Chapter 5
One Day the Sky Will Clear
The blizzard was starting to let up finally, she noted as she closed the door to the garden behind her. The hot spring room was devoid of ponies, so on a hunch she made her way back towards the lounge. And indeed, everypony else was seated inside.
She could see Lord Radon trying to comfort his wife. Their son, meanwhile, was seated at the bar, his face resting flat against the bar counter's surface. Lyra was trying to talk to Vinyl with little success, her otherwise cheery housemate had a blank expression on their face.
Similar dour looks rested on the faces of everyone in the room. She couldn't blame them; this wasn't the type of union anyone here had wished for. After taking a moment to gather her nerves, she cleared her throat and entered the room proper.
While she was sure she had the attention of most of the ponies, Thor was the first one to speak up. "It seems I owe you an apology, Miss Melody."
She glanced his way.
With a sigh the older stallion continued. "I didn't think much of you, certainly not with all the wild rumours. But the way you're able to conduct yourself in even the most dire of circumstances... well, that's deserving of respect," he nodded lightly.
She nodded back before glancing around the rest of the room. It didn't seem like anyone else had anything to add; at least not right now. So she steeled herself and spoke.
"I believe I know the circumstances surrounding Graphite Pen's death now." By speaking plainly she had the attention of everyone in the room aside from Wing; who seemed to be completely lost to what was happening around them.
"Y-You solved it?" Carbon Cake stammered out from where he was sitting with Ice Top and Lord Radon.
"Yes, though just to confirm," she turned to face Diamond Flair, who was sitting at the other end of the bar from Wing sipping her own drink. "You did see who murdered your son, correct?"
"Correct," Diamond Flair replied, a frown on her features.
Octavia smiled. "Then that's all I needed to know."
Diamond blinked once before letting out an "Ah," sound, her eyes turning down towards her drink. If Octavia needed any other hint towards her being on the right track, Diamond's reaction was it.
"Let's start with the basic details. Graphite Pen died, at my estimate, an hour or so before lunch was served yesterday. His body was found, first by Lyra, then by Mrs Flair, shortly after lunch."
"And the lyrist didn't do it?" Thor questioned.
Octavia shook her head. "Mrs Flair supposedly ran into Lyra right after the deed was done, meaning that the crime scene couldn't have been tampered with. Yet, there was quite a bit of blood, both on the floor and on the weapon. Yet there was no note of any blood on Lyra herself."
Doubtful looks glanced her way, so she continued. "I'll admit, it's not the most compelling reason for her innocence. However, she'd not met Pen prior to this event: she had no reason to wish him harm."
"And you're suggesting someone else here did?" Ice Top snivelled.
"I do," she nodded. "But let's take a step back. After Pen had finished eating his breakfast, he went ahead and retrieved a bottle of wine to partake in from the comforts of his room."
"S-surely not..." Carbon mumbled.
"No," Flair interjected. "He definitely was," she took a sip of her own drink. "I saw the bottle when I exchanged words with him, Detective Melody's assertion is spot on."
She gave a nod towards Flair. She didn't like the unicorn in the slightest, but at least she could respect her in this one moment.
"The next time Pen was seen, he was lumbering towards the library. We can therefore conclude that he met his untimely end there while being drunk off his hooves," she concluded.
The room was silent for a moment, two moments, and then...
"You're saying he took his own life?" Lord Radon asked aloud the question that was likely on everyone's mind.
A loud snort rang out, followed quickly by Radon Wing removing his head from the counter to look at his father. "You think so little of her, even after all of this?" Wing glanced her way, giving her a nod to continue.
She nodded back before turning her gaze towards the rest of the room. "Wing is correct, I don't believe this to be a suicide. The logistics of ramming a dagger into ones own throat is hardly trivial, even less so if you're so drunk you can barely walk straight. No, Graphite Pen was murdered."
"How can you be so certain?" Ice Top questioned.
"It's simple, really. After all, we have a pony that witnessed the crime right in this very room," she gestured towards Diamond Flair. "You saw when Lyra discovered the body, yes, but you also witnessed the original murder too, didn't you?"
Every set of eyes in the room were trained on Diamond, waiting for her reply.
"Yes," Flair closed her eyes, "I did."
Cries in alarm and surprise rang out across the room. Quite a few colourful words were traded before Wing eventually had enough and stomped his front hooves against the counter; quite loudly at that.
"Give them space to talk, you can act like foals after the fact," he spoke, clearly at the end of his patience.
Diamond Flair licked her lips and put down her drink on the counter. "Detective," she glanced her way. "It's not often in my career that I've yielded center stage to somepony else. I trust you can carry this all the way to the curtains?"
She smirked. "I can." She hadn't been wrong yet in her assertions, so she was quite certain that she was on the right track.
Diamond flashed her a smile. "Then I'll leave it to you," she raised her glass in Octavia's direction before downing the rest of it.
She gave a nod to the mare before continuing. "It seemed counter intuitive at first, it's why I almost missed it. Why would Mrs Flair wish to cover up the death of her own son?"
She thought back to what had transpired just an hour or two ago. "See, when faced with the death of young Polo, Mrs Flair panicked and locked up. Would it really be reasonable to expect her to not take it equally hard, if not worse, when it was her own son lying dead on the floor? In fact, all of my interactions with her in regards to her son have been odd, to put it lightly; almost as if they were rehearsed."
Octavia glanced towards Diamond, but she seemed to hold little interest in weighing in. "She's quite the actress, having been a top billing fashion icon; you'd have to be, otherwise high society would eat you alive. Faced with the death of her son, she did what came natural: adapting to make the best of a bad situation."
"I don't know if it was a spur of the moment thing, or if she knew that Lyra tended to go to the library when things became too much for her. Regardless, she'd act her part. So at just the right opportunity she yelled out for help, just like a supposed normal pony would do when faced with an atrocity."
"But," Top started, "why implicate someone else for the crime if she knew who killed her son? That doesn't make any sense!"
Octavia hummed. "Normally you'd be right; it wouldn't. In some cases I guess you could argue it would be in order to protect someone else, though I don't think that's the case here either. No, what Mrs Flair wanted to protect the most was her reputation. Ergo, if it came to light that the pony who actually murdered Pen had done so, then it would sting harder than if some nameless lyrist had done it."
Wing huffed and rolled his eyes. "So it wasn't any of you musicians? Tell me something I didn't already know."
"Well," she started while collecting her thoughts. "Next is simply a matter of who both had the opportunity to kill Pen, as well as the motive to commit the act. As for opportunity, neither Polo, Vinyl, nor Wing would've had the chance to do so."
"That leaves quite a few ponies left who could in theory have committed the crime, yet seemingly all of them lack motives," she fished up her notebook and started going down the list.
"Me and Lyra both didn't know and hadn't met Graphite Pen prior to arriving here. It'd be quite a stretch to argue that either of us would have had a reason to end the poor stallion's life. Next, while Mrs Flair would have had the perfect opportunity, she too has no motive. Even if she hated her child, he was ostensibly going to be marrying upwards when it comes to high society; something which would also benefit her."
Taking a moment to catch her breath, she noticed a glass floating into view.
"Water?" Flair offered.
With a nod in thanks she accepted the drink, downing most of it before placing the glass on the closest table.
"Now," she continued. "Mrs Flair was hardly the only one concerned with reputation. Thor desperately wanted Pen to sire an heir to the family. If anything, he was desperate for this union to go through, what with Polo's worsening condition."
"That leaves three ponies, the two childhood friends that arranged this entire marriage to begin with, as well as Lord Radon himself. None of which should have any reason to want Graphite Pen dead... and yet, here we are."
Ice Top glanced wearily between the two stallions she was seated with. "You can't be serious Miss Melody," she turned to stare Octavia in the eyes. "Why would either of them want sweet little Pen dead?"
She hummed. "Why indeed?" Her eyes scanning across the three of them. "I'll skip the theatrics and dive directly into the rest of my findings."
"There were too many oddities surrounding you in particular, Lord Radon. For one, the only pony I know for certain who even knew that Pen had made his way to the library was you. You also arrived late for lunch, and according to your wife, you'd been busy with something in this very room," she glanced at Ice Top. "Correct?"
Ice Top gulped. "That's what he said..."
Wing let out a growl before picking up and hurling the open bottle that had rested on the bar beside him; thankfully the bottle collided with nothing but the wall, though it had completely soaked the floor with wine. Wing kept swearing under his breath as he smacked his front hooves against the bar counter.
"I-" Ice Top uttered, not managing to come up with anything else to say.
"The thing is though," Octavia continued. "At the time, Radon Wing was in this very room. Meaning that if Lord Radon had stopped by, he would have run into his son. But of course," she turned to face Radon. "Wing never met anyone, he's been in this room alone since before the party started, and was so up until me and Lyra came to speak with him."
She could see that the stallion was starting to sweat profoundly.
"But," she took a step forwards. "There is also the murder weapon: A dagger with House Radon's insignia. And-" she continued before anyone could interrupt here, "while it's true that somepony else could have gotten their hooves on it. It would have been much easier for you, Lord Radon."
Lord Radon gulped. "All of this might be true Miss Melody, but it could also mean that someone is trying to frame me."
She hummed. "That's a possibility, yes. Earlier I idly considered if your uncle could perhaps have been the one to have committed the murder," she glanced towards the ageing stallion. "But there is another interesting detail on the murder weapon: There's blood on the handle."
"So?" Radon asked, the confusion clear in his voice.
"This means that whoever used it as a weapon wasn't covering the handle with their limbs, ergo, the killer has to be a unicorn. And as we both know, Thor's illness makes his telekinetic grip especially weak."
Radon's eyes were darting back and forwards, trying to meet the gaze of others; something that was denied when everyone else looked away when their eyes met. "T-this proves nothing though. Why would I want to kill the colt that was going to marry my daughter?!"
She smirked and glanced across the room. "Vinyl dear, would you mind hooking this up to the speakers?" She fished up the tape player from her saddlebags.
With a grunt the aforementioned unicorn got up and made their way behind the bar. After a minute or so she returned with a long cable that she wordlessly attached to the tape player. Meanwhile, Octavia had busied herself with rewinding it to the point she'd noted down.
"What is this?" Asked Ice Top, the first one to breach the topic.
"Just dues," Wing grunted out with his face once again buried against the counter.
She glanced briefly towards Wing before answering Ice Top herself. "The truth of the situation," she opted to say.
Without waiting for another interjection, she hit play.
"You don't love her then?" "It's more complicated than that." The conversation rested as clattering of cutlery could be heard. "I just... she's a beautiful mare, really. Probably way better than I deserve." ... "But... she's also nothing like me. I want to settle down with someone that actually cares about my art, you know?" "Yeah," Radon Wing replied in his usual non-committal fashion. "And, and! My parents never really understood my art. Mother kept wanting to send me to advanced flight camp to try and become a Wonderbolt," a huff rang out. "As if just any pony can become a bolt!" "Yeah that requires- hold on." "Hey!" Radon's voice rang out loud. "Can we have another bottle? Yeah, just put it on my tab." "Anyway," Radon continued at a much more reasonable volume. "So you want a marefriend that is more on your level, gotcha." "Yeah!"
She stopped the playback, the last exclamation by Graphite Pen having rung clear and true. Carbon Cake was openly weeping again.
Wing was just giggling, probably at his wits end. "And my therapist says I'm too paranoid," the last few words burning with venom.
"I'm not sure I'm following..." Lyra uttered. Her friend wore an expression of utter confusion .
"It's simple," Octavia started. "Graphite Pen didn't love Polo," she glanced across the room. "So when Lord Radon checked in on the stumbling colt, he likely admitted as much in his drunken stupor. Radon cares a great deal for his daughter and already had his misgivings about the union. But to learn that the colt that was to marry dear Polo didn't even care for her in the slightest? It likely set him off."
"So," she exclaimed, pointing her hoof towards Radon. "In a bout of rage you stabbed the colt, his stumbling making the wound uneven. And you did all of this because you wanted your daughter to be with somepony that truly loved her. You're the murderer, Lord Radon!"
"You can't prove that!" Radon stood up, glaring at her.
"It's what all evidence points to," she countered. "But even so, you were caught red hooved in the act by somepony who saw you there!"
Radon's eyes widened as he turned to glance at Diamond Flair. "No..." He stumbled backwards and collapsed down in the sofa.
The entire room remained silent, everyone was struggling to wrap their heads around it all.
Then, slowly, the light stomping of two hooves making applause rang out.
"Masterful work, Detective," Flair said. "I'll have to apologize for my earlier assertions of your skills, clearly they far surpass the rumours."
"You're one to talk!" The tear ridden Ice Top cried out. "You tried to pin this on somepony innocent!"
"Ah, except.." Flair started.
"...she never once lied," Octavia finished. "If I was an official guard, maybe it could have been considered an intrusion to the investigation... but since I'm not," she glanced at the mare.
She'd never forgive her for trying to pin the murder onto Lyra's shoulders. But considering that she herself had helped Polo in their getaway scheme... she wasn't really in any position to complain about somepony else's acts of deception.
Regardless of it all though, she couldn't help but to agree with Wing's sentiment:
"Fuck this crap," the stallion uttered as he got up and left the lounge, slamming the doors shut behind him.
Thinking back, the guards had been pretty quick to arrive on the scene. Carbon Cake had taken off and flown to Canterlot as soon as the weather permitted it. The case was considered open and shut, what with Lord Radon confessing to the entire thing.
Diamond Flair had also been more forward with the guard than she'd been with her, making the arrest an even simpler matter for them. The trickier part had been Polo, or rather, the lack of her. When they went to retrieve the body they only found large indents in the snow, as if the entire body itself had been rolled away.
But, because no other traces were found of anyone having been around to move the body, they concluded that it must have been blown off the mountain by the particularly strong winds. They were going to send a squad out to search for the body though, if only to give Polo a proper funeral.
Of course, Polo was still alive and well; but they didn't know that. She didn't quite know how Polo had managed to pull off the deception she did, but at the very least nopony had thought much of it that she'd supposedly just dumped the body at the edge of the gardens.
She turned and glanced at the pony sitting next to her on the train back to Ponyville. She'd never seen Vinyl down in the dumps before, usually the unicorn was either full of energy or had this air of calm about her.
"Hey," she asked, getting their attention. "You alright?"
Vinyl glanced away from her towards the floor. "No, no I'm not."
"If you need to talk, I'm here." After all, she had personal experience with how traumatising these kind of events could be.
"It's just," Vinyl started. "She was a fan of mine, like, a huge one."
"Ah?" So it was Polo's untimely "death" that was bothering her.
"Like, ponies know I can play, right? I get gigs often enough. But no one really listens to my stuff. But she did, and she was really into it. And... now she's just gone."
Vinyl pulled out a CD from one of her large bags. "She even asked me to sign this, my album. Who am I suppose to give this to now?!" She handed the case over to Octavia so she could look at it.
It was clearly signed on the front: "For my biggest fan: Radon Polo. ~DJ PON-3"
"I'll probably keep in touch with Wing, if you want, I can make sure it gets delivered to the funeral?"
"Sure," Vinyl waved her off with her hoof absentmindedly. "It's not like it should go to anypony else anyway."
She frowned, but packed the CD into her own saddlebag for later. Maybe there was a way she could get it to Polo?
"I just don't get it... she sounded so full of life and hope, why would she want to take her own life?" Vinyl lightly smacked a hoof against the seat. "I don't get it."
As for herself, her mind wandered back...
"So," Polo smiled at her. "Do you know who murdered Pen?"
Octavia halted. "I've got a pretty good idea," she licked her drying lips. "But the top contender is your father."
Polo hummed, the smile not leaving her lips. "That would be my guess as well."
She wasn't sure if she should be surprised at the young unicorn's indifference, but she elected to not voice her concerns. Instead she continued on towards the door.
"I hope you've got a plan to get through the storm on your weak legs," she mentioned; it was still quite the storm outside.
"I do... that being said," Polo started, causing her to turn her head and glance back at the unicorn. "Since you helped me, I feel like you deserve the truth."
"Oh?"
With a light crackle a stream of green fire ran across the entirety of Polo's frame, burning away her fur in the process. Octavia yelped and stumbled back and away from them in surprise.
What remained looked more insectoid than pony, though their shape was roughly the same. Instead fur there was a black carapace, holes in various sizes lined the entirety of her legs.
"W-what-"
"Changeling," they spoke, though their voice sounded different. "That's what I am," they flashed a smile that revealed their sharp teeth. "In case you were wondering."
Racking the back of her brain she could not remember ever reading about a creature like the one before her, neither the name nor what it looked like rung any bells.
With a sigh, the changeling that had been Polo walked up beside her to glance out the window of the hut. "I've been starving for so long."
Just as she was about to voice her concerns their head turned towards her, and with it their two large pupil-less eyes.
"Changelings eat emotions, specifically love. And there is so, so little of that here. But!" They turned back towards the window. "I won't bore you with the details. You've got a case to solve, and I've got greener pastures to look for."
Octavia gulped. "Will I ever meet you again?"
The changeling that had been Polo giggled. "Who knows, maybe I'll drop in to catch up? I hear you live with the greatest musician of our generation."
She scoffed, yet she couldn't help but to smile at the remark.