Sakura Blizzard

by Lunaria

Chapter 1 - The Blizzard Beats in Silence

Chapter 1
The Blizzard Beats in Silence

Octavia flopped on the bed in her room, a sigh escaping her lips. A quick glance out the window and the blizzard that swirled outside made the situation clear; she wouldn't be going home today either.

Most jobs she took didn't offer lodging, though this was hardly the first time she'd been offered it. No, what was more unique was the situation itself. She, and another musician, had been commissioned to play at a private party held at House Radon's estate in Canterlot.

That's when the blizzard hit, naturally.

Now, saying that House Radon's estate was locating in Canterlot was technically correct, but only by the definitions of where the city boundaries were drawn. The mansion was located on almost the opposite side of the mountain, a place that had significantly less priority when it came to the city's weather team.

The current state of the weather simply made it unsafe to travel back to the city proper, which is why all the guests, or otherwise, had been offered rooms till the storm settled.

Thankfully she wouldn't miss any of her future jobs. She only had a few things lined up before the grand galloping gala, and that was half a year away. The next thing she was set to do was an orchestral performance a week from now.

One of those fancy new plays needed accompanying music. She didn't fancy them herself, but it would keep her busy for a few months before the hype died down and the backing music got downscaled to something cheaper.

Frantic knocking brought her out of her reverie and drew her gaze from the window.

"Come in," she hadn't even got the words out before the door burst open and a mint unicorn rushed into the room with a frantic expression on her muzzle.

Lyra Hearthstrings, unicorn mare, her special talent was playing the lyre and she had a background in-

Octavia let out a tsk as she caught herself in that mindset again. Shaking her head and sitting up, she raised her voice. "What can I do for you Lyra?"

"I need your help!" The distress was clear in her voice, not to mention the frantic prancing in place.

She didn't let herself sigh. Lyra had a tendency to get worked up over the smallest of things. She'd probably just misplaced her instrument... again.

"Pen is dead!"

Octavia blinked. "Pardon?"

"Pen, you know, the guest of honour?"

She nodded, all while trying to get her mind to catch up.

"He's dead, somepony killed him!"

Octavia put a hoof to her forehead and sighed. There were two scenarios here: Either Lyra had gotten something silly in her head again and was getting herself worked up over nothing, or- she could feel her body tensing up -a pony just died in the same building she was in.

After a taking a moment she opened her eyes again. "And pray tell, what do you need my help for?"

"They think I did it!"

---

Octavia drew a deep breath as she clasped the familiar bracelet to her front leg, moving her hoof around slightly to get used to the weight that came with it. With the last of the things she needed retrieved, she closed her travelling bag.

Not long after Lyra showed up, the ponies she'd ran away from had caught up to her. Octavia had eventually ended up ushering them all out of her room to get a moment to breath. She was struggling hard to not lock up in anxiety, she thought she was past all that, that she'd moved beyond it.

Then the past decided to rear it's ugly head.

She grimaced. She didn't know what was going on yet, no reason to jump to conclusions. Not that anything at this point would stop her mind from pointing out all the similarities.

"Let's just get this over with," she mumbled and pushed her door open. Waiting on the other side was Lyra, everyone else had moved to the library, where the body had been found, supposedly.

The unicorn that she'd considered a close friend for years flashed her a weak smile; she could tell that they were nervous.

"Alright, so why did you come running to me?" She said as she fell in line beside her friend, the two of them heading for the staircase at the end of the hall.

"Well," the mint unicorn started. "I figure if anyone could help me, it would be you, and..." Lyra hurried in front of her and stared into her eyes. "Plus you believe me, that I didn't do it, right?"

The pleading look on her face didn't suit her, not in the slightest. With a sigh Octavia put a hoof on her friend's shoulder.

"Obviously Lyra, you haven't got a bad bone in your body," she could see the unicorn relax as she spoke. "Now come, the others are expecting us in the library."

Lyra fell in step beside her again as she pressed on. "So you'll clear my name?"

She glanced at her friend. "What do you mean?"

"Well, everyone knows about the 'Trial for Call', and how you solved the entire thing."

Octavia could feel lead forming in her stomach.

"The mare who solved the entire plot against Equestria and managed to nail the pony that murdered Countess Call," Lyra continued.

She grit her teeth.

"You're practically a hero!"

Octavia stopped, her muscles were tensing up. Lyra continued for a few steps before she stopped and glanced back.

"Octa-"

"Firstly," she interrupted. "I didn't solve the murder, that was the guard mare. Secondly!"

She was about to continue before she caught herself. Putting a hoof on her forehead she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. She had to remember, the entire trial for the murderer of Countess Call had been a huge public affair... despite being a closed trial.

Most ponies only knew what they had read in the newspapers, however erroneous those words were.

"Look," she eventually continued. "I'm not some miracle detective like the newspapers printed Lyra. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, I almost died."

Lyra flinched back.

On so many levels she wanted to tell Lyra what had happened all those years ago, she'd nearly cracked and spilled it all to the unicorn at several occasions. But she couldn't, the truth of the event surrounding Countess Call's death could not become public knowledge.

"We were lucky that the reserve guard happened to be at the party Lyra, she's the one who solved the murder, not me."

Of course, with what little the media had learned of the case, they'd spun the story as if she had solved the entire thing basically on her own. 'The filly that stopped the treacherous plot against Equestria' the headlines would read; what a farce.

Lyra frowned, her distress returning "So it was all a lie then, you didn't do anything?"

"It's... complicated," she rubbed her hoof against where the bracelet rested. "I helped out a bit, but I spent most of that event just following the guardmare around."

She could see the hope in Lyra's eyes die, a whine escaping their mouth.

Octavia sighed. "I'll do what I can, okay?"

---

She took in the sight of everyone in the library. At first she was expecting more faces, but then she remembered that the entire mansion staff had been let off early the day before as the storm started so they could get home to their families.

She walked over to the dead body on the floor that everyone was staying well and truly clear from. Just taking in the sight she couldn't stop her mind from starting to take notes of it all.

Graphite Pen, pegasus stallion. He was about her age, his coat a dark black with a gray mane. His body was lying on it's side in a pool blood. A large wound could be seen on his throat, whoever had done it had not been precise.

Taking her eyes off the body and taking in the rest of the room, the library was hardly modest. But then, what noble estate was? Huddled in a corner were the rest of the ponies. She counted ten with herself and Lyra; most of them were unicorns.

To be perfectly honest, she didn't know any one of them all that well. As putrid as nobles could be, she couldn't say that she thought anyone present would have what it took to kill another pony. And yet, young Pen being dead proved otherwise. Even if it was an accident, whoever responsible was willing enough to cover it up.

What had she said again, the pegasus that took charge of that other murder investigation? Octavia couldn't recall, but she did distinctly remember interviewing each and every pony. More information was more to work with, after all. Previously she'd not cared the slightest for the lot, now she had little choice.

Because no matter what, she'd not leave Lyra out in the cold.

Author's Note:

Pardon the editing being a bit under the weather.

So, a mystery novel, huh? I haven't tried writing one of those before. Or, I suppose that's not true, I did make a small attempt at penning one over a year ago; it didn't get very far. This contest was the perfect opportunity to try it proper.

I could use the practice when it comes to writing, yet sometimes I wonder if I get too easily distracted. This likely won't be a masterpiece, but hopefully it will be interesting.

Comments

[RB_]

Right off the bat I'm impressed. You've already set up Octavia as a character, an intriguing mystery about her past, the murder, tied in the prompt, and it even has Lyra in it. Strong start!