Fangs: The Order

by Sapphic

Beast

"C-Changes?" I stammered to Vinyl's mother and her menacing form.

She chuckled and nodded.

"Yes dear, changes. As I said before I'm lacking any allies around these parts other than my daughter, who is obliviously not around, so I think that I'll need to make one."

What did that mean? Did vampires have an ability to materialize others out of thin air? Well, I suppose that the phrase "creating something from nothing" would apply here though that was a strictly art based theme, but I wouldn't put it beyond them. After all, vampires were real. I found myself oddly forgetful of the fact that the beasts of legend were real. Not to mention that one actually lived with me.

Well, did live with me. She was abducted now, but Vinyl's mother seemed pretty keen on retrieving her daughter.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, curious as to how she was going to go about it.

I considered "the master" from the forest as an example. Maybe she planned on "recruiting" some other vampires.

"Well, do you remember me telling you about vampirism? That special little thing my daughter has about her that she can inject?"

I nodded.

"And, do you remember what I told you about turning others into vampires through that serum?" She said again, smile widening.

I nodded again, still following along.

We both went silent after that, though I was silent as I had assumed she was going to elaborate on her point, though it appeared she was done.

She sighed, hoof meeting face and rubbing slightly.

"Perhaps I should be more direct..." She muttered to herself before looking up to me.

"Octavia." She said, her tone enough to make my back straighten.

"Y-Yes?"

"You love my daughter, yes?"

I felt a blush.

"W-Well, yes but-"

"And you want to help her?" She interrupted.

"Yes." I said firmly.

"Well, might I ask what you'd be willing to give up for her?" She asked.

I went into thought at that question.

I had assumed I'd be willing to give up a lot for Vinyl, which sounds rather dumb since I had only known her for a few months, but I did honestly feel a bit of an attachment to her. Well, that and she did save my life; though I did save hers as well, but I'd hardly call myself even with her. After all, she had done lots more than save my life. She had befriended me, even loved me with open arms.

I guess we were in a similar boat, both of us being quick to react and attach to someone who showed us interaction, though I suspect for two entirely different reasons. My own reason was because of my lack of it for a long while, lack of relationship with someone that was as intimate as I'd call mine with Vinyl.

Though what would I give up for her? Well, most everything I suppose. It'd be only fair since she gave me just that.

"A lot." I responded.

"Even your life?" She asked, her voice much more serious.

I thought briefly. I had thought about it before, and rejected it before. Though someone talked me out of that stupid choice of greed. Then again, that same someone just knocked me unconscious and stole Vinyl, so needless to say I was a bit conflicted.

"Yes, I think I would." I answered shakily.

"What about your mortality?" She asked again this time taking me aback.

'Mortality? As in my ability to die? Why would she ask if I'd give that up? Dying? I could understand that being a weighted choice, but my ability to die? Why would she ask that?' I though.

"I suppose." I said warily.

She clapped her hooves gleefully at my response.

"Oh my! How delightful! We can get started as soon as possible then!" She cheered, coming closer to me.

"Wait, started doing what? Saving Vinyl?" I asked, confused by her sudden outburst of joy.

"Oh no, but that will come soon after." She said, sinking down to her haunches and coming oddly close to me.

"Then what were you tal-" I started, though I was quickly interrupted by Miss Scratch throwing her body onto me and forcing me to the ground with her on top.

"Oh, I think you'll find out soon enough." She whispered huskily into my ear.

I gulped.

The carriage bumped harshly, sending me up into the air briefly before landing back into my uncomfortable seat. It smelled like polish inside the wooden interior of the carriage, though it was also freezing thanks to all the windows inside. The rain did serve as a sort of way to calm me. A set of what looked like magically lit candles served to light the inside, making it look bright as day.

I let out a sigh at the situation, though kept quite as I knew complaining would only annoy everyone else.

Well, there was a single exception.

Indeed, our waiting had paid off and a carriage had arrived to pick us up. Though, instead of it being the prisoner transport carriage we had expected to get - a carriage that was designed just for the transport of vampiric prisoners - we received the same carriage me, Flint and Stone had arrived in. The limo.

Flint asked the meaning of it, though the driver told her just that.

We were apparently moved down on the list of priority to get transport carriages because the main headquarters had deemed Flint and Stone "plenty of security for the transport of a single prisoner. And that if they failed it was only their fault."

Needless to say, Flint was pissed.

Enough to set a poor, unfortunate, tree ablaze half way down the road.

We ended up piling into the carriage in the end, as it was raining. Though we found out that they were considerate enough to send some shackles and a magical inhibitor for Vinyl in order to restrict her magic uses. Thank Celestia for that, if not I'm sure we'd get to see the nasty side of the white mare that managed to net her such a name in The Order.

But, we weren't all convinced that some shackles was enough of insurance of our safety. Even Stone was a bit bothered by the lack of safety precautions, and I could understand that too. I mean, it was a notorious criminal for us. The biggest actually.

The only one who seemed at ease was, surprisingly enough, Shakes. She seemed to have gotten past her total depression, and now just looked annoyed.

Flint picked up on it too, though she wasn't too keen on keeping quiet about it.

"Whats got you so calm, Shakes?" Flint asked suddenly, talking to the mare across the small isle of space between us.

Shakes had opted to sit next to Vinyl and let us three squeeze together on the other side of the carriage - to which we were all too happy to do. And maybe to flaunt her fearlessness even more, Shakes had even laid Vinyl's head in her lap.

Shakes smirked a little at that.

"Well, that drink should keep her out for at least another three minutes." She said.

"Three?! But we haven't even got her in shackles yet!" I shouted.

There was no way at all that I was going to be within three feet of a killing machine without anything to restraints on her. No way at all.

"Well, maybe two if you keep yelling like that." Shakes remarked, teasing yet still just as upset.

"Aye, we should shackle her up if she's goin' to be waking soon. Don't want her just teleportin' out of here. Or actually fightin' back." Stone said sagely.

"Agreed." Chimed in Flint.

We all looked to Shakes, who gave a glance to each of us before huffing in annoyance.

"Oh come on. She's not that strong. I mean, you guys are the generals, aren't you?" Shakes mocked.

We all returned her mocking with silent gazes, each of us a bit deadpanned at her complaining of locking up the most feared vampire in history for us all.

She gave us all another look before wiping her hoof across her face and sighing exaggeratedly.

"Fine." She said, almost whining about it.

She followed through with her promise and got the shackles from Stone. The way the shackles were set up made it so that every hoof was chained to the others - front left to back left, front right to front left and so on - as to get the most restricting and strongest bond possible. They were also roughly an inch thick, the chains themselves also nothing to laugh at either.

With a final click, Shakes let out a deep sigh and placed down the limp mare's hoof. She seemed to scan over her briefly, going over both the shackles and the magic inhibiting ring on her horn.

She then turned back to all of us.

"Happy?"

We all nodded and seemed more at ease. I know I was.

She huffed again before speaking.

"Don't know why you guys are so paranoid. I mean, she's been fasting for at least a few months at this point. Even a few drinks of blood would only make her stronger for a few minutes at most. It'd take a solid hour of drinking to see any real strength improvement." She said.

That also seemed to calm us down a little bit, restoring some lost confidence in Flint and reassuring what was already inside of Stone.

A sudden cute sound came from the sleeping mare, letting out a small and high pitched yawn that let her tiny fangs hand out just barely as she scrunched her face up. Small little tears formed on the edges of her eyes as she smiled and went back to cuddling into Shakes' lap.

I felt my heart wince a little at the sight, especially because she was in chains. Though I kept in mind that looks could be deceiving.

"Well, at least she ain't hard to look at. I was half expecting some kind of bulked up pony that could break steel, not some cutesy mare. Heck, I was fully expecting some kinda scars on them or some kinda testament to their strength." Flint chuckled.

Vinyl's nose scrunched up heavily and her face moved to something of displeasure. It looked like her little dream had turned into a bad one all of the sudden.

Her back hoof begin twitching a little, scratching the door just a little accidentally.

"She is pretty adorabl-"

Stone was interrupted as Vinyl's hoof winded up a bit farther than before and let out a small buck right against the door.

Though, that wasn't all.

The door ripped from its hinges and was tossed away from the carriage. From my vantage - and thanks to the brightness of the candles - I could make out how the door skipped across the landscape like a stone skipping on water, though rather than only going a few yards like a rock would, the door was moving dozens of yards every skip. It eventually disappeared out of sight.

I could practically hear all of our mouths would have hit the floor in an instant, each of us looking in either horror or amazement at the seemingly accidental and completely effortless removal of the door.

Flint looked back to me to make sure she wasn't seeing things, and I guessed my own slacked jaw was enough to tell her she wasn't. Even Stone and Shakes had a mouth agape.

It was around that time Vinyl let out another small yawn, stretching one of her hooves forwards and effortlessly snapping the chains from her hooves. There wasn't even a brief moment of resistance from the chains before they broke, it was as if they weren't even on her. She had just effectively broken out of all the chains we had put on her within a few seconds - the chains and restraints that got the job done on every other vampire we had placed them on.

At this point it was just adding insult to injury.

She then proceeded to cuddle further into Shakes' stomach with a sound of contentment.

"T-Those had t-to just be rusty...right?" Flint stammered, chuckling nervously.

"O-Of course." Stone agreed, stammering a little before he reached down and pulled out a much newer looking pair of chains and handing them over to Shakes.

Even she was a bit worried now, her hooves trembling a little as she put on a new set of chains onto the sleeping white mare just above the first pair.

Luckily, Vinyl seemed to be settled in now and didn't make anymore major movements to give the chains a run for their money.

Needless to say, we all were looking a bit differently at the white mare cuddling innocently into the stomach of Shakes.

My body felt groggy as I moved about, limbs not wanting to cooperate as I felt myself move about something hard and cold. Even my eyes were refusing the simple action of opening, though my mind was very active. Memories were still going through, particularly the one about Vinyl's mother forcing me to the ground and attempting to do something to me.

That was enough to get my eyes to cooperate, letting them snap open on their own as my back lurched forwards in order for me to sit up as quickly as possible.

My vision focused quickly, narrowing in on the dim light coming from the other side of the drawn curtains.

'Did...did I fall asleep? Or did she knock me out too?' I thought to myself.

I heard the soft sound of something, like someone slurping from a tea cup.

A quick turn was enough to confirm my suspicion, as I took in the sight of Vinyl's mother sitting elegantly at the kitchen table with a cup of tea in front of her. She was nonchalantly going through with the motion of drinking it, as if she hadn't knocked me unconscious and attempted to subject me to an experiment of hers.

"Excuse me?" I said, sounding oddly meek.

She continued her drink though put the cup down soon after and turned to acknowledge me.

"Ah, so you're awake? How are you feeling dear?" She asked.

"A-A bit tired, but what exactly did you do?" I asked, having a good idea just what she did to me but wanting her to tell me directly as opposed to being dodgy about it.

"Do you really want to know dear?" She asked with an odd smirk.

I felt a chill run down my spine at her oddly compassionate and gentle smile despite the implications behind it.

I nodded.

"Well, I pinned you to the ground with the intention of turning you into an ally of mine that may actually be able to stand on their own. However, after maybe five or so minutes of teasing you and watching you blush oh so adorably, you proceeded to pass out." She said calmly, my face reddening as she went on.

"You then gripped me tightly and called out my daughter's name, to which I was surprised. That then led me to pry myself from your surprisingly iron grip." She continued, going back in for another cup of tea.

My face was surely red enough, and I felt hot enough that I could warmed up her cup of tea.

"O-Oh...I a-apologize." I said quietly.

"Quite alright dear. It was honestly the cutest sight I'd seen in the past few years, if that counts for anything." She said in what I took as an attempt to cheer me up.

"How long was I passed out?" I asked.

"Roughly three hours or so I'd say." She said, putting her cup back down.

I was a bit surprised by the length of time she said, though what I was a bit more surprised about was her apparent honesty with me. Not to say I had expected her to be a liar, but you'd think that someone who attempted to borderline force themselves on you would a bit less honest after the fact. Or at least have the consideration to not go and explain the situation in full detail to me.

"Oh, and there was more. Such as when your parents came over and-"

"I-I'd rather not know about that." I interrupted just at the mention of my parents coming to visit. Situations raced through my head of my parents walking in on another mare on top of me that wasn't the one I had presented to them. I had enough to worry about at the moment.

Specifically, one question.

"S-So did you..." I began to ask, this question being the biggest one I had in mind.

"Do what? Change you?" She specified.

I nodded.

"No, though I did plan to at first since you being unconscious would have been ideal for changing you deary. Though when you muttered my daughter's name, changing you became more like taking advantage of a sleeping pup." She said, swooning at the mention of her daughter.

I decided to gloss over the fact she had unintentionally just referred to me as a dog.

"Though I do wonder," She began to ponder.

"would you have let me go through with it? You said it yourself you were fine with diving up your mortality for my daughter." She asked me, clearly expecting an answer.

I was speechless at that, as I honestly didn't know. I mean, saying things were one thing; going through with them was an entirely different situation. Though what she said was true, I had said it, and I guess I would do it if it meant saving Vinyl. But at the same time I guess it would be like giving up some of myself at the same time. How would that change me? Would being a vampire change my personality?

Even if it didn't, I'd be becoming something that many would view as a monster.

"I...I think I'd need some more time to think about it." I admitted quietly. And in all honesty it was the truth.

"Fair enough." She said, smiling as she took another sip of tea.

"Though I did find something quite interesting while I was on you deary." She said, giving me a quirky smile.

"And that would be?"

"Well, you seem to have quite a high concentration of that venom still inside you. Dormant, of course, though it makes me wonder why exactly it isn't decaying as it would normally. It's going much slower than usual." She said, sounding honestly and truly intrigued by the fact.

"Needless to say, if this little trend keeps up and you do decide to take me up on my offer, you'd be quite a threat to even with little experience." She commented. The weight that had was considerably high since this was the mother of the most threatening mare I had seen ever.

Though that thought got me wondering. Vinyl's mother had mentioned already that she didn't know the full extent of her own daughter's abilities, which got me wondering if Vinyl's mother was even stronger than Vinyl. I'd be understandable if she weren't, but if she were notably stronger than Vinyl in just the magical aspect then I was talking with someone that I could consider borderline godlike.

The thoughts of Vinyl only brought me back to sulking. Despite her only being gone for all of a few hours, it felt like months or so since I had seen her. I mean, her mother was kind and all - despite trying to do exactly what Vinyl had done a few days after meeting me - though she wasn't nearly as emotional as I thought Vinyl up to be. She was kind and sounded loving at all times, but Vinyl's emotions felt somehow realer to me. Maybe it was because of my different opinions and relations with the two. Maybe it was because it was the truth.

Though one thing was certain. I wanted Vinyl back.

We all felt sleepy, I was sure, but not one of us dared to close our eyes for too long. There was the matter of diligence of watching over a prisoner during a transport of course, but the primary reason was that said prisoner had just accidentally kicked the doors off of the carriage and broke through chains as if they were but twine.

That, was probably the reason none of us decided to go to sleep -- the fear that if we did close our eyes that they might never open up again.

Fortunately, and unfortunately as well to certain regard, Vinyl Scratch had kept asleep for a lot longer than hoped for. Shakes had brought up that the least she would be out was three minutes, and that was over three hours ago.

Yet the beast still slumbered.

The unfortunate part of this situation was that we were still on edge about what her reaction to being abducted would be when she woke up. Most of us would assume outburst and rage towards us, though Shakes mentioned that Vinyl may end up hugging us when she woke.

She was apparently that unreadable.

But all that was nearing in end, just as our trip back towards head quarters was. Maybe it was our driver, but we were apparently making phenomenal time according to Flint. If we could get Vinyl Scratch out of the carriage and into the base, we'd be in the clear. Even if she did put up a fight with us, she'd be so outnumbered and out skilled that she'd be taken out before she could break her chains.

I found myself smiling at the idea of safety.

Though that smile was short lived.

The sound of an awakening went through the carriage and everyone visibly stiffened, a yawn managed to slap the sleep out of all of us and prepare us for the worst in all of a second or two.

The white mare in front us rolled off of Shakes, moving from off her lap and sitting herself up properly in the open seat across from Stone and beside Shakes.

She made a move to rub her eyes, obviously still tired from either whatever Shakes gave her or either genuine sleep, and rattled her set of both broken and still solid chains. She smacked her lips after that, as if she were waking up in her own bedroom, before finally noticing the change of scenery.

Her eyes opened to a considerably awoken size as she took in Stone's face, then shifting her gaze to Flint and then myself. She gave each of us a once over, not really giving off any emotion or signs of hatred towards any of us.

None of us dared to make a sound, either from the fear of setting her off or just from fear from her in general.

She finally turned to Shakes, giving her the same once over before her face twisted in a sort of odd fashion. She looked a bit nervous, though we all took this as anger and braced.

"Hey Shakes, where are my glasses?" She asked, patting her head with her hooves in an attempt to find her glasses.

"Probably back at the apartment on the floor." Shakes responded.

"Dang, my head feels weird without them." She said, her odd face returning again as she patted around her head for a second time to be sure she didn't gloss over them the first time.

After that she turned down to the chains on her hooves and gave them a brief look at. That was where I expected her to do something, though she only set her hooves back down and let out a deep sigh, as if she was only just annoyed.

"Can we go back and get them?" She asked genuinely.

"Probably not."

"Aww." She whined sadly.

The carriage turned silent after that.

Still no one dared to speak.

Vinyl seemed to begin looking around the carriage. At the ceiling, the walls; Stone, Flint and I, even sticking her head out the hole in the side of the cart she made by kicking the door off. Stone moved to stop her on that one, though she was too fast and he too slow. But she didn't move to jump out of the carriage, only sticking her head out and turning it both ways to look at the dark scenery before returning back to the carriage.

...

...

...

"Shakes?" She asked.

"Yeah?"

"Are we there yet?"

Shakes sighed and put a hoof up to her head before rubbing, apparently not thinking much about the fact that Vinyl's response to being kidnapped, drugged and dragged to a place that she had no idea where it was, was 'Are we there yet?'.

"Vinyl if the carriage is still moving, what do you think?" She asked rhetorically.

Vinyl took a moment to think before opening her mouth to respond.

"No. The answer is 'No', Vinyl." Shakes said before Vinyl could say anything.

Vinyl turned her attention to the ground for a moment before speaking up again.

"Wheres Tavi?"

"Probably back at the apartment with that mare with the closed eyes."

"With Mom?"

That managed to get Shakes to react.

"That was your mom?" She asked in both surprise and what almost sounded like fear. She even made a little move to raise up out of her seat a little, straightening her back in alert.

Vinyl nodded.

"Aw man, Mom's probably gonna do something with Tavi." Vinyl said, sounding a bit sad.

"Are you seriously not going to do anything?" Flint asked out of nowhere, getting all of us to turn and see her almost fuming in her seat. Her eyes looked angry, her teeth were gritted and the candles inside the carriage were beginning to act up.

Vinyl cocked her head to the side in confusion.

"About what?" She asked both innocently and honestly.

"About being chained up and kidnapped you dolt!" Flint snapped.

Vinyl's ears lowered as a response to the sudden outburst and she visibly cringed.

I was shocked by the reaction to getting yelled at. Sure, maybe she could handle situations such as being kidnapped like this well - as remarkable as that may be. But typically being something along the lines of a superhuman and getting insulted didn't go too well together. I had at least expected some kind of voiced response to being yelled at.

Was this the beast that The Order had talked about only in whispers?

Was it even a beast?

We were all looking in stunned silence at the exchange between Flint and Vinyl when the carriage suddenly jerked around a little before coming to a violent stop.

"Driver, what's goin-" Stone began to speak, though the sound of a blood curdling scream interrupted him.