Inverno in F Minor

by CrackedInkWell


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?”