//------------------------------// // 10: High Notes in Db Major. // Story: Inverno in F Minor // by CrackedInkWell //------------------------------// “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?”