Dissociation

Octavia groaned as she rolled over and slapped the ringing alarm clock with a random flail of her hoof. The clock toppled over, rolled off the night stand and fell to the floor upon which point it decided that being quiet was a good idea. In the silence that followed Octavia lay still staring up at the ceiling, why was she always waking up so tired? It had been happening for the last week now and over the last few days it had gotten even worse. Granted the incident with Gleaming Moon hadn’t helped matters.

It was still hard to believe it had been two days though since it had happened. The previous night Fleur had stayed the night but last night she had once again been on her own. Even though it was only a one off it had felt so natural having the unicorn stay the night. They had sat and talked about old times, both good and bad, shared good food and she had retired that night with a smile on her face regardless of how she had been feeling. Last night had been quite different, tossing and turning for hours with thoughts and feelings flashing through her head like wildfire.

There was little time to dwell on it though; today was to be a busy day. She was due to meet with the rest of her ensemble prior to their performance tomorrow evening at the Canterlot Auditorium. Slowly she dragged herself from her bed and stumbled into the bathroom. Even the warm water of the shower did little to wake her up and by the time she was sat at the breakfast table she still felt as sleepy as she had done when she had woken up.

The coffee pot was completely drained by the time she finally left the house, the earth pony now feeling a slight headache coming on from the ingestion of too much caffeine. Even so she pressed on, leaving the house and making her way towards the auditorium where they were all due to meet. Much of the hustle and bustle of Canterlot slipped right past her, Octavia trudging along like she was in a trance. She didn’t quite know what to expect from this morning’s meeting, Parish hadn’t made it completely clear when he had visited briefly the day before. That said she knew several things for certain and one of them was that Frederick was no doubt going to be shouting for a majority of the meeting.

Before long she stood in front of the concert hall with a sense of reluctance; why hadn’t she just stayed in bed that morning? Still she gave a sigh and pressed forwards, walking into the hall and making her way backstage. The security guard at the door simply nodded at her, recognising the pony with ease, and allowed her through. There weren’t many ponies working at that time, the concert hall didn’t open properly until much later that afternoon so it was only security and a few cleaners that were present. Octavia didn’t see any pony else as she wandered the corridors but the steadily increasing noise of a loud voice started to fill the air as she neared the back room.

“…and what do you expect me to do about it?!” it cried before a short pause, “No I will not ‘settle down’! Do you have any idea what this news will do to her?”

Octavia paused in mid step; the voice belonged to Frederick for sure but what was he talking about? What news? Do to who?

“What makes you think I know what to say to her?” continued Frederick’s voice, “By Celestia I wish Beauty Brass would hurry up and let us know if she’s still at home or not.”

Now Octavia was curious, what was going on? She continued forwards, heading towards the door as the voice continued to talk loudly. She hesitated for a moment outside the door and then pushed it open.

“Ah, that’s probably Beaut…”

Frederick’s voice trailed off to nothing as he turned and saw Octavia. His face seemed to go a little white and he began stammering slightly. Parish, who was sat nearby, gave a heavy sigh and pressed a hoof to his forehead. He lowered it a moment later and looked fully towards Octavia.

“Hello Octavia,” he said carefully in a voice that seemed to be expecting some kind of explosive reply.

Octavia raised an eyebrow, “Uh…hello Parish, what were you two talking about?”

“You heard?” asked Frederick quickly.

“Not surprising with how loudly you always seem to talk,” replied Parish with a sideways glance at his fellow earth pony.

“Oh so now it’s my fault?!”

“I didn’t say that, I was just…”

“Octavia!” cried a new voice as Beauty Brass raced into the room and flung her hooves around Octavia, “Oh my goodness I’m so sorry! You must be feeling terrible! When I couldn’t find you at home I raced back here and…oh I’m so sorry!”

Octavia was nearly bowled over by the embrace but her mind quickly fixed onto what Beauty Brass had just said rather than the annoyance of her sudden embrace.

“Feel terrible? About what? Granted I did feel quite shocked when I heard about Gleaming Moon but I’m a lot more relaxed now,” she replied in a stunned tone.

There was a sudden silence in the room. Octavia slowly looked at each of her fellow musicians who all looked completely stunned; what had she missed?

“She doesn’t know,” commented Frederick.

“Know what?” enquired Octavia with a slight huff of impatience.

“Tavi…” murmured Beauty Brass as she pulled back from her embrace, “…there…there’s been another murder…it’s Fleur.”

Fair Breeze couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy as he looked down at the body before him. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t even ugly…it was despicable. The pony before him hadn’t just been murdered, she had been mutilated as well. He turned away slowly, casting a glance at the two royal guards that stood by the door, both of whom looked ready to pass out, vomit or a mixture of the two.

“Get something to cover the body with and then step outside, nopony is allowed in without either myself of Lilac Bloom accompanying them…understand?” he said firmly.

The two guards swallowed hard and nodded, “Yes sir.”

Fair Breeze headed for the door, casting a final glance back at lifeless body of Fleur Dis Lee before departing the scene. Outside Lilac was stood waiting, the Pegasus looking visibly ill herself as she handed Fair Breeze a new report.

“Are you alright Lilac?” asked Fair Breeze with a concerned tone.

“I’ll…be alright,” replied the Pegasus with a terribly fake smile, “It’s just…oh…”

“I understand your feelings…it’s not a pleasant sight, still I need you to focus.”

“Y-Yes sir, of course sir.”

“Good, now what do these reports say?”

“Very little sir. There is no sign of any forced entry to the home, no broken windows or anything similar. The deceased was found late last night by a pony called Fancy Pants. Apparently he had come to take her out to dinner, the two have been involved for a number of months now.”

“And where is he now?”

“At his home following a visit to the hospital for shock. I’ve got two guards watching him but I doubt he had anything to do with it…gut feeling perhaps.”

“No, I think you’re right on this front. Still we will have to get a full report from him in due course.”

The pair fell silent as they continued on down the corridor although their slow walk came to a halt a moment later as Lilac stopped and gave a sigh. Fair Breeze looked round at her and gave a sigh of his own.

“Bit for your thoughts warrant officer?” he said casually.

“I…I guess I’m just finding all of this hard to accept,” replied Lilac as she stared at the floor, “First one murder and now a second barely two days after the first. We’re the Royal Guard! We’re supposed to protect everypony from harm and…”

“Don’t beat yourself up over this Lilac, you didn’t cause these deaths.”

“Yes but…could I have done anything to prevent them? Have I missed something in my investigations? Was there a clue I didn’t see? Was there…?”

Lilac stopped abruptly as a hoof landed heavily on her shoulder. Fair Breeze was looking at her intently, a firm resolve in his eyes.

“If there was something overlooked we all overlooked it! This is not your fault and right now I need you to focus and help me get to the bottom of this. We may not have been able to save these two ponies but we can save everypony else.”

Lilac was still for a moment and then gave a firm nod, “Y-Yes sir!”

“Good, now we need to…”

Fair Breeze stopped in mid-sentence and looked over his shoulder, he could hear raised voices. It sounded like a couple of guards and a mare were arguing outside the building. He removed his hoof from Lilac’s shoulder and began to trot down the hallway. Lilac quickly followed him and together they descended the stairs and crossed the foyer. The voices were clearer now but still muffled by the door, as he opened it though the full force of the argument landed right in his lap.

“Ma’am I have to insist you step back!” ordered one of the guards, “This is a crime scene and we cannot allow anypony inside.”

“You don’t understand!” screamed the grey mare stood on the doorstep, “I have to see her! I have to see Fleur right now! You have to let me in!”

“Ma’am I can’t…”

At this point the guard was interrupted as the mare threw herself forwards, aiming for the opening door. Neither the guards or Fair Breeze was expecting this but then the mare seemed not to be expecting the earth pony to step through the door either. She collided with him hard, the mare falling to the ground as Fair Breeze found himself flung against Lilac who in turned fell over herself. The two guards stood outside quickly pounced on the mare, restraining her, but still she continued to scream.

“No! No I have to see her! I have to see…”

Any further words were lost to a flood of sobs as the mare finally went limp. Fair Breeze quickly shook himself off and looked back at the scene. For a moment he felt a flash of annoyance wash over him, who was this pony? What was she doing here? But as he looked at her sobbing form he couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.

“Sorry sir!” said one of the guards quickly, “We’ll remove her from here.”

They were about to carry the mare off when Fair Breeze made his decision.

“Wait a moment,” he said quickly as he looked down at the mare on the ground, “We can’t leave her in this condition, bring her inside and we’ll let her calm down a little before we send her on her way.”

“Uh, very well sir,” replied the guard with a hint of confusion.

Lilac also looked a little confused and gave a small frown as the grey mare was carried into the house ahead of her. Then again it may have just been annoyance from being knocked clean off her feet. She followed the two guards as they carried her down the corridor behind Fair Breeze. It only took a moment to reach the kitchen area and the guards set the mare onto a seat and then stepped outside the room at Fair Breeze’s bidding. For a moment she examined the pony in front of her; well-kept coat and mane, fitting accessories…she was definitely a pony of class…and yet her eyes were red raw from tears and she shook like a foal lost in the woods.

“What’s your name?” asked Fair Breeze, his voice knocking Lilac out of her thoughts.

The mare didn’t respond at first, simply looking up at him with pleading eyes, “O-Octavia, Octavia Melody.”

“Octavia…that name sounds familiar…” mused Fair Breeze.

“It should sir,” interrupted Lilac as she finally stepped forwards, “She was one of the ponies interviewed following the death of Gleaming Moon.”

“Indeed,” commented Fair Breeze with a hint of curiosity, “Lilac would you get a drink organised for her, I want to ask a few questions.”

“Yes sir,” replied Lilac as she headed towards the kitchen cupboards.

Fair Breeze took a moment to examine the pony in front of him and then sat down in a chair opposite her.

“I take it you’re a friend of Miss Dis Lee?” he asked after a moment.

Octavia gave a small nod, “Close friend…is it true…is she really…”

“Dead? Yes I’m afraid so,” replied Fair Breeze with a small sigh.

Octavia looked down and once again began to quietly sob. She only looked up when Lilac pushed a cup of coffee into her hooves but quickly looked away once more afterwards.

“I…I can’t believe it…” she said quietly, “We only…spoke the other day…”

“Miss Octavia I know this must be hard for you but would you mind if I asked a few questions?” inquired Fair Breeze.

Octavia shook her head, “What…what do you want…to know?”

“When was the last time you saw time you saw Fleur?”

“Y-Yesterday,” replied Octavia as she stared into the coffee she was cradling between her hooves, “A-After one of the royal guard visited to give me the news regarding Gleaming Moon she visited me expectantly…she was always doing that, dropping by to make sure I was alright. I asked her to stay the night to keep me company and she agreed. Yesterday morning I walked with her back to her home and…and she even made lunch for me…!”

Octavia began to sob once more, tears running down her face and dripping into her coffee. Fair Breeze sat back in his chair slightly, the information from Octavia certainly filled in a lot of blanks.

“When did you leave?” he asked carefully.

“A-A little after three in the afternoon…”

“Lilac make a note of that.”

“Already done sir,” replied Lilac as she circled the last piece of information she had just written to highlight it.

Throughout the whole exchange she had been scribbling in a notebook, keeping track of all the potentially important facts as the conversation progressed.

“W-Why do you want to know?” asked Octavia slowly.

“Fleur Dis Lee was found late last night by her partner, your information narrows the time of death significantly,” replied Fair Breeze, “But if you’ll excuse me I have a case to resolve. Lilac when she is done make sure you see her out.”

“Yes sir!”

“Wait!” interrupted Octavia as Fair Breeze made a move to get up, “Can…can I see her?”

“I’m afraid not miss, this is still a crime scene and…well you wouldn’t want to see her as she is now.”

Octavia face paled slightly at the statement but she quickly resumed her sobbing into her luke warm coffee. Fair Breeze gave another sigh and got up, wandering back into the house with a shake of his head; he had to get to the bottom of this…and soon.