Inverno in F Minor

by CrackedInkWell

9: What to Do with Inverno, in Gb Major.

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She had been listening to her citizens’ concerns and disputes for almost an hour. She regularly did this, in order to maintain and improve the Empire that she ruled over. But Cadence was starting to get bored. It was her turn to listen to her subjects and to give advice, but so far, the concerns that the crystal ponies presented were so far only trivial matters such as expanding the railroad to reach the Empire’s borders or asking her about bringing “new forms of media” to the city-state.

About an hour in, Cadence called for a short recess. She had one every day, in order for her to get something to drink before she continued. The palace staff fetched her routine cup of morning green tea and tray of flavorless cucumber sandwiches.

“Your Highness, is it true?” Cadence’s snapped her attention to her newly appointed adviser, Pen Stroke.

“Hmm? What?”

“Sombra’s child,” he said, “Is it true what the other Princesses said about him; that he isn’t a threat?”

“Oh, yes, it’s true; Inverno isn’t a danger to the Empire.”

“Are you sure, though?” The ruby stallion raised an eyebrow.

Cadence took a quick sip of her cup before asking, “What do you mean?”

“I mean that you and the Prince have overthrown Sombra. The citizens of the Empire don’t want anything to do with him, I know. But, with the revelation of this Inverno showing up, claiming to be his son, and therefore his heir, wouldn’t that still mean that the colt should technically be the one who’s running things? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying by any stretch of the imagination that that’s the way it should be, I’m just going by simple logic here.”

“Inverno told us himself this morning that his father was going to teach him how to rule once he was ‘old enough.’ But since he was never taught how, it would seem like a rather bad idea to have him take over without having any idea how to govern.”

Cadence’s adviser nodded, “I see. But the Empire would need a clear statement in what your majesties are planning to do with him.”

The Princess of Love downed the rest of the cup before responding, “Firstly, for his safety, he’ll remain within in the palace while we’ll have him educated. We need to keep him up to date, not only with the standards for colts his age, but to catch up with modern Equestria’s culture like what Luna has been undergoing. Secondly, since he still hasn’t earned his cutie mark yet, we’ll give him space to figure out in what he wants to do with his life. My guess is that it’s going to lean towards a musical cutie mark. As to the third, it’s still unclear.”

“What is?” her adviser inquired as he jotted down what the Princess was saying.

“Inverno is an orphan since his father is dead and his mother is never mentioned. I’m not sure if she’s even alive, nor have any clue to her identity anyway. But if worse does come to worst, I’ll have to speak with my husband with the option of adopting Inverno.”

Pen Stroke dropped his pen and notepad, “A-Adoption?!”

“Hear me out,” Cadence cut her off her adviser before the mare could say anything further, “I’m not exactly sold on this either, but at the given situation, it’s a possibility. After all, both of us need time to consider Inverno’s character, his likes and interests, and what he plans to do in the future. Who knows, perhaps with the right guidance and the right level of kindness, perhaps Inverno could grow up to become a better pony than his father was.”

_*_

“So how’s Inverno behaving?” Shining asked the guards near the colt’s room. They were same guards who, ironically enough, had found the colt, to begin with.

“Oddly enough Sire,” Offence said, “He’s been really quiet in there, and the only sound to come out of there is the phonograph playing.”

“We even checked every once in a while to see if he’s even in there,” Defense added, “The colt has hardly budged, he just sits right in front of the machine, staring off into space.”

“Really?”

“See for yourself,” they both said. With his magic, Shining opened the door, only to find a scene exactly as the guards had described. Inverno sat in front of the phonograph as it played out a Moztrot melody.

“Hey, you okay?” Shining asked, but the colt made no reply. “Kid? It’s time for lunch. Hello?” Shining went over to him, finding the unicorn in the same hypnotic state as he had been in the music room. Shining waved a hoof in front of the colt’s face, but Inverno didn’t even flinch.

Shining took the needle off of the record, and with the music stopped, Inverno was snapped out of his unusual state.

“Huh? What is it?” Inverno asked he looked up to Shining to find confusion on his face.

“Weren’t you listening?” Shining questioned, “I just said that it’s time for lunch.”

He blinked, “It’s lunchtime already?”

“Come on,” Shining started to trot out of the room until Inverno asked him an odd question.

“Did you see it?”

Shining stopped, turning to the young unicorn, he asked: “See what?”

Inverno tilted his head, “You mean you didn’t see it all? It was so new, so detailed, and beautiful. Well, all of them were. Cadence’s records showed me places, ponies, and stories that I didn’t know could exist. I think I’ve seen more than one heaven with these music-playing things.”

“Um… okay then?” Shining said, “Maybe we could send for some more records for you to listen to.”

“Would you!?” Inverno asked excitedly, nearly jumping in place, “I wanna see more!”

“Uh, Inverno, you do know that you can only listen to records, right?”

“What? No! I wasn’t talking about the records, I was talking about the music.”

Now it was the Prince’s turn to look confused, “You do know you can’t see music.”

“Yes, I can,” Inverno disagreed, “I’ve seen them act out a story; other times the music is like a painting in which something beautiful is revealed. They even talk, sometimes, too.”

Shining could only stare at the colt, “How about we just go and get lunch.”

Inverno rolled his eyes, “Fine, let’s go eat something then. And why are you looking at me like that? You must think that I’m crazy or something.”

Comments

[SageBrony07]

Wow. That is interesting. Inverno can see music. I wonder what that will do in the future. That is an interesting gift. Great job and good luck with the next chapter.

[Camolot the Creator]

Audio to visual synesthesia, perhaps? Interesting.