//------------------------------// // 11: Malicious Enlightenment in F Minor. // Story: Inverno in F Minor // by CrackedInkWell //------------------------------// “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.