

Inverno shook his head. “I had a really bad dream,” he told him.

“Must be, you’re sweating all over,” Shining pointed out. “Whatever it was, it must have been terrifying,” The young stallion could only nod. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Inverno violently shook his head at the suggestion.

“That bad, huh? Look, don’t worry about it now, you’re awake. And since Princess Luna is still here, I’ll talk to her. She can make sure you won’t get any more nightmares from now on, okay?” The young unicorn didn’t say anything. “Come on, you should get up.” The Prince sniffed the air, “Ugh, when was the last time you bathed?”

“Uh… I don’t know.”

“Actually, why don’t you go take a bath first, then head down to eat breakfast with us.”

“Eat where?”

“In the dining hall,” Shining answered. He was greeted with only a blank stare. “Oh, that’s right… Uh, when you’re done, I’ll have a guard to show you where it is, okay?”

“I guess so,” Inverno said.

After the Prince left, the unicorn got out of bed and headed towards the bathroom. As he turned the water on, his thoughts drifted back to the nightmare he’d awoken from.

‘Must be from the dungeon place,’ he thought. ‘But still, why would Papa do that to me? That wasn’t like him. I might have been given a spanking or maybe less food, but… that? Why? Was that dream trying to tell me something?’

As the water in the shallow tub began to rise, Inverno lowered himself into it, letting the warm water soak in. He picked up a pink bar, that going by the smell he assumed to be soap. ‘And even after waking up, why couldn’t I feel anything but… fear?’

7: Breakfast in E Major

The guard by Inverno’s side as he walked through the crystal halls didn’t help him feel any better. The colt himself had caught the guard giving him a certain look a few times as he was escorted through the labyrinth of the palace. It wasn’t one of those weird looks, nor was it warm, but the look that the sea-green crystal guard was giving him was a cold one. While the guard himself didn’t say a word to him, Inverno knew what that look meant. After all, he had seen his father give that look before, whenever any of the slaves messed up.

'Why are you still living?' His escort’s eyes seemed to ask.

Inverno was lead into a room that was big enough to fit his organ several times over. There were high ceilings and tall vaulted windows that looked out to the Empire below. In front of him were the three alicorn princesses, as well as the one prince, dining at a table together. One vacant pillow sat in between Shining Armor and Celestia, the feather cushion expecting him.

Cadence was the first to notice the colt in the room. She gave him a welcoming smile, “Good morning,” she said, “Care to join us?”

He took a moment to glance around the room; he found that the only other ponies in the room beside the royals and himself were a couple of maids that were kept at a safe distance from him. Beside them was a cart that held several shiny domes in several sizes. Inverno trotted up to the empty seat and took his place amongst them.

“What would you like this morning?” Celestia asked after sipping her cup of tea. Inverno’s stomach roared loudly, and he realized at that moment that he had hardly eaten anything since... he couldn't remember when was the last time he ate. Looking at their plates, he saw pancakes soaked in dark maple syrup, eggs on toast with a side of fruits that he couldn’t identify, and a bowl of soup that had chunks of vegetables swimming in a yellow broth. And there was Luna’s plate, holding a plate of noodles with a red sauce; this was confusing to Inverno because when, or if he ever got pasta, it was always a dinner item.

So naturally, he asked, “How come… what’s your name again?”

“Luna,” she answered.

“How come Luna is eating pasta? Isn’t it something that you would eat for dinner?”

The princess of the night nodded, “Quite, we can see thy confusion, for we do not blame thee, most ponies that see us dine are often baffled as well. Ye see, we art nocturnal most of the time, that is unless Cel hast us to be awake early for either court or some emergency.”

The young unicorn blinked, “Nocturnal?”

“She means that she’s awake during the night and is asleep all day,” Shining explained before taking a bite of his toast. “So in a way, her order in eating is a bit backward.”

“Oh… Why didn’t she say so?” Inverno commented, looking back at the bowl of strange fruit on Shining Armor’s plate. “What’s that?”

“Uh?” Shining asked, looking to what the young unicorn was pointing at. “Oh, it’s a fruit salad.” When Inverno gave him a blank look, he explained: “It has pieces of bananas, raisins, some watermelon, apples, marshmallows, strawberries…” Shining trailed off when Inverno’s expression didn’t change. Using his magic, he lifted the little bowl over to him. “You know what, just try some.”

At first, he stared at the bowl for a moment before picking the bowl in his red aura to examine it closely. After sniffing it a few times, he focused his magic on one particular piece of fruit that was mostly white, has a round edge and two nearly flat sides along with a slimy like texture. After putting it in his mouth and gave it a few chews, the flavor was as unrecognizable as the fruit itself. There was sweetness, almost creamy but not quite.

He repeated this with some of the other ingredients in the bowl, examine and taste. Finally, after going through each one, he tilted his head back and let the salad fall into his mouth.

“Looks like somepony is going to need a few lessons in manners,” Cadence commented, amused. “Would you like more?”

When he said that he would, the maids in the room dished up another bowl for him to consume.

“Inverno,” Celestia started, trying to engage a conversation with him, “Do you mind if I ask you something?”

The colt looked up from his bowl, pieces of the salad stuck to his face.

“Do you remember a few days ago, when you heard about your father’s passing and got angry?”

Inverno took a moment to swallow before answering, “Of course I do. Why?”

“Do you recall that the crystal floor beneath you creaked?”

The colt nodded but didn’t understand where she was going with this.

“My question here is this: How did you break the floor like that?”

The young unicorn scratched the back of his head, “Um… I’m not sure. But it has happened before whenever I get mad. Papa said I should learn to control my temper because whenever I do get angry, really angry, things around me just break. I could remember how not only the floor and walls creak, but sometimes a bunch of stuff too. Like the time that when I was playing on the organ and Papa told me to go to bed. I didn’t want to, and I got so mad that my hooves broke the keyboard.

“Sometimes, if I get incredibly angry, things tend to break without me touching them! Like I remember this one time where a sla… pony kept messing up with everything I told It to do. I got so angry, I thought about crushing It. Then suddenly, that sl- pony, scared me because It did something that none did before, it screamed.”

The dining room became quiet but Inverno added, “I watched It, grew smaller until it made a mess. I’m not exactly sure what it was that leaked out, but Papa was really surprised by this. Since then, he told me that I really must ‘watch my anger.’ But I don’t know why it happens though.”

Luna was the first to speak after a shocked pause, “And this pony, did he or she live?”

“Yeah,” Inverno nodded, “It did whine and moved funny until Papa came in.” After taking another mouthful of the salad he asked: “Uh, you know since Papa’s gone, what should I do now? I mean, I don’t have any more music to copy, and Papa hasn’t taught me how to be a king because he said I wasn’t old enough.”

“An excellent question,” Cadence nodded, finishing up her pancakes. “As well as an interesting point, considering that you’ve pointed out that you’re too inexperienced to rule. So tell us, how good are you at the organ? I imagine that it must be difficult to play.”

Inverno shook his head, “No, not really. I know how to play it, as well as read music. After all, I learned how to read music before I learned the alphabet. Besides, I’ve written some music, too.”

“But what about all the music you’ve copied?” Shining asked, “I mean, why have you copied a mountain of music for?”

“Because Papa said that I should know music better than anyone in the whole kingdom,” Inverno answered. “He told me that, ‘Music is the greatest tool to influence a kingdom.’ In that, it's so powerful that if I do it just right, I could control what others think, feel, and do when music is playing. So he told me that he banned all music in the Empire, to be wiped out. But before he did, he brought me some of the good music for me to copy so I can study them. So I can find out what made them so good before he takes the originals away. Are you going to make me copy music?”

“Oh no,” Cadence shook her head, “We’re not going to do that. If anything, the musicians here in the Empire, whether they admit it or not, owe a debt to you for saving its music from being lost forever. If it wasn’t for you making all of those copies, our ponies’ favorite songs might have been long forgotten.”

Inverno tilted his head, “Really?” Cadence nodded.

“Although,” Celestia said, getting up from her seat, “I do think that you should still be educated, not just in music, but in other subjects as well. Going to a public school outside of the palace is out of the question, for I fear they will mistreat you. So I will send a hoofful of tutors to you until the Empire’s feelings subside. Although, before we return to Canterlot, I’m rather curious about your musical skills. Would you mind playing something for us before we depart?”

8: The Piano in F Major

Inverno agreed to play something for the princesses. So with breakfast finished up, they headed, to Inverno’s interest, a particular room called, “the Music Room.”

When they got there, the colt saw a huge circular room with a dome. All around him were instruments that he’d never seen before, with the exception of the organ, which was the only recognizable thing in the room. He examined the odd-looking instruments, from wooden boxes tied up with silvery strings, to the brass pipes that in the unicorn’s mind, looked like pipe organs that had been twisted into knots.

Yet, among all these things, near the center of the room, was a weirdly shaped black box that stood on three legs. What drew Inverno to the instrument was the fact that the only thing he recognized was the keys.

“What’s this thing?” he asked.

“We believe the old name for it is either Pianoforte or Fortepiano,” Luna answered, “Which, if my Istallion is correct, either means ‘soft and loud.’”

“Is it a type of organ?” Inverno inquired as he drew closer to the keys. At first glimpse, the instrument’s keyboard looked like that of an organ, though with a simpler in design. But when he touched one of the keys, he nearly jumped back. Not because this thing had made a sound, but because it was a completely unfamiliar tone.

“Oh no,” Celestia said, “A piano is a kind of string instrument where the strings themselves are hammered out by every key you press. The softer you touch them, the softer the sound it makes, or vice versa, if you hit it hard enough. It may not be as impressive as an organ, but it can make quite a bit of noise.”

Inverno reached a hoof up to the keys again, touching a key. Sure enough, the Solar Princess was right! When he pressed on one of the white rectangles gently, the sound of it was soft as laying one’s head on a pillow; but when he slammed his hoof on another random key, the sharp sound echoed in the room like the roar of his father’s voice, strong and commanding.

“Could I play on this?” the young unicorn asked, “At least, give it a try?”

“I suppose so,” Cadence said after thinking for a moment. She pulled up the black bench from beneath the piano, leaving enough room for Inverno to sit in. The pale unicorn climbed onto the bench and stared at the keys for a moment.

“Uh… What do I play?” he asked, turning to the Royals.

“How about playing something you’re familiar with,” Shining suggested. “Perhaps, something that’s your favorite.”

After thinking for a moment, Inverno lifted a hoof and touched a key near the middle of the board, “Okay, that’s a G Sharp…” Inverno put both hooves on the keys, and within a moment, he’d begun to play. Even though Inverno had played this many times on his complex organ, the sound that the piano was making was unlike any sound that he’d heard before. The melody was gentler, kinder than he’d ever heard. Even though he was familiar with the trills, the harmonic progressions, and the memorable notes, it was as if he was hearing this music for the first time.

The three princesses, and the prince, as they stood around him, couldn’t help but notice that the colt was in an almost hypnotic state. While his hooves moved, his cat-like irises had widened and focused off in the distance, seemingly at nothing in particular. Yet, while the sound wasn’t exactly perfect, the Royals were impressed by the fact that he seemed to have not only completely memorized this song but was able to play it on a different instrument.

When the music concluded, the royals applauded the colt’s performance. The sound of hooves on crystal caused him to snap his attention to them, giving each of them a confused look.

“What are you doing?” he questioned.

“We’re applauding you,” Cadence answered, “It’s a way in saying that it was good.”

“Then why not just say that?” Inverno asked, “Besides, it’s a weird sound to make, just to say that you liked something.”

“Perhaps,” Celestia mused, “It’s about time we start heading back to Canterlot. We’ll send up tutors as soon as possible for you, Inverno, along with a music teacher as well. While your performance here was good, there’s always room for new techniques and music that you can learn from.”

Inverno blinked, “New… music to learn from?”

“Indeed,” Luna answered, “Even we hath learned that in the course of a thousand years, music has had plenty of time to develop and evolve to make it sound better than its predecessors. Perhaps Cadence and Shining could show thee their phonograph, in order for thou to hear new music.”

The colt turned to the couple, looking at them as if asking, “What is she talking about?”

“We’ll show it to you later,” Cadence said. Eventually, the two tall Princesses had to bid their goodbyes, before leaving the Crystal Palace, and its Empire. However, they did not leave until they had reassured their citizens that they had nothing to be afraid of.

Before the Royal couple had to attend their duties for that day, Cadence had fetched out the phonograph that the Princess of the Night had been speaking of. The phonograph, along with a small number of records from Cadence’s personal collection was brought into Inverno’s new bedroom for him to hear.

“How does that thing play music?” Inverno questioned as he examined the device before him.

“Easy,” Cadence smiled as she lifted one of the black records with her aura. “All you have to do is place this record onto the turntable, then gently put the needle into the outer groove of the record. Make sure you have the spring wound up until it feels tight, and the music comes out of the horn.”

Inverno blinked, “You’re just making this up aren’t you?”

Cadence sighed, “Here, let me show you.” She used her magic to put the record into place, then placed the needle on carefully. Inverno watched as the crank handle rotated, making the box “click” several times until it began to sound strained. Cadence then flipped the switch, and the little round table that the record itself was laying on began to turn. Then, to Inverno’s astonishment, he heard music start to emanate from the wide circular mouth.

“Seriously, how are you doing this?” Inverno asked as he stuck his muzzle into the horn of the phonograph.

Cadence giggled, “I already told you how it works. But for now, I must go attend some of my duties for today. I trust that you know how to work this?”

“I think so.”

“Good, I’ll come back later for lunch, the guards will be outside if you needed anything.”

Cadence was about to leave until Inverno asked, “What’s it playing?”

The Princess of Love smiled, “One of my personal favorites, it's Tchaicoltsky’s Symphonic Poem of Roanio and Filliet.”

“Symphonic?”

“Just take a listen; I’m sure you’ll like it.”

9: What to Do with Inverno, in Gb Major.

She had been listening to her citizens’ concerns and disputes for almost an hour. She regularly did this, in order to maintain and improve the Empire that she ruled over. But Cadence was starting to get bored. It was her turn to listen to her subjects and to give advice, but so far, the concerns that the crystal ponies presented were so far only trivial matters such as expanding the railroad to reach the Empire’s borders or asking her about bringing “new forms of media” to the city-state.

About an hour in, Cadence called for a short recess. She had one every day, in order for her to get something to drink before she continued. The palace staff fetched her routine cup of morning green tea and tray of flavorless cucumber sandwiches.

“Your Highness, is it true?” Cadence’s snapped her attention to her newly appointed adviser, Pen Stroke.

“Hmm? What?”

“Sombra’s child,” he said, “Is it true what the other Princesses said about him; that he isn’t a threat?”

“Oh, yes, it’s true; Inverno isn’t a danger to the Empire.”

“Are you sure, though?” The ruby stallion raised an eyebrow.

Cadence took a quick sip of her cup before asking, “What do you mean?”

“I mean that you and the Prince have overthrown Sombra. The citizens of the Empire don’t want anything to do with him, I know. But, with the revelation of this Inverno showing up, claiming to be his son, and therefore his heir, wouldn’t that still mean that the colt should technically be the one who’s running things? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying by any stretch of the imagination that that’s the way it should be, I’m just going by simple logic here.”

“Inverno told us himself this morning that his father was going to teach him how to rule once he was ‘old enough.’ But since he was never taught how, it would seem like a rather bad idea to have him take over without having any idea how to govern.”

Cadence’s adviser nodded, “I see. But the Empire would need a clear statement in what your majesties are planning to do with him.”

The Princess of Love downed the rest of the cup before responding, “Firstly, for his safety, he’ll remain within in the palace while we’ll have him educated. We need to keep him up to date, not only with the standards for colts his age, but to catch up with modern Equestria’s culture like what Luna has been undergoing. Secondly, since he still hasn’t earned his cutie mark yet, we’ll give him space to figure out in what he wants to do with his life. My guess is that it’s going to lean towards a musical cutie mark. As to the third, it’s still unclear.”

“What is?” her adviser inquired as he jotted down what the Princess was saying.

“Inverno is an orphan since his father is dead and his mother is never mentioned. I’m not sure if she’s even alive, nor have any clue to her identity anyway. But if worse does come to worst, I’ll have to speak with my husband with the option of adopting Inverno.”

Pen Stroke dropped his pen and notepad, “A-Adoption?!”

“Hear me out,” Cadence cut her off her adviser before the mare could say anything further, “I’m not exactly sold on this either, but at the given situation, it’s a possibility. After all, both of us need time to consider Inverno’s character, his likes and interests, and what he plans to do in the future. Who knows, perhaps with the right guidance and the right level of kindness, perhaps Inverno could grow up to become a better pony than his father was.”

_*_

“So how’s Inverno behaving?” Shining asked the guards near the colt’s room. They were same guards who, ironically enough, had found the colt, to begin with.

“Oddly enough Sire,” Offence said, “He’s been really quiet in there, and the only sound to come out of there is the phonograph playing.”

“We even checked every once in a while to see if he’s even in there,” Defense added, “The colt has hardly budged, he just sits right in front of the machine, staring off into space.”

“Really?”

“See for yourself,” they both said. With his magic, Shining opened the door, only to find a scene exactly as the guards had described. Inverno sat in front of the phonograph as it played out a Moztrot melody.

“Hey, you okay?” Shining asked, but the colt made no reply. “Kid? It’s time for lunch. Hello?” Shining went over to him, finding the unicorn in the same hypnotic state as he had been in the music room. Shining waved a hoof in front of the colt’s face, but Inverno didn’t even flinch.

Shining took the needle off of the record, and with the music stopped, Inverno was snapped out of his unusual state.

“Huh? What is it?” Inverno asked he looked up to Shining to find confusion on his face.

“Weren’t you listening?” Shining questioned, “I just said that it’s time for lunch.”

He blinked, “It’s lunchtime already?”

“Come on,” Shining started to trot out of the room until Inverno asked him an odd question.

“Did you see it?”

Shining stopped, turning to the young unicorn, he asked: “See what?”

Inverno tilted his head, “You mean you didn’t see it all? It was so new, so detailed, and beautiful. Well, all of them were. Cadence’s records showed me places, ponies, and stories that I didn’t know could exist. I think I’ve seen more than one heaven with these music-playing things.”

“Um… okay then?” Shining said, “Maybe we could send for some more records for you to listen to.”

“Would you!?” Inverno asked excitedly, nearly jumping in place, “I wanna see more!”

“Uh, Inverno, you do know that you can only listen to records, right?”

“What? No! I wasn’t talking about the records, I was talking about the music.”

Now it was the Prince’s turn to look confused, “You do know you can’t see music.”

“Yes, I can,” Inverno disagreed, “I’ve seen them act out a story; other times the music is like a painting in which something beautiful is revealed. They even talk, sometimes, too.”

Shining could only stare at the colt, “How about we just go and get lunch.”

Inverno rolled his eyes, “Fine, let’s go eat something then. And why are you looking at me like that? You must think that I’m crazy or something.”

10: High Notes in Db Major.

“Do you have any paper with some ink and quills to write with?” Inverno asked. The royal couple looked up from their lunches.

“Whatever for?” Cadence inquired as they saw the pale unicorn pushed his plate aside.

“I have an idea of a theme. I want to write it out before I forget it,” he said. Soon, the items he’d requested were brought to him by a servant. Opening the inkwell, he took the smaller fork into his magic and dipped it into the ink.

“Hey, what are ya doing?” Shining questioned. He got his answer when he saw that Inverno was using the fork to draw even lines on the paper. The colt, after drawing out a few lines, lifted the quill to write out the clefs and key signature before starting to jot down the first few notes. Inverno hummed out a tune, bit by bit, before recording it onto the still-wet sheet music.

“So, Shining,” Cadence began, “How has he been doing lately?”

“The kid’s been quiet most of the time,” Shining answered. “He’s been listening to that phonograph ever since you turned it on. However, he did say something weird when I told him to come to lunch.”

“Why? What did he say?”

“He mentioned something about ‘seeing music’.”

Cadence tilted her head to the side, “Come again?”

“Yeah, I know,” Shining nodded, taking another bite from his sandwich. “I’ve never seen anypony this obsessed with classical music since that Cellist from high school.”

“You do know I can hear still you right?” Inverno spoke up, still not taking his eyes off the sheet music, “And really, what’s so weird about seeing music?”

“Inverno, ponies can usually only hear music, not see it,” Cadence commented.

The colt looked up from his work, “How often do you listen to those record things?”

“Whenever I get the chance to do so,” she answered.

“Have you never seen any of the worlds that were being played out?”

“You mean if I imagine something while it-”

“No,” Inverno interrupted, “I mean actually seeing the places, ponies, and what stories they have to tell as it plays out, not just dreaming it up. Have you taken a moment to hear them speak, or watch them draw out their castles? Or seeing those crafted worlds, looking as if everything was made out of clay?”

“Kid,” Shining told him, “I think you might be confusing seeing something from imagining.”

Inverno shook his head, “No it isn’t. Imagining like is seeing things that you know aren’t really there. When the music plays, I actually see them, just like how I see you, this table, or this pen, because they’re real – when there’s music playing, I see them. So why can’t you?”

Both Cadence and Shining Armor blinked, “You’re dead serious here, aren’t ya?” Shining asked.

Inverno grunted, “Of course I am,” he turned back to the sheet music before him, “Now, where was I?” He levitated the paper in his ruby aura, studying it for a moment before he sang out what he had written so far.

Even though he already wrote out a few bars of music, and all he was saying was “Ah,” the colt’s voice sounded very, very odd for what a colt his age was supposed to sound. Even though the couple knew that he was thirteen, around the age when a colt’s voice would deepen, Inverno’s singing voice sounded a bit too high for somepony his age. If anything, it sounded like how a little colt would sing if they were seven or eight, high as a soprano and polished.

Inverno paused as he realized he wrote in a wrong note, “No, that isn’t it.” He muttered as he put the paper back on the table to correct it.

“Whoa,” Shining spoke what was on both his and his wife’s mind. “That’s your singing voice?”

Inverno groaned, “Ugh, what is it now?”

“That sounded awfully high there,” Cadence said, “A bit too high. Inverno dear, you said that you were thirteen, right?”

“Yeah,” the colt answered, starting to get annoyed. “So what is it now, you don’t like my singing either?”

“N-No, it’s not that, it’s just…” Cadence trailed off. Her eyes widened, and Shining knew what that meant, she realized something shocking and sad at the same time. She turned to her husband, “I think we need to have Inverno see a doctor.”

“Hun, what is it?” Shining asked.

The alicorn Princess got up from her seat, “I think I have a theory, which I hope to Celestia that I’m wrong about, but we’ll need a doctor to see.” She went over to the colt, “Come along.”

“Just wait a second,” he said as he jotted down some more notes.

“Now,” Cadence said sternly as her horn lit up, picking the colt right off of his seat.

“Hey!” Inverno interjected as Cadence carried him out of the room, in which, Shining himself got out of his seat as well and followed them.

“Cade,” Shining called out, catching up to her. “Cade, what are you doing?”

“I’m taking him to the physician to make sure of something.”

“Making sure of what?” both Inverno and Shining asked.

Cadence didn’t answer for all the way to the palace’s infirmary, “Excuse me,” she said to the nurse, “Is Doctor First Aid here by any chance?”

“He just got back from his lunch break,” the crystal nurse answered, “I’ll go get him.”

A moment later, a doctor of a light blue color, and sporting a white mane and a doctor’s coat came in. Inverno saw as he approached that the stallion had a Red Cross cutie mark.

“Good afternoon, Your Majesties,” he said politely, taking a little bow to them, “How may I assist you today?”

Cadence lowered the colt in front of the doctor. “We’re here for him,” she answered, “I need you to check something, just to be sure of something.”

“Of course. What’s wrong with him?”

Shining noticed a blush staining his wife’s cheeks as she said: “Well, Doctor Aid, this is going to sound a bit weird… Could you… (Oh Auntie, this is so weird) To be honest, I can’t believe these words are actually coming out of my mouth but… Doc, could you look under his tail for a moment?”

“What?” asked Shining.

“Pardon?” Doctor Aid questioned.

“Huh?” Inverno voiced his confusion.

Cadence clarified, “Look, we just noticed that his singing voice sounded a little bit too high for any colt his age. I- I’m just going off of a hunch here. What I’m asking, Doctor is if you could check to see if he has any, um… royal jewels.”

Shining’s jaw dropped, “Cady! W-What’s all this about?!”

“Something from musical history,” she answered, “Something that I hope that I’m wrong about. But with his singing, I just have to make sure.”

The doctor, uncertain where this was going, compiled and ushered the colt behind a curtain. Shining turned to his wife, “What musical history?”

“I read it in a book on the history of music that Twilight lent me,” Cadence answered, “Centuries ago, ponies up until the Romantic period had a practice in which they would start teaching male singers when they were still young. If the colts were any good at their singing, they would undergo a… surgery, in which two very important parts of the male anatomy, those which cause the voice to deepen, were cut off. This was so that they could preserve their voices to sing like gods and reach notes that no normal stallion could reach. They were called Castratos, which is why when Inverno started singing… it got me thinking.”

“Of what?” Shining inquired.

“What if Sombra has turned him into a castrato?” She frowned for a moment, realizing something, “Then again, why Sombra would do something like this to him? Isn’t the point in having a child if you’re king is so that you could pass your legacy down to the next generation?”

“Or maybe he hasn’t hit puberty yet,” Shining suggested. Just then, the doctor and Inverno returned from behind the curtain.

“Um… Your Majesties,” he said, “May I have a word with both of you in private?”

12: Defiance in C Minor.

Inverno’s mind was restless. For hours, his thoughts had refused him sleep until those questions were satisfied. They demanded answers that the unicorn couldn’t give. He rolled over on his bed. He had lost count of how many times he had done this since he got under the sheets. Inverno tried to distract his mind by focusing on thoughts of his favorite music to drown them out.

He focused on the kind of music that soothed and relaxed him. Perhaps, a few lullabies would keep his demons away.

His mind drifted over to the familiar sound of his pipe organ, back to a memory of him playing a lullaby that sang out a soft, warm sound, a sound of the dark. Yet, as the melody played on, he noticed that the song morphed from the pleasant music of the organ into the disjointed song of moans and cries.

Inverno opened his eyes to find that he was back in the crowded torture chamber with his father again. This time, however, Inverno found himself neither hung from the ceiling nor tied up. He wasn’t the one who was about to be given pain.

Instead, he was standing right next to his father, who was holding a knife in his aura. In front of them hung Shining Armor, or at least, what was left of him. His mane was ripped out, his white coat dotted in bruises, and his mouth was stuffed with an old rag. Inverno saw that his left eye was blackened and swollen so much that it was forced shut. He could only see Shining’s right eye, shining out from under heavy brows, silently pleading for this to stop.

“Today’s the day,” Sombra grinned, “It’s about time for the Grand Initiation.”

Inverno looked between Shining and his father, “Papa? What’s going on? What initiation?”

Sombra knelt down in front of the colt. “Inverno, I believe it is time that you undergo a rite of passage. Today is the day you take my place as King, but before you do, you must complete this one, small task, so that you may become a stallion.”

“What’s that?”

“You see this?” Sombra pointed at what remained of Shining, “It has been a very bad slave. You see, this thing has done something so shameless, that It deserved something severe to pay the penalty. That punishment, as you can see, is pretty much over. But the problem is that he has too many bruises, broken bones, and… hold on for a second,” Inverno watched as his father went up to the Prince, turned around, and bucked him hard in the chest. The colt, in his shock, heard the sickening “Crack” and Shining’s muffled sobbing scream.

“And a few fractured ribs,” Sombra continued, “This means that this filth is too weak and beaten to work. So before I did anything further, I had a wonderful idea. I thought to myself that this would be the perfect opportunity for you to enter adulthood, and take your rightful place beside me.” He levitated the knife over to his son. “Inverno, for your initiation, I want you to finish It.”

“What!?”

Sombra raised an eyebrow, “Problem?”

“Papa… I, I can’t do this.”

“Of course you can,” Sombra cooed, “Trust me, this animal has suffered quite enough as it is. Plus, the suffering that It’s facing is a little too much. After all, a king must learn when to show his strength as well as his mercy. I can assure you; this is the height of kindness for the pig. Look at him, all It asks is to be put out of Its misery. Take it.”

Even being over the zenith of fear, Inverno took the knife into his own magic.

“But Papa, I-I’ve never killed a pony before.”

“It’s not as hard as you think,” Sombra said, “Killing a pony is unsettling at first, but after a while, you get used to it. It’s pretty easy. With that knife, you can finish him off in many ways. Such as a slice at the neck, or a stab in the heart, anywhere on the abdomen, or just simply making him bleed would do nicely. Get creative if you wish. Now go on, make your Papa proud.”

Sombra nudged him towards the pony in agony. Knife still in his ruby aura, he gulped as he slowly leveled the long, sharpened piece of steel towards Shining’s heart. Shining, with his only good eye, shut it tightly with a few more tears trailing down. Inverno looked at him, then back to his smiling father.

“Go on, you can do it,” the King urged on.

Inverno looked at Shining again before closing his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he hesitated. How could he go through with this? Sure, Shining wasn’t his father, but he didn’t do anything wrong either to deserve this. He and his wife for all this time have done nothing but look after him.

Opening his cat eyes, he pulled the knife away, “No.”

There was a sudden Clip-Clop of hooves where Inverno turned to find his father, glaring down at him. “Excuse me?” he said darkly.

“N-N-No P-Papa,” the colt answered nervously. “I-I won’t do it.”

Sombra narrowed his eyes, “Inverno, be a good colt, and do as you’re told.”

“Not like this,” Inverno pleaded, “Not with him.”

“Inverno,” his father said in a warning tone, “Do it, or make me very angry.”

Inverno, even though he was afraid, looked at Sombra in the eye and said, “No.”

Sombra slapped him, knocking the colt down on the stone floor.

His father snorted, “Fine then if you’re going to be this weak, I’ll have to take care of this myself.” Sombra levitated the knife that Inverno had dropped.

Even in pain, the colt felt nothing but the urge to spite his father. He looked over at the knife, and the blade shattered before Sombra could plunge it into the beaten unicorn.

“Don’t you DARE HURT HIM!” Inverno yelled in defiance, his eyes locked on his father, their surfaces glimmering with tears. Sombra dropped the hilt of the blade as he felt pressure around his neck. A crimson light shone as cracks started to form, and Sombra found it hard to breathe.

“Son,” he croaked out, “Stop!”

“Cease and desist!” A voice rang out. Suddenly, all around him, everything Inverno saw cracked and shattered like a hoof to a mirror. The young unicorn covered his head as the pieces fell all around him to reveal the stars of the sky. Above him was a full moon from which a shadow descended, and out of the light of the moon came a familiar looking alicorn.

Inverno blinked, “Luna?”

“Tis so,” the Princess of the Night replied, landing in front of the colt. “We suspected thou might have a nightmare tonight from what Prince Shining has told us. By the look of things, our suspicions were correct. Art thou alright?”

The young unicorn took a few deep breaths, his eyes returning to normal, and he wiped away the tears in them. “I don’t know.”

“We have witnessed what hath happened here, child. For we art somewhat torn by thy actions here.” She laid herself down on her stomach, “On the one hoof, thy courage hast been noted when thou resisted something that thou knows was wrong.”

“Courage?” Inverno questioned, “What courage? I was scared when I disappointed Papa.”

“An act of courage is not about having no fear of anything. For that is the definition of stupidity. The courage thou hast shown was that even when thou were afraid, the bravery to say ‘No’ to thy father is something to be admired. However, thy attitude for what happened afterward is something that we art more concerned about.”

“And that being?”

“Thy anger,” Luna answered, “We sense usage of raw dark magic, one that has a lack of form but can still be extremely dangerous. For magic based in Fear, like thy father was using, or the consuming effect of envy was tamed compared to thy demonstration. If left unchecked, it could be a threat to not only those around thee, but for thyself as well.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Anger, in a sense, is like unto fire – for when used wisely, can be a great servant. But when done incorrectly or not looked after, it can lead to disastrous consequences. Trust us from our personal experience; anger can have an effect on ponies that could take years to recover from.”

“I know,” Inverno slumped, “Papa has already told me this before. But… But sometimes it’s just so hard. How could I not get angry whenever something bad happens? Even when Papa almost…” the unicorn trailed off.

Luna got up and put a hoof under his chin. “Thou still cares about thy father, does thee?”

“He’s… Why would he do this? I couldn’t see how Papa would do anything like that, but…”

“Everypony has a dark side to themselves,” Luna said, as she began to stroll down the path of stars, urging Inverno to follow. “In life, this is unavoidable; the two natures of good and evil are inseparable in everyone and everything. Nothing can exist without having at least the slightest element of the other. For not everything is in black and white. Good ponies have a touch of darkness within themselves, as do evil ponies have a touch of light.

“In the end, all it matters is what thou doest with thy light and thy darkness, to use them creatively, or to leave behind a path of destruction. Thou can be a beacon to lift others up, or a hammer to beat them down. It’s a lesson, we confess, that we’ve learned the hard way.”

Inverno tilted his head, “The hard way?”

Luna sighed, “We admit, there was a time where not only jealousy, but anger too have clouded our thoughts, driving us to an end we later regretted. Looking back on our disputes that could have been resolved with a clear mind, we can only remember them with embarrassment and regret. Besides, turning to dark magic wasn’t exactly the best choice either.”

The Nocturne Princess put a wing over the unicorn, “Besides if thou could take anything from this dream, remember this: Thou art not like thy father. Thou art an innocent colt, whose courage is like that of a lion. But like a lion, such anger must be tamed as well. This is why we art sending a teacher over to do precisely that.”

“What teacher?” Inverno questioned.

“One who has a knowledge of music throughout the ages, a master at the keys, and although his methods we art told are provocative, they have proven positive results in both his student’s skills and attitude.”

Before Inverno could ask anything further, the world around him quivered and shook, and the Princess of the Night took flight.

“What’s going on?” Inverno asked.

“Thou art waking up,” Luna said, flying backward into the moon above. “Fear not, we shall be watching thee when thou needest the most.”

Light and shadowed rippled violently until brilliant light had him blinking the sleep from his eyes.

Yawning, he looked around, only to find that he was in his messy bed in his new room.

“Why do I keep having these weird dreams?” Inverno asked himself.

13: Secrets in G Minor.

“How many?” Cadence asked warily.

“As of now,” the purple crystal guard answered, “We’ve uncovered twelve infants, three foals, and thirteen adults. The cause of death was hypothermia, with all of them.”

In the study, the air was poisoned with a feeling of dread. The couple had been woken up an hour earlier than usual when the Crystal Guard concluded their overnight search of the palace. They were able to find three new apartments and a nursery where they found ponies still changed next to the twelve other cribs. The one other full grown mare was found in one of the secret apartments with the eldest filly of them all.

“Did you at least found out what any of their names were?” Shining inquired.

The guard nodded, “Though a bit of investigating, we have, Your Highness. The twelve infants were named after the twelve months of the year. As for the other three, the eldest filly was named Mola that had an obsession with stories, the second oldest was Verano that had mathematical writings everywhere, and the youngest found in these apartments was a colt, who we guess is a bit older than Inverno was named Outono. And he was surrounded by history books when we found him.”

“So you know these names… how?”

“There were enough papers with their names in their apartment and on the cribs of the nursery to know what the foals’ names were. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to identify any of the adults at this time. So as of now, we’ve had the bodies removed and we’re in the process of reversing the spells from the rooms as we speak.”

Cadence nodded, “Thank you for all of your hard work. Give all those who were involved in the search party the day off to regain some lost sleep.” The guard saluted before exiting the study.

Shining lifted a pot of coffee off from the tray that was prepared earlier. “Twenty-eight ponies in all?” he sighed, “It's good we found Inverno when we did. I don't want to think about what would have happened if the guards hadn’t stumbled across his room..”

“Those poor foals,” Cadence nodded, taking a mug into her own aura, “I can’t imagine what was like for all of them, being cold and in the dark with nothing to eat. And to make things worse, it’s a whole family that was wiped off.”

“Want some?” Shining asked as he lifted the coffee over to his wife. She took it into her own aura and poured the dark drink into her mug. “Cade, I think we should keep this away from the kid.”

“How come?”

“Think about it,” Shining said, staring into the cream and sugar, “At this point, the little guy has it rough as it is. Father dead, being stuck in a freezer for days in the dark, spent some more days in mourning, putting the blame for what happened to the Empire on himself, and the fact that his… er... family jewels are gone... If he finds this out, he’s going to have a conniption.” The Prince took a few gulps from his mug, “I mean, we’ve just seen what he did to the floor when he got angry about hearing the bad news.”

“I don’t think he’s ever mentioned having brothers and sisters, have you?” Cadence inquired as she poured her cream into her coffee.

“I doubt it,” Shining answered, “I mean, just think of what he’ll do when he finds out that he had a family that his dad never told him about.”

They both shivered at the thought.

“You know I can’t comprehend why Sombra would do something this... horrific,” the princess commented. “It’s really unthinkable for any parent to do anything like this.”

“Unless you were Sombra,” Shining pointed out. “Now that I think about it, I see what his plan was. That he intended to create a dynasty from his bloodline, only to make sure that he had control over how his legacy was going to be like, he had to carefully control from each child. That way, perhaps, he was trying to prevent any conflict among his foals without realizing that they had siblings to fight with. But, I guess that he had a plan that if he dies too soon... so does everyone else so maybe they won’t have to suffer the aftermath.”

“Still no excuse to do something so cruel,” Cadance muttered. “But we are going to talk to him about this, aren’t we? I mean, with something as big as this, we can’t hide it forever. Eventually, he’s going to find out.”

“As long as it isn’t now,” Shining clarified, “Later, maybe, but now is just bad timing.”

The two of them just sipped their coffee for a moment; both of them trying to figure out what to say next to break the quiet morning’s silence.

Cadence was the first to speak up: “Shining?”

“Hm?”

“Since we’re alone, I want to tell you that I’ve been thinking about something.”

Shining looked up from his mug, “Thinking about what? The kid?”

“Yes and no. Shining, how do you view Inverno?”

The Prince raised an eyebrow, “Well… kinda torn, to be honest. On the one hoof, I kinda feel a bit sorry for him considering what’s been happening lately. Yet, on the other… as okay as he is, I still kinda get an eerie vibe off of him.”

“It’s because of his resemblance?” Cadence asked, putting down her mug.

“That’s one reason. His eyes alone remind me of... him. The other being that he uses dark magic when he gets mad. I mean sure, his dad used fear, but how do you deal with somepony who gets his power from his own anger?”

“Perhaps through music,” the pink alicorn suggested. “Maybe there is some truth in the saying, ‘Music soothes the savage beast.’ As cliché as it may sound, it could work literally for him.”

Shining chuckled, “Maybe whenever he goes on a wrathful rampage, somepony should play a bit of Moztrot to calm him down.”

“Perhaps it could actually work.”

“You really wanna risk that? Get him angry and then have somepony play some calming music if he doesn't turn someone into ground pony?”

Cadence paused, “... Point taken, I guess... Say, hon, when do you think Inverno’s teachers will arrive?”

Shining shrugged, “I can’t really say, I haven’t heard a word from the Princesses yet. Have you?”

She shook her head, “The same. But it does make me curious as to who’s going to teach him.”

“More importantly, how do you teach him?” Shining pointed out, “After all, he's basically spent his life in a room for little over a thousand years with nothing but his dad, organ, and a slave that’s never spoken to him to keep him company.”

Cadence smiled, “Knowing my Auntie Celestia, she would know best in hoof-picking the best teacher to fit her student’s needs. After all, she and I taught Twilie didn’t we?”

14: Key Signature in F Major.

Three days later, arriving by a pegasi drawn chariot, Inverno’s teacher arrived at the gates of the Empire. The stallion carefully leaped out of the chariot, thanking the gilded pegasi and hoofing both of them some bits from his saddlebags.

Before he entered the Palace, the stallion looked at his reflection from the crystal walls. His orange mane was combed back, the beard was trimmed, and there was no dirt on his yellow coat or the image of piano keys that sat on his flank. Adjusting his glasses, the aged stallion took a deep breath, readying himself to meet a different kind of royalty.

He found a few guards to show him to his new employers. The guards led him through the labyrinth of passages to the throne room.

“Presenting Professor Key Signature of Canterlot University,” a guard announced as he entered the magnificent crystal throne room. On the throne was Cadence, walked down from her seat to greet the professor.

“Welcome to the Empire, Professor,” she said politely. The earth pony, in turn, gave a bow to the Princess of Love.

“Thank you for having me,” Key Signature commented, “It’s an honor to have me at one of the great wonders of Equestria.”

After Cadence adjourned the court, she personally escorted the Professor to his room. “We were wondering when somepony for Inverno was coming,” she spoke aloud. “He was getting a bit anxious about meeting you.”

“Yes,” Signature pulled on the collar of his tie. “Sombra’s child, isn’t it?” Cadence nodded, “To be honest, your Majesty, I’m a bit nervous about teaching the colt.”

“Don’t worry too much about him,” she reinsured him. “I think that you’ll get along perfectly fine with him.”

“What is he like anyway?” the Professor asked as they turned a corner, “I wasn’t given much on who the foal is, other than who he’s related to.”

“To begin with, he can be a bit naïve at times. But I think this is due to living his entire foalhood in a secret apartment. He can be curious about certain things, like for example, he wandered into the kitchen the other day and he almost walked right into a heated oven because he wanted to know why they put pans and trays in them. He’s still in mourning for his father, so watch out for that. Also, as a bit of a fair warning: whatever you do with him, do not make him angry.”

Professor Signature raised an eyebrow, “And why not?”

“You know how Sombra’s dark magic is influenced by fear?”

“I have heard something like that to an extent.”

“His magic is influenced by anger, except the difference is that once he gets angry and things started breaking around him, it’s a bit difficult to calm him down. And one last thing,” the stallion turned to look at Cadence, “Like yourself, he has a love of music. He knows how to play the organ and I think he’s experimenting with the piano. But there’s something else I think you should know.”

“Yes?”

Cadence stopped in front of the door to his suite, “Well, according to him, he claims that he can actually see music as it's being played out.”

The aged stallion blinked, “Pardon?”

“I know how you feel; even we’re not exactly sure what this all means. We’ve noticed that whenever he’s playing or listening to the phonograph, he goes into an almost hypnotic state.”

“Now I’m curious. Where is he anyway?”

“At this time of day, he’s in the Music Room,” Cadence lit up her horn for the earth pony. “This will be your room. When you’re prepared, we’ll-”

“With all due respect, Your Highness,” he said, “I’m already prepared. I’ll unpack later. For now, show me the student.”

Cadence nodded, “Very well”. She showed him the palace’s music room. As they got closer, the sound of organ music was increasingly present as they neared the room.

And then they came to the source of the music. Inverno was at the organ, playing what looked like a ballad off of a hoof written parchment. Even as they entered, the colt never broke his concentration on the music in front of him.

“Inverno,” Cadence started, “I would like you to meet somepony.” When Inverno didn’t respond, Cadence called his name a few times, even waving a hoof in front of his face. Signature, on the other hoof, looked over at what key the pale unicorn was playing, and at a certain point in the music, pressed the wrong note.

Not only did this break Inverno’s concentration, it even made him jump out of his seat. “AGH!” Inverno shouted as he fell backward from the organ’s bench.

“Inverno, are you alright?” Cadence asked, helping him up.

“What just happened?” Inverno questioned. The pink alicorn gestured over to the stallion.

“Inverno, I would like to introduce you to your new teacher, Professor Key Signature, from Canterlot.”

As the colt’s cat-like eyes landed on the elder stallion, the Professor couldn’t help but feel unnerved to making eye contact with what looked like the eyes of a predator, rather than a pony.

“Um… Afternoon,” he said, “My name is Key Signature, Professor of Musicology. I have a master’s degree in music and a bachelor’s degree in history. I’m going to be your personal tutor.”

Inverno blinked, “What’s a degree?”

Signature waved a hoof, “Sorry, it’s college talk for how many years I’ve spent studying in a particular field of interest. You don’t have to call me Professor if you don’t want to. Just ‘Key’ would do nicely.”

“Um… okay?” Inverno sat back down on the bench again. “Are you going to start teaching me right now?”

“If you like,” he turned to Princess Cadence, “I believe I can take care of things from here – and don’t worry, I know how to get to my room from here.”

The pink alicorn giggled, “Alright, if you say so. If you get lost, just ask a guard, and they’ll show you where to go.”

The Professor said that he’ll keep that in mind as he turned back to the young unicorn. “So… Before I start, I do have a question to ask of you. Do you know any key signatures?”

“You mean you?” Inverno asked.

The stallion chuckled, “No, no. I mean do you know signatures like B Major, C sharp Minor, those signatures.”

“Oh!” the unicorn nodded, “Yes, I know them. I know how to play all of them, major and minor.”

“Well, this is going to make my job easier,” Key sighed in relief. “Because I’m planning to teach you in a way than I usually do with my students.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was sent here to not only show you the evolution of music but to also to teach you what happened in all that time. You’re going to be my test subject in a new field of study that I’ve been thinking for a while now. I’m going to teach you history but from the point of view of music. So,” he hopped onto the bench, right next to Inverno. “Tell me, in the Empire, what kind of music do you know?”

“What kind?” Inverno put a hoof to his chin. “Well, there are ballads, anthems, serenades, marches, dances, and canons.”

The Professor nodded, “I see. So tell me, do you know what a fugue is?”

The unicorn tilted his head, “A what?”

“Good place to start,” Key said to himself, “Tell me, do you know how a canon works?”

“Yeah, a canon is where you take a theme and you repeat it at certain times while adding more to it at each round.”

“Very good. A fugue does just that, but it goes further. Not only is there a theme being played over and over, but each voice had a developed melody in what we call ‘counterpoint’. In other words, while the main melody is being played out, the other voices would harmonically relate, but still, have a unique voice. Perhaps I could illustrate what I mean by playing one.”

“I guess so.”

Key turned to the keys of the organ, “May I?”

Inverno motioned for him to go ahead; the Professor pulled and pressed a few buttons before he started to play.

“This one is from the master, J. S. Buch,” Key told him as he started to press the first few keys.

15: Vifilli’s Spring in C Major.

“Stop! Stop!” Inverno cried out. At the foal’s outburst, the Professor ceased playing.

“What’s wrong?” Key took his hooves off the keys, turning to the disoriented unicorn.

“I’m really dizzy,” the colt said, shaking his head. “How is anypony able to understand all of that? There are too many kings talking at the same time, and I can’t figure out what they’re saying or know what's going on.”

Professor Signature raised an eyebrow, “Kings?”

“Well, of course, they were kings,” Inverno stated, “I could tell because they sounded like Papa arguing with each himself. Only, I could hardly get what they’re arguing about.”

The aged stallion laughed, “I admit, I didn’t fully understand Buch’s music when I heard it for the first time. His fugues can be a bit too complex for beginners to understand.”

“You can say that again,” Inverno got out of his seat, stumbling on his four hooves.

“Is it really that bad?”

“Bad?” Inverno trailed off, “Those kings were going around and around, rambling about something. It might have been better if I at least understood what was going on. But all it did was making me dizzy.” The colt stumbled over to the leg of the piano, grabbing hold of the wood to steady himself.

Key got off the organ bench and trotted over to the pale unicorn. “But I still don’t quite understand what you mean by ‘seeing kings’.”

“Oh great, don’t tell me you don’t see them either,” Inverno grumbled, trying to hold down his lunch.

“To tell the truth, I don’t,” the Professor told him, “This is the first time I’ve ever heard of such a thing. Tell me, out of curiosity, what did you see when I was playing that piece?”

Inverno closed his eyes, “I’ve already explained this,” he said, “There were four kings. They were arguing with each other... I think. I guess something over who has the better crown while one repeated what the other had said. All of them were going around and around to the point that I couldn’t tell if they that were moving or it’s the room that’s spinning.” He opened his eyes to look at the elder stallion, “What’s the point of it? Is it supposed to make me dizzy?”

Key Signature chuckled, “The Fugue, like most music at the time, was all experimental. In fact, when Buch wrote it, Equestria was undergoing what I like to call, the Age of Curiosity. After Star Swirl had opened up ponies’ eyes to what magic could achieve, many wondered, ‘What else could I do with this?’ Thus began a movement where ponies wanted to explore, well, everything.”

“Like what?” Inverno asked, letting go of the piano leg as he got his sense of balance back.

“Well… With Buch about nearly four-hundred years ago, before, nopony ever questioned if, for example, a canon could be more than a theme being repeated over and over. Or what if a band had five or ten of them playing violins at once, along with the other instruments? It wasn’t just music, though. Ponies began to experiment with almost everything around them. Asking questions like, ‘Where does the sun go at night?’ or ‘How can creatures with wings fly?’ and so on.”

“So like me trying to find out where my food comes from?” Inverno asks.

“Exactly,” Signature nodded, “And so much more. At the time before Buch, in this case, your time, the Empire did leave behind something that has changed Equestria’s culture.”

“What’s that?”

“You see,” Key explained, “Before the Princesses came to power, and even before the three tribes became unified, the Pegasi were once known for two things: Having a strong army, and creating a sophisticated culture. In early records, the Pegasi had struggled for perfection in everything they did. From their fearless armies, to try to capture realism in their artwork, and even their monuments they tried to convince the world that they were great at everything they did. But then, at their decline, that idea for perfection was lost. That was until the Crystal Empire was found. This city’s culture has not only have integrated the ideas of the Pegasi, but they reintroduced it to the world in what the Prench called it, the Renaissance or Rebirth. Yes, that movement started here, even when the Empire fell, the ideas of it, however, spread through the newly united Equestria.”

“What does this got to do with music?” Inverno questioned.

“You see, this idea of perfection, including perfection in music, started here. But when music reached the Age of Curiosity, ponies experimented with what more music could do. I mean, sure, a march could be just something to keep time with everypony else, but composers went one step further.”

Inverno saw the Professor walking up to the piano’s keys, “Tell me when you hear this, what comes to mind?” As the stallion sat down at the Piano’s bench, he added, “This time, I want to tell me what you see as I’m playing. Can you do that?”

“Um… maybe. I guess I can try.”

Key Signature rolled his eyes and began playing away. He looked over to the colt, seeing his eyes widening at each bar he played. “So can you tell me what you’re seeing?” the elder stallion asked.

“I see the sun,” Inverno stated in a dreamlike state, “It’s rising up from behind the mountains. Everywhere there are flowers, but there are no grave markers anywhere. It’s like these flowers aren’t sad about somepony having died in the dungeon, but they’re happy that the sun has arrived… I see a line of water with stones, with this green stuff nearby it.

“There are ponies, too, as young as I am. They don’t show any fear; they’re happy as the flowers. I think they’re playing a game with a ball that goes everywhere. They’re kicking at it; I think they want to know how far it’ll go.”

“Do you see yourself in this?” the Professor asked.

“I don’t know,” Inverno answered, looking down. “I can’t see myself in the water, but maybe that’s because it’s moving too much. Let me see if I can talk to them,” Inverno walked stiffly away from the piano, put a hoof to his mouth and called out, “Hey… Hey, over here!” he paused, “I don’t think they can hear me. It’s like I’m not even here. But look at them, why are they so happy? I don’t understand.”

Signature watched the colt as the young unicorn started to look upward, “Even the Pegasi look happy. But what for? What do they have to be happy about? They’re just playing around… Wait… They’re saying something…” Inverno paused for a long time, trying to concentrate as the music continued to play on. “I don’t know for sure,” Inverno finally answered, “But I think they’re saying that it’s the Earth’s birthday or something like that.”

“The Earth’s birthday?” Signature inquired.

“I’m not exactly sure what that means either, but they’re saying something about how they’re happy because the Earth is happy too.” The Professor abruptly ended the piece, snapping the colt from his hypnotic state.

“Now that is truly fascinating,” Key commented, “Because what I’ve just played was the opening of the Four Seasons called ‘Spring’, by Vifilli. And what I found fascinating was that what you just said fitted almost perfectly to what the composer had in mind.”

“Really?” Inverno tilted his head.

“For you see, in this time period of Buch, Vifilli was also experimenting with what music can do.” Key lectured, “What he did in this piece, was that he tried to paint an image in ponies’ minds of all four seasons in his violin concertos. The fact that you’ve mentioned flowers, a sunrise, and everything celebrating of a rebirth of nature goes to show that the Red Angle had done his job in painting this picture in your mind.”

“What’s a concerto?” Inverno asked innocently.

The elder stallion smiled. This was going to be a very interesting student to teach.

16: After Class Breakdown in E Minor.

Professor Key took out his pocket watch from his saddlebags, and after looking at the time, he turned to his student. “It’s nearly five,” he told him, “Sorry for that, my lectures don’t usually take this long.”

“It’s okay,” Inverno said, hopping off the piano. “I liked it, really; I didn’t know there’s so much more than what I usually write.”

“You mean you compose?” Signature inquired, the little unicorn nodded. “Really? How long have you been composing?”

Inverno thought hard for a moment before answering: “Five? Maybe six? I’m not sure really. Papa had taught me how to read and write music before I learned the alphabet.”

“Wow,” Key blinked, “Now you’ve gotten me curious. What have you written?”

The unicorn shrugged, “Just a few songs, some canons, and plenty of anthems for Papa…” Inverno trailed off, his face drooping, he asked, “Do you think that he even listened to any of them?”

“Who?”

“Papa,” Inverno answered. “I just found out what he did to those sla- ponies,” the colt quickly corrected himself, “It makes me wonder if there’s something else that I didn’t know about Papa. I mean, did he even play any of them? I worked so hard to get them right, you know.”

“What makes you think he didn’t?” Key questioned.

“It’s just, I don’t know,” the colt said, “I don’t know if he bothered to even play them or have somepony else do it. I don’t know why I was kept behind a locked door. I don’t know why Papa lied to me…” as Inverno ranted on, the elder stallion saw that his eyes were starting to light up, along with his horn. “I’m just sick of everypony keeping secrets away from me. I’m tired of being lied to!”

“Inverno,” the Professor cautiously approached, “This is nothing to get upset ov-”

“How would you know?!” Inverno snapped, “How would you like it if everything that you ever knew was just a big, fat lie?!” he questioned as he stomped down on the floor, making the crystal ground crack blood red from underneath his hoof.

Alarm bells, whistles, and trumpets were going off in Key Signature’s head. Seeing the ground beneath them was breaking like thin ice, he had to think quickly. He’d need something to help keep the colt calm.

Looking over at the piano, he suddenly got an idea. Rushing over as Inverno grew increasingly angry, the Professor started to play the most calming music that he knew.

Inverno’s rant slowly died out, looking over his shoulder, and the crimson light that shone from the cracks faded with each passing bar. Even the glow surrounding his horn died down as well. Inverno turned to face the piano, but this time his eyes widened, once again being put in a hypnotic state.

After playing a few more bars, Professor Key stopped. “Better?” he asked.

The young unicorn shook his head to clear his mind, “Y-Yeah, thanks.” Inverno paused for a moment before saying, “I’m starting to get hungry. It’s probably time for dinner anyway.” He turned, trying to leave quickly, but before he could, his teacher called out.

“Hold on for a moment, come back.” To his luck, the colt paused. “What was that about?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to get upset,” Inverno apologized, “I don’t know why I did that. Y-You wouldn’t tell Cadence or Shining about this…? Would you?”

“I’m not sure if I could guarantee that, after all,” Key Signature pointed to the cracked floor, “How else am I going to explain that?” Inverno’s ears folded back in embarrassment, “What I will tell you, however, is that I’m not the one upset over your actions. If anything, you’ve helped me a little.”

Inverno tilted his head to the side, “How?”

“In my years of teaching, it is my responsibility to know where my student’s limits are. I need to keep a balance to know when I need to be tender or strict with whom I’m teaching. You see, Inverno, I’m one of those last teachers who use their student’s emotions as a teaching tool, especially because we’re dealing with music.”

“How does me getting upset have anything to do with music?”

“You’d be surprised,” his teacher replied, “But for now, it’s starting to get late, you need dinner and I need time to reflect. You may go now,” with that, the colt trotted out of the room.

Once he was out of sight and out of earshot, the aged stallion walked over to the cracks in the floor. Running a hoof across the fractures in the crystal, he muttered to himself, “Yes, I’ve certainly got my work cut out for me.”

_*_

Key looked up as he heard a knock on the door to his suite, “Come in,” he said.

The door opened, “Professor Signature?” The stallion in question turned to find Shining Armor entering the room.

“Ah, Your Highness,” the Professor bowed respectively to the Prince. “About time I’ve run into you. I’ve met your wife earlier today.”

Shining nodded, “Yeah, so how’s the first day with the kid?”

“I would say we’re off to a good start,” Key answered, turning back to the tea set that the servants brought earlier. “Would you want some?”

“No, but thanks anyway. I’m here to get your view on your new student.”

“Fair enough,” the Professor sighed, as he pours his cup out. “Cadence was right in that he does seem naïve, but at the same time, he’s willing to learn, which is good news to me.”

“Yeah, what about the damaged floor in the Music Room?” Shining questioned.

“Oh, that,” Key nodded, putting a couple of sugar cubes into the cup. “He almost had a mental breakdown after lessons were over. But I was able to calm him down.”

“How?”

“Have you ever heard the phrase, ‘Music soothes the savage beast?’ As it turns out, that proverb happened to be true in Inverno’s case. All I had to do was play out a lullaby to get him to calm down. He was embarrassed about it the whole ordeal after he relaxed. Nopony got hurt, which is good, but it did give me a good idea of what I’m dealing with.”

“Yeah,” Shining nodded, “We wondered if that would work, and you just proved it. At the same time, you have to remember that you’re dealing with an unstable colt. If no one is careful, he might turn the Empire, if not the whole country to ruins if he has a fit.”

“On the contrary,” Key said before taking a sip, “I’m planning to use his anger to his advantage.”

Shining was completely taken aback at the statement, “What?”

“Let me clarify, Your Grace,” Signature put his cup down. “I’ve heard that you were once part of the Royal Guard, right?”

“I was a captain in the guard.”

“Tell me, with all of those who you had to look after, did any of them ever get angry, or you?”

“Well, yeah, all the time. But what does this got anything to do-”

“I’m getting to a point,” Key interrupted, “Be it in a Military or teaching music, we both know a critical key factor in what we do is through discipline, correct?”

“Well, of course,” Shining agreed.

“The way I see it, you can’t just suppress an emotion, especially anger, nor get rid of it. Trying, either way, is unhealthy for anyone. So, whenever my students wanted to learn how to play an emotional piece, the first step is to get them emotional, and the next is to teach them how to use that emotion constructively.”

The Prince blinked, “And how are you planning to do that when he practically has the powers of the Saddle Ranger whenever he gets angry.”

“Who?”

“Um… Just some… Superhero I’ve heard about,” Shining muttered under his breath.

“Anyway, don’t worry about it,” the Professor stated, “I’ve dealt with difficult students in the past. Even with his magic, Inverno’s no exception. All I ask from your Majesties is to trust me, I know what I’m doing.”

17: A Lesson in Moztrot in D Major.

The next morning, after breakfast was eaten and schedules are given out for the day, Inverno went straight to the music room, where he found his teacher waiting for him.

“Good morning,” Key nodded, “I thought that before we dive into today’s lesson, I think that we should take a bit of a field trip.”

“Field trip?” Inverno raised an eyebrow.

“We’re just going to be wandering around,” The Professor said, taking the lead, “Now come, there’s much to see.”

Confused, the young unicorn followed the elder stallion through the corridors. “Where are you going?” he asked.

“Since you’re technically not allowed to leave the palace, I’m going to do the next best thing. I’m going to show you the lives of those that keep this place running.”

“Why?” Inverno questioned, “How does this have anything to do with music?”

“It’s something that I have to show you in order for you to understand today’s lesson.”

They passed by hallways and down staircases until they reached the lower levels of the palace, a place where a small army of maids, butlers, waiters, cooks, and even some of the guards conducted many of their duties. Inverno was shown the clothes and sheets washed in the laundry rooms, the intense focus of cooks in gigantic kitchens, the complex system of dishwashers as they cleaned each and every piece of fine china.

The colt heard the ringing of bells; the commanding orders from head butlers, cooks, and maids; the ‘flop’ of wet laundry, the clinking sound of silverware, the scrape of armor as the guards walked by.

Yet, amongst the chaos, Inverno noticed that there’s a kind of harmony out of all of them, like pieces of a restless timepiece. Sometimes, a laundry maid would ask a guard to help unload a pile of clothes into the soapy water. Other times, waiters would ask butlers to straighten out their tray sets.

At the same time, neither he nor his teacher went unnoticed by the workers. Nearly all of them tried to keep a distance from the colt. Whenever Inverno entered any of the rooms, he would receive looks, some anxious, while others held nothing but despise.

“Who let the monster in?” Inverno heard one of the maids mutter through her teeth.

“Careful,” whispered a butler, “He might take over the Empire any day now.”

“Maybe he’s here to crack the whip on us,” a cook muttered into the pot he was mixing.

Annoyance and shame, that was what Inverno felt as they passed by. Even as they made their way back to the Music Room, Inverno could still feel their cold looks on him.

“You alright?” Professor Key asked.

“Do you think I’m a monster?” This made his teacher stop dead.

“What?” Inverno repeated his question. “Why would you ask that?” the stallion replied.

“Well… Those servants said that I’m the monster. So... am I?”

“Do you really think you’re a monster?”

“Well no but...” the young unicorn trailed off.

“Yes?” the Professor raised an eyebrow.

Inverno sighed and said, “Look… Key?” the elder stallion glanced towards him. “I-I don’t really know what to think. My Papa said that a monster is a scary thing that kills everything for no reason. He told me that the Princesses of the South, Celestia, and Luna, were monsters because they would do awful things to their subjects. But now… after meeting them and finding out what Papa really did… I don’t know. I mean, you saw what happened when I got angry right?”

“Yes,” Signature nodded, “I remember.”

“It got me thinking… Could it be possible that I might become a monster?”

“Do you want to?”

“No-”

“Then don’t,” Professor Key interrupted, “As simplistic as it might sound, being a monster can be easy to give into. But it’s not your only option, understand? What your Papa did shouldn’t determine what you want to do.”

“Try telling the servants that,” Inverno replied with a scowl.

Sighing, the elder stallion walked forward, “Mind if I tell you a story? And yes, it does have something to do with today’s lesson.”

“What story?”

“I don’t think you know much about Moztrot, do you?” Inverno shook his head, “Well then, W.A. Moztrot is today considered one of the greatest composers that have ever lived, high up there with Buch and Beethooven (we’ll get to him later). Anyway, when Moztrot was four, his father discovered that he was not only able to understand music quicker than his other children, but he could play and write music too. He started writing his first concerto piece when he was four years old, his first symphony at seven, and an entire opera when he was twelve.”

“So he’s been writing music since I’ve learned how to write music too?”

“More or less – as I was saying, Moztrot’s father saw that at an early age that not only could his son write music brilliantly, but he could play magnificently as well. So, for the sake of becoming rich, his father took the family to tour the great kingdoms of the day.

“As time went on, the young Moztrot grew ever so restless with his father. He wanted to make a name of himself other than a little genius underneath his father’s ever overprotective eyes. Well, one day, he broke away from his father to become his own stallion and worked for both himself and for commissions. At first, things went well with him, his operas were getting noticed, Kings and Emperors praised his music, and one day, he ended up marrying the mare he loved.

“However, the father didn’t approve the marriage, so you could imagine that the both of them were quite upset with the other. They were so mad at one another that Moztrot wrote to a friend, ‘My father is nothing but an uptight, bitpinching, arrogant, miser that cared more about how much bits we have than the music I’ve written.’ Pretty harsh, no?”

“What’s bitpinching?” Inverno asked.

“It means someone who is always too stingy about money, making sure they hardly spend anything that isn’t useful,” the Professor explained. “For a while, the two of them had come to despise each other, until one day, Moztrot heard the news that his father had died. Even though they were angry at each other, deep down, Moztrot still loved his father. So he became depressed, even angry, and sometimes blamed his sudden death upon himself. But what he did next was never done before.”

“What’s that?” Inverno tilted his head.

“He composed another opera, called Don Geovanni; it’s the darkest of all of his operas. You see, at the very end of it, a spirit comes on stage to accuse the villain, and that if he doesn’t apologize for his crimes; he shall be dragged down to Tartarus. What Moztrot actually did was he wrote his father into that character, basically to accuse his son of all to see and hear of the crimes he committed against him. In other words, he captured his distress, his anger, and fears of the future into music for the entire world to sympathize with him.”

By this point, they had arrived at the music room. When they entered, Inverno noticed that the phonograph was in the room too, along with a pile of records sitting on top of the piano.

“It was from this experience that Moztrot discovered something important,” Professor Signature went on, “He discovered that he could use real-life experiences, from himself and those around him to create wonderful music. You see, music up to this point was only written for those who were powerful and wealthy. A kind of background music to demonstrate their greatness to anypony that came in contact with them.

"Moztrot did something different. Not only did he make music personal, for the first time, but he also wrote music for everyone to enjoy. He did this by breaking the opera tradition that only myths and legends are only used in opera, instead, he created music about realistic, everyday events.”

“So… Something like writing a piece of music that reflects somepony’s life, like any of the servants?”

“Exactly!” Key said, putting a record on the turntable. “He pioneered the idea that through music, he could make the ordinarily become legends, while they, the legends, become ordinary.”

“So what are you doing?” Inverno inquired, as he saw his teacher crank up the phonograph, before putting the needle onto the record.

“Let me play you a little something,” he said, as the music began to flow out of the machine. The Professor sat down on the piano bench and took out a pencil with a notepad. He added: “Now tell me what you see.”

Inverno stood there for a moment as the fast pace march sprang to life. As expected, his eyes widened, and the colt immediately looked around the room. “I see servants,” he said, “Lots of them; this whole place is crowded with them. And so loud too! There’s too much talk going around. Something about getting ready I think. Butlers are checking waiters and maids making sure the ceiling is polished.”

“The ceiling?” Key inquired, taking down his notes.

“Yeah, there’s a giant mirror on the ceiling, and those pegasi maids are polishing it with cloths.”

“What are they doing now?”

“I don’t know,” Inverno answered, “They’re going all over the place. Some of them are carrying laundry, others silver plates, and there are those that are trying to tell everypony what to do. It’s really weird though.”

“What is?”

“That it’s all servants. There’s no master or anything, it's just servants doing stuff.”

It was right then that Professor Key lifted the phonograph’s needle. “That is exactly what Moztrot was intending. This comes to my point that his music tends to capture the grandeur of not just those in power, but for common ponies as well.”

“But why though?” Inverno asked, his eyes returning to normal. “Why make music for everyone?”

“I’m glad you asked,” the Professor said. “At the time Moztrot was writing his music, it was all taking place during what is now known as the Age of Enlightenment. It was during this time that a revolutionary idea had begun to take place. An idea that Celestia had adopted into her rule for centuries, is that all ponies, servants or nobles, baker or musician, are all created equal. Where all ponies shouldn’t be judged by what they are, where they’re from, what their cutie marks represent, or even what class they belong to – but by the character they put forth. The same line of thinking goes to stallions and mares, zebras and gryphons, Kings and subjects - that they are all deep down, living, thinking, and feeling beings.

“In music, Moztrot was one of the composers that adopted the Enlightenment into his music, where each instrument, each voice, and even melodies have their chance to shine.”

Inverno scratched his head, “Huh? Well, that’s new… Could you play something else from Moztrot?”

“I can,” Key went over to the phonograph, taking up a particular record to be played.

“And one more thing,” Inverno added before his teacher could put the needle to the record. “When am I going to start playing?”

Professor Signature thought for a moment, “I’ll tell you what. Tomorrow, I’ll bring something for you to play. Would you prefer to do it on the organ?”

The colt shook his head, “I want to play the piano,” he answered.

“Fair enough,” he teacher said, switching the phonograph on for the record to spin.

18: Introducing Sir Spike in F# Minor.

“Presenting Twilight Sparkle, and the Honorable Sir Spike the Brave and Glorious!” the guard announced to the entire throne room. While nearly everypony bowed as the lilac unicorn and the baby dragon entered, Cadence instead rose from the crystal throne and trotted over to Twilight.

“Twilight!” Cadence called out as the two of them met in the middle, sharing the same welcoming grin that the unicorn had before they both initiated their traditional greeting.

“Sunshine, sunshine,

Ladybugs awake!

Clap your hooves,

And do a little shake!”

Spike rolled his eyes as the two mares giggled. Of course, having been around the unicorn mare as long as he had, he was very familiar with the greeting of Twilight’s former foalsitter. But after a while, the rhyme and dance got old for the little drake.

“Hey Cadence,” Twilight nuzzled the older alicorn. “How’ve you been doing?”

“I’m doing well,” Cadence answered, “I didn’t know you were coming back here so soon, Twilie.”

“Same here,” the unicorn admitted, “Princess Celestia sent me here, to be honest.”

“Let me guess, Inverno?”

“Sombra’s foal,” Twilight nodded, “Yep, that’s what I’m here for. I’m here to see if there’s anything that could be done with his magic. Now I was made aware that he already has a teacher here at the Empire, but Celestia sent me to see if there was anything I could do to help him with his magic.”

“In other words, a bit of insurance in case something goes wrong. I see,” Cadence nodded, she turned to the baby dragon. “Hey there, Spikey. How’s it been, little buddy?”

“Oh, nothing much, just keeping myself busy,” Spike said.

“That’s good to hear. Tagging along with Twilie?”

“Well, I am her number one assistant, after all. Plus, by the look of things, it looks like the Empire is doing pretty well.”

Cadence rubbed one of her forelegs, “Oh, it’s been improving, a little bit at a time.”

“Aww, don’t be like that. I’m sure you and Shining can handle it”

“Speaking of which,” the Princess of Love muttered as she turned to a few nearby guards. “Would you please escort Twilight and Spike to find my husband?” After they saluted, Cadence added to Twilight, “Sorry, but I still have some work to take care of. I’ll see you two for dinner tonight?”

“Of course,” Twilight smiled, “We’d be glad to.”

The Crystal Guards escorted the heroes of the Empire through the palace’s corridors. After trotting through the labyrinth of crystal and asking some of the palace staff, they found the Prince inspecting the Guard barracks. As they entered the room filled with bunk beds, chests and guards standing at attention, they saw Shining Armor as he went from guard to guard, making a few comments along the way.

“Polish that helmet… Straighten out that locker… Keep that blanket tucked,” Shining said from one guard to another.

“BBBFF!” the Prince turned around to find his little sister dashing through the barracks.

“Twilie?” Shining blinked, “What are you doing here?”

“Sir Spike in the barracks!” one of the Guards shouted, and in unison, every guard that stood at attention saluted as the baby dragon entered.

“Uh… At ease?” Spike said in confusion, and as quickly as they saluted when he appeared, the Crystal guards dropped their hooves.

“Well, this is unexpected,” Shining acknowledged, “Welcome back, you two.”

“Hey Shining,” Spike said, “Mind explaining why all of them saluted me?”

“You were a huge help in saving the Empire, remember?” the Prince reminded him. Shining turned to the guards in the barracks. “We will be resuming training at fourteen-hundred hours. Do I make myself clear?”

“Sir, yes sir,” the barracks rang out.

Shining Armor dismissed the guards in the barracks and followed his little sister and her assistant out. Once back into the crystal maze, Shining asked, “So what brings you to the Empire again, LSBFF?”

Twilight explained to her older brother what she said to her wife, “So, this Sombra’s colt,” she added, “What is he like?”

“Well, he’s really into music, as you are into magic,” Shining answered. “For a little guy, he’s curious with nearly everything around him since, you know, he was locked up in the dark for a long time. Oh, and there’s something really important that the two of you should know.”

“What’s that?” Spike asked.

“Whatever you do, don’t make him angry,” Shining warned, “Trust us, he has already caused some damage to the palace already, and we’re trying to be careful not to let anypony get hurt.”

“I know, Shining,” Twilight told him, “The Princesses have already told us what to watch out for. So don’t worry, just show me the little guy, and I’ll take care of the rest.”

“Alright,” Shining said. As they got closer to the Music Room, they could hear somepony playing a very complex piece on its keys.

“You’re crazy,” a young voice spoke up after the music died down, “Play all that back?”

“Come on,” said an older voice, “You’ve been doing well so far.”

They heard an audible gulp, just a moment before the piano sprang into life once more. As they entered, Twilight and Spike saw sitting at the piano, a very young, and extremely pale unicorn sitting by the piano with an older stallion. The colt’s hooves were a blur as he tried to play back as best as he could the tune that the teacher had shown him.

When he was finished, his teacher applauded him, “Very good!” he said, “Moztrot would have been proud.”

Shining cleared his throat, getting their attention. Inverno, as soon as he saw the mare and the drake asked, “Who are you two?”

Twilight trotted up to the colt, “Um, hello there, my name is Twilight.”

The young unicorn blinked, “And?”

“I was sent by Celestia to study how your magic works,” she explained.

Inverno leaned over until he was able to see the dragon, “So who’s the other one?” he asked, getting off the Piano bench, “And what is he?”

The baby Drake walked up to the colt and offered his open claw, “Hey there, name’s Spike. Spike the dragon.”

Inverno stared at him, slowly hardening his gaze, “What?” he said harshly.

“Uh… I-It’s Spike.”

“Spike?” he interrogated, “As in Spike the Dragon that killed my Papa, Spike?”

The baby drake turned a lighter shade of purple, “Um…” Spike saw the colt’s eyes and horns were starting to glow a hostile red light.

“Oh no you don’t,” Shining said, quickly lit his horn and putting the colt inside a bubble before Inverno could pounce on the little dragon.

“LET ME AT ‘IM!” Inverno shouted. “HE MURDERED PAPA!”

“W-What?” Spike asked, nervously stepping back.

The pale unicorn pounded on the shield, his horn ablaze, as Shining was struggled to keep the colt from killing the Empire’s hero, the stallion’s bubble cracking.

“Twilight, Professor, a little help,” At the same time, Twilight lighted her horn to strengthen the shield as Key turned to the piano. The elder stallion hesitated for a moment, trying to concentrate on what to play while the colt having a conniption thrashed inside the bubble.

“LET ME OUT!” Inverno demanded, “HE KILLED PAPA!”

“Anytime, Professor,” Shining said. Then, an idea came to Key Signature’s head and started playing what was on his mind.

The little unicorn continued screaming: “HE’S THE MONSTER! HE SHOULD BE THE ONE TO BE KILLED, NOT PAPA!”

Spike was taken completely aback at this. Sure, he had heard demeaning comments about him being a dragon before. But none of the things he’d heard ever included somepony who wanted him dead.

“Inverno! Listen to me!” Shining called out for the angry unicorn’s attention, “Killing Spike won’t do you any good.”

“Yes, it will!” Inverno snapped at him, “If he was the one that blew up Papa, then he must be too!”

“Would it make any difference?” Twilight joined in.

“What are you talking about?” Inverno questioned.

“Would hurting Spike bring Sombra back?”

It was there that Inverno halted his tantrum, taking a moment to process the question. At the same time, he also heard the music playing. Inverno’s magic faded, his eyes widen, and he turned over to the direction of the piano.

“Papa?” Inverno asked, catching everypony off guard, “Is that you?”

It was here that the Professor ceased playing, “What?”

Inverno shook his head, “Huh?” he looked around confused, at which point Shining decided to drop the shield.

“You alright, kid?” Shining asked, the colt turned to him, but he also got a glance of the dragon as well.

Inverno didn’t say anything. He marched out of the room, but before he left, he paused for a moment at the baby dragon as he passed by... and spat in his face.

“Inverno!” Shining said, he starts to make his way out of the room but stopped in front of Spike who was wiping the spit off of his face. “You alright Spike?”

“I think so,” he answered.

“I’ll go try to talk to him,” Shining turned back to his sister, “This may take a while.”

Twilight nodded and watched her BBBFF go after the colt.

19: Argument in C# Minor.

“Kid!” Shining called out to the colt ahead of him. “You stop and come back here.”

“Why should I?” Inverno kept walking.

Shining trotted up to the young unicorn, “Look, I get that you don’t want to talk-”

“I don’t,” he interrupted as he walked around the Prince, “Go away.”

“No.”

Inverno turned around, Shining saw that his eyes were glowing but his horn wasn’t.

The older unicorn, lighting up his horn added, “Not until you apologize to Spike for spitting in his face.”

“What!?” Inverno exclaimed, “You want ME to apologize to that monster!?”

“He’s not a monster,” Shining sternly said.

“For killing Papa?” the two of them looked each other down in a death stare.

“No,” the Prince finally said, “For you acting like him.”

“Don’t you dare talk about him like that!” Inverno shouted, his horn glowing. “I’m not like him!”

“Prove it then,” Shining told him, “Prove to me that you’re the better stallion here.”

“Why should I do that? You and your wife are just a guilty,” Inverno said, narrowing his eyes at the other unicorn. “Oh yeah, I’ve heard the tales about you two. Not only have both of you had wiped out an army but if they’re right, you were involved in Papa’s death too! And so is your witch of a wife.”

Shining levitated the colt until he was right in his face, “Don’t you dare talk about my wife like that,” he said through his teeth.

“Like how you talked about Papa several nights ago?” Inverno questioned. “Yeah, even before I knocked, I’ve heard you call Papa a monster. If any of those maids were right, and you had a hoof in murdering Papa, so I wonder who the monster really is.”

The Prince didn’t say anything.

Inverno continued, “So how about you apologize to me?”

“I will not apologize for something that I knew was right.”

“So you did kill him after all?”

“If Sombra was never defeated, you would never be out here. And those Crystal ponies wouldn’t be free.”

“But I’m not?” Inverno questioned, “They are free to come and go as they please, but I’m not allowed to step outside of the palace?”

“It’s for your own protection,” Shining said, “Now you march back there, and say that you’re sorry to Spike.”

“You are not my Papa,” the colt said through his teeth, “And you don’t get to tell me what to do.”

“Kid, if you want even the slightest bit of respect from anyone, you need to stop thinking that you get to play the immunity card because you had it rough. Believe me, I’m trying every day to convince the Empire that you’re a better pony than Sombra was. So how about you prove to me that you are that better stallion by being one?”

Inverno growled, “Ugh! Alright! Fine! I’ll tell the creature I’m sorry! Happy now?!”

“As long as you improve your attitude,” Shining told him as he carried the irritated colt back to the Music Room.

As expected, Spike was next to Twilight, who was talking with the Professor. Forelegs crossed, Inverno was carried in front of the Dragon and dropped before him. Inverno looked to the ground, neither his horn nor his eyes glowing any longer.

“Well?” Shining said. The young unicorn muttered something under his breath, “What was that?”

Again, Inverno mumbled something inaudible.

“One more time,” the white unicorn said, “And speak up a bit.”

Inverno looked up, glared at Spike and said, “I’m sorry that I spat in your face.” He turned to Shining, “Can I go now?”

“Better, and yes you may,” with that, Inverno left the room. The Prince turned to his little sister, “I’m so sorry for things getting off on the wrong hoof, Twiley. I honestly never expected something like that would happen.”

“It’s okay,” Twilight said, “It wasn’t your fault that he would react to Spike like that. Although we may not be here for long, I think I can safely say that we should keep him and Spike apart for a while.”

“I’ll say,” Spike commented, “He looked like he wanted to rip my head off.”

“Your Majesty,” Professor Key interjected. “Once Inverno is calm enough, I believe I know fully how to teach him to maintain his anger problem.”

“You do?” Twilight asked, “Professor, how are you planning to do that?”

“Simple,” he said, gathering up his notes, “I’ve decided that tomorrow we’ll discuss somepony who was known to be angry, but produced the world’s finest music.”

“Like who?” Spike inquired.

“Beethooven,” the Professor answered.

_*_

By the time dinner rolled around, Inverno, unsurprisingly, never showed up. And neither did Cadence. Shining, Twilight, and Spike were making guesses as to what the pink mare might be doing.

“It’s not like her to be this late,” Shining commented. “She’s usually here before me.”

“Maybe it’s nothing,” Spike shrugged, gobbling the third bowl of sapphires that the servants happily refiled. “She might be caught up in something for all we know.”

“Good point,” Twilight said, downing her glass of sparkling lemonade. “I remember that I was so caught up with studying that I completely lost track of time.”

“Is this before or after you moved to Ponyville?” Shining teasingly asked. He chuckled. “But seriously, how is it, anyway?”

“There’s hardly a dull day with all the girls,” she replied. “I mean, sure, the town has its crazy days with the occasional monster attack.”

“What?!”

“I know it sounds threatening at first,” the violet unicorn explained. “But it’s nothing that any of us can’t handle. If anything, the town is as used to monsters as it is rainy days.”

Before Shining could ask anything else, a door bursts open with a Crystal Guard out of breath, “Sire,” he said panting, “Cadence… Needs you…”

Fearing the worst, the three of them rushed their way to the couple’s suite.

“Cadence!” Shining called out as he entered, “What… happened?”

As it turns out, the Princess of Love was sitting on the bed, with a foreleg held behind her back and wearing the widest smile any of them ever seen her.

“Uh… Hon, is everything alright?” Shining asked.

His question was answered when Cadence suddenly jumped out of bed and pounced on her husband to give him a crushing embrace.

“Shining!” she said with all the joy in the world in her. “You’re not going to believe this,” she pulled from her back a couple slips of paper where they looked like they were dyed in blue ink.

The Prince blinked, “Blue?” he looked up to his wife. “Cade… Does this mean… Are you…?”

“I’m pregnant!” Cadence shouted with joy.

20: The Fifth Symphony in B Major.

The next day, Professor Key carried on his back a piano transcription of Beethooven’s Fifth Symphony. While confident with today’s lesson, he was a bit nervous about how Inverno would react considering what happened yesterday.

Signature paused for a moment and adjusted his glasses. 'What do you have to worry about?' he thought to himself. 'This is a necessary evil after all. It has worked with your past students before, why should this be any different?'

Key continued onward towards the music room, 'Other than the fact that I’m taking a huge gamble. The colt could literally break me in two if this goes wrong. No, I have to get this right. He has to get it right. But if it fails… At least I had a fulfilling life.'

As expected when he entered through the door, Inverno was waiting for him. “Morning, Professor Key,” he said, Signature taking note that he has a better attitude apart from yesterday. “What are we doing today?”

“I have a special assignment for you,” the elder stallion said, taking the sheet music off his back. “I want you to take a look at this, and play it for me.”

“Um, before I do that,” Inverno said, going over to the organ bench which, as Key Signature noticed, it had what looked like hoofwritten music laying there. The younger unicorn picked the music up by his magic and gave it to his teacher.

“What’s this?” the Professor asked as he took the music in his hooves.

“It’s something I wrote,” Inverno explained, “It’s uh… It’s a memorial to the Crystal Ponies from what Papa did to them.”

The gears in Key’s complex mind turned, forming an awful idea, “So, like a musical form of an apology?”

The young unicorn nodded, “Yeah, it took me days to get it just right.”

Now the Professor knew what to do, “How about this, you play this,” he gave Inverno the piano transcript, “And I’ll take a look through what you’ve written here.”

“Alright,” Inverno said, taking the symphony into his aura. “Now let’s see what…” he trailed off when he opened up to the first page of the Beethooven masterpiece. The colt stood still for a moment, flipping through several pages as if he couldn’t believe what he’s seeing. “What am I looking at?” he questioned himself, “What is all this?”

“That,” Professor Key answered, “Is a transcript of Beethooven’s most famous symphony, his Fifth Symphony. I want you to play it and see what your impression of it is.”

Inverno looked at the elder Earth pony as if he lost his mind, “Are you serious?”

“I am. Unless it’s a little too complex for you-”

“No, I can play it. It’s just…”

“It’s just what?”

Inverno shook his head, “I don’t know. I’ve never seen music like this before.”

“But can you play it?” the Professor inquired.

“Just give me a moment,” the colt said as he climbed to the piano bench, putting the music on the stand, Inverno studied it for a moment. But before he could play, he saw that his teacher had moved to pry the lid of the piano open and propped it up.

“Continue,” Key said, taking a seat next to the piano.

Inverno put his hooves on the piano and played the first eight notes before the Professor interrupted, “Louder,” he said. The unicorn played louder than that, but his teacher wasn’t satisfied, “No, louder than that!”

“But I don’t play louder than that,” Inverno told him.

Sighing, his teacher replied, “Inverno, I’m going to take a wild guess and say that you’ve been taught to make music a beautiful sound, right?” The colt nodded. “Forget that. I do not want a beautiful sound. With some music, perhaps, but not with this, this piece does not want beauty. You see here,” he pointed to the “sFz” marks. “This is Sforzando, it means to play as loudly as possible. So with each note, I want you to really attack it. Play again.”

Inverno repeated the first eight notes, still not fulfilling what his teacher wants.

“No, no, that’s not it at all,” Key shook his head. “It looks like you need some motivation.”

The young unicorn watched as he saw his teacher took hold of his music into his mouth and trotted to the other end of the piano where Inverno could see him.

“So, if I’m going to motivate you into what the composer had in mind.” his teacher said, taking the first sheet into his hooves. “Allow me to present to you, a gift.” To Inverno’s horror, he watches the first page of the music he worked for days being torn up.

“What are you doing?” Inverno asked in alarm as he saw the Professor grabbing another and tearing it to pieces. “STOP IT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” he shrieked.

“Motivating you,” was all his teacher replied after ripping the third page, moving onto the fourth.

“LEAVE IT ALONE!!” Professor Key paused as he saw that Inverno’s eyes were glowing.

“What do you feel now?” his teacher asked. “Dread? Sadness? Rage? Do you want to kill me?” Key held up the fourth page and ripped it. “Forget beauty for a moment, forget all the etiquette you’ve been taught. None of that matters now,” he held up the fifth page and saw Inverno’s horn glowing. “Play for me what you feel. Tell me that I’m the monster through music; rip me apart through the music you have. Now play!”

Inverno, giving his teacher the death stare, lifted his forelegs up in the air, how that blood red aura was on his hooves, slammed the first eight notes down on the keys. For a moment, it was as if the piano could barely withstand the beating that the enraged colt was giving. Beethooven’s Fifth Symphony rang out its fiery melody not just in the Music room, but it even echoed in the crystal corridors.

It was so loud, that it got the attention of the Palace staff, from maids to Guards, from servants to the Royal couple, the palace was filled with the music of the piano. The staff made their way, each investigating where the sound was coming from. A crowd of the Crystal Palace staff clustered before the open entrance of the Music Room, they were astounded to find that all this noise was coming from the colt that each and everyone was trying to avoid.

Inverno was attacking the piano, yet the music was still clear. He was playing on it so hard, that everypony was worried that the piano might collapse beneath him. Yet, they noticed, sometimes the volume of the instrument fluctuate from crashing thunder to a gentle song and back

Soon enough, even Cadence and Shining Armor came to the Music Room. Even when they both entered the room, neither of them made the effort to stop the young unicorn from playing.

_*_

At the height of the musical crescendo, Inverno slammed his hooves at the final notes. Huffing, he felt like he had fought and survived a bloody battle, he was taken completely by surprise when the next sound wasn’t his teacher saying, “Again,” but it was applause.

He turned around, for a moment it was as if the entire Palace was cheering. He turned to his teacher, finding that he was stomping his hooves as well.

“Now that,...” he said, “...is exactly what I wanted.”

“That was amazing,” Cadence said as she trotted up to the little colt. She noticed something as she approached the young unicorn. “Wait… What’s that?” she asked, pointing to his flank.

Confused, Inverno looked down as what she was pointing at.

It was his cutie mark.

21: Beethooven the Great in Gb Major.

Four violet hollowed "B's" (in which Inverno instantly recognized as the key signature of F Minor) that was surrounded by a dark blue snowflake, the symbol of the Empire. That was what Inverno saw on his flank. “Huh?” the colt interjected, “W-Where did that come from?” He tried to rub the mark off of him, only to find that the image felt was as if it were part of him.

“Well, what do ya know,” Shining commented, “You got yourself a cutie mark.”

Inverno tilted his head, “Cutie mark? You mean this thing that I can’t get off?”

“It’s not supposed to come off,” Cadence said, “Do you know what a cutie mark is?”

“Uh… no?” the answer the colt gave surprised to everyone in the room.

His teacher blinked, “You honestly have no idea what a Cutie mark is?”

“I thought it was something that… uh… they would have.” Inverno pointed to the Crystal Ponies. “I mean, Papa never told me about Cutie marks since we never had one.”

“Really?” the royal couple said in unison.

“So what does it do?” the young unicorn inquired. “Will this thing last long?”

“It shows what you’re passionate about,” Cadence explained, “Your Cutie mark is something that stays with you for the rest of your life.”

“Will it change me?”

“Not at all,” the Professor joined in, “If anything, it shows who you are, not who you will become.” He then turned to the royal couple, “With all due respect, I would like to continue teaching Inverno until we’re finished.”

“Oh, of course,” Shining nodded, “But Inverno, we’ll talk about this later, okay?”

The colt shrugged, watching the Palace staff returning to their duties.

Alone once again with his teacher, Inverno turned to him, “Did you really have to tear up my music, something that I’ve worked hard on for the past several days?”

“I am sorry for doing that,” Professor Key explained, “But I felt it was necessary for today’s lesson.”

“And what’s that?”

“Playing out your emotions,” Key started to pick up the tattered remains of Inverno’s music. “This is an idea that Beethooven had pioneered in. Before, music was a pleasant distraction for those of the upper class. Something to reinsure the world that everything is fine, happy, and beautiful. Not that it’s a bad thing, but after centuries of nothing but that, it became boring. But when Beethooven came along, he not only single hoofenily changed the idea of music, but all of history as well!”

“How?” Inverno questioned.

“Tell me something,” the Professor said, putting the torn music on the piano. “When you compose, what sort of ideas to you put into your music?”

“Ideas?” the unicorn trailed off, thinking for a moment. “Well… Armies marching… Papa being King… the Crystal Ponies… That’s it really.”

“With Beethooven, he took the idea of music one step further than that. He, and arguably Moztrot were the first to use musical ideas from their experiences in their lives. You see, where Moztrot had experimented, Beethooven perfected it. The earliest form from Beethooven had taken to revolutionize music was from his Third Symphony: The Eroica. A Symphony dedicated to then, General Napoleon Bonaparte’s battles, where he artistically made his music violent for the first time in history.

“He was the earliest composer to integrate emotion into music, feelings that almost had never been done, such as aggression, joy, depression, loneliness, confidence, all just to name a few. In fact, I would go as far as saying that he was the Great, Great, Great, Great, Grandfather of modern Metal music. A kind of music where it’s full of anger, rage, violence, frustration, all because of,” Key played the first four notes of the Fifth Symphony.

“But why was he the first to do it?” Inverno asked. “I mean, yes, even when I played that, it sounded like this Beethooven knew exactly what I felt right there.”

“I believe it was due to the fact that half of his life, over half of all the music he’s ever written, was done when he became deaf.”

Inverno blinked, “Deaf? What’s deaf?”

“Okay,” Key thought for a moment, “Try to imagine that instead of hearing this,” he started playing the piano for a few bars, “All you hear, is this,” then he suddenly took his hooves off the keys, but moved around as if he were playing. “Imagine that you can’t hear anything, that no sound would come to your ears. Try to think that you couldn’t hear the music of the organ, the piano or even other ponies voi-” even though his lips still moved, Inverno couldn’t hear his teacher talk.

“What?” the colt asked, but no sound came out of his teacher’s mouth, even though it moved. “You’re not saying anything. Can’t you just tell me what you’re saying?” Same result. “Aren’t you going to speak up?”

Key Signature pointed at his student, “There, just like that,” he said. “Imagine that moment, but it keeps on going. That even when you play music or even sing, all you would be able to hear is silence.”

Inverno was stunned, “That’s… That’s horrible. No, that’s worse than death, I would rather lose my sight than not be able to hear.”

“But that wasn’t the case for Beethooven,” his teacher explained. “As horrible as it was, by the time he wrote his greatest masterpiece, his Ninth Symphony, he couldn’t hear a single note of it.”

The young unicorn went quiet for a good solid moment, “But… How can he write anything if he can’t hear it?”

“Even after he went deaf, he was still able to hear all the sounds of the orchestra in his mind. Remember, he was still able to hear in his early years and knew what note every instrument made. Even after he went deaf, he could still record what was in his mind. I think it was because of this, that he couldn’t hear anyone else’s music, which he was able to turn to himself and express to the world what he, himself, felt. Of course, he was always angry after he went deaf, who wouldn’t? Even isolated, lonely, even depressed, because he wasn’t able to hear what everypony else was saying to the point where they thought he went crazy. A lunatic. A monster even! But that didn’t stop him.”

“Why?”

The elder stallion put a hoof on the colt’s shoulder, “Because through music, Beethooven expressed his deepest emotions, his hopes, dreams, and nightmares to the world; it was the only way he could find peace of mind. He told music, not through how the rest of the world saw it, but from his point of view. And it is because of that, everything, not only in Equestria but for the entire world changed. After he died, all of the art, from writing to sculpturing, even music became a form of self-expression for all artists. Because of him, Beethooven became the composer’s composer.”

22: Reintroduction in Db Major.

“So what am I going to do with these?” Inverno asked the Professor, holding up the broken manuscript.

Key held a hoof to his chin, “Perhaps that mare from yesterday might help you. Twilight, at least I think that’s what her name was. Anyway, she has been looking forward to teaching you.”

“Where is she teaching?”

“I think it’s in the library, do you want to go see her?”

“Right now?” Inverno questioned, “Isn’t there anything more you want to teach?”

“As of now, I think we’ve just covered the major part of the lesson, so,” he turned and put the Beethooven symphony on his back. “You’re excused. And don’t worry; I’m sure she probably knows a thing or two in repairing that score.”

“I certainly hope so,” Inverno muttered under his breath. The colt trotted over to the Palace’s library, where Twilight said she’ll be. When he arrived, Inverno half expected to find the fiendish dragon to be there too. But to his relief, Spike was nowhere to be seen.

“Come in,” Twilight said, gesturing him over to a table with piles of books and scrolls. The colt trotted over to the table, “Have a seat,” she said, pulling up a pillow next to her.

“Uh… thanks,” he said, taking a seat next to the violet unicorn.

The two of them didn’t say anything, for a moment, they both tried to think of something in what to say to the other. Twilight was the first to speak up, “So… I’ve heard you just got your Cutie Mark. Congratulations on getting it – that must be exciting, right?”

“I guess,” another awkward silence fell in the room.

This time, Inverno was the first to speak, “So, what do you want?”

“Well,” she began, “I believe we got off from a bad start from yesterday. So if you wouldn’t mind, is it possible that I may reintroduce myself properly?”

Inverno shrugged, “I guess. Say, where’s that dragon anyway?”

“Spike won’t be joining us today, concerning from what happened the other day, I don’t think it’ll be the right time for either of you to talk.”

The young unicorn snorted, “That’s an understatement.”

“So anyway,” she turned to him, lifting a hoof in front of the pail colt. “Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle, yours?”

Inverno stared at the hoof presented to him. “What are you doing?”

“Offering you a hoof shake.”

He tilted his head to the side, “Why?” he asked.

“It’s just the proper thing to do when you meet somepony for the first time, ” she explained.

“But why? Isn’t just saying, ‘Hello’ enough?”

Twilight flipped through the index in her mind and tried to pull an answer from her library like brain until the colt interrupted her thoughts.

“Inverno. My name is Inverno, and I was wondering,” he lifted the broken score up, “Can you help me fix this?”

“Oh absolutely,” Twilight opened up one of the books, “Just give me a moment to find that particular spell…” As she scanned through, she tried to come up a conversation for both of them to discuss over. “You know, even though I won’t be here for long, I think there are many things I can teach you.”

“What do you mean you won’t be here long?”

“Well,” she flipped through another book, “I have other obligations in Ponyville and ponies that need me. I will only have a week to see what I can teach you.”

“Ponyville?” Inverno asked, still completely confused. “What’s Ponyville?”

“It’s where I live,” Twilight explained, “It’s a town where my friends reside. Ah! Here it is!” she said, finding the chapter she was looking for. “So Inverno, out of curiosity, what is it that we’re repairing?”

“It was something I was working on for days,” Inverno told her, “Until the Professor tore it up.”

Twilight was taken by surprise at this, “What? Why?”

“Something about motivation to get me to play with emotion,” he saw Twilight looking between him and the tattered papers before smiling.

“I guess this will be good practice,” she said as she lifted up all the pieces in her purple aura. Twilight rearranged all of them until the edges fit together like a puzzle. “How about I teach you a little trick? I tend to do this if one of my books gets damaged.”

Inverno saw the mare taking one of the pages, and saw that the pieces were fusing back into one. He reached forward to the repaired sheet and took it into his hooves. The page looked new, with the music was legible once more.

“How did you do that?” he asked, flipping both sides of the page.

“Let me show you,” she levitated another broken page over to the colt in which he took it into his own ruby magic. “First, look carefully at the page. Notice the shapes of each piece and how they would fit together. Now, put all the pieces back into place. Good. Next, imagine how all the pieces would become whole again, start from one line and work your way to the others.”

Inverno did his best as his new teacher told him; he concentrated on each piece and imagines them becoming one. He saw two of the pieces fusing like closing a door in a darkened room. With two pieces becoming about half a page, he moved onto the other pieces, and one by one, the fractured manuscript was whole again.

“This is easy,” he commented as he moved on to the next broken page.

“Repairing spells aren’t that hard to master,” Twilight said, “Well, that depends on what you’re repairing.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it all depends on what you’re repairing and what the material is made out of. For instance, if something is soft like fabric or paper, it is very easy to put it back together again. But if it’s something hard like metal or jewels, it requires a higher concentration and skill to repair it.”

“Oh,” was all Inverno said as he finished up the page before moving onto the next one. “So… Why are you here?”

“Why?” Twilight blinked.

“Yeah,” Inverno nodded, “Is it because those Princesses send you?”

“That’s part of the reason.”

“What’s the other?”

“My big brother is here.”

“Big… Brother?” Inverno ceased his repairing for a moment, “What’s a brother?”

“You know, a brother, a male sibling.” She was greeted with a blank stare and sighed, “It means we’re related by a parent.”

“Oh,” Inverno acknowledged, returning to his work. “So who are you related to?”

“Shining Armor.”

“What?” The colt said in surprise, dropping his repaired manuscript. “You and Shining?”

“Yep, siblings,” Twilight nodded, “I’m his little sister.”

“Really?” He trailed off before asking, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah…?”

The pale unicorn shook his head, “No you’re not. You’re too nice.”

Twilight was taken aback at this, “What does that suppose to mean? Shining never hurt you, didn’t he?”

“Well… no. It’s just I don’t like him very much.”

“Care to explain?”

Inverno sighed, “Unlike Cadence, at least she calls me by name. He on the other hoof only calls me ‘Kid’. He’s alright, but it’s just that he almost doesn’t want anything to do with me.” He looked at Twilight in the eye and asked, “Did I do something wrong?”

“I don’t think so,” she answered, making a mental note to have a little chat with her BBBFF later.

“Then why?”

“Um… Maybe it might have something to do with your eyes?”

“What about them?” Inverno blinked.

“Well, I think that you kinda resemble…”

“Papa...” The young unicorn finished the mare’s sentence. “Do I really have Papa’s eyes?”

Twilight nodded, figuring that it’s probably best not to lie about it.

“So what,” Inverno questioned, “I may have Papa’s eyes, and his teeth,” here, the colt showed his teacher his fangs. “But is that any reason to lock me up in the Palace?”

“I don’t think it’s solely because my brother is keeping you here out of spite,” Twilight said, lifting his chin up with her hoof. “The Crystal ponies out there aren’t exactly ready for you since your father’s memory is still fresh in their minds. Trust us when we say that we’re doing it out-”

“Out of my protection,” Inverno finished her sentence. “But when do I get to go out? I want to see what it’s like out there. I want to know what’s in this Empire and beyond it, to see what the South, the North, East, and West are really like. Why can’t I be free? Can you tell me that?”

In all honesty, Twilight Sparkle wasn’t sure how to answer Inverno’s questions.

23: Opportunity in Ab Major.

As the evening wane on, Key Signature was deep in thought as he sipped his tea. 'Was I a little too hard on the little guy?' He wondered, 'I mean sure, he may have received his Cutie mark, and it did teach him a valuable lesson. But was I a little too cruel in doing that?'

He shook his head, 'No, come now! You know that you’ve done worse… Yeah, much worst…' Signature took another sip of his tea. 'On the other hoof, you did the same thing to your granddaughter. Well, not exactly in such a fashion but… Perhaps I ought to repair the damage while I still can. But how?'

It was then that the Professor heard something from his window that startled out of his thoughts. At first, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, so putting his tea down, Key went over to the window to investigate.

There, on the edge of the Empire, the Professor saw lights moving, then slowing down at the gates. It was a train and a team of ponies that moved about like ants, laying out the line of tracks to the Empire’s front door.

“Professor Key Signature?” he turned around to find Cadence, knocking on the opened door. “May I come in?”

“You may, Your Highness,” as she entered, the elderly Earth pony offered the Princess some of his tea.

“I already had some, thank you.” Cadence said, “I’m here to ask you a few things.”

“Let me guess, about today’s lesson?” Key guessed, and the pink Alicorn nodded. “Alright, what do you want to know?”

“I was told that you gotten him upset by tearing up his composition.”

“Yes, and...?”

“Why did you do that?”

“Motivation,” the Professor answered, picking up his tea. “At least I’ve demonstrated to him that there’s a constructive way that he could use his anger without becoming a danger to anypony. It looks like that plan had worked beautifully.”

“But you do realize that was an awfully risky move though.” Cadence pointed out, “As effective as it was, you have to be extra careful with him.”

“I know, you’re not the first to say that on behalf of my students you know. When it comes to certain music, playing with emotion is almost always required. Sometimes, a student wouldn’t understand the piece their playing unless I evoke the emotion that the piece requires. Sometimes, that requirement means that I need to. I confess, manipulating their emotions to get that music just right. And I know what you’re thinking?”

“Isn’t that a bit extreme?” Cadence questioned.

“Some may view that, but as for me, it always has shown positive results. As well as to show my students how to be emotionally mature. That is what I was doing with Inverno. Although, sometimes I do tend to feel guilty about doing things like this.”

“How so?”

“Well…” Key trailed off. He refilled his cup before he answered, “There are times when I look back and think if I have gone too far. As effective as it is, the last thing I want my students to view me as if I’m some sort of villain. This is why I need to meditate on how to make it up to the colt, so he doesn’t think that all music is all unfair play.”

“If it helps,” Cadence began, nibbling on a crumpet. “Inverno told me that Twilight had helped him repair those pages you’ve torn, much to his relief.”

“Thank you,” Professor Key nodded, “And just out of curiosity, is that the railroad coming to the Empire, Majesty?”

Cadence craned her neck over to the window, “Ah, right on time,” she grinned. “With any luck, my ponies will have access to all of Equestria by tomorrow, and Equestria will visit the Empire as well.”

“I’m sure they would,” he said, sipping his tea. “I wonder who else from the outside world will be bringing in first.”

“From what I’ve heard,” Cadence began walking out of the suite. “The Royal Philharmonic is expected to be here to perform a concert to welcome our ponies to the Modern day.”

“Is that so?” By now, the gears in the elderly stallion’s head were turning.

“Quite. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to make it, but I’m sure it might be something you may look forward to.”

“Oh! I will, Your Majesty,” even when Cadence bid him good night and closed the door, the Professor’s mind was at full speed. Now he had an idea how to make it up for the little unicorn.

_*_

Inverno didn’t see nor hear anything. As far as he could see, it was all a silent void. He tried calling out a while ago, but even he couldn’t hear anything coming out of his mouth, even though he knew it moved.

Suddenly, he was blinded by a bright light. After blinking, he saw a spotlight on a piano, as if it were waiting for him. As he approached, he could make out vaguely from the darkness that he was on a wide stage with faceless ponies in the shadows.

He had no idea what he was doing here. Was he supposed to play? Play what exactly, he didn’t know.

Inverno sat down at the bench before the black piano, took a deep breath, and decided that he should play out a favorite anthem. He put his hoof on the key and… nothing. The colt pressed the key again, but it was still quiet. Confused, he looked over into the inside of the instrument. The strings and hammers were still present, but the unicorn noticed that no matter how hard he pressed any of the keys, it refused to make a sound.

“Any time now!” he heard somepony in the audience shout. Soon, there was a murmur among the crowd, making Inverno even more uncomfortable.

Sitting back down, he tried to play out the anthem he had in mind, but he still wasn’t able to hear anything. “Louder!” And by the looks of things, neither was the audience. He tried pounding at the keyboard as hard as he could, but even then, the piano refused to sing.

Inverno panicked as his audience got restless. He didn’t know what to do, even trying to talk to them didn’t work because he couldn’t make a sound either.

What was going on? Why can’t he hear anything other than the audience’s disapproval?

Then the ground began to quake, everything around him was moving back and forth, “Inverno.” A voice called out, “Hey Inverno, wake up.”

Inverno awoke, finding that the Professor was shaking him in his bed, “Are you up?” he asked.

“Huh? What?” in Inverno’s confusion, his mind was trying to make out what was going on.

“Well good morning to you too,” the Elder stallion said, pulling the blankets off of him. “Come on and put these on,” he threw some clothes and a pair of sunglasses onto the colt’s bed. “We’re going on a field trip today.”

“What’s going on?” Inverno asked, wiping his eyes, “What time is it?”

“Pretty early in the morning, but we’ll need it because I have a special plan for today. Inverno, how would you like it if we stepped outside for a bit.”

“Outside of, where?”

“The palace of course,” this got Inverno’s attention.

“What!? But… I’m not allowed-”

“I know that,” his teacher interrupted. “But after all, I put you through the other day, I want to make it up to you. So, how about we get you in disguise and sneak around the Empire for a bit.”

Inverno stared at the Professor, “But what if we get caught?”

“Then, we’ll get caught,” Key answered, “Besides, you do want to see what the world is like out there right?” The young unicorn nodded, “Shall we take a look?”

24: Freiheit, Schöner Götterfunken in Eb Major.

“So I’m pretending that I can’t see?” Inverno asked, looking at his teacher through the dark sunglasses. “Isn’t these glasses enough? I can hardly see what’s in front of me anyway.”

“That’s because it’s still dusk,” Key replied, “Once the sun is up, you’ll still be able to see through, but at the same time you need to act as if you’re blind.”

“But why?” the young unicorn asked, looking into his reflection on the crystal walls. He had on his dark sunglasses that covered his red serpent eyes. His long, messy mane was tied back into a knot. Over his back was a saddle bag that was large enough that it covered his cutie mark. And on his horn, it had bandages on it.

“Because,” the Professor explained, urging the colt to move along. “The more innocent and non-threatening you look, the less likely anypony would want to ask questions about you.”

“Are you sure this will work though?” Inverno inquired, “I mean how we are going to get past the guards?”

“Don’t you worry,” the elder stallion said, adjusting his saddle bag. “Just leave it to me. And once we get close to those guards and outside, I need you to lean on my foreleg. Because sometimes, blind ponies who are led by another pony tend to lean on them for guiding them around, you got that?”

“I think so.”

Soon, they were at their exit, where a couple of Crystal Guards were there. Standing there with bloodshot eyes, they jolted their consciousness awake when they noticed them approach.

“H-Halt,” one of them called out, as both of them crossed their spears. “Nopony is allowed to exit the Palace at this time.”

“And neither is the colt,” the other Guard added.

It was here that the Professor reached into his saddlebags and pulled out two bags and a lime green bottle. “How about a trade?” he inquired, “If you two would just turn a blind eye for just a moment, you two in return will get fifty bits each.”

“We’re not allowed to accept bribes,” they both said in unison.

“Did I mention that I would throw this in?” he lifted up the bottle. “I found this while I was wondering around in Sombra’s old cellar. I think it’s a kind of wine with a funny name: Des larmes de cristal Baies.” This got their attention, “You know this?”

“The tears of Crystal Berries?” one guard answered. “The sweetest and smoothest wines to have been ever made – I never knew the tyrant even had it.”

“It’s the only one that I could find with that name,” the Professor said, starting to put the bits and the bottle back into his bag. “But I can see that you won’t let us pass, so I’ll-”

“Wait!” They both said.

One of them said, “While we can’t accept any bits from you… I don’t think there’s anything in the rules against rare wines, do you?”

“I don’t think so,” the other Guard replied. “So… Maybe just this once.”

“Splendid,” the Professor grinned, giving the bottle over to the guards. “And don’t worry about the foal,” he added, “I swear on my life that I will look after him.”

After taking the bottle, both guards lifted their spears, “Go now before anypony catches you.”

“Thank you,” Key said as he and Inverno walked outside.

The two of them walked down a flight of stairs until they found themselves outside. They stepped out to a wide open space where at the center, suspended in midair between two pillars was a spinning heart that looked as if it was made out of blue crystal.

“What’s that?” Inverno asked, approaching the item.

“The Crystal ponies call it ‘The Crystal Heart.’” The Professor explained, “It what holds the whole Empire together, and what makes Crystal Ponies, well, crystal.”

Inverno took a step closer to the spinning heart, “I think there’s something inside it,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“Look,” he pointed a hoof at it. “It looks like…” Inverno stared at the heart, the images inside seemed to have reflected back at him. At first, he couldn’t make out what was inside, but as the Heart slowed down, the picture became clearer. He noticed that it wasn’t just one image, but two. One showed him standing on a pile of rubble of broken crystal. His eyes and his horn were glowing brightly as the sun, giving a silent roar he stomped on the pile to reveal parts of other ponies buried in the shattered crystal.

On the other, he saw himself, but taller, older even, wearing some dark clothing waving a white stick around. He was surrounded by musicians and instruments of every size, shape, and description. His older self turned around and bowed to the inky darkness as the dark threw flowers at his hooves.

“Inverno?” Key Signature broke his concentration on the heart. “Looks like what?”

The pale unicorn turned back to the spinning heart, finding that the images were gone.

“Uh… nothing,” he said, backing away from the spinning artifact.

“Well,... come on now,” the Elder Earth pony said, “We got an Empire to explore.”

The sun now peaked above the mountains, bathing the tiny crystal kingdom in its warm rays. Inverno can now see up close, the very buildings that he’d seen from afar. He saw the buildings that although not as tall and magnificent as the Palace, each was unique in color and shape.

Ponies began to wake up from their slumber, and one by one, they emerged from their homes. Shops opened up left and right. Soon, the air was being perfumed with the smell of pastries from bakeries’ ovens. Ponies prepped up food and goods from stands, that although tired, they all had a satisfied smile on their faces.

“What are they doing?” Inverno asked, leaning over the Professor’s foreleg as he was told.

“By the look of things, they’re opening up shops for the day.”

“What’s a shop?”

“Well, a shop is when somepony sells, or trade whatever they have made and exchanged it for bits, or money.”

“Why?”

“Why what?” Key looked down at the colt in confusion.

“Why do they trade bits for stuff?”

“A bit is a representation of something that’s valuable. For example, if you wanted to buy cherry, you would trade one bit for one cherry. But if you want something like say…” The elder stallion looked around the opening market to fit into his example. He spotted a booth where an alabaster mare was setting up jewelry. “If you wanted to buy a necklace with real gems in it, you have to trade them more bits.”

“Well, that’s just weird,” Inverno commented, “Couldn’t you just trade a necklace for a neck-AGH!” the little unicorn jumped when he felt stepping into something odd.

Key Signature looked down and quickly found what made him jump. Not paying attention, he realized that they were stepping into a park area where there was grass growing. He saw Inverno quickly stepping back on the smooth crystal road.

“What was that?!” the colt asked in alarm.

“It’s grass,” the Professor said stepping on it. “Grass is a thin little plant that you can walk on.”

“Walk on?” Inverno questioned, “I don’t want to walk on that again.”

“Why not?”

“It… It just feels weird,” he explained, “It’s like stepping on string that’s made up something odd.”

“Just step on the grass,” Professor Key said, “It actually feels nice. Come on, just try it.” Although reluctant, the colt was able to put a hoof over the plant known as grass. He moved his hoof around as if he were feeling a stringy fabric.

“Not only that,” the elder stallion continued, “But it’s edible too. Although, I wouldn’t recommend it because it’s a little too bland for my taste.”

Curious as to the Professor’s meaning, the disguised unicorn bent his neck down to take a bite out of the grass, only to quickly spit it out. “You’re right,” he said, “It really needs dressing.”

_*_

“Inverno?” Shining knocked on the colt’s door. “Hey, you up? Breakfast is ready.”

No answer.

“I’m coming in, okay?” The Prince said, opening the door. He expected to find the young unicorn to still be in bed, only to find it both empty and already made.

“Kid?” he asked out loud, “Hello? You in here?” He checked the bathroom, only to find it empty as well. “Come on, breakfast is going to get cold. Where are ya?”

He searched under the bed, in the closet, even behind the shower curtain, only to find no trace of the colt.

“Where is he?” Shining asked himself, exiting the room.

25: Tochter aus Elysium, in G Minor.

“What do you mean you can’t find him!?” Both Cadence and Twilight asked in alarm.

“I mean what I’ve said,” Shining replied, “I can’t find the little guy anywhere. He’s not in his room, the music room, his old room, or anywhere else for that matter.”

“But he can’t just disappear like that,” Cadence pointed out, “He must be somewhere in the Palace.”

“Maybe, we could organize a search party,” Twilight suggested.

The royal couple nodded, “Agreed, you and Shining do that, while I go find Professor Signature,” Cadence added as she headed towards the direction of the elderly stallion’s suite.

_*_

“So what happened after Beethooven?” Inverno asked, nibbling on something called a cinnamon roll.

“Well,” the old Earth Pony explained. “Beethooven had created a new era in terms of both music and art in general, called the Romantic Period, to put it in a nutshell in this time.” He took a sip of water, “All you need to know is what the mindset was about, it all has to do with size and intense emotion. Here’s what I mean, in music, for example, orchestras got bigger playing music on an epic scale that demanded more for both players and listeners than ever. On the other end of the scale, you can use only a single instrument to unleash one’s innermost thoughts and feelings.

The Professor paused for a moment to take a bite from his cinnamon roll, “For instance, there was one composer by the name of Paganeighni, who reinvented how the violin sounded. Although he mostly wrote variations of what was popular at the time, his music is the kind of music where you have to have years of discipline and skill to even attempt to play anything from him.

“Another example is from Horseshoepin... Although he never wrote anything outside of piano music with the exception of his two concertos, his music is highly emotional from his Preludes and Nocturnes.”

“What’s a Nocturne?” Inverno asked, finishing his roll.

“It’s a word meaning ‘Night’, or in this case, Horseshoepin composed Night Music. Now that I think of it, the size of the audience had changed too. You see, the audience had increasingly become more open to even the poorest of ponies. Why for a few bits, you can go into a theater to see an Opera from Rossineighi, the highest form of entertainment of its time. It was a time where the subjects of these Operas, or a play where everypony sings from start to finish, had become down to earth. Gone were the tragic legends and some myths, now there were about common, everyday ponies. Like a barber, or a soldier who fell in love, or even a bunch of bratty teenagers with their family trying to find out what life is about.”

“So… Something like what Moztrot did when his Papa died?”

The Professor nodded, “I think that’s enough breakfast, let’s keep moving.”

While the disguised Inverno walked close by Key Signature, he was getting lost in his thoughts. He had learned so much before breakfast then he had in a week in the Palace. For example, he’d learned about a plant called grass, the system of trading bits, a thing called a cinnamon roll and the fact that these Crystal Ponies looked as if they were genuinely happy all the time.

“A bit for your thoughts?” Key asked.

“Huh?”

“It’s an expression meaning, ‘What’s on your mind?’” Signature clarified.

“Oh, uh… Do you have a Papa?” Key looked down, with a look as if he was asking him, ‘Where did that idea come from?’ “I was just wondering if you ever had one.”

“Oh,” Key nodded as he continued on, “I did once.”

The colt’s ears folded back, “Sorry.”

“No, you’re alright. To answer your question, yes, I did have a father... but he passed away many, many years ago. I’m actually a grandpa, which means that I have children, who they themselves have children.”

“Where are they?”

“Most are in Canterlot, but I have a granddaughter that lives in Ponyville.”

“Why does that one live in Ponyville and not Canterlot?”

The elder stallion sighed, “It’s a long story.”

“Can you make it short then?”

Key laughed at that, “I don’t see why you would be interested in that.”

“Hey, you sometimes asked me about Papa,” Inverno pointed out.

“I see,” at this point, they turned a corner and started walking towards an area where there’s cheering ringing out. Inverno looked down to see that there was a mob of Crystal Ponies down the street. “Well, to make a long story short,” his teacher said, “When I started teaching, to see what worked and what didn’t, I had my granddaughter who was one of my students. At first, she was interested in playing the piano, and always looked forward to my lessons. Well, one day, I found out from her parents that she has taken interest in a particular pony that, while they were happy over, I on the other hoof wasn’t. I didn’t exactly approve in her special somepony, and... I confronted with her during one lesson. And… I just lost it, you thought that yesterday was extreme,” Key Signature shook his head, “That was nothing compared to what I said to her. The argument got so intense to the point that I told her that I didn’t want anything to do with her and she soon felt the same with me. So, from that day she moved away and that was the last time either of us had ever spoken to each other.”

There was a pause for a moment until Inverno innocently asked, “Do you still hate her?”

“Not exactly,” the Professor sighed, “Now, whenever I look back, I do so with both regret and embarrassment. I had met my granddaughter’s special somepony just recently by accident, in which I was proven wrong about both of them. Inverno, I suppose you haven’t heard the phrase, ‘The older you get, the wiser you’ll become?’ It’s not true. You may have more experience when you’re old, but that doesn’t make you wise. There are things that even to this day that I don’t fully understand. But just because you don’t understand it, doesn’t make it bad.

“I confess, there have been times where I wanted to go down to Ponyville, find her and apologize, but…”

“But what?”

He shook his head, “Inverno,...” Key said softly, “...you’re not the only one in the world who thinks they’re a monster. Ah, here we are.” The young unicorn looked up, and through his dark glasses, he saw the crowd up close, they pushed through to see what was going on.

The colt saw two crystal guards in full armor, each holding a stick and a shield, running towards each other at top speed. There was a collective disappointed moan from the crowd when they both missed.

“What’s going on?” Inverno asked his teacher.

“This is a sport known as jousting,” Key explained, “It’s where two colts run at each other as fast as they can to knock the other one down.”

Inverno saw both of the guards making another round the track; once again, galloping towards each other... until one of them was suddenly knocked backward, making the crowd cheer loudly.

“Doesn’t that hurt?” the colt asked. “I mean, what’s the point of this when you’re trying to push someone over?”

“It’s all out of good fun,” Signature replied.

“Are you sure?” he questioned, “I’m not sure my idea of fun is to have a few broken bones.”

The Professor laughed.

26: Wir Betreten Feuertrunken, in F Major.

“Nothing,” Shining reported, “We’ve searched every inch of the Palace, Inverno is gone.”

“And so is Professor Signature,” Cadence added. By now, the three of them along with the guards of the Palace have looked everywhere they could think of, but they had no luck in finding the colt, nor the elderly Earth pony.

“Where could he have gone to?” Twilight asked aloud. “Has this happened very often?”

“No,” Cadence shook her head, “This is the first time he did something like this. Plus, I have no idea where he might disappear…” suddenly, the pink alicorn had a thought. No, a memory from last night, when the Professor mentioned figuring out a way to make it up to Inverno for being too harsh on him.

“Cadence?” Twilight asked, waving a hoof in her face.

“Sorry,” she shook her head, “I think I might have an idea what happened to him. I think Key Signature’s disappearance must be a clue as well.”

“You mean he’s taken the kid?” Shining asked, quickly coming to the same conclusion as his wife’s. “But how could he, when we have guards at the door to make sure that the little guy doesn’t walk out of here.”

“How do we know if that isn’t what happened?” Twilight questioned, and presented a very good point. The three of them rushed to the entrance of the Palace, where they could hear laughter.

Upon arriving, they found two, very happy drunk Crystal Guards, passing a green bottle back and forth.

“Attention!” Shining jolted the guards up sloppily. “What is the meaning of this?”

“Why hello, Mr. Sir,” one guard slurred, “Glad yous came ta join zhe party,” he lifted the bottle up to the Prince, “Try zhe wine.”

“Who gave you this?” Shining demanded.

“Uh… shome old guy,” the other guard responded with a hiccup. “He had a whitey little guy too.”

“WHAT!?” All three sober ponies exclaimed in shock.

“Sush!” the guard with the bottle said, “The crystal, uh… carrot is trying to sleep.”

Both drunken guards chuckled while both Shining and Cadence were giving them the death glare.

“You two,” Cadence stepped forward, taking the bottle away in her aura, “Are going straight to the barracks until you sober up.”

“B-But,” the other guard said, trying to reach the bottle, “the party.”

“NOW!” the couple roared. Both guards muttered something, but gave them sloppy solutes and started to stumble away.

“We have to find him,” Shining said, “They must still be in the Empire somewhere.”

“Agreed,” Twilight nodded, “And we must do it quickly, because if we don’t-”

“They’re going to tear him to pieces,” Cadence finished Twilight’s sentence. She added, “Looks like somepony is going to get fired.”

_*_

The sound of a train whistle pierced through the air, “What was that?” Inverno asked.

“By the sound of it, I think it must be the train,” Professor Key said, “Which means that the orchestra must be here.”

“Orchestra?”

“It’s part of the reason why I’ve brought you out here,” the elder stallion explained. “The Royal Philharmonic is coming here to the Empire to showcase some of the greatest works to music since its disappearance in a concert.”

“You mean we get to see new music?” Inverno inquired with a hint of excitement in his voice.

“That’s being performed live? Of course,” he said, putting the colt onto his back. “You’ll be hearing this music at its finest from several points of musical history.”

“Like what?”

“Like…” the Professor looked around to find any poster of this upcoming concert. He spied one that hangs on the wall of a book store. He trotted over to the poster so he could read what it says. “Ah, here we go. They’ll be performing a movement from one of Buch’s concertos, Moztrot’s Fortieth Symphony (that’s a good one)… Oh! Beethooven’s Fourth Movement of his Ninth Symphony! Horseshoepin’s Nocturne in C# Minor, Tchaicoltsky’s 812 Overture, and Strotvinsky’s Rite of Spring! Oh-ho! You are in for quite a treat today.”

“Hello?” a head popped out of the doorway, they glanced over to find a sky blue stallion. “Oh, hello there,” he said, stepping out of the shop. “Visitors to the Empire I assume?”

“In a way, yes,” Key lied, “I was just telling my grandson about the concert today.”

“Oh,” the blue Crystal pony nodded, giving them a warm smile. “In that case, welcome to the Crystal Empire,” he lifted a hoof to the Professor, “Name’s Book, as in Book Binding.”

“The pleasures all mine,” the elder Earth pony shook his hoof. “This tuckered out fellow is Winter,” he craned his neck to the colt on his back, “Say hello.”

“Um… Hello?” Inverno gave the blue stallion a little wave.

Book nodded, “Nice to meet new visitors,” he said, gesturing to the store. “Would you like to come in? I got brand new books of old tales of the Empire, and foal stories that’s perfect for your grandson to read.”

Suddenly, the Professor tensed up, “Um…” he leaned over to whisper in Book’s ear. Although soft, Inverno could still make out: “Please don’t mention anything that has to do with sight. My grandson is blind you see, and is very sensitive about it.”

“Oh,” Book suddenly looked embarrassed before turning to the colt, “I’m very sorry about that. Uh… I-I also have some truffles that my marefriend is selling.”

Key Signature was about to turn down the offer until he spotted some armored Guards from down the road, which looked like as if they were searching for somepony.

“That sounds pleasant actually,” he said. “I suppose we can step inside for a moment.”

“Great!” Book smiled, “Come on in.”

When they entered the store, although as small as it was with a counter at the other end of the room, it was filled the floor to ceiling with books, scrolls, and hoof-made candy. The individually wrapped candies were in glass jars in various sizes and shapes. All around there were books that were new as well as ancient scrolls, each with a price tag.

“Take your time,” Book said, picking up a book from behind the counter, “And let me know if you want anything.”

The Professor set Inverno down next to the rows of books. Thinking that he should play along with being blind, Inverno closed his eyes and tried to feel around with his hooves. He felt his way over to where the counter was, in which he heard Book’s voice saying: “Need something little fella?”

“Not really,” he said, “Although, I was wondering about something.”

“Go ahead.”

“I’ve heard about something here in the Empire.”

“And that being?”

“Is it true that Sombra has a foal here?”

When things got too quiet, Inverno opened his eyes and saw through the black lenses Book looking unnerved.

“Where did you hear that?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Inverno shrugged, “Somepony said something about a colt here that was Sombra’s.”

“Kid, I know you’re new to the Crystal Empire, but we don’t talk about him.”

The young unicorn tilted his head, “Why not?”

“Because,” he replied, “We don’t want to talk about the beast in the Palace.”

“What do you mean beast?”

Book looked around the shop before turning to the colt, “I don’t wanna scare ya,” he said in a soft voice, “But there’s a colt name Inverno, whose father was the wicked unicorn that enslaved us. I myself haven’t seen him, but it’s said that whenever night falls, we had to lock our doors and windows because he may come out at night and eat anyone who’s out.”

Inverno was taken completely off guard from what he’s hearing, “Why would he do that?” he questioned.

“I’ve heard he has his father’s teeth,” Book told him, “That they’re sharp enough to eat other ponies.”

The hidden unicorn was starting to feel both insulted and disgusted that such a rumor about him was being told. Why would he do that, when he’s been eating the same way everypony else has been eating?

Then a question illuminated Inverno’s mind, “How do you know if this is even true?"

“My, my, you certainly ask a lot of questions,” Book pointed out, completely ignoring the colt’s question. “Why don't I get your grandfather over here?” Before Inverno could object, Book Binding called out for Key Signature over.

The professor trotted over to the colt and once again puts him on his back, “I’m very sorry that we have to leave so soon,” he said, “But we got things to do today and I- we don’t want to be late.”

“Alright,” book gave an understanding nod, “I hope you two will enjoy your time in the Empire and have fun at the concert.”

“We will,” Signature said as he trotted out the door, before a couple of Crystal Guards came in.

27: Himmlische, Dein Heiligtum in C Major.

“Why are we going so fast?” Inverno asked his teacher, who was struggling to keep up at his side.

“Remember that bit this morning about getting into trouble?” Professor Key asked, looking over his shoulder quickly. “Turns out we might get into it a whole lot quicker than I planned to.”

“Slow down! What do you mean?”

“The guards are looking for us,” he told him. “We need someplace to hide.”

“Like that place?” Inverno pointed out a wide, crystal stadium with a large seal of the Empire proudly hanging from its walls. Along with the banners too that displayed musical instruments, notations, and a pony waving a stick.

“Perfect!”

The two of them dashed up to the stadium to where the ticket booth was. The booth itself was really a table with orange, yet bored looking young stallion; with a box with a padlock and a stack of tickets.

“Here for the show already?” the ticket pony asked as they quickly approach. “You know the show won’t start in forty-five minutes?”

“Never mind that,” the Professor hastily spoke, reaching for his bit bag, “How much?”

The ticket pony rolled his eyes, “Ten for adults, and five for foals.”

Without thinking, he grabbed a hoof-ful of bits and dumped it in front of the teenager before grabbing the two tickets in his mouth. Before the orange stallion could process what happened, both Key Signature and Inverno rushed into the stadium.

“Hey!” He called out, “Do you need your… change?” But the two were already out of sight at this point. The teenager shrugged and opened up the locked box to dump the bits that were thrown at him.

Several minutes later, a small group of Crystal Guards came to the stadium, “Pardon us,” one of them said to the ticket pony, “Have you by chance seen an old yellow stallion with an orange beard with a white colt?”

“You just missed them,” the teenager replied, “They bought their tickets and went inside.”

“Come on,” the leader of the Guards cried, and just like that, they rushed in, completely ignoring the shouts of the ticket pony about paying their tickets.

The first place they looked was the restrooms in the interior of the stadium, the colt’s room of course. One of them peaked his head in and looked under the stalls to see if he could find any signs of legs. When he saw it was completely empty, he called back to his fellow guards to tell them that it was all clear in there.

They searched all over the stadium as the orchestra and choir were getting ready for their big performance. They went through every hiding place they could think of, only to find no sign of neither the colt nor the teacher. Plus, the open air stadium was beginning to fill in with its Crystal citizens. So eventually, they gave up and decided to search someplace else.

Not five minutes before the concert in the little colt’s room, in a place presumed empty, a voice whispered from one of the stalls, “I think they should be gone by now.” The empty stall materialized four legs from one stall, and another four from the other.

“About time,” Inverno commented as they stepped out of their hiding places. “I was getting really bored in there.”

“So, come on now.” Key said, signaling the colt to his side, “We have a concert to attend.”

_*_

The stadium was quickly filled up with the Empire’s curious citizens who were itching for something new. Inverno and Key Signature took their seats alongside the other Crystal ponies who were looking at the very center of the arena.

Inverno saw the curious instruments that he’d seen from the Music Room. Even more interesting, was the fact that the orchestra and the reserved part of the stadium were filled with ponies who were like him and his teacher. They were staring at their audience with wonder and awe.

“Why are those ponies sitting over there?” the young unicorn asked, pointing to the reserved area.

“I think that must be the choir,” the elderly Earth pony said. “I admit; they really have a huge orchestra here. Then again, this is a pretty big place so they need to generate a huge sound for everypony to hear.”

“What are they holding?” Inverno pointed to the orchestra itself.

“Remember, when I’ve said that over time musicians had combined into groups to produce a wide range of sound?” The unicorn shrugged. “Anyway, in every orchestra, each musician is divided up into a few groups. For example, there’s the percussion with all the drums that produce the beats of the melody in the very back. The ones who are holding the shiny golden instruments that look like pipes are the Brass. In front of them are the Woodwinds, which are usually made up of flutes, bassoons, clarinets, and oboes. And the ones at the very front are the Strings. They provide most of the music you’ll be hearing. This section is made up of other groups such as first and second violins, viola, cellos…” Suddenly, Inverno noticed his teacher trailed off. “Dear Celestia,” Key whispered, “She’s here.”

“Who?”

“My… My granddaughter, she’s there in the Cello section!”

“Huh?” Inverno looked at the orchestra at the String section, “Where is she?”

“Over there, with the group with the second biggest string instruments.” Inverno looked again, this time it was much easier to spot because there was only one mare in the Cello section. She had a gray coat and a well-combed black mane, which was flipping at the score presented to her.

Before either of them could say anything, suddenly there was a voice that spoke over the megaphone, “Welcome, Mares and Gentlecolts,” said a stallion’s voice. The two of them quickly located the voice from a lanky red stallion with his hair plastered back in a black suit.

“I am your Conductor, Quarter Note, and welcome to the concert of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra!” There was applause from the Empire. “Due to the recent news, (well, recent to us) that all of you have been gone for a thousand years, all of you are in luck because we are here to present the best-written music. You will be hearing memorable masterpieces that we hope all of you will enjoy. Up first, will be the First Movement from the Brandenburg Concerto Number Three. So for now, enjoy the music.”

The stallion who was speaking into the megaphone went up to the orchestra to the empty stand in front. He picked up the white stick in his hoof and tapped on the stand. The orchestra moved about a little, positioning their instruments to where they’re supposed to be, awaiting for the Conductor to begin.

Quarter Note looked around the musicians in silence for a moment, to which even the audience in the open air stadium waited for something to happen.

The Professor looked over to Inverno, as the music suddenly filled the air with an ecstatic like dance, he watched as the colt gave in the trance-like state. Perhaps once the music was over, he can ask what kind of world he was seeing.

28: Deine Zauber Binden Wieder in G Major.

There was applause from the Empire’s citizens when the last note was drawn out. Already, there were shouts of "Bravo," "Wonderful," "Brilliant," and so on, along with the stomping of hooves.

“That was very good,” Professor Key commented, turning to the colt that seemed to be awestruck. “Did you happen to see anything?”

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Inverno told him, “I saw candlelights in a massive dark room, and they were all dancing in a void. They were of different sizes; some of them were tall while others were tiny. But each of them dances brightly like Luna’s stars, and even though they dance in their own way, it somehow looked as if they were moving as one.”

When the applause died down, the conductor went up to the megaphone once more, “Thank you! By the look of things, we’re off to a good start, no?” The Crystal audience agreed, “So, let’s keep moving on with our next two pieces in the evolution of music. The next one is you’ll be hearing is from W. A. Moztrot’s first movement of his Fortieth Symphony, which was written almost a hundred years after the piece Buch had written from the music you’ve just heard. So without any further introductions, let us continue this lovely concert.”

Quarter Note returned to his place as the orchestra finished setting up their next piece. The conductor paused until all the musicians were set and ready. Picking up his stick, the orchestra began to play.

“Out of curiosity,” Key whispered, “What do you see?”

“Well…” Inverno started, “I see ponies, the ones who have wings.”

“Pegasi?”

“I think so; they’re flying through the air over snow-capped mountains. There’s a dozen of them. All are packed and ready to go somewhere, trying to keep up with everyone else. They’re flying over and above clouds.

“Now, I see the foals... They don’t have anything on their backs, but they’re flying with the adults. There’s one towards the back, and he looks very tired.”

The colt paused for a moment as the music continued to play.

“He’s falling!” the colt gasped, “Somepony catch him!”

“Shh!” one of the audience members turned to the colt.

“What’s happening now?” The Professor whispered.

“There’s a mare, she noticed that the colt’s falling. She’s diving down… come on… she caught him. Phew,... but it looks like they’ve fallen a long way down, and the other pegasi aren’t noticing. Now, she puts the colt on her back and flying towards them. But there are mountains in the way; I think she’s trying to fly between them.”

The more the aged Earth pony listened, the bigger the adventure Inverno told. He told him of the Mother’s struggle to get back to the sky. Flying over jagged peaks and though freezing waterfalls. At one point, the Mother was lost in the thick forest of pine trees. He spoke of thick fogs that covered the sky in a thick gray. Eventually, the Mother got frustrated that she tries clawing her way out through the thick clouds above. She popped her head out, finally seeing the craven of pegasi, but they’re at a distance. Now, weary but determined, the mare flew as fast as she could until she was able to catch up with them.

When the music was over, Inverno shook his head, blinking at the crowd stomping their hooves in approval.

“I like that one,” a mare in front of them commented.

“It’s okay,” the stallion next to her shrugged, “I prefer the one before that. Had a lot of life in it.”

As the conductor approached the megaphone. “For our next piece,” Quarter announced, “was written about twenty years later by the brilliant and very angry, Beethooven. This movement is the final movement of his last symphony, which, believe it or not, had composed the whole thing from beginning to end while being completely deaf.”

This got a reaction from the audience, there were murmurs all around both the Professor and his student. “Are we seriously going to listen to music written by a pony who couldn’t hear?” was a general opinion. Even some of them had started to get up.

“I know what all of you are thinking,” Quarter said, “But trust us when we say that this music, the theme he wrote has become incorporated into Equestria’s anthem after Beethooven’s death. You would n’t think that we wouldn’t adopt it if none of us thought it wasn’t any good, right? All I ask from everypony is to just hear this out, I promise you’ll be getting your money’s worth, as well as your time.”

Skeptical, those who got up returned to their seats. It didn’t take a mind-reader to practically hear what everyone was thinking, “This better be good.”

Sighing in relief, the conductor returned to his place. He overlooked over the orchestra as well as the choir before cueing for the music to play.

_*_

The beginning didn’t have anything interesting. For the first few minutes, the Crystal ponies were starting to get bored. That was until when the cellos, quietly at first, played out a melody that was simple. So simple, one would have thought that it was written by a foal. But when the violas and violins joined in, this modest song became richer, with the brass and percussion turning it into a song of triumph.

All of a sudden, to everypony’s surprise, the choir suddenly stood up as one, and a baritone voice called out in a language that none understood. But as the music played on, the stallion’s deep voice was joined in with the male part of the choir. The lone singer was joined by three other voices, whatever they were saying, the music rang out peace, Rhapsody, relief, and above all; joy.

The singers and the choir were as if they were having a conversation, but even then, the orchestra was the only thing that kept them together.

Then, for a moment, there was a pause before the sound of a march played out, it was here that Professor Key took notice of his student. It was rather a bit of a shock because he saw that there were tears flowing down his cheeks.

“Hey,” he patted him on the back, “You okay?”

Inverno said nothing, but continue to listen as the tenor’s voice seemed to fly freely in the stadium. The choir joined in with the march for a moment before the orchestra took over for a few minutes.

Once again, things went quiet. The music hesitated as if the orchestra were planning something big. Then, all at once, the stadium exploded in the very sound of joy.

“Freude, schöner Götterfunken

Tochter aus Elysium,

Wir betreten feuertrunken,

Himmlische, dein Heiligtum!

Deine Zauber binden wieder

Was die Mode streng geteilt;

Alle Menschen werden Brüder,

Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.

Deine Zauber binden wieder

Was die Mode streng geteilt;

Alle Menschen werden Brüder,

Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.”

_*_

Inverno sat without saying a word, he had taken off his sunglasses and put his hooves over his eyes while the heavenly music drowned those who were in the stadium. Even when the music, at last, came to a triumphant end, and even when the Crystal ponies roared in applause, Inverno didn’t move.

The Professor was naturally concerned, “Hey, Inverno,” he whispered, “What’s wrong? What did you see?”

Whipping away the tears, he responds, “I saw...” he choked, “...that I was free.”

30: Alle Menschen Werden Brüder in F# Minor.

“I don’t get it,” Twilight said, looking around at the top of the Palace with a telescope for the millionth time. “The guards have searched every nook, cranny, and crack of this city, but how can those two have disappeared?”

“Wherever they are,” Shining pointed out, “I doubt they even left the Empire. I had that newly arrived train on lockdown.”

“Who came here?” Cadence asked.

“All I know is that there was a hooffull of curious tourists and that Orchestra from Canterlot.”

“Hold on a sec,” Spike said, “An orchestra is here?”

“Yeah, that Royal Philharmonic is giving a concert here.”

Spike looked over the Empire again in thought, “What if,” he thought out loud, “What if that’s a clue.”

All three ponies questioned what he’s talking about.

“I mean think about it: that Inverno guy is interested in music, his teacher is a Professor in music, there’s an orchestra in town that’s giving out a concert. That’s it!” Spike cried, “They’re at the concert!”

“Oh!” Cadence facehoof, “Why didn’t I think of that!?”

“It’s so obvious,” Shining added, feeling like an idiot. “Come on; let’s hurry over there before he gets angry at something.”

“Or before the Crystal ponies find out,” the Prince’s little sister pointed out as they all hurried downward.

_*_

Ever since the music began with Tchaicoltsky’s Overture, the start of the choir’s solemn opening like a sunrise, Inverno whispered to Key Signature that he sees a field and a fortress where there’re two armies facing each other. “It looks like both of them know they’re going to achieve some kind of glory, but at the same time, they know that they might get killed.

“Now I see two ponies stepping onto the field. They look important, maybe kings or… What are they called?”

“Generals?” Key whispered.

“I suppose so; they’re shaking hooves and look like they’re talking a bit. Now they’re saluting and returning to their armies. It looks like they’re giving orders for the soldiers to attack.”

As the music played on, Inverno told him the story of these two armies. Where both sides tried to protect themselves from Pegasi archers that let arrows descend like water. The army in the field rush over to the fortress to open its doors but it was no use. Every so often, the wounded would be taken off of the battlefield to be treated by kind nurses.

Then, Inverno saw how the field army went underground to dig its way underneath the fortress. Some the soldiers pop up behind the front door so that they could open it up to let the rest of their army invade the fortress.

Near the end of the piece, when it looked like victory belonged to the field army, Key asked, “What’s happening?”

“The Fortress's army,” he said pointing above, “They’re whispering about a secret weapon. What secret-”

KA-BOOM! KA-BOOM! KA-BOOM! KA-BOOM! KA-BOOM!

Everypony in the audience jumped, if not collectively screamed when they saw a red line flying to the middle of the stadium before they exploded. As the strings tumbled downwards, Inverno, along with everypony else, asked, “What was that?!”

“Fireworks,” Professor Key answered, “They’re shooting fireworks.”

“Well, whatever they’ve done,” Inverno said, “The field army is running away! They’re all galloping away from the fortress. The fortress army is ringing bells for one last attack. They’re calling for anyone who can walk to the weapons to finish them off.”

The orchestra went into playing its climax, soon, fireworks above the stadium, exploding eleven times in eleven different colors and effects. There were triumphant bells that signaled a victory, and as the choir sang for the final bars Inverno completed his tale saying, “Now the fortress army is raising their flag in the light of a sunset.”

The Crystal ponies, while startled by the sudden fireworks, kindly applauded the orchestra’s performance.

Quarter Note went up to the megaphone again, “Thank you. For the last piece in this concert, we will be playing the music to a very unique ballet, while we don’t have any dancers for the music, I guess we might have to make due. But don’t worry; as it stands on its own, the music is pretty intense. I’m of course talking about Strotvinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’, and I confess, out of all the performances we’re giving, this is the one that I’m the most nervous about.” he paused for a moment.

He continued saying, “It’s not because that it’s difficult to play or conduct, nor is it the fact that this is the most recently written music from about a hundred years ago, rather, it’s that I’m hoping that you may like this. This is because when it was performed for the first time, the ballet caused one of the most scandalous riots in musical history. I believe this was, in part because it was so unusual, the topic was so out of the ordinary, and the performance unlike ever done before, the ponies at the time didn’t know what to think of it. Now, about a hundred years after its premiere, both the ballet and the music itself is now considered a work of genius. Which I hope that you may find it as well, but if not, I’m going to give the orchestra the same order as it was given the night it premiered, 'no matter what happens, keep going.'”

This got a chuckle out of the audience.

“And now, our final piece, Strotvinsky’s ‘The Rite of Spring.’” he finished announcement. As the conductor made his way to the stand, the Crystal ponies stomped their hooves and subsided once Quarter Note took hold of his stick.

Once the high bassoon started the first few bars, the Professor turned to Inverno, who was looking around, getting anxious by the second. “W-Where am I?”

“Inverno?” Key whispered.

“Where is everypony? W-What’s going on?”

“Inverno?” his teacher asked out of genuine concern.

“I-I can’t see! Where are you?” the colt asked urgently.

“What do you see?”

“T-There’s nothing but fog, I can’t see anything, not even my hooves! Professor, what’s going on!?”

A pony behind them shushed them, “Keep quiet, I’m trying to listen.”

“I really can’t see anything!” the young unicorn said frantically. “Professor, where are you!?”

“I’m right here,” Key took his hoof. “I haven’t moved.”

“P-Professor,” Inverno’s voice started shaking, “G-Get me out, I-I d-don’t want t-to be here no more.”

“Are you sure?” the colt violently nodded. The elder Earth pony sighed, “Very well, just lean to my side, I’ll lead you.”

The two of them got out of their seats and tried to make their way through the crowd and to the steps of the stadium. But as the music progressed with instruments joining in, the colt got increasingly paranoid.

At the playing of the high clarinet, Inverno screamed, “What was that?!” before his hooves slipped off the crystal steps and into the audience below them. The Professor couldn’t help but watch in horror as the colt tumble down.

Of course, Inverno screamed as he fell, pieces of his disguise came off from his dark glasses to the saddlebags were just flung off of him. Unfortunately, somepony help stop his fall, “Are you okay?” a Crystal mare asked in shock before she got a good look at who she caught. Once she did, she screamed.

Now without anything to hide him, Inverno was exposed. Dizzy and hurting all over, Inverno opened his eyes, but while he couldn’t see anything but fog, everypony else saw his father’s eyes.

“Get away!” Somepony yelled as the mare dropped him on the step. Inverno was able to grasp onto something to keep him from falling. Although blind, thanks to the music; Inverno could pick up the sheer terror in the air.

As the music took a violent turn, so did the audience. The unicorn felt someone kicked him down the stairs until he was at a plateau. He felt something hard hit his stomach, so in response, he curled up into a ball, covering his front hooves when he felt a thousand hooves raining down on him.

“Stop! No! Ow! STOP!” Inverno screamed.

But his cries for mercy went unheard as he heard a disjointed choir of, “This is for enslaving us!” and, “Get out of here monster!” and, “This is for my mother!” and, “Filthy dog!” and so on, and so forth.

“Get away from him!” Key Signature cried as he galloped down the stairs to the mob beating up Inverno with glass bottles, leftover snacks, and hooves. “Stop it now!” However, the angry mob wouldn’t let the old stallion through.

Then, above the mob’s heads, they felt the heat of a green flame. They turned to see Spike there, “Hey! Cut it out!” he pushed and ducked his way. When he got to Inverno, he found his body was covered in bruises and fruit, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Come on,” Spike said, lifting the colt on his shoulder, “Let’s get you out of here.”

The Professor followed Spike behind him, “Inverno, oh Celestia, I’m so sorry.”

“P-P-Papa w-w-wa-wa-was ri-right,” Inverno hiccupped, looking over to the Crystal ponies behind them, for they were staring back. Then Inverno, through his choppy and agonizing speech, said something that made both the dragon and pony look at each other with uncertainty.

It was something he repeated all the way back to the Palace: “They really are animals.”

31: Wo Dein Sanfter Flügel Weilt in C# Minor.

“What on this planet were you thinking?” Cadence scolded the Professor. “Do you have any idea how stressful this puts everypony in?”

In the Throne Room, Professor Key Signature sat on his hunches. He knew that sooner or later the royal couple would have an entire skeleton to pick from, “Are you about finished?” he asked stoically.

“Of course not!” Shining stepped in, “Foal-napping the colt, taking him outside of the Palace for his own safety, and let’s not mention him ending up that beating he received from the stadium.”

“This is exactly what we feared would happen,” Cadence commented. “We’re lucky that Spike was able to intervene before that mob was able to do anything worse. Yet, at the same time, that was completely reckless, coming from you! Honestly, what in the name of both of my Aunts were you thinking?”

There was a pause.

“If you’re done scolding me, your grace,” Key began, “I would gladly present my case.” Cadence huffed but allowed it. “To begin with, when I went to Inverno's room this morning, I asked if he wanted to come. I didn’t foal-napped him, for that would imply that I took him against his will.”

“So why did you take him outside?” Shining questioned.

“With all due respect Prince Shining Armor, I may not be wise, but I have the experience of a father and a grandfather. So frankly, I did this out of Inverno’s own good. The colt, ever since he’s been discovered has been treated like a prisoner here. That might be fine with a pony that has committed something abhorrent, but we’re talking about a colt whose only crime was being born to the wrong parent. And Inverno is not a criminal, he’s a child. He’s a foal that needs to be out in the open and interact with other ponies. In fact, did you know that until this morning, he’s never seen or touched grass up-close? Inverno, although in disguise, had experienced something that was long denied to him.”

“And what, pray tell, is that?” Shining raised an eyebrow.

“Freedom.” Key answered, “For this whole morning, he got the chance to explore, learn new things that he couldn’t learn in the Palace. He got to interact with some of your citizens, try new things, and heard music that he genuinely cried tears of joy.

“And frankly, I don’t care if you fire me on the spot. Inverno, regardless of his age, has been a great student to teach. I wasn’t assigned by the Princesses because of the offer of money, but because I know how to both handle my students as well as to make them better ponies. So believe me, this so-called ‘stunt’ was a way to apologize for being too harsh with him the other day and to expand his mind beyond the Palace gates.

“Besides,” he added, “He was the one who helped get my granddaughter back.”

“What?” Cadence asked.

“It’s true. At the concert during intermission, we’ve run into my granddaughter who we’d had a fight years ago. Inverno was the one to help me fully apologize to her for my actions back then, and it was because of him, that we are family once more.”

The doors to the Throne Room opened up, Sir Spike stepped through. Cadence looked over to the Professor, “We’ll discuss that later.” She got up from her seat and trotted over to Spike. “How’s he doing?”

“The guy’s really shaken up, to say the least,” Spike said. “He’s pretty much afraid of any Crystal pony that comes near him now. So it’s been a bit of a struggle just to get him wrapped up in the infirmary. He keeps muttering how ‘the animals’ was going to finish him off. The poor guy.”

“We really need to do something,” Cadence commented, “With Inverno, we’re walking on thin ice as it is.”

“Agreed,” Shining nodded, “But what are we planning to do? Our own citizens had beaten the snot out of ‘em.”

“Excuse me,” Key spoke up, “Before I get fired, mind if I at least try to suggest something to improve the situation?”

“What could you possibly suggest from the problem you’ve caused?” Shining questioned.

Taking a deep breath, the elder Earth pony answered, “Baby steps first. I think we should treat the problem of the Crystal ponies first. So, perhaps, we should find out who was involved in throwing punches at Inverno and try to make them see who the colt really is.”

“What good would that do?” Spike asked, “I was there, and they looked pretty angry back there.”

“For one, convince them that they had just beaten up a foal that didn’t provoke any justifiable cause. And if that works, they may tell the Empire that Inverno isn’t the monster that they’re making him out to be.”

“And you think that might work?” Cadence inquired.

Professor Signature shook his head, “I have no guarantee, but I believe it’s worth a shot.”

“Very well,” the Princess of Love said, “Round up anypony that was involved with the incident, and I’ll do what I can to reason with them.”

_*_

Twenty-three Crystal ponies knelt before the throne that Cadence sat on.

“Please rise,” she told them. “I suppose you all know why you’re here.”

“We do, Your Majesty,” one of the stallions informed her. “It has something to do with Sombra’s foal.” With a smile, he added, “No need to thank us, Princess Cadence.”

“Excuse me?” she asked, taken aback. “Thanking you?”

Twenty-three ponies blinked, “Wait,” said one of the mares, “You mean you’re not thanking us?”

“No! Of course not,” Cadence stood up on her throne. “You’ve just nearly beaten a foal to death.”

“A foal that belongs to Sombra,” someone pointed out.

“So?” she asked, “What exactly made any of you want to go on to attack him?”

“He’s Sombra’s son,” another stallion said, “Isn’t he the beast that roams at night, trying to-”

“No,” Cadence interrupted, “Until this morning, he’d never gotten the chance to leave the Palace. And trust me, I wasn’t protecting you from him, I was protecting him from you!”

“Princess,” another mare said, “I’m afraid we don’t quite understand. Why would you protect him from us?”

“Because of how you see him,” Cadence answered, “I was afraid that in light of Sombra, you wouldn’t see past his resemblance. Instead of looking at who he is. I know this will come as a shock to all of you, but Inverno isn’t the demon you make him out to be.”

Twenty-three jaws hit the floor, “But Princess Cadence,” one of the mares interjected, “That would imply that… he, is just a foal?”

“Tell me this then,” the Princess of Love replied, “Forgetting the fact that he’s not a Crystal pony, related to Sombra, or that he has serpent eyes and canine teeth, what exactly has the colt done to deserve such a beating?”

“Uh… well…” was the collective response. The former angry mob thought back to the cause. Trying to figure out what sort of wrong he did, only to come up with nothing.

“The Inverno I know,” Cadence continued, “Is just a colt who is the victim in a series of unfortunate events. He has preserved this Empire’s music, and is currently composing the musical equivalent of an apology to you.”

“He is?” one of the stallions asked.

“Yes,” the pink Alicorn nodded, “And even if he was remotely anything like his father, don’t you think he would have started attacking during the concert?”

The twenty-three Crystal ponies came to a realization. “So…” one of the mares said, “h-he’s really just a… pony?”

Cadence nodded, “That’s what Shining and I have been trying to tell you. And thanks to all of you, he’s in the infirmary right now, completely terrified of anypony that’s made out of crystal. So in other words, you’ve just become his monsters.”

When those words sank in, one by one, they came to comprehend that, “Did we…”

“…. Just beat up…”

“…. A foal?”

Twenty-three ponies looked at each other, “Oh Celestia!” one of the mares started.

“What have we done?” finished a stallion.

32: Starting Over in B Major.

Prince Shining walked into the infirmary; he didn’t have to ask where Inverno was since he was the only one with the curtains drawn. He walked up to the bed and said, “Hey, Kid?”

“What do you want?” Inverno moaned.

Shining went to draw one of the curtains back and got a good look at the state the colt was in. Where bandages didn’t cover, he found black and blue bruises that dotted his body. Inverno rolled over his back, but not without giving a painful whine.

“Hey, take it easy.”

“What do you want?” Inverno asked in an annoyed tone.

“Look, I know that I’m the last pony you probably wanted to see-” the Prince began, but was cut off as Inverno’s horn lit up, drawing the curtains back.

“I don’t, now go away.”

Shining forced the curtain back open, “Just listen for a sec, okay. Look, I know you’re having a bad time here. And yeah, what some of our citizens had done was a bit uncalled for.”

“Uncalled for?” Inverno sat up, “Those animals nearly killed me!”

“But they did that out of ignorance. They didn’t know that what they were doing back there was wrong.”

The young unicorn narrowed his eyes, “You know, I’ve been wondering for a long time why Papa had done all those horrible things to them. I couldn’t figure out why he would hurt those Crystal ponies, but after what they did to me, I think I get it!”

For a moment, after the colt slumps down on the bed, Shining sighed, “Look… Inverno,” the young unicorn turned to him, “You can’t just write off an entire group of ponies from one bad experience. Grant it, what happened to you was both cruel and unfair, but that doesn’t mean that you have to be like that to them back. Look, my dad told me once, ‘You can’t understand another pony unless you try to imagine their point of view. Walk around their horseshoes for a bit, try to see why they do what they do.’ Heh, I guess it’s something that even I’m still learning.”

“But why did they do that?” Inverno asked, “I didn’t do anything to them. Heck, all I wanted was to see what it’s like outside of the Palace. I wanted to know what that green stuff was, what those ponies do,… and the music was the best of all. That was all I want. It’s all I’ve ever wanted, and the Professor gave that to me. But what do I end up getting? A beating for stepping outside. It-…” here, the pail unicorn began to tear up, “It’s not fair! I wanted to give them something to apologize from what Papa had done! I wanted to be free! I wanted them to see me other than an animal! It’s not fair! It’s not fair at all!”

Shining sighed, picking up a corner of Inverno’s blanket with his magic and whipped away his tears. “In a way, you’re right. Truth be told, neither of us has any idea what we’re doing. On the one hoof, we’re trying to keep you safe from harm. On the other, however… The Professor did have a point. You’re still a kid. And kids need a little bit of freedom I guess, something that, I honestly have no idea how to give.”

Inverno sniffed, “I wished you could have told me that earlier.”

“Perhaps, I mean, I have dwelt with a baby sister before. Twiley was always a difficult pony to handle.”

“And me?”

“Well… I guess it’s a little trickier to relate to-”

“Why? Is it because of my eyes?”

The Prince hesitated before answering, “In a way. You really do have your Dad’s eyes, but at the same time, you’re surprisingly not as cruel as him. Which I guess it’s considered a good thing. But, it’s harder to relate to, because we have completely different interests. You’re obsessed with music and I’m with military strategy and a few nerdy things here and there.”

“Well, couldn’t you have at least tried?” the young unicorn asked, “At least Professor Key was trying to get to know me and a little bit from Cadence.”

Shining nodded, “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to start over?”

He tilted his head, “Start over?”

“I mean, just pretend that we’re meeting again for the first time, to start it all again from scratch.”

Inverno looked over to the side in thought, after a minute, he lifted a bruised hoof up to him. “Uh... hello... I’m Inverno, who are you?”

Smiling, Shining shook the colt’s hoof, “Prince Shining Armor, or just Shining.”

“Hey Shining,” Inverno said, cracking a smile, “Say, do you know what’s going to happen to the Professor? Is he going to teach me still?”

“Do you really want him to?” the Prince asked, “He pretty much messed up a lot today.”

“But he didn’t mean to, I wanted to see what it was like outside. Plus, I guess he’s a good teacher, and he took me out as an apology from tearing up my music. So please, don’t make him leave.”

“I will talk with Cade tonight, so we’ll see what to do with him. Perhaps we might give him another chance, but we need to talk it out before we could settle on anything.”

“Oh…”

There was an awkward silence for a moment, Shining tried to figure out what to talk about next when a question came to his mind, “So… why music?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, why do you have this fascination with music?”

“Oh,” Inverno thought for a moment, “Tell me, what does music do?”

Shining tilted his head, “What does it do? Well… I guess it helps uplifts your spirits.”

The colt snorted, “That’s stupid. If you hear some dancing music, what do you do?”

“Dance?”

“And when you hear a march, what do you do?”

“March.”

“And if you hear coronation music?”

“Well… You honor those who ascend to power.”

Inverno nodded, “That is what Papa has told me, ‘Music my son,’ he told me, ‘Is powerful because once you hear good music, it can make you do things that magic can’t explain. Those who listen don’t have a choice but be taken under the spell of the composer. It keeps order, and tells ponies in how to behave.’ But for me, I don’t need to look at art because whenever music is playing, I can see it change and move. And since I can see it, I can know how to make it perfect to make it clearer.”

“You are one, strange little colt,” the Prince commented.

33: Vifilli’s Winter, Second Movement in F# Major.

For the course of a week, a debate sprang up on the lips of the Crystal Ponies. From what had happened at the stadium, everything that they thought they knew about the pail unicorn was being challenged. Eyewitnesses were questioned, opinions were reexamined, and tales about Inverno were doubted.

The Crown had released an official statement about the incident, the state the colt was in, and how the Professor was given a last chance.

As for Twilight and Spike, on the night before they have to leave, the unicorn had already taught the colt a few more useful spells, as well as leaving him with a book: “Of Useful Spells, Musical Theory, and You.”

And on that night, alone in the Music Room, was where Cadence found Inverno playing the organ. He was playing off from his copied manuscripts, an anthem in which he was rewriting the lyrics. With his hooves at the keys and a levitated quill at the parchment, he scratched out the words that once glorified his father, and was busy re-imagining a new poem out of it.

“Inverno?” Cadence tried to get his attention as she walked in, “What are you doing?”

Of course, Inverno didn’t respond, he was still in his hypnotic state to notice. The Princess went up to the unicorn and tapped him on the shoulder. This time it worked, “Sorry for interrupting, but I think there’s somepony that I think you need to speak with.”

Inverno tilted his head, so the Princess of Love turned to the door, “You can come in now.” Out of the darkness of the hallway was a familiar little drake.

At the sight of the dragon entering, Inverno turned to the manuscripts. With his horn aglow, he picked all of them up and started marching out of the Music Room. However, Spike stood in the doorway, refusing to budge.

“Out of my way,” the colt told him, but he didn’t move.

“Look,” Spike said, folding his arms, “I know that we got off from a bad start. I know pretty well in how much you hate my guts, but before I and Twilight go back home tomorrow, could you at least talk to me for just a minute?”

“Why should I?” Inverno questioned, trying to get past the dragon that was blocking him.

“Because I want you to give me a proper chance to be your friend,” it was at this that the colt stopped to look at him.

“You’re confusing,” he commented, “First you killed Papa, then you saved me from those Crystal beasts, and now you want to be my friend?”

“Um… Yeah,” Spike nodded.

Inverno looked back over to Cadence in complete confusion, “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“That he’s extending the olive branch over to you?” the pail unicorn blinked. So she clarified, “I mean he wants to make peace with you. Just give him a chance to get to know him.”

The young unicorn looked between the Princess and the Dragon, grunting he said, “Fine.”

Spike smiled and extended his claw to him, “So… How about we try starting over? Hey, name’s Spike.”

Inverno stared at it for a moment before putting his hoof in his grasp.

“So…” the baby dragon tried to start up a conversation, “I’ve heard you’re good at the piano.”

“And?”

“Can I hear you play something?” Inverno eyed him with suspicion. But since Cadence was still in the room, he made his way over and sat on the bench. After lifting the lid with his magic, Inverno asked him what he wants to hear.

Spike shrugged, “I don’t know, anything I guess.”

Inverno thought for a moment when he put his hooves on the keys. The first thing that came to mind was something that he and the Professor had been practicing. Something that the colt had practiced by choice because of the title from Vifillie’s Four Seasons: “L'inverno.” Which, according to Professor Key, the translation of the word means, “Winter.”

And so, as Inverno started to play back from what he could remember from the Second Movement, he blinked a few times to find himself alone in his old home once again. As far as he saw it, he was composing to the last lit candle in his freezing apartment. Shivering with nothing but a blanket over his back, the colt, once again alone and confused, tried to compose something beautiful.

Inverno looked around the room in the lonely candlelight. There was frost from floor to ceiling as it sparkles and glistens in the flickering flame. He looked at the door; half hoping his father would soon arrive again. But all was still.

He then felt something on his shoulder; he turned but couldn’t see anypony there. “Inverno?” he heard Spike’s voice, “You okay?”

The pail unicorn stopped playing, after blinking a few times, his isolated prison melted away back into the Music Room. He also found the dragon right next to him, “Sorry, you’ve just weirded out for a second there,” he said.

Inverno shook his head, “Oh, I guess nopony told you about me seeing music, right?”

Spike blinked, “Seeing, music?”

“Yeah, apparently I’m the only one that could actually see music as it plays.”

“So… How does that work?” the baby dragon inquired as he took a seat next to the colt. “Do you just get hypnotized or hallucinate whenever there’s music around?”

Inverno shrugged, “I guess, but it all depends on the music itself. Sometimes I see myself, other times its somepony else in a different place.” The little unicorn paused as a question popped into his head, “Can you play anything?”

“Sorta, I know a little. It’s a bit of a hobby for me when it comes to the piano, although I don’t get much time to practice.”

“Why?”

“Well, because Twilight still needs me to assist her. That’s what I do actually; I’m her number one assistant. I help her organize, clean, cook, and at times be Twilight’s voice of reason.”

“So like a servant?”

Spike frowned, “I’m not quite sure that I would go as far to call myself that. Just assistant is fine.”

“What’s the difference?”

With a defeated sigh, Spike told him, “Nevermind.” He turned to the keys on the piano. “Hey, would you mind if I played a little something?” he asks, “I think I might be a bit rusty, but I still remember one little song.”

“From whom?”

“Beethooven. I think I can recall how to play it if you let me.”

This got Inverno’s attention, “You know something from Beethooven?”

“Yeah, so would you mind?”

With nothing but curiosity, the colt surrendered the keyboard over to the dragon.

“Now just give me a sec,” Spike told him as he blindly pressed a few keys to try to find the right notes. It took him about a minute to find the keys he was looking for.

At first, it started with two notes dancing before they gave way to the rest of the rising and falling melody.

“So what do you see?” Cadence asked the young unicorn.

“This is going to sound weird,” Inverno replied, “But I think there are crystal drops that are falling from the sky. Only, I’m not sure if they’re crystal at all. When they hit the ground, they don’t shatter but melt when they touch the floor. I see a street of grass made of silver. There’s a little mare ahead of me, and she’s moving around in a weird way.”

“Like dancing?” Spike wondered as he continued to play.

“I guess. She’s just moving around in the middle of the grassy street. It’s like she’s enjoying these crystal drops falling from the sky.”

“You mean rain?”

Inverno looked upward, “Is that what this is? What’s it made of?”

Spike sighed; this was going to be one interesting night.

34: Confrontation in Bb Minor.

“What’s pregnant?” Inverno asked as he and Cadence were headed towards the Throne room.

“Well, to put in in the simplest of terms,” she answered. “It’s when that a mare like myself carries a foal where her belly is until it is big enough to be born. The baby gets its nutrition from the mother for several months until it’s ready to come out.”

Inverno stared at her, looking at her stomach before looking back to her again, “Isn’t that scary though?”

“What is?”

“To have somepony else be growing inside you?”

Cadence giggled at this, “It’s just part of life Inverno. I’m not scared at all, if anything, I’m looking forward to my little baby to be born.”

“Are you sure?” Inverno questioned, “Isn’t having somepony coming out of you going to be painful?”

“So I’ve heard,” the Princess nodded.

“But why go through with it? Why would you want to have a foal when you’re going to be in pain?”

The pink Alicorn paused, putting a hoof to her chin to come up with a proper response. “Inverno, have you ever heard the phrase: through great pain comes greater beauty?” the colt shook his head. “Can you figure out what it means?”

Inverno thought for a minute, “Does it mean that although you put yourself in something that you don’t want to, the result is worth all the pain?”

“That’s right,” she nodded, “Besides, I’m doing this because, in a way, I wanted to go through this because I always wanted to have a family of my own. I used to look after foals since I was young. Of course, I would be lying if I said that it was quite a challenge being a foalsitter who had to take care of those who are much younger than you. But at the same time, there’s a kind of joy when they’re being playful.”

“How so?”

The Princess of Love gave off a nostalgic smile, “I remember listening to them at their playtime, the things they would come up with is so honest, so innocent, and bursting with creativity when they pretend. At times I wonder if all of us were born as natural storytellers, where we tell them by acting out, drawing pictures, or simply use toys to tell their stories. But when some of us grow up, we tend to forget how to pretend except for artists like yourself. Only instead of toys, you make believe by creating art.”

“Is that all?” Inverno raised an eyebrow.

“That, and I find foals to be adorable.”

The colt rolled his eyes, “So, why are you taking me to the Throne room again?”

“Remember a couple of days ago how you were able to patch up with Shining and Spike?”

“What about it?” At this point, they were at the doors to the Throne room, Cadence opened them with her magic after she picked Inverno up and carried him into the vast room.

“I want you to meet a few ponies,” she said as she lowered the young unicorn to the ground, closing the door in front of her. Inverno looked around, and to his horror, there in the center of the room were twenty-three, very familiar Crystal Ponies.

“Cadence,” Inverno turned to the door, quickly finding that the handles were surrounded in a light blue aura. “Cadence!” the colt banged on the door. “Cadence! Let me out!”

“Inverno?” he heard his name being called behind, along with the clip-clop of hooves that slowly approached him.

The young unicorn could feel his heartbeat picking up a staccato pace as he speeds up his hard knocking on the locked door. “For the love of Celestia, Cadence, open the door!” he screamed in terror. “Cadence please!”

One of the Crystal ponies called his name again, Inverno turned to see that he was surrounded with no way of getting out. He quickly wished that he’d read that chapter about teleportation that Twilight had given him. The unicorn’s body quaked, “No, please no!” feeling trapped, the only thing that he was able to do was to curl up into a tight ball, covering his head with his hooves in vain, hoping to protect himself from the rain of hooves that were about to unleash.

To Inverno, the pause was the longest minute of his life. He waited for the animals to finish what they started, waited for the pain that these same ponies were about to descend upon him. The colt waited in dread for this sudden betrayal that the Alicorn Princess to be fulfilled.

Instead of the beating he expected, he heard hooves approaching him. Then to his utter confusion, he felt a pair of forelegs being wrapped around him. Then another… then three more… and from there, the hug multiplied.

Inverno creaked open an eye and saw that these same ponies that had beaten him were now hugging him. “Wh-… What?” At first, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Are these Crystal ponies really showing him mercy? What was going on here?

“Inverno,” he looked up at the mare who was the first to hug him. The pail unicorn saw that, along with everypony else’s, didn’t have the rage he remembered, but remorse. “We’re… We’re sorry.”

“…. What?”

“Kid,” one of the stallions started, “For everything that we just put you through, we’re sorry.”

Inverno’s jaw hit the floor. Did they just… “You’re not really the monster that we thought you were,” said another stallion.

“W-What makes you s-say that?” Inverno stuttered.

“Monsters don’t feel fear,” another mare explained, “Are you really afraid of us?”

“Um… y-yes,” the young unicorn admitted.

Twenty-three ponies looked at each other before turning back to the colt. “We’ve seen your apology,” one of them said.

“Huh?”

“That memorial thing you’ve been working on,” one of the mares stated. “I, for one am actually impressed that you of all ponies had been composing a memorial for us at such a young age.”

“You’re still working on it, aren’t you?” a stallion said, “Cadence showed us the beginning, and we can’t wait to see more.”

“For a colt, you’re surprisingly talented.”

“When can we expect to see the rest?”

Inverno was speechless by both the compliments and questions about his music.

Cadence cracked open the door just slightly, she smiled to see that the first step in letting Inverno go free was taken. Now all they need to do is to get word to the rest of the Empire.

35: Inverno in F Minor.

Even after feeling nauseous from her morning sickness, Cadence still made her way over towards Inverno’s room. Once she approached the door, she knocked on it, “Inverno? It’s time to get up.”

When no answer came, upon opening the door, she found the young colt asleep on his desk with scattered sheet music and a quill still dipped in the inkwell. And judging by the burned out candle, it seems that he was up quite late last night.

Smirking, Cadence shook her head as she went over to tap on his shoulder, “Inverno, wake up.”

The young unicorn limply moved his head, “Hm?” After blinking, he looked around to find what woke him up. “Cadence? What time is it?”

“It’s morning, have you been up all night? What have you been doing?”

Inverno looked down at his work; his memory came back piece by piece. “Oh… Remember how those ponies wanted more of that memorial music I’ve been writing?” The pink Alicorn nodded, “I’ve been slowly coming back to it, but now… I’m stuck.”

“Composer’s block?” she asked, the colt looked at her, with eyes as if to ask what she was talking about. “I mean are you in that state of mind where you just can’t figure out what you need to do next?”

“Um… Yeah. I mean, I think I’ve got the beginning, but I’m rewriting this bit where those Crystal ponies were suffering. But I can’t capture their pain or the load of work that they…” Inverno trailed off as he yawned. Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he turned to the Princess. “Did you ever tell me what Papa had made them do when he was king?”

“I’m not sure-”

“What did he make them do?” Inverno interrupted, “Since there are so many Crystal ponies in the Empire, I don’t think he would have all of them working in the Palace, right? Maybe, he had them do something else.”

“Well… You’re pretty much right on that. When we first arrived, we found most of the ponies in the crystal mines below. A place where there’s little to no light, always dark, stuffy, and difficult to navigate.” Cadence shook her head, “But anyway, I think we should go get some breakfast.”

As the Princess of Love started to leave, she noticed there was a lack of another pair of hooves. She turned around to find that Inverno hasn’t left his spot, he looked as if he was deep in thought.

“Aren’t you coming?” she asked.

“Cadence,” he said, getting out of his seat, “After breakfast, could somepony take me down to the mines?”

Reasonably, the Alicorn was rather shocked, as well as surprised at the request, “Why would you want to go down there for? The mines are not a place for colts such as you to be in.”

“Because I think it might give me some kind of inspiration for the memorial. Perhaps while I’m down there, maybe I could have someone who was there... to tell me what it was like so I could try to capture it and put it on paper. I want to compose for all of the ponies that died because of what Papa did. I want to see what tools they used, what they wore, what work they had to do, all of it and put it to music.”

Cadence put a hoof to her chin, “I guess you can, but only if you have somepony with you at all times. I don’t want you to get lost down there.”

“I promise.”

“Good,” she turned towards the hallway, “Now come on, pancakes with sour cream sounds good to me right now.”

“Um… okay?” Inverno said as he followed her out the door.

_*_

It could be easily mistaken as the setting of a nightmare. If it wasn’t for the lamps they were carrying, they would drown in the darkness. Each hoofstep they made echoed in the seemingly endless tunnels. Every so often, their lamps would cast a jagged shadow off of the crystals or the leftover mining tools that they would pass by.

“How much further you wanted to go?” their guild asked them, his voice echoing off the walls.

Shining turned to Inverno to hear what his answer was. “I think this will do,” he said as he put his saddlebag down.

The orange Crystal pony, along with the Prince stopped when Inverno was setting up. “I still don’t understand why anyone would come down here; everypony knows it’s not a happy place to be in.”

“I’m guessing having the right atmosphere to create or something like that,” Shining guessed.

“Could you tell me, uh, Butter Rolls was it?”

The Crystal pony nodded, “Could I tell you about what?”

“When you were here, in the mines. What did you do in here? What was it like?”

Butter Rolls, the baker was taken aback at the questions, considering who was asking them. “You really mean you don’t know?”

“Locked in a room for most of his life, remember?” Shining reminded him.

“Oh… right…” Rolls hesitated, “It’s not a pretty story.”

“I’m not looking for pretty,” Inverno commented, “I’m here to capture what happened here as best as I can onto paper. So,” the unicorn’s red glow took hold of a quill and inkwell. He dipped the quill into the ink, “Do you remember what it was like down here?”

The Crystal pony sighed, “I never thought I would come back to this place… Come to think of it… It’s much cooler now because I remembered it being very hot. Every Crystal pony wore shackles and chains that clinked every time we moved.”

As he spoke, Inverno began to compose, “In a place like this, there was always noise. The picks and shovels rang loudly like bells as we were told to go deeper. I remember the crack of whips, the shouts of someone screaming for us to go faster while we moaned in exhaustion. Nopony could tell what time it was, nor did we ever cared. Let’s see, what else… I also remembered that it was very dim, nothing but a few candles here and there, but for the most part, we labored in the dark, digging downwards. We’ve stepped over gravel and sometimes on sharp rocks, but we always had to keep moving.

“In all honesty, I don’t think anyone had gotten out of the tunnels until Your Majesty and the Princesses arrived. I’ve always remembered that it was hard to sleep since you’re never given a bed, and the noise was always constant. Nopony could sleep to the music of misery that never ends.

“Sometimes, if we found some scrap of anything edible or even a puddle of water, we would fight over it like a pack of hungry rats. There was no idea of kindness, only survival by any way you can. I admit… some of us have done things in the name of desperation.”

Inverno meanwhile, listens intently to the things that Butter Roll could recall. He listened to his story echoing off the walls. In his mind’s eye, all the clues that he finds useful were gathered into a mental image. And that image turned into notes on the music sheets.

_*_

Weeks went by, and the colt’s composition grew. He carefully went back each night over mistakes on the organ, piano, and his voice until they were just as he wanted it. Key Signature helped as well with the composition, he helped to expand the sketches to include a string section, winds, brass, percussion, and even a choir.

Inverno asked the royal couple daily in taking him to where his father had harmed the Crystal ponies for the sake of inspiration. Sometimes, it would be in the mines or the torture chamber. Other times, he would ask them to be taken to his father’s room, or even his old home for the same reason.

Then, there are times where he would interview servants, guards, or he would ask one of the citizens to tell him their experience before and during Sombra’s rule. From there, he would scratch out a few bars of music to work off from.

Within a few months, Inverno got closer to completion. He had an idea in how to finish the massive memorial by composing a lullaby. But for the end, he wants this one to be unique, something that when performed, it would be both personal, and fulfilling to the great apology.

He set to work this lullaby in the place where he’s spent most of his short life in, whereby candlelight, Inverno experimented on his old organ and copying the sound onto paper.

“Inverno? Are you in here?” Professor Key’s voice was heard through the open doorway.

“Come in,” he told him, jotting a few more notes.

He heard his teacher’s hoofsteps from behind, “Writing in the dark again?”

“I’m almost finished anyway Professor,” Inverno put the quill back inside the inkwell before turning to him, “So what do you want?”

“Well, I’ve been looking around for you to tell you a couple of things.”

“And that being?”

“Firstly, I believe I’ve just finished arranging your last few pages. So, I was wondering if you have something else you wanted me to arrange.”

“Yeah, this last piece and I think I’m done writing out the memorial.”

“Really? You’re nearly done?”

Inverno nodded, he gestured over to the manuscript, “Want to hear it? I think I’m just about to finish.”

Key Signature looked over the colt’s shoulder and peaked at the freshly written music. “You had it written in Istallion? But why did you written this in Istallion when you’ve written the whole memorial in Equestrian?”

“Cadence suggested it,” the pail unicorn explained, “I went to her earlier about writing the final piece in that I wanted to make it like a lullaby, but I wasn’t sure what words to set it to. Well, she showed me this poem from one of her books. It was originally written in Istallion and has the Equestrian translation on the other page. And she picked this one because it pretty much fits in what I’ve been composing.”

“Oh,” the elder Earth pony nodded his head, “I see. And there’s something else I want to tell you. Inverno, since it looks like you don’t need me to teach you anything else, I want to ask you that after I arrange this, may I be excused to go back to Canterlot?”

Inverno turned sharply to him, “You mean you’re leaving!?”

“Not right now, but soon. I think I’ve taught you much about both music and history as it is. You have grown as a composer, and have absorbed my teachings in such a short amount of time. I’m still impressed by you, Inverno, as young as you may be; it has been a joy teaching you.”

“But… Why are you leaving?”

“I am a grandfather, remember? I still have a family that has been missing me. Both Cadence and Shining know this, they’ve already given their blessing for me to go back to Canterlot. Besides, thanks to you, I have a Granddaughter that wishes to have me back.” As he spoke, the Professor noted that Inverno tilted his head down with a frown on his face. He lifted his chin upward, “Please understand, I’m not doing this to you because I don’t want anything to do with you anymore. As a teacher, I believe you have learned everything that I could teach you to make you a better pony. Besides, you could have gone after those ponies that had beaten you, but I was impressed that you didn’t. I think you’re on your way to becoming a good stallion. And with any luck through your music, I think you might become a great one.”

“You really think so?”

Key nodded, “Now then, you wanted to show me your lullaby?”

“Oh! Oh, right,” Inverno turned to the organ’s keys. Here, he cleared his throat and started to sing.

For the elder stallion, Inverno’s voice wasn’t anything he’d expected. To Professor Key, this was the first time that he was able to hear the colt’s singing voice. Over the soft sounds of the organ, Inverno sang the high notes with grace like a violin. The slow movement in his singing was smooth and unnaturally pure for a colt his age. Even in the Baroque style, with all of its trills, the Professor remembered something from his knowledge of musical history, and silently yet sadly realized what Inverno was.

The young unicorn stopped playing, “And that’s all I got so far,” he turned to his teacher, “So Professor, do you like it?”

Key Signature nodded, “Oh yes, that was lovely. Quite fitting for the ending I should think so.”

Inverno smiled, “Thanks, I should be done with this soon,” he said as he turned back to the organ, picking up the quill once more.

_*_

“So, how was the first day of rehearsals?” Shining asked, putting away his book that his little sister had given the colt back on the shelf.

“I don’t know,” Inverno admitted as he climbed on his bed. “They kinda did okay at first, but it’s still didn’t look right. I think they have some ways to go.”

“That’s what the rehearsals are for; they practice something until they get it right.”

“I know, but I just hope they do get it right on time though,” Inverno commented, “After all, didn’t Cadence say that she might have the baby due within a few months now?”

“Something like that,” the Prince shrugged as he headed for the door to turn off the light. “I’m still kinda nervous myself; I just hope that the foal will turn out well.”

“How come?”

Shining stopped, “Well, it’s nothing. It’s just I hope our foal will turn out healthy and all.”

“Oh…” Inverno trailed off in thought, “Hey Shining, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, what is it?”

Inverno looked at the Prince from across the room and asked, “Do you think that I might be… you know… kinda like your foal too?”

Shining paused to sink in what he was being asked, “W-What do ya mean?”

“Do you think of me as your guys’ kid too? I mean, I have been living with both of you guys for this long. And I think I’m starting to like the idea of Cadence being something like my… (What do you call them again?) Mom, I guess? And you’ve gotten nicer too. For you… I’m not sure if I would want to call you dad, but I think that you need some practice though.”

Prince Armor blinked, “You… You really think that I might be a dad?”

“Like I’ve said, I don’t think you’re quite there yet. But you’re trying, right?”

“Yeah,” Shining nodded, “I think I’ve come quite a ways.”

“But you still need to practice a bit more,” Inverno pointed out. “I know I won’t be able to see my Papa again, but I think with you, maybe you’ll become a better dad.”

Shining couldn’t help but smile, “Wow… thanks.”

“Yeah,” the colt slumped back into bed. Shining went over for the lights on the way out, after switching them off, he heard Inverno mutter, “Goodnight, Dad.”

The Prince looked over to the bed, his silhouette next to the kid as he was going to sleep. Shining registered what he’d heard, Dad. Inverno for the first time had called him Dad, without any hint of sarcasm or even joking.

“Goodnight Inverno,” and with that, Shining stepped into the hallway, closing the door behind him. He knew exactly what he and his wife were going to talk about before they went to sleep.

_*_

Inverno insisted that he should be the one conducting his Memorial Symphony. After watching the other conductor, observing how he beats time, the colt persuaded that he should be the one leading the music at its premiere.

So, when the night came where the Empire’s citizens gathered at the stadium, seeing the choir and an orchestra made up a wide range of instruments that included a piano, a harpsichord, and even an organ, the audience was curious in what they would be hearing that night.

Amongst the crowd, was a heavily pregnant Cadence with her husband. They sat down in their special seats and waited for Inverno to arrive while the orchestra was tuning.

“Where is he?” Shining wondered out loud, “Everyone’s ready.”

“Perhaps he’s running late,” Cadence supposed.

“How could he? He’s the one who insisted on conducting this thing, to begin with.”

“Maybe something was slowing him down,” she guessed, and it was answered when the sound of chains clanked as somepony entered the stadium. Cadence looked and covered her mouth as she gasped.

When Inverno entered, everypony in the stadium went silent as he was being escorted by two Crystal Guards, and wearing some eerily familiar chains around his neck and hooves. Everyone in that stadium immediately recognized the clanking chains and the heavy collar that Inverno was wearing. It was the very symbol of their slavery that Sombra’s colt was bearing.

Cadence turned to her husband, “What is he doing?”

“You mean you didn’t know about this either?” Shining whispered back.

“Of course I didn’t know. What is he wearing those chains for?”

“Um, your Highnesses,” one of the nearby guards whispered, “If I recall it correctly, he asked to show up in those chains.”

“Do you know what the reason is?” Cadence asked.

“I think he said something about wanting to know fully what we’ve gone through. That he wanted to walk from the Palace to here in those chains.”

The Royal couple turned back to the pail unicorn, which looked like he had trouble walking to the conductor’s stand. Each step was labored, he even breathed heavily as he went up the small flight of stairs. Taking step after straining step upward; until he reached the spot that when he got to it, the guards unbounded the chains around his hooves, kept the collar on, and locked the colt to the brass railings on the stand.

After catching his breath, Inverno opened up the finished, printed score; this cued the orchestra to ready their instruments. But before he started, he looked over to the candle that was set beside the music stand, and with his horn, he lit it.

Inverno raised his arms, looked at the orchestra who sat or stood at attention. He looked up to the choir in which all eyes were on him.

And so, the son of Sombra moved his forelegs and started to compose before the Crystal ponies the world before, and during, the rule of the dark king.

While the music played, Inverno’s eyes widen and saw the Crystal Empire the way it was a thousand years ago. The melody of a carnival danced out as he saw the foals played, the adults laughed, as they all sang their identity.

Then, amongst the cheerful crowd that danced in freedom, the cellos and bassoons softly crept into the festival. Meanwhile, the past Crystal Princess also entered from the fanfare of brass, organ, and harpsichord, a march that was soaked in love.

Then, with one loud thump of a deep drum, the Princess was killed, and from the shadow of the corpse, arose a stallion that took the crown. And amongst the shock, he made them call him king.

Onto the next movement, where all around the stadium, ponies held up chimes alongside the audience. At Inverno’s signal, the chimes rang out, the echoes of pickaxes and shovels sang in the darkened space along with the pizzicato of the strings while the choir sang of hardships in the darkness. Wooden blocks sharply cracked the air, like the whips that once sliced their backs. The choir then became a duet between a tenor and an alto, both struggling to survive yet wished to see a light in the darkness.

Cadence heard the sound of sniffing; she looked to her right and saw a mare trying to whip the tears from her eyes as the singers hope that freedom would come soon. She even saw many bowed their heads down as if all of them were looking back to their darkest of times.

Then, the music shifted, the chimes died down as did the singing, for now, only screaming flutes, and moaning brass ruled as the crack of the blocks still carried the beating. Violins and violas from time to time shrieked as if they were being pulled apart. The dark theme from earlier came back, stronger than before, carried out the melody in the torture in its musical moment.

No one applauded when the Second Movement finished. Even Inverno gave a moment of silence before continuing onward. But lifting his hooves again, the soft organ began to play, while the piano played a few thoughtful, icy notes every few bars. It was as if the music in this movement was waiting for something, even the harp started falling asleep as it scaled downward. Throughout the Third Movement, there was no singing, rather, there was humming that counterpointed the organist.

This time, there was polite applause from the Crystal Ponies. “What do ya think that was supposed to be about?” Shining whispered.

“I envisioned it to be after Sombra took the city with him, to be frozen for a thousand years. Perhaps it was about them being frozen in time.”

“Oh, I think I get what he’s doing here. He’s apologizing by telling the Empire’s history through music.” The Prince nodded his head, “That’s… kinda clever.”

“Even I admit,” said one of their guards, who, up until this point remained silent throughout the performance. “It’s rather touching that he’s trying to reach out, or empathizing with us as best as possible.”

When the whispers died out, Inverno raised his forelegs for the final movement. It started by a solo piano that sounded as if it was waking up from its slumber. Soon, other instruments joined in the awakening. In Inverno’s eyes, the Empire, piece by piece returned. Oboes and violas showed the former slaves have noticed that the whips were still, and their chains were loose. They escaped their chains to return to the surface to find two ponies calling out. One that had the voice of a solo flute that appealed to them sweetly, while a clarinet searched in earnest.

Not too long, the trumpets, all six of them plus a xylophone, came to assist the citizens that they will rebuild their Empire once more. However, the dark theme from earlier, although quiet, still threatened to take this new peace down. So a solo trumpet and the xylophone went on a quest to find the very thing that would end Sombra’s reign once and for all.

There were some dark moments where it seemed that neither would succeed in their quest, but the song of the Crystal Heart was found when the harp player. The xylophone helped carried the heart to the Princess, in which, by one great crescendo, the dark theme of Sombra was no more.

Then, the choir began to sing a canon that celebrated their newly found freedom. The Royal couple could have sworn that some of the Crystal citizens in the stadium were humming along with them.

And just when they thought that was the end of that, Inverno did something unexpected. After the Freedom Cannon died down, the orchestra slowed down its tempo to a bittersweet tune. Then, while still having his back against the audience as he conducted, the colt began to sing.

“Lascia ch'io pianga,” The audience was confused at first; they were trying to identify who was singing. This pure voice that was gentle as the song of a lark, yet at the same time was discipline in singing out this melody of extreme emotion.

“Mia cruda sorte,” However, the only source that this voice was coming from was from the one who was conducting. Inverno was signing!

“E che sospiri” It was a voice in mourning, full of regret yet with such beauty in the style that he once sang to his father. Inverno sang it almost like a lullaby, yet, the aria had that hint of sadness that echoed in the stadium with the slow movement of the strings.

“La libertà.” But at the same time, the Crystal citizens were very surprised that the little colt could sing like an archangel. Some even wondered if Inverno was the one who really was singing and not some hidden mare that was doing this.

“Il duolo infranga queste ritorte, de' miei martiri, sol per pietà.”

As the song continued, Shining leaned over to his wife and whispered, “Why is he singing in Istallion?”

“He’s singing something that I’ve suggested. It came from that book we got from our honeymoon, that little book of poems.”

“Okay, but what is he saying?”

Cadence turned to Inverno and answered, “In Equestrian, he’s saying, ‘Let me weep my cruel fate, and sigh for liberty. May sorrow break these chains of my sufferings, for pity's sake.’”

Shining said nothing and listens to the rest of the song.

But as all music, Inverno’s aria came to an end, he lowered his hooves to grasp the brass railing that he’d been chained to, and closed his eyes for the response.

There were stomping of hooves that made it sound like a mountain crumbling, but when the colt turned his neck around, he found the audience applauding. And so, the guards that stood next to him finally unshackled his collar.

As Inverno bowed, he, at last, felt something that to him could only be described in one word.

Freedom.

_*_

There was a commotion in the Palace’s infirmary turned delivery room. Cadence moaning and screaming in pain while the doctors and nurses tried to instruct the Princess of Love with Shining being right next to her.

In the meantime, Inverno was upstairs being looked over by two guards, in which he’d learned they were named Offense and Defense.

“What’s it like?” Inverno asked them.

“Huh?” they both inquired.

“I mean, you two are brothers right?”

“Yeah,” they said in unison.

“So, what’s it like to be a brother? I never had a sibling before.”

“Oh, I see,” Defense nodded, “Well, it’s kinda hard to explain, I mean, I’ve known Offense all my life. So I’m not sure how to describe having a brother.”

“I admit, it is a difficult question to answer,” Offense admitted. “But I guess it’s like living with somepony that’s like a friend, except it’s not. Unlike friends, you can’t just fall away with a sibling so easily, even if you hate them, or find them annoying; they’re still part of your family.”

“Yeah,” Defense commented, “I guess it’s about learning how to get along with someone that’s older or younger than you. But from personal experience with Offense here...” he pointed to his brother, “...it’s something that takes a lifetime to learn. So don’t beat yourself up if you mess up. After all, both you and the baby are still learning.”

Inverno looked down to the direction of the stairs that descended downward. “How long do you think it takes for a foal to come out of another pony’s body?”

They shrugged, “I guess it depends,” Offense said, “I’m not a mare, so I don’t think I would know.”

“Same,” Defense said. The three of them heard hoofsteps that were coming up the stairs. As soon as Shining Armor’s horn was visible, the guards saluted.

“Inverno,” the Prince called out.

“Is she okay?” Inverno asked, “Is Mom alright?”

Shining smiled, “Do you want to see your little sister?”

Both of the guards looked at each other, “Sire,” Defense spoke first, “You mean that Princess Cadence gave birth to-”

“A healthy little filly?” Shining finished his sentence. “Uh-huh, but she also comes with a surprise.”

“Surprise?” the two guards and the colt asked.

“Come and see,” and with that, Inverno followed Prince Armor to the Infirmary, to find that besides a bed, there was a crew of whispering Doctors and a hoofful of the Palace staff.

After wedging his way in, Inverno found his adopted mother, her mane in a mess, eyes tired yet had a small smile on her face. In her forehooves, wrapped in a white blanket was the tiniest pony that the young unicorn had ever seen.

“Who’s that?” Inverno asked.

“She’s my baby,” Cadence said, her voice hoarse. “My little baby, Flurry Heart.”

Inverno looked closer at the foal in the bundle, “She’s really tiny.”

Cadence’s smile grew, “I know.”

“Shining said something about a surprise,” he said, looking at the horn sticking out. “What’s so surprising about a unicorn?”

The Princess answered this as she moved some of the blankets to reveal an unusually large pair of pink wings.

“Oh…” Inverno exclaimed and was immediately shushed by the ponies around him. “Does this happen very often?”

She shook her head. “It’s been a very, very long time since a pony was born an Alicorn… I think. Do you want to touch her?"

The little composer cautiously lifted a hoof to rest on the tip of the infant’s nose. In which, Flurry opened her big eyes. “Why is it that she has a small body but have huge eyes?” he wondered out loud, moving his hoof to her cheek. “And why is she really soft?”

“Babies tend to be like that when they’re first born,” Shining explained.

Inverno moved his hoof where it was over the infant’s mouth, to which, Flurry opened hers and sucked the tip of his hoof. He tensed up as he felt his hoof being touched by something wet and slimy. “Geeahhauh! What is she doing?!” Inverno asked as he quickly took his hoof away to wipe off the saliva on the bedsheet.

Cadence couldn’t help but laugh. “I think she’s hungry.”

“Couldn’t she try to warn me a bit before she started to eat me?” the colt asked.

“Oh come on,” Shining commented, “She was just born today.”

As Inverno left the room, he came to a moment of enlightenment: Having a little sister, was going to be weird.

Author's Note

:rainbowderp: It's... It's done. It's finally done! Wow. I honestly didn't think this story would had taken this long, but, here we are.

So... I guess I have one last question for all of you, what did you think of it.

:fluttershyouch: That is, if you don't mind.

Now with sound!

Dear Bronies and Pegasisters,

I want to start with this open letter with gratitude to Lotus Moon. For those who are not in the know, she had spent the past four years on this monumental project of reading out every chapter of Inverno in F Minor. She has taken an enormous amount of time, patients, and bottomless determination to pull off something that I had doubts of being completed. She was not only the narrator, but she edited and incorporated the music that I had in mind for this story. Even though that this reading has gone through, what could be politely be described as production hell, she nevertheless persisted to see the end.

Also, it should be noted that this story also has voice actors who volunteered to read certain characters. Even though some aren't the most... professional, I am nevertheless that those who have taken the time and effort into taking part in this mammoth task of recording lines to be posted on YouTube. Despite how long they had before they dropped out of the project entirely, their contribution should nevertheless be noted in this.

For all your efforts, everyone who had worked on this project - regardless of how big or small you played a part in this. To them I want to say, thank you.

Next, I should also bring out a confession on my part. Is that even though I didn't want to at first, through circumstance, I too had to play a role in this. In that, I mean I had to give my voice to a specific character. Originally the professor was meant to be voiced by someone else. However, immediately right after chapter 14, he disappeared off the face of the earth. So from every chapter afterward, I had to step in. Though I am no actor, I did try to do what I could to give my story justice through the character of Professor Key Signature. So while I had to fake the British accent, that is defiantly me doing the voice.

So to close this out, listed below are all the links to every chapter of Inverno in F Minor from Lotus Moon. I hope that you may enjoy it.

Signed,

CrackedInkWell

1: Discovery in F Minor

2: Found and Lost, in F Minor

3: Sombra as I Knew Him, in G Minor

4: Inspiration in A Minor

5: Prelude to Darkness in B Minor

6: The Nightmare Fugue in B Minor

7: Breakfast in E Major

8: The Piano in F Major

9: What to Do with Inverno, in Gb Major

10: High Notes in Db Major

11: Malicious Enlightenment in F Minor

12: Defiance in C Minor

13: Secrets in G Minor

14: Key Signature in F Major

15: Vifilli's Spring in C Major

16: After Class Breakdown in E Minor

17: A Lesson in Moztrot in D Major

18: Introducing Sir Spike in F# Minor

19: Argument in C# Minor

20: The Fifth Symphony in B Major

21: Beethooven the Great in Gb Major

22: Reintroduction in Db Major

23: Opportunity in Ab Major

24: Freiheit, Schöner Götterfunken in Eb Major

25: Tochter aus Elysium, in G Minor

26: Wir Betreten Feuertrunken, in F Major

27: Himmlische, Dein Heiligtum in C Major

28: Deine Zauber Biden Wieder in G Major

29: Was Die Mode Streng Geteilt in D Major

30: Alle Menschen Werden Brüder in F# Minor

31: Wo Dein Sanfter Flügel Weilt in C# Minor

32: Starting Over in B Major

33: Vifilli's Winter, Second Movement in F# Major

34: Confrontation in Bb Minor

35: Inverno in F Minor

1: Discovery in F Minor

Freedom!

That was the song that was sung throughout the city-state, the freshly liberated empire. There wasn’t a single crystal pony, young or old that hadn’t heard the fantastic news.

The dark tyrant, wicked slave driver, sadistic dictator, mad unicorn, Sombra the terrible, was dead. Thanks to the bravery of the Elements of Harmony, the new Royal couple, and not to mention the great Sir Spike, the king was at last gone.

So, naturally, a celebration was called for – as well as talks of some reconstruction. Or rather, reconstructing the culture of the Empire, for, under the rule of Sombra, they couldn’t focus on anything else but staying alive. Scholars from inside the Empire flocked to the Crystal Archives and libraries in hopes to put the pieces together anything of cultural value they could find. They searched for literature, music, and art that predated Sombra. Naturally, they found scrolls and books of stories that date well over a thousand years, not to mention some journals and diaries, which was helpful in order to attempt to bring back some of the Empire’s previous celebrations and events.

However, during the first few days after Sombra’s fall, the scholars found something both curious and startling at the same time. It wasn’t so much of what they found, but rather what they couldn’t find. In every culture that ever existed, ponies have tried to record music so it could be played back on their instruments. While the Empire was able to recover a few musical instruments here and there, nowhere, in the whole city-state, did they find any trace of written music.

That was, until the fourth day after the death of the tyrant was when a couple of crystal guards made a shocking discovery. Around evening, after they were relieved of their duties, the two guards were making their way to their living quarters. They were walking down one of the palace’s crystallized hallways, their tired hooves making audible clop sounds on the crystal floors. One of the guards sighed, before turning to the other: “You know Defense; today’s training was really exhausting.”

“You don’t have to tell me, Offence,” Defense said, stopping for a moment. “Prince Armor’s training is doing a number on my legs.”

“Same here,” Offense agreed. He starting to lean up against the wall, “I don’t know about you, but my- GAH!” As soon as the guard’s yellow crystal coat touched the wall, he jumped, and so did Defense.

“Ah! What!?”

Offense looked back at the wall he’d leaned against; he went up to it to put a hoof on the slick wall. “Hey, feel this,” he told Defense.

Of course, Defense was confused but nonetheless complied. He placed his hoof on the wall next to that of his fellow guard. “Feel what? I don’t-”

“No, here,” Offense interrupted, gesturing to a particular spot a short distance to the left. Defense shifted his hoof the few inches, and immediately felt the difference. It was cold, extremely so. It was as if Defense had put his hoof on a block of solid winter.

“Do you feel it?” Offense asked.

“Yeah,” Defense said, feeling around the wall. “It’s freezing, but only right here.” Indeed, he felt around the cold spot on the wall. What was odd about it, was that the spot itself was about the size of a- “Is this... a door?”

Offense didn’t answer. He had spotted something on the floor, in the light of the corridor; a square outline next to the freezing door, almost like a near-invisible tile. He pressed down on it with a hoof, and the tile sank into the floor about an inch before an audible Crack emanated from the wall.

The two guards were blasted with arctic air as the hidden door was opened. A piece of the wall slowly opened, other than the sound of paper rustling from behind, it was oddly quiet. They peered inside, only to find a charcoal abyss yawning out at them. Offense and Defense glanced at each other nervously. “Should one of us go in there?” Defense asked. “This might be something left over from Sombra’s reign.”

It was then that they heard a noise that came from the darkness. It was the instantly recognizable sound of a foal whimpering. It was clear to both of them that someone was in there, and they knew that one of them had to investigate.

“Perhaps we should get some backup,” Offense suggested. “After all, this could be a trap, for all we know.”

“Or maybe this might be some sorta hidden torture chamber.” Defense looked into the doorway once more. “I’ll go in. If the door closes on me, go get help.”

Offense nodded, and Defense cautiously made his way through the doorway. It took a moment to have his eyes become accustomed to the freezing darkness. If anything, the temperature was the first thing he noticed. The cold surrounded him on all sides, the frosty air biting into his crystalline body. When his eyes adjusted, the very first thing he could make out was a pipe organ. The instrument stood in the corner of the room, gleaming even in the dim light, nearly touching the high, vaulted ceiling. All around him, in piles and scattered on the floor, were scrolls, empty bottles of ink, as well as a few broken quills and candles long burnt out. Defense could see that it wasn’t just one room, but that the dark space extended outwards, other rooms connected to form what could almost be described as an apartment. Yet, as the crystal guard explored, he found that there were a few other peculiarities. There were absolutely no doors for privacy and not a single window that showed the outside. Where one would expect windows to be, he instead found murals of a grassy, sunny kingdom outside.

Passing by the art, Defense zoned in where the weeping was coming from. The closer he got to the source of the sound, the stronger the scent of smoke became. In a bedroom on the left, wrapped in thin blankets by a dying fire, the guard could spot a horn poking out.

“Hello?” Defense said, but the shivering pony didn’t respond. “Are you alright?” he asked, cautiously approaching the pile of blankets. He already knew about the defusing spells meant to eliminate the former king’s evil magic. There were rumors of what kind of spells that were found, from doors that open to one’s worst nightmare to a pony who was almost got hopelessly lost in a maze. So being in a hidden apartment, he’d have to be careful.

Defense removed some of the layers of icy blankets away to find a colt underneath. At the same time, nearly jumped back in shock; the young stallion had a gray mane and a white coat. His lips, ears, and the tips of his hooves had turned a light shade of blue. But the violently shivering unicorn held some resemblance to someone familiar. Up close, Defense could see that the colt’s horn was smooth, his mane long, and the guard could have sworn that he could see pointed teeth.

“Offense!” he called out to his fellow guard, “Offense! Get in here!”

“What is it?” Offense voice called back before Defense heard his trotting hoofsteps.

“In here, I’ve found something!”

Moments later, the yellow crystal guard found the room that his purple companion was in. He too, saw what was bundled up by the fireplace and gasped. “Wha… Who is this?”

“I don’t know,” Defense said, turning back to the freezing colt on the floor, “Whoever it is, doesn't he look like, you-know-who?”

Offence cringed, “Yeah… What do we do?”

“Get him out of here, I suppose,” Defense said, craning his neck down to get the mysterious colt out from the blankets. “Help me out; he’s almost as cold as this place,” Reluctantly, Offense did. He helped to get the colt onto Defense’s back.

They left the icy apartment and headed towards the infirmary part of the palace to get the colt warmed up. Once when the young unicorn was put on in a warm bed and had him being watched over, the guards went directly to the royal couple’s living quarters to bring them the news of their discovery.

Offense knocked a few times before Cadence opened the door. “Your Majesty,” both guards said as they took a bow.

“Good evening,” the Princess of Love nodded respectively, “Is something the matter?”

“Yes Princess,” Offense said, “We hope to speak to you and your husband, for we found something that we think both of you should know of.”

Cadence called out for her husband; the Prince soon appeared in the doorway, to whom both of the guards gave their salutes.

“At ease,” Shining told them, “What brings you two out here?”

“Sir, we found a colt.” Defense replied, “We discovered him in a bitterly cold, not to mention well-concealed room, nearly freezing to death.”

Cadence’s eyes widen, “What? Where?”

“Here in the palace,” Offense said, “we found a hidden door that held a secret apartment in which we found him in. There was no light whatsoever, and being in those rooms was like walking in the middle of winter at night. But that’s not the only reason why we’re telling you this.”

“Then what is?” Shining questioned.

“Sir,” Defense said, “the colt we found… he has some… striking resemblance to... him.”

The Royal couple blinked. “Defense,” Shining spoke softly, “What are you trying to say?”

“Your Majesties, I don’t know for sure… Like you, I hope that I might wrong here but… I think we’ve found the son of King Sombra.”

The rulers of the Crystal Empire went silent for a moment before Cadence asked: “Where is this colt now?”

“In the infirmary,” Offense answered. “He’s being taken care of, suffering from a moderate form of hypothermia. We just dropped him off there to be treated, then came straight here.”

“Thank you for informing us,” Cadence said, “I want to see this colt for myself.”

“As do I,” Shining interjected. Soon enough, the couple made their way through the corridors and into the infirmary. There they ran into one very nervous crystal nurse.

Cadence asked the nurse if a colt had come into the infirmary. “Y-Yes, your majesties,” the nurse nodded, “H-He’s in there.” She pointed towards a white curtain that hid the bed. Shining approached the bed, his horn lighting up and pulling back the curtain. There on the bed, underneath warm, thick blankets was the young unicorn, his breathing slow, but his body still shivered. He cracked open an eye, and Shining could see that the cat-like irises were a bright scarlet, the same blood-red eyes that had belonged to a tyrant.

“P-P-P-P-Pa-pa?” Shining couldn’t figure out which was worse, the fact that the colt had called him Papa, or that he’d said it in the voice of an innocent foal. “P-Papa, I-I-I’m c-cold.”

11: Malicious Enlightenment in F Minor.

“Okay, that’s just cruel,” Shining vented, “No, this goes beyond that! This just flies in the face of being sadistic and into a new level of pure evil!”

“Shining,” Cadence said, trying to get her husband’s attention. It was later in the day, and Doctor First Aid had confirmed her worst suspicions. He confirmed that there had been signs of surgery on the colt’s body. The doctor had confirmed to the Diarchs of the Empire, that Inverno was indeed a gelding.

The couple was in their bedroom, Cadence watching from the bed while Shining pacing back and forth, still fuming at the news.

“How could that monster do something like that?” Shining questioned, “I mean, it’s one thing if he would do something like this to the Crystal Ponies, but his son? Seriously! His own son!?”

“Hon,” Cadence interrupted his rant, “Look, I get that this is a new low for Sombra, I agree absolutely. But there’s nothing we can do for him now.”

“Don’t you think I already know that?” Shining retorted. “It’s just upsetting to me that Sombra would do something like this to the kid. For Celestia’s sake, the cruelest thing you could possibly do to a stallion, a foal no less, and he did it on his own colt! The worst part is that the kid doesn’t even realize what his father has done to him in the long run.”

There was a knock on the door of their suite; Shining marched over to the door to find Inverno standing there with a guard. The colt had some scraps of music sheets in his red aura.

“Is Cadence in there?” he asked, “I’ve just finished writing this for her.”

“Come on in, sweetie,” Cadence called out from the room as she hopped out of the bed. Inverno trotted in, the papers held in his magic. “What’s this?” she asked as the music was presented to her.

“I’ve been thinking about the torture chamber lately,” he said, “And I know that it was Papa that did all that stuff, but I couldn’t help but think that this was somehow my fault too. So maybe I should write a memorial not for him, but for those ponies, to let them know I’m sorry.”

“Inverno,” Cadence put a hoof on his shoulder, “You had nothing to do with what your father did. You don’t have anything to apologize for. While this is generous of you, it’s not needed.”

“At least I’m following Papa’s advice in that I should take charge for the things we’ve done, even if it means getting into trouble.” He pushed the sheet music to her, “Just take this. The beginning is finished, but I promise that I’ll write more.”

“You’re not going to take no for an answer, are you?” Inverno shook his head. “Very well, I’ll hold onto this.”

The young unicorn thanked her, and before he could step out, Shining stopped him. “Hey kid, mind if I ask you something?”

“What?”

“Do you…” The Prince sighed, “How do I ask this?” he muttered softly. “Do you remember when your dad had you undergo that… operation?”

Inverno thought for a moment, “Yeah… Kinda… I think was around eleven maybe.”

“Do you remember how it happened?” Shining asked, “Did he even talk to you about it beforehoof?”

The colt put a hoof to his chin in thought, “On the day it happened, he never spoke to me about it. I remember that I was playing a song for Papa. He sat down next to me, looking like he was thinking hard about something. The next thing I knew, he said that he was sorry and then someone put a rag over my face, and everything went dark. I woke up in the bathtub feeling really cold because it was full of broken ice that had been smashed into tiny pieces. Papa was there too, holding my hoof. I did ask him what just happened, but he didn’t tell me much, other than that I’d be walking sore for a while. Maybe he realized that I was sick so maybe he or somepony else did something to remove whatever it was.”

“So you have no idea what he did to you?” Inverno shook his head. “Thanks, that’s all I need to know.” With a questioning look, the young unicorn made his way out with a guard in tow.

Shining trotted over to the bed and took a seat when he suddenly got an idea. “Hey Cade, I think I’ve just thought of something.”

“What’s that?” The Princess of Love inquired.

“Just hear me out on this; I think I might have come up with a reason on why he did it. Cadence, what if Inverno isn’t Sombra’s only kid?” The room became tense in its silence, but Shining continued. “Call it a conspiracy theory, but what if he did it because he could be disposable? What if he had other foals that we don’t even know about that are still…” Shining trailed off when a very dark thought entered his mind. The fact that Inverno was found in an apartment that could be only opened from the outside, was struck by a deadly spell, and the colt himself was barely alive when he was found might mean…

“Shining, you’re not saying what I think you’re saying,” Cadence asked, now coming to the same realization herself. “Are you saying that there might be other foals in this palace that might have not been found?”

“And it may be that they’re already dead?” Shining finished. Cadence was the first to act; she quickly rushed out of the suite, calling for the guards to assemble. Several minutes later, guards assembled near the Royal Suite, and Shining Armor gave out orders to go through the entire palace to locate any hidden rooms as they could find.

Throughout the night, the legions of crystal guards searched high and low of every room, corridor, and already discovered hidden doorways that they knew to search for anything that reveals a hidden chamber. They tapped on the walls, pressed tiles on the floor, pulled books off of shelves, looked behind tapestries, even tampered with some of the artwork to see if it revealed anything.

By morning, they had uncovered four new hidden rooms; each with a corpse or two lying within its depths.

29: Was Die Mode Streng Geteilt in D Major.

“Mares and Gentlecolts,” the conductor said over the megaphone. “We will be going into intermission; we will resume the concert in twenty minutes.”

The Crystal audience got up, some of them to stretch their legs while others walked around to someone selling snacks. Still, the stadium was abuzz of the newly heard music.

“I’ve never heard anything like it,” said one.

“No wonder Equestria made it, its anthem,” commented another. “That was absolutely wonderful!”

“Best music I’ve ever heard as far as I’m concerned.” Praised somepony else.

While everyone around them talked, Professor Key Signature tried his best to comfort the colt. “Come on,” he said, getting up from his seat, “Let’s go find ourselves something to drink.”

Inverno complied, getting up from his seat also; he leaned up against his teacher as he walked him back to the ground level of the stadium. As expected, it was crowded with ponies that were trying to get a drink from a booth that sold only glass water bottles. They found that even members of the orchestra were there too, they were swimming in a sea of praise from the ponies around them.

They finally were able to make it to the booth to where the bottles were sold, above the pony who was selling them was the sign that said three bits was worth one bottle.

“I’ll have two,” Key said, placing the bits on the table, also noticing that another hoof was on the table with bits beneath.

He saw that it was a gray hoof that leads up to- “I’ll have one please,” the mare said before she noticed the other hoof on the table. From her cutie mark to her well-groomed mane with her trademark pink bowtie, Key Signature knew exactly who this mare was.

Unfortunately, so did she, “What are you doing here?” she questioned, her eyes narrowed.

“I… Uh…” Key stumbled. Inverno saw that his teacher looked nervous while the mare glared sharp kitchen knives at him.

“Well?” the gray mare interrogated.

Thinking that his teacher isn’t going to say anything, Inverno thought he might get something going. “Professor Key?” Inverno asks, “Who is that?”

“Octavia,” Key whispered.

“What are you doing here?” His granddaughter asked through her teeth.

“He’s teaching me.” Inverno explained, “He’s teaching me about music.”

Octavia snorted, “No offense child, but I suggest you need to go find somepony else.” She took the bottle of water from the booth and turned away.

Inverno looked up to his teacher, “Well?”

“Well, what?”

“Aren’t you going to go talk to her?”

“But… But I don’t think-”

“Professor Key,” Inverno whined, “She’s right there! Maybe you could tell her you’re sorry.”

“She won’t listen to me.”

“Fine then,” Inverno broke away from the older stallion and made his way across the crowd towards the Cellist’s direction.

“Wait! Stop!” the Professor cried as he tries to push his way through the masses.

Meanwhile, the disguised unicorn was able to go through with ease by going through and under some of the ponies’ legs until he got up to the mare that had her nose pointed upwards.

“Hey! Wait up!” Inverno called out, getting the gray Earth pony’s attention.

“What is it?” she asked.

“It’s about my teacher, he says-”

“I don’t care what he says,” she interrupted, turning away; she started to head back to the stadium.

“He says he’s sorry!”

This got Octavia’s attention. “I beg your pardon?”

“He told me that he made a mistake.” Inverno continued, “But, he said he didn’t think you would listen.”

“Kid, you don’t know him.”

“But I know enough to notice he wants to apologize,” Inverno heard the clopping of hooves from behind and turned to find his teacher approaching.

Key signature slowed down before stopping behind the colt, now the Granddaughter and the Grandfather were looking at each other, both unsure what the other should do.

“Well,” Inverno urged him on, “Go on, she’s right there.”

Key Signature sighed and went up to the gray mare. “Octavia,” he said, “I know that I’m the last pony on this planet you ever wanted to see or talk to no less. But please listen for just a moment in what I have to say… Octavia, I’m… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry.”

The Granddaughter’s jaw dropped, “What?”

“For everything I’ve said,” he put a hoof on Octavia, “For every ignorant, prejudice spun nonsense that I unleashed on you that day. For letting my view of tradition cloud away in your happiness, as well as making you move away. Octavia, you were right, I’m an arrogant idiot.”

At first, Octavia tried to figure out how to respond, a minute later, she came up with: “Where did this come from?”

“I ran into her,” Key said, “She was in the same coffee shop that I was at the time, and she said about missing you. I was curious and asked her how she knew you and she said that she was your special somepony. To be honest, I was a bit curious about how she was treating you. You might say that I grilled her for a good hour, but in the end, it became clear that she does, in fact, love you back. Even since then before I came here, I wondered off and on if everything I thought I knew about you guys was wrong.

“Neither of you are bad ponies, Octavia. I don’t think I will truly grasp this, but then again, just because I don’t get it, doesn’t mean it’s wrong. From what I’ve been told by her, you are happy. That’s all I want really, to be sure you’re happy with that pony you’ve chosen to live with. I don’t expect you to forgive, but I hope that you know that I said I’m sorry.”

Ears folded back, the Professor turned back to Inverno, “Come on,” he said, “Let’s go back to our seats.”

“Grandpa, wait,” Octavia called out, the elder stallion turned around to find that his granddaughter was hugging him for the first time in years. “Grandpa Signature, that’s exactly what I wanted to hear.”

With relief and joy, the Professor hugged his granddaughter back.

“Five minutes ‘til end of intermission.” The conductor’s voice announced.

The two of them broke their embrace, “I’ll be the one playing the Nocturne, I’ve got to go.”

Key smiled, “I hoped you practiced your decrescendos from the last time we’ve met.”

“You’ll be surprised, now I really need to get back,” Octavia said her goodbye and trotted back out to the stadium.

As the elder Earth pony and the young unicorn returned to their seats, the Professor said, “Thank you.”

Inverno nodded, “As Papa said, ‘A late problem solved, is better than never solving it at all.’”

“And now, Mares and Gentlecolts of the Crystal Empire,” Quarter Note said through the megaphone, “Our next piece will be from Horseshoepin. We’re changing things up a bit because instead of an orchestra, you’re going to hear it out of a single instrument that, in my opinion, that Horseshoepin had perfected for the piano. Although published twenty-six years after his death, many would consider what you’re about to hear as his greatest masterpiece.

“So, playing the Nocturne in C# minor is fellow Cellist, Violinist, and Pianist knew as Octavia Melody!”

The gray mare got up from her seat from the Cello section and made her way to the piano, the audience applauded as she waved to them.

Octavia sat down to the open piano that had a microphone sticking in it. At first, she rests her hooves upon the keys but didn’t press any, as if she was meditating something. She took in a deep breath, and soon, the piano sang.