Inverno - The Music Catcher

by CrackedInkWell


Allegro

“That was your real voice?” Hitch asked.

Inverno rolled his eyes, “For the hundredth time, yes it was.”

“But how did you sing that high?” Pipp was typing away on her phone. “I’ve listened to plenty of high pitch singers before, but that was on a whole new level. It was… close to angelic as you can get.”

“And you did it so flawlessly,” Izzy said between spoonfuls of soup. “You made it sound so easy to do.”

“Didn’t I say I used to be an Opera singer? I thought I covered that before.”

“We’re just really surprised,” Sunny told him. “That and the illusion thing you cast – just… wow! It was like for a minute we’ve stepped back in time.”

Inverno set his bowl aside, “I noticed that too. Perhaps… it might have been nostalgia, or the music was tapping into a memory of mine. But it was how I remembered it. Being on stage singing this aria in a role that traditionally was meant for a mare.”

“So, who was the other actress?” Zipp asked.

“Sorry?”

“That colorful, bug-like… thing that was on stage with you. Who or what was that?”

Inverno blinked, “Have none of you ever seen a Changeling before?”

“That was a Changeling!” Sunny stood up. “I thought they were just a fairytale.”

“Oh no, they’re real… At least… I don’t know if they’re still around or not.” Frowning, Inverno shook his head, “When Equestria was collapsing, they disappeared into the shadows. I don’t know if they retreated to their kingdom or had gone elsewhere. Where had they gone to? I don’t know. But I do know of one thing – the cause.”

“And what’s that?” Izzy tilted her head.

Looking up at the collapsed roof of the Opera House, Inverno told them, “Once upon a time, when Princess Twilight was still around, Canterlot had a golden age. Not only was it wealthy, but there were creatures from far-off lands that flocked here. Some griffons opened shops, dragons who were firefighters, hippogriffs that taught at universities, Yaks that carted goods to trade, Zebras that sold potions, and Changelings that performed in the arts. Ponies at first welcomed them as they brought wealth and a melting pot of cultures and ideas that were experimented with and combined to create new and wonderful things.

“However, underneath the surface of this tolerance, there was a growing seed of doubt – a seed of fear – from ponies that questioned if having them was a good thing at all. Fear that led to distrust. Distrust led to ignorance. And ignorance led to bigotry. Not only had ponies distrust other ponies, but the first ones they went after were creatures whose only crime was that they were not them. They made things intolerable, to where they made new rules of where ponies and creatures could go. Who they could interact with. Where they could get a job at. Even who to marry. Of course, the creatures who could move out did. They took with them the ideas and innovations that made the kingdom great. And from there… things collapsed.”

“So that Changeling in your illusion,” Sunny said, “was that before it happened?”

“Oh, long before it,” Inverno nodded.

“Did you know that Changeling personally?” Zipp wondered aloud.

“I did.”

“Really? Then how come you never once looked at… who-ever-it-was?”

Inverno suddenly got up, “Ah look! I see that everyone’s done with lunch, I can go ahead and show you what I’ve been working on.”

“Hey, wait, why are you changing the conversa-”

“Follow me everypony and watch your step!” Inverno made a hasty retreat backstage.

Zipp, with a raised eyebrow, turned to her friends, “That was weird, right?”

“It’s like he’s hiding something,” Hitch rubbed his chin.

“Ooh! A mysterious past,” Izzy excitedly clopped her hooves together. “I love one of those.”

Pipp, who has been on her phone, gave a low whistle. “Hey guys, I think this old guy is trending.”

“What are you talking about?” Izzy asked her.

“Remember when he started singing and that he treated us to that light show? I posted the video immediately right after, and that vid is going through the roof. It’s not even half an hour old and already there are three-thousands views.”

“Excuse me,” they heard Inverno call out, “Are you coming?”


If they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes, none of them would have believed it otherwise.

Beneath the Opera House in its lowest basement was an enormous, vaulted room where nearly half had shelves of both sheet music and records next to it. Rows of hoof-written books and records were placed side by side. There were hundreds, perhaps over a thousand or so, all organized by the last name of the composer. It was clear to all that the stallion had spent decades recording all this music. But as impressive as that was, nothing could compare to what was taking up the other half of the room.

The closest thing they could call it when they first saw it was an organ, but that wasn’t quite it. There were pipes like an organ. But the contraption was a massive collection of various instruments and found parts that made up this thing. Here there were string instruments that had tinny pads on the neck with wheels near the bridge. There were twisted tubes and piping with various brass and wind instruments that were hooked up to bellows at one end. There were harps, drums, bells, and – strangest of all – wooden parts that were carved into mouths in various shapes and expressions. The very heart of all this was a complicated organ keyboard with rows of keys, buttons, and switches. There is also one noticeable thing too – an ancient microphone. The wires lead behind it to a machine that was powered by batteries made from glass jars, pieces of copper and zinc floating in acid.

“You built all of this?” Izzy said what was on everyone’s mind.

“Do you like it?” Inverno smiled with pride as he was displaying his creation for the first time. “I call it Organum Universale! A universal organ that encompasses every instrument in the orchestra of my time and more. Including a mechanical choir of my design.”

“But… how?” Sunny asked, looking up towards the gongs and symbols that hang from the ceiling. “And more importantly, why?”

“Mainly as a way of preserving music. It took me decades and is still an ongoing project to retune and refine this instrument to get the consistency of the sound as close to how it would have sounded as possible. Besides… when you’re convinced, you’re the only pony left in the world, I find you need to occupy your time somehow.”

Inverno went up to the complex keyboard, resting a hoof on a panel of various buttons. “Fortunately for me, the Canterlot library and university had plenty of information on how various things worked. Such as the mechanics of pressurized air, or how certain clockworks do certain things, or even how the physiology of singing worked so I could reverse engineer it. Maybe not singing words per-se, the only sounds they make are Ooh and Ahh…” He turned back to them, “That one took the longest to get close to functional. Of course, there were plenty of things I had to figure out such as how to make electricity from found objects, and how to make records. I’ve spent years educating myself before I could make my first recording.”

“Not gonna lie,” Zipp said, approaching the rows of keyboards that resembled the gigantic grin of a beast. “I can’t believe that you did all of this by yourself. You must be some mad genius or something to put all this together.”

“No, that’s from a combination of sheer boredom and willpower.”

“So how does all of this work?” Sunny asked.

“The instrument?”

“Well that too, but why go through all the trouble to build all this and record from it? If you already copy down sheet music, then isn’t this just… overdoing it?”

“All this for one greater purpose – insurance.”

Izzy tilted her head. “For what?”

“Simply put,” Inverno sat on his hunches, “if I was truly the last pony in the world, and if somehow another civilization were to pop out and discover Canterlot, I reasoned that if I just left them a library of sheet music, there might be a good chance they wouldn’t have any idea what it means. I figured that when I pass on, there wouldn’t be anyone left who knew how to read and – more importantly, play this music. Which is why I’m going the extra mile to record it too. That way, even if future archeologists or scholars or what-have-you do discover this, they would know what it sounded like.”

“That… weirdly makes a lot of sense.” Pipp eyed one of the shelves nearby and went up to them. Picking one of the books at random, she flipped it open. “Yeah… I can tell right away this is old. So old that I don’t know what it should sound like.”

“Which one is that?” Inverno asked and Pipp flipped it around, holding it up to him. The old stallion had to walk up to it, squinting to see what it was. He got close to it before he smiled, “Oh! Clair de Lune. A beautiful piece you have there.”

Pipp looked between him and the book, “You know, you’ve been squinting a lot. Are you nearsighted or something?”

“If you mean if I’ve been going blind, then yes.” Inverno reached out to take the book into his hoof. But as soon as it was in his grasp, he suddenly remembered that he had magic and, having to light his horn, levitate the sheet music over towards the colossal instrument.

“Do you need glasses or something?” Hitch asked.

Inverno huffed, “Obviously, but who am I going to get them if there’s no one to make them?” Trotting over to the rows of keyboards he added, “Besides, I can’t tell you how long it’s been since I played anything to live in front of an audience.”

“You know…” Sunny walked up to him, “You don’t have to stay here. We can take you over to Maretime Bay so you can be around ponies again. Not only that, but our museum would benefit greatly from your record keeping and your first-hoof knowledge of what Equestria was like for future generations. We can get you settled with a roof over your head, fresh food, and the best medical care.”

“You mean it?” Inverno blinked.

“If it helps,” Zipp told him, “My sister and I are princesses. We can help pitch in with money and Pipp here is good at spreading her influence through the internet.”

“The what now?”

“Basically,” Pipp said, checking her phone, “I can get the word out about who you are and what you do. That, and I think your singing alone makes you unique enough to get noticed.”

This gave Inverno pause, sitting on the bench facing them, he knew what all this meant. All these decades alone will come to an end if he just goes with them. He would be with ponies again. He would find out just how much things have changed since Canterlot was abandoned. He would have a proper bed again. Food that wasn’t served out of a can. And most of all, his efforts to preserve the rich musical past would not have been in vain.

“How far away is Maretime Bay?” He asked.

“Couple hours hike,” Izzy answered, pointing, “About that way, I think. It takes forever to get there from here but it’s not too bad.”

“I figured if we leave now,” Hitch thought aloud, “we should be back by sunset.”

“Might be longer when you have an old geezer following you four.” Inverno chuckled. “I would like to go if you’d let me.”

“You sure?” Sunny asked.

“I would have to pack up, of course. But if you get ponies to come here and bring all this over to your town, I will have nothing to worry about. However, before I could do anything, could you all at least humor me for a minute if I played something? It’s been so long since I’ve got the chance to really perform for anyone.”

“And do you mind if I record you?” Pipp asked, taking out her phone, “Just in case anything else happens.”

“By record, you mean to use that camera feature of yours?” She nodded, and Inverno opened the pages of the manuscript on the organ. Then turning to face her, Pipp held up her phone, “Okay recording in three, two, one…” She pressed the button and nodded at him.

“Hello there. My name is Inverno, also known as Inverno Adagio, and I will be playing for you Clair de Lune by Debussy on an instrument of my own design.”

Turning around, Inverno climbed up on the stool to flip on the machine. A soft hum was heard from a generator while he pressed a few switches here and there before his hooves drift to the lowest keyboard of the organ. Squinting his eyes, he took a moment to study the first few bars of the piece. Taking in a deep breath, he played out the first chord.

From the organ, an ethereal piano was heard, singing out a slow, well-toned melody. Like a song from a mother’s lullaby from long ago. A simple, elegant, beautiful song ring out from underneath the arches. Flipping another switch, Inverno added more texture to the piece of peaceful winds and the softest of strings to add on top of the piano.

As he continued to play, Inverno felt his magic being collected in his horn – another illusion spell to project his fantasy. Before he knew it, he saw a canopy of stars overhead from a clear, moonlit sky. A summer warm night when Canterlot’s residents were heading off to bed. Behind him were the orange glow of streetlamps and in front of him was the blue-tinted landscape of Equestria with all its rolling hills and smooth valleys. It was, in every sense of the word, familiar.

On his right, he found that he was sitting on a bench with… her. Looking up at the full moon was a Changeling that had bright eyes of an orange-yellow, a chitin of light blue, and spring green wings. Yes… this must be a memory of his. She seems so young in this – no more than her twenties that was nearly as tall as he was back then. As Inverno played, he glances down to see a ghostly outline of his hoof over hers.

You know what I like about Canterlot at night?” she asked. “When it’s just like this with the moon and stars out – it’s like the city turns into a painting. Everything here is complementary with warm glowing lights from window sand streetlamps with the blue moonlight. It’s that time when everyone is finally given a break to just stop and breathe for a minute. There are not a lot of ponies out so it’s almost quiet, but just enough noise around to make it not creepy.

He can hear her scoot closer.

You sound like a novelist for a moment.” He heard himself say.

It just felt right. Besides, this city is gorgeous at night. Everything is… Even you.

That’s the thing I don’t quite understand.

What?

I mean… you could probably ask anyone out on a date. Anyone at all. But I’m still curious though. Why is it that you, Arista, of all Changelings, would want to go out with me?

Huh, and here I thought it would be obvious. Let’s see, we know each other at the Opera. We both love music. And we both stick out like a sore hoof.

Gee, thanks,” Inverno cringed at the sarcasm from his past self.

Well let’s be honest, I’m the only Changeling in the cast and you kinda look like Nosferatu but with the voice of an Angel. Still, you’re not just nice to me, but gave me the benefit of the doubt when I auditioned. And I find the more I get to know about you, the more interesting you become.

I’m not interesting.

Says the guy who one time brought a bunch of dead composers back to life so you have friends, and your step-dad went on this big adventure around Equestria.” Arista laughed.

Is that all?

That, and you kinda resemble a vampire with the red eyes and the pale coat.

Be careful, or I might suck your blood!

Joke’s on you! I don’t have any!

There was laughter between them before the two fell into silence. Taking a moment to glance up at the moon overhead, Inverno saw her smile… Gods, had he missed that smile.

What do you hope to get out of this?” his past self-asked.

What? Dating you?

I mean the opera. It’s hard enough just to get in.

And here I thought I made it obvious,” Arista shrugged, “I wanted to sing. I knew I had a good voice, and I wanted to be on stage where everyone can hear it. The opera is challenging, but hey, I like a good challenge.

You may be good, but… if it’s alright, I could give you a few pointers to really make it stand out.”

What? Do you want to give me music lessons?

J-Just…” he could practically hear him thumbling. “I want to help you shine on your own.

Arista smirked, “You know if you want to ask me out on a second date.” She kissed him on the cheek. “All you had to do was ask.

For a long moment, neither said anything. But Inverno remembered the moment well. The warmth on his face, a hoof to touch the spot where she kissed him, and the sense of joy filling him.

I mean…” his past self-coughed into a hoof. “If it’s alright with you.

He watched her get up from the bench, “You doing anything Thursday?”

“Not really.”

“Let’s aim it there,” Nodding, Arista smiled before telling him, “See you around, Inverno.”

T-Thanks… have a good night.

You too.”

Waving, Inverno watched her go until she was out of sight. He remembered this night well, how big of a grin on his face while he looked up from the bench. Doing nothing for a minute or so just staring up at the sky, at the great white moon overhead. What a beautiful ending to a beautiful evening. He remembered wishing that he could take this moment and preserve it in a jar so he could look back on its years later. Thankfully, even in this piece, he never forgot it. This music only brought it all back, finishing out the last few bars and looking up at the moon overhead.

Just as when the last notes had faded away, so did the illusion and his vision had blurred again. Turning around to the younger ponies, he squinted to see that they were awed. Izzy was on the verge of tears. Pipp, still filming, had a hoof over her mouth.

Getting up from the stool, Inverno bowed.