//------------------------------// // General Assembly // Story: Fangs: The Order // by Sapphic //------------------------------// *~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Rose...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~* The inside of the building was just about the same as the outside; plain and modern. White tiles lined the floor and the only splotches of color came from the desk where a mare sat and the couches that were placed in the corners of the waiting room. A few potted plants and a magazine shelf also helped provide some life to the otherwise white room. Surprisingly enough, the room was rather empty, a change from my outside observations of the hustle and bustle near the windows. It reminded me a lot of a hospital. The mare at the desk peeped up and noticed us three walking in aimlessly. "I take it you are the guests for the Information Committee's gathering?" She said, spying at me and Maple. She looked quite professional; dark green man done up in a tight bun, a pair of fashionable wire frame glasses. Her top half was covered in a formal looking office attire consisting of a blazer, white blouse, and red tie. "Yeah, sorry we're a bit la-" Maple began to apologize, but was swiftly interrupted. "Good, they have been waiting for you both. Your friend will have to wait here." She said, lifting herself from her desk and moving off to the side where she stood by a door with a clip board. She was quite to the point. Me and Maple looked to each other, and then to her brother, before walking over to the mare and following her through the door. I noticed Maple take a quick glimpse over her shoulder, most likely at her brother; she looked a little sad that her brother couldn't come along with her. The walk was silent at first, but the mare leading us began to speak out of nowhere in a professional tone. "I suppose you two know what this gathering is about?" She asked, not even bothering to look back at us. "Um, about the contract we were given?" Maple guessed. "Good, that's all you two need to know right now - the Committee will fill in more details." She said curtly before moving onto the next topic. "There is also rumor that the generals may be showing up to the meeting as well." She said nonchalantly. My heart froze. "T-T-The generals?" I stammered. "Yes. The generals. So I ask you two be on your best behavior." She restated, taking a sharp right and heading down a long corridor. As to be assumed from their titles, the generals were the highest ranking personnel currently in service of The Order. They had the final say of every operation that went on, and could easily stop one if they deemed it fitting; that was the reason there were more than one of them. If all that power rested on one pony's shoulders they would surely lead The Order to ruin. They also weren't appointed either, the rank was earned by show on the battlefield and a vote was held once a spot cleared up. All in all, they were not someone you would want on your bad side, which served as moral boost to other troops when one of them went on a "field trip" to the front lines. "Really?!!" Maple asked with almost awe. "Yes...well, they are all gathering because they all seem to recognize the significance of this threat in the past. Some are even rumoring that they may be sent to deal with the problem personally, though I doubt they would start the operation by sending one of them out. A mission has never been ranked high enough to be assigned to a general's rank alone. I myself don't know why we don't mobilize them more often, it would definitely make my job a lot easier." She said, coming out of her professional shell for a brief moment just before stopping in front of a pair of double doors. I noticed there was a small sign above the doors, reading off in finely worked cursive: 2A: Information Committee Meeting Room. The mare in front of us stepped to the side and faced us with her same flat gaze and gestured for us to walk in, at which I gulped. Maple seemed just as hesitant to go inside as me, and I think the mare that had led us here noticed that as well. She let out a small smirk, turning towards the door and pushing them open, walking through and stopping on the other side and holding it open. Me and Maple began to panic and, out of pure confusion, stumbled through the doors unceremoniously. My hoof tripped over Maple's, and hers over mine, and we eventually just simply fell onto the floor; nothing but silence around us as we struggled to get up. I heard a small chuckle from the mare at the door just as she left. *~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~* "So it seems our guests of honor have finally arrived." A stallion's voice boomed. I peaked up from the ground and saw that a marsh green stallion clad in what looked like a judge's robe sat with his head propped up on hoof. The expression on his face could only be summed up in the word "annoyed", but despite that he still seemed to carry an aura of importance around him, just like that mare. I briefly wondered if everyone was like that around here. "Do you mind removing yourself from each other and standing? If you don't mind, I would like to get this meeting underway and over." He huffed, watching in mild amusement as me and Maple untangled ourselves. The meeting room was assembled rather oddly, looking awfully similar to a room that one could see in a college. The judge stallion that had talked to me earlier was sat in the front of the room at an ornate wooden desk while the door we had entered from was off to the side of him. Rows of chairs rose in front of him until the back of the room, each one filled out with a different pony that was bound to be in charge of something within the building. He pointed weakly to two open seats near the front rows and we quickly took our seats. He sighed and spoke up, this time his voice loud and orderly. "As some of you older members know, we are here to revisit the case of a vampiric nuisance located in the district of Canterlot, one that has seemed to make all investigators sent sent out disappear. The only alias, and solid piece of evidence frankly, is that the name of the target is one 'Vinyl Scratch'; we are able to confirm this based solely on the fact the disappearances only occurred when the name was reported." He said, his face looking bored. "Anyways, we are resurfacing the report since another report of her presence has surfaced. Though this time, it seems we have the full support of the generals themselves, and we will not stop until it is resolved." His eyes snaked to the side towards four figures in hid away in the corner. Each of them were cloaked with what looked like a piece of burlap, though the look of each cloak was different. The most notable of all of them was one that covered a huge looking pony, stretching up nearly twice as high as the other ponies. The next one, the pony directly beside the mammoth of a pony, had their cloak covered in splotches of black and looked burnt near the bottom. I realized that the splotches must have been burn marks, most likely from unicorns. The last two stood out the least. One was simply a dull looking silver instead of the burgundy brown of the others, and also looked like it might have been made out of a more expensive and softer material. The last one was quite literally just a piece of burlap. I wasn't quite as shocked as I thought I would have been, mainly because of their lack of exposing themselves, which I guess was the point of cloaks to make sure everyone stayed on topic. "We weren't able to gather anymore concrete information on 'Vinyl Scratch', even with our expanse of resources; giving off the impression that the target is extremely elusive and most likely...disposes of anyone whom could give a solid report." He chose his wording carefully. Murmurs broke out around the room, whispers of the lack of evidence surfacing when the committee who headed gathering evidence came up short. It seemed impossible to them all, and myself included. The Information Committee had access to things that not even the guard chiefs of cities had; they were in essence a bank of information on any city that spanned their wide reach. In other words, if the committee was a library, Vinyl Scratch was a big blank book with nothing but her name on it. "However, we plan to neutralize the threat immediately." He took a glance at the four cloaked figures off to the side. "With the consent of the generals of course. They didn't move, but the judge took it as a sign of approval. "Very well then." His eyes jutted to me and Maple. "Miss Maple, since you seem to have been the latest mare injured in the Canterlot region before the report was filed, you will be assisting personally in the operation. Regulation states that you aren't allowed to return to your unit within a certain frame of time, so we are simply sending you to a different squad, formed as of today, that will be spearheading the investigation. You will be briefed by them upon meeting them." He said flatly, glossing over his manipulation of the loose wording of the regulation nonchalantly and evoking a gasp from Maple. "Your friend, Rose I believe, will be returned to her job as desk mare at the outpost in Canterlot with the privilege of visiting you since she is head of the region. We ask that you only converse during the day, as the target may be suspicious with the fore coming spike activity; please keep this as quiet as possible." I was pretty indifferent about that verdict, I came in expecting to just be sent back to my desk job, but getting the privilege of leaving officially was more than I could have hoped for. His speech ended with nothing but silence from all, though no one moved as he had not used his gavel - the signal for the end of a meeting. "Very well, keep in mind that this target is of an unknown strength, but has managed to silence even platoons of soldiers. They are most likely extremely violent, clever, bloodthirsty and adept at killing even our most highly trained personnel." He said, raising the gavel and bringing it down with a slam that broke the stunned silence of the crowd. *~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Beauty...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~* I opened my mouth, my face pressed up near the mirror of the bathroom as I scanned the inside for where I had bit into. The second I heard that mare's voice I wanted to scream, spew more than a few curses and insults her way, or do something just to get her to leave. But I held my tongue, I had an image to keep up and I didn't think getting Octavia upset with me again would be the best idea, but I may have held it a bit too hard. When I was watching that white menace I unconsciously tightened my jaw in a building anger. Just the way she walked, talked, and frankly lived made me want to go off on her. It was about that time I felt a warm flowing sensation in my mouth, then the taste of something metallic, and had to excuse myself. Even when I spoke to excuse myself, I just couldn't hold the hatred out of my voice. She was the definition of what I hated; a poor and 'drifter' style pony that contributed nothing to society but the inspiration that one could make it without having to work. And that inspiration did nothing more but draw other beasts with the same mind set; it was nothing but a vicious cycle of downfall that would ruin my city. I had grown up seeing the poor, many of them had genuine excuses for being the way they were, but then there was that mare's breed. The type who obviously didn't make an effort to contribute, and that was what I couldn't understand. When I found out that one was mooching off of my friend, it was only natural that I reacted with a bit of hostility. Not only that, but the mare's record was a scarce as what her job history probably looked like; she probably got it wiped multiple times somehow. And now I was in the bathroom looking into my mouth at a small cut on the side of tongue, small pulses of blood flowing freely. "Stupid Octavia...I told her to get rid of that damned mare before. She was lucky that Harpo managed to calm me down before." I mumbled, prodding at my mouth and flinching at the bit of pain that came from it. I exhaled though, getting mad at Octavia wasn't the way to resolve this conflict. She was, after all, the one I was trying to help here; I even helped save her position in the orchestra, and I'm sure was thankful for that. Though if she really wanted to show it, she would try and make me happy in return. My ears perked up as I heard her hit a high note from the outside, something that managed to draw my attention away from my thoughts and focus on her playing for a moment. I listened on, my ears on edge as I hummed along to the melody in my mind, but she seemed to not be going with same song as I. "What is she playing?" I asked, leaning up close to the door to try and hear her playing better. I knew the song we were playing, I had memorized it long before this meet up, and she was definitely playing something along the lines of it. The muse seemed to dip down or perk up here and there but the song seemed to flow just as smoothly as if that was the original beat anyways. The original would be played every now and then as she went on, but she would always gradually drift off track, as if to show that she did know what she was playing but that she thought she could have wrote it to sound better. And in all honesty, it did. I remembered that the mare had said she had been teaching Octavia and my jaw tightened again - dangerously close to gashing the already open wound in my mouth. My mind flared at the thought of the mare being musically inclined, enough to actually get me to scuff my tongue again and send a fresh pulse of blood through my mouth. "Damn her, worthless pile of filth." Was all I could mutter as I spat into the sink. A sudden knock rang out on the door, bringing to mind that I had been here in the bathroom for nearly all of Octavia's performance. Others probably needed to go as well. "J-Just a second please!" I called out, making my way over to a roll of tissue and taking some to put in my mouth. A second knock rang out, the suddenness of it being enough to make me drop my paper to the floor. I shot my eyes at the door, and bent down to pick up the paper - a small bit of blood dripping from my mouth and landing on the floor. "I said just a second!" I said again, beginning to get flustered as I struggled to pick up the paper and clean up the blood at the same time. It was when the third knock sounded that I lost it. I spun to the door and marched up to it near instantly, pulling it open hard enough that I nearly hurt myself in the process. "What is it that is so import-" I paused at what I saw. Nothing. There wasn't a soul outside the bathroom door and the same went for the straight hallway leading to it. It was impossible, according to the buildings layout, for someone to knock and dash away that quickly based on how fast I opened the door in correspondence to the third knock. I lingered there a bit, looking and waiting as if someone would just come into view. Of course no one did. "Hello?" I called out, silence being my only response. Was I hearing something? No, it happened thrice; I couldn't just mishear the same imaginary sound three times one after another like that. My head lingered in the hallway as I closed the door, my heart beating a little bit faster for some reason. I began to try and brush it off as no more than rodents or something along those lines in an attempt to calm myself, and it seemed to work. I shut the door and looked at myself in the mirror as I leaned up against the door, my head falling back and bumping up against the door lightly. I could only sigh as my eyes closed in an attempt to clam myself, my thoughts finally collecting and falling onto a single mare. "It's all her fault for this; I wouldn't be in here if it weren't for that stupid, low life, goof for nothing, brat." I mumbled in anger. "Who?" My eyes shot open and my head looked up, only to take in a sight that nearly made me pass out. A white mare, mane colored two tones of blue that contrasted with her coat like a blemish. The eye sore of a hair color was only brought out more by a pair of cheap looking purple sunglasses that most likely covered a pair of ragged looking eyes. The horn that stuck off the front of her head was lit dimly for some reason, an outline of a faded, bright, blue hazing around it. Most likely how she got in here without my notice. She stood in the center of the rather small bathroom, no more than three of four feet away from me. "W-what?! Why are you in here?! Get out!" I screamed at the sight of her, a pang of pain coming from my mouth as my teeth brushed my tongue which only served to make me angrier. She flinched a little at the sound of my scream, filling me with a little warmth of satisfaction. She soon got her bearings however, and looked back up to me with a small smirk on her face - a smirk that made me want to beat it off of her - though she managed to beat me to moving. She took a step forward, beginning to close the gap between us. At first I assumed she was going to the door behind me to leave, so I gladly began to get out of the way and readied myself to shove her out. However, I found myself unable to move. I looked down to see a hazy blue color wrapped around my hooves and made the connection to the villain in front of me immediately. I looked up to find that she was now face to face with me, or more precisely, nose to nose. She just sort of hovered there, her nose giving the occasional twitch as she stared at me (I think) through the wall of purple that covered her eyes. She seemed to size me up, taking me into full consideration by only looking into my hateful eyes. She finally spoke up. "It's not very nice to call ponies names, you know." She said, sounding innocent as a foal as her smile widened mischievously.