Inverno in F Minor

by CrackedInkWell

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.”

Comments

[sailing101]

I thought I had bookmarked this...
But now for sure, I'll see this story to the end.

Inverno has the gift of Fantasia, I Like that.

[Luckyfanisaac]

Reminds me of a movie. The movie was about a blind and deaf inappropriate girl. Then a babysitter came and for a week taught the girl manners. When the week was up the girl and the babysitter went back to the girls house and the girl went right back to misbehaving. The babysitter took the girl outside by the water pump to refil the pitcher. The girl felt the water and you could see the gears turning in her head. That is all I got to see because it was a movie that I was watching in school and we ran out of time.

Edit: the movie was Miracle Worker ( Helen Keller story)