Fangs: The Order

by Sapphic

Knocks on the Door

*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*

My eyes opened slowly, only to be met by muddled darkness thanks to my blurred vision that always seems to greet me every morning. I tried moving my hooves up to rub it from my eyes, but they seemed to heavy to move and I quickly gave up. The thought occurred to me that I had nothing to do today anyways; I was out of my job and not exactly ready to go job searching after being let go so quickly.

I considered the thought of practicing, but shrugged that off as I snugged into the warm covers that blanketed my body.My bed felt odd this morning, a bit stiff if anything, but then again I didn't exactly feel that normal to being with.

'I wonder what I could get a job in?' I mused.

'Something outside of music would feel odd to me, and probably just end up proving a problem for others, so I ruled out the idea of basically everything.' My face turned to a frown at my thoughts.

I was sure there was hope, though it was probably in the distance somewhere. I'd have to get to it, but that was expected to achieve anything.

I felt a small smile tug at my lips for some reason, the blanket above me tickling my mouth as it adjusted.

'I could ask Vinyl. She did strike me as the type that might be able to find a fix to this problem. Not to say that she would be experienced with being unemployed, she had owned that bar for awhile on what I could assume. She just seemed she might be smart on the topic.' I internally defended myself.

I tried adjusting the covers again, finding the weight of them oddly heavy.

A noise sounding akin to a grunt sounded itself while my covers moved on their own, the warmth of them wrapping around me without my doing.

My eyes opened again, a bit faster than last time, and my vision had cleared just enough for the things within a close vicinity to be clear as day.

It seemed my blanket was alive. And a bit upset thanks to an unfortunate hoof that had found its way right under its jaw.

Vinyl was laid over me limply her nose scrunched up in a slight discomfort thanks to my hoof having poked into the part of her jaw just behind her chin ever so slightly. She looked on the verge of tears and I stifled a giggle at the scene and gently removed my hoof from her face and tucked it to the side.

She seemed to be relieved at the removal of my hoof and a cheerful smile graced her lips soon after as she cuddled back into me. Her movement was fluent enough to surprise me, no hesitation in pressing her face close to mine. However, it took me by surprise and I found my head trying to lurch back away from her; my eyes were wide and I could feel the pink filling my cheeks.

My bed did not give way and a quick glance to my side confirmed another interesting fact of the morning.

I was at my bed, just not in it. From the looks of it I was underneath it.

I was confused why exactly I was under my bed and tried to think back, only to have a headache come rushing. I tried again once more, only to receive the same treatment. I decided, for the betterment of my well being, that I would try again later. Out from under bed preferably.

I nudged on Vinyl.

"V-Vinyl?" I whispered.

"Hmm?" She nuzzled.

"Can I get out?" I asked again.

A giggle was my response, soon followed by a gentle kiss on the nape of my neck.

I let out a sigh, followed it with a gulp, and set myself to the task of untangling myself from the steel shackles that was Vinyl's grasp. It crossed my mind that she was hardly putting in any effort at all to keep me busy for a good five minutes of prying and only once I had worn myself ragged that I felt her loosen her grasp, giggle, and not stop my next attempt to shimmy away from her and out from under the bed.

Raising up off the floor quickly gave me the feeling of dizziness, though it felt like it was bit more than that involved. I shrugged it off as the fact I had been sitting underneath my bed for some amount of time; it still hurt to try and remember.

I stumbled through the door to my bedroom, hugging onto the wall and sliding my way across the wall until lurching over to the bathroom door. I barely caught it, my entire weight falling onto the doorknob alone though I eased up at the sound of wood creaking.

I fumbled into the bathroom and gave the mirror a quick glance, gasping at the sight that I took in.

A pair of bloodshot eyes looked back at me, a lack of bags under the eyes revealing to me that a lack of sleep wasn't the cause. A disheveled mane, hair sticking out like black, stretched out springs; the cause probably being that the floor was my pillow. Patches of my coat also seemed to be matted in areas, which I had no answer for.

I figured a shower was in order, regardless of whether or not I was going out today.

I fumbled over to the shower, my knees managing to buckle this time around as I soon found myself spread eagle against cold tile which served as a good motivation to get up quickly. I pushed myself upwards and all but punched the handle for the hot water as the sound of water came hissing in as a dropped back down to the tile, the chill of its surface no longer too much of a concern of mine.

I waited on the floor a bit longer as the water warmed, until the point where steam began to cloud my vision.

I did a sort of roll to get into the shower, letting the beads of water tickle my stomach for a while before sitting up with a heavy head. It was odd that I felt so lazy all of the sudden, maybe my blood getting moving around my body wasn't a good thing after all. The more I seemed to be active the worse the feelings got, so I figured maybe being a bit of a minimalist today wasn't such a bad idea.

I was slow to attend to upkeep in the shower, and even slower when moving out to dry off. I would have stayed admittedly longer, but with my current state in the job world the water bill was going to be a pain.

After running a brush through my hair, I took another look in the mirror and smiled at my appearance. Not stunning, but attended to.

I walked out of the bathroom with shaky steps, still running the brush through my hair just to be sure all the abnormalities were cleaned up, when the sound of gentle, yet curt, knocking came from the door. It seemed like the dizziness was fading at last.

I raised a brow at the sound.

'Who could that be?'

I made my way over to the door, placing the brush on the kitchen table, and opened to a sight that made my eyes widen.

"M-Mother?" I stammered at the appearance of my mother in the doorway, smile on her face with presumable excitement at seeing me.

It had been ages since my mother had last paid me a visit, we typically met up at some form of eatery and talked for a good while before leaving and going on with our day; she hardly ever approached me directly such coming to my house.

"Octavia!" She squealed, lurching forwards and wrapping me in a hug that took me by surprise.

My mother was a very energetic mare, the dividing line between us being near exact copies of each other where simple things like mane styles and fashion choices; though her attitude and demeanor definitely took first. She was cheerful at all times, almost sickeningly so, and always kept her chin up in most situations. She got upset and angry at times sure, but who doesn't?

"H-Hello." Was all I could stammer as I returned the hug. "P-please, come in."

She didn't hesitate to trot in and look around my apartment, admiring it from what I could tell. I don't really think it would've mattered what it looked like, she would've said it looked great. Though she wouldn't just make the statement relative, she would actually manage to find something that she actually liked. I could be living in a box and she would compliment the color of it. I just took it as her best-of-every-situation attitude shining.

"So what, um, brings you here mother?" I asked, still a bit taken aback by the visit.

"Oh don't worry Octavia, I'll be out of your mane quickly. I was just stopping by." She chuckled. "Your mane looks lovely this morning by the way."

"T-That's not what I-" I began to correct her assumption.

"Oh I know sweety, just pushing your buttons."

I looked down at my bowtie and eyed the buttons.

"Just a saying dear." She added, stifling a laugh.

My mother seemed to like teasing me more than anyone, save for maybe Vinyl.

'Vinyl...' I mumbled internally, my eyes widening as my mind slowly realizing that my mother was around and so was Vinyl.

"Anyways, me and your father are asking that you show up to dinner tomorrow. Believe it or not but it was my idea, he was tough to convince but I managed as I always do." She seemed proud of the fact that she beat my father into submission with her dinner idea.

It seemed fine by me, so I agreed.

She was overjoyed by my agreement, but quickly took on a malicious smile.

"Oh, and word is that you're finally seeing someone." She waggled a brow, scooting close to me.

"W-What?!" I said with shock.

"Oh don't be so shy from your own mother Octavia, I'm glad that you're finally coming out of the shell of yours and getting to know ponies on a more...intimate level. So I'm asking that you bring your little stallion friend to dinner over at our house so your father and I can meet him."

I was still reeling from shock.

"But-" She put a hoof up to my mouth and stopped my protest.

"No buts. You already said yes." She said playfully, prancing around me and over to the door.

"I would love to stay longer dear, but your father and I are meeting some nobles in town today. Ta ta!"

And with that she left me, the door shutting gently behind her, leaving me wide eyed and speechless. But more than anything, who in Equestria told her I was seeing somepony? And if so, who was it? Maybe it was just harmless gossip, nothing more than rumors getting stirred around. Yes, that's what it was; nothing more than weightless words. After all, the only pony I've acted even be considered acting remotely "intimate" with was...

My eyes shifted to the hallway that lead to my bedroom.

"Oh my..." Was all that I could utter, my voice only but a whisper.

My mind was quick to come up with an explanation.

'B-But she said stallion, so she must have heard nothing more than gossip.' My mind relaxed a little bit at that much, but there was still a reason to panic.

My mother had just invited me over to her house for a chance to meet the "stallion" I had been seeing. And thanks to my hasty acceptance of said offer, I was now stuck with the problem.

'I could go with nopony and risk the emotional breakdown of my mother feeling sad for me.'

I shivered at my thought, rejecting it, and deciding that I had to show up with a 'date'.

That left me with the option of convincing one of my stallion friends to come with me and pose as my date; which meant my two options where Harpo and Fredric. Harpo being an option was entirely reliant on Beauty being willing to let him, I was sure he had no problem getting treated to a free meal from my family. As for Fredric, I hadn't seen him around at all lately - not even at practice - and figured asking such a favor of him after said silence would be a bit of dare that might not be worth taking.

I turned my mind to the task of convincing Beauty to let me barrow Harpo as an excuse.

'I could just tell her.' I thought simply, lingering on the slimmer of hope that Beauty had undergone a change of heart overnight.

The sound of hoof meeting wood resonated for a second time throughout my home.

'What the?' I asked internally, a single visit this early in the morning was unnatural. Two was just ridiculous.

Luckily, I was near the door already thanks to my mother and her startling pop in, and was able to simply reach out and turn open the door.

I felt a strange sensation of déjà vu as my eyes widened at the second sight of the pony who stood in my doorway.

It was Beauty of all ponies.

She looked a bit taken aback and the first thought that came to mind was if my mother was sarcastic with her comment on how I looked. It never did occur to me that it was maybe the fact I had opened my door the instant she had begun knocking.

"Hello." I said awkwardly.

"H-Hello." She stammered, just as awkwardly, shaking her head a little to be sure she wasn't seeing things.

We stood at the doorway in silence for a few seconds before she took the initiative to speak.

"I, ah, just came by to see how you were doing. You know, now that you're...unemployed." She sounded a bit offended by her own sentence.

Though I'm no stranger to awkward phrasing, and decided to look past the wording and see the thought behind her visit in general. I honestly thought she would have just gone on without even thinking of seeing if I was okay after my relief of duty yesterday. Instead, here she was in my doorway, awkwardly fidgeting and staring at the ground after asking me how my unemployment was going. I half considered telling her it was going splendidly, but decided teasing the one I would soon be asking to barrow her stallion for the night wasn't the best way to start out with her.

"The extra sleep and lack of pressure are quite nice." I said chuckling, getting a broken one out of her in return.

I remembered my manners.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Please, come in." I took this as the oppertunity to ask, seeing as she was in a bit of a meek mood.

"I hate to admit it but I have a favor to ask you that you may or may not be comfortable with granting." I said, sliding to the side to allow her entry.

She gave me an oddly hopeful look, as if this was a chance for her to redeem herself in my eyes. Of course, she hardly needed redeeming since she was the one here to offer condolence. But this may have very well been the only chance I got.

"What kind of a request." She asked slowly, inching her way towards the door.

"My mother has invited me to come to her and my father's home for dinner tomorrow night. The only problem is that they expect for a sta-"

"Octi~" A sing-song voice rang out from the hallway, sounding much like a playful whine thanks to the way all the vowels were stressed.

Me and Beauty both stopped dead in our tracks.

I looked at Beauty to see that her eyes were wide and she had stopped mid-step with a hoof hovering in the air. She looked like she was frightened.

I turned once more to look back at the hallway to see if Vinyl was coming into the living room, but after a solid fifteen seconds of nothing I determined that she wasn't. No telling what kind of disaster would have happened if she did come through, Beauty might have lost it and went on another rant about her.

I turned back, only to find that Beauty was not standing in the doorway anymore.

"Wha? Where did she go?"

The only way she could have gone was down the hall, so I decided to stick my head out into the hall and take a quick look.

There she was, trotting quickly in place in front of the elevator with an anxious look on her face. She was biting her lower lip as well, her eyes looked wide with panic as she waited for the elevator to arrive.

"Beauty?"

She jumped at the sound of my voice, turning to look at me as if ready to run for her life.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"S-Sorry, Octavia. I, ah, forgot I had to do something! Uhm, buy dresses...or something." She said, fumbling for an excuse.

I was fine with her leaving, but I hadn't asked her if I could barrow Harpo yet.

"Oh, Beauty! Could you let me bar-"

The elevator bell dinged and the doors opened, followed by the mare feverishly rushing inside while the sound of a hoof slamming against buttons followed shortly as the doors shut just as quickly as they had opened. I found myself hung mid sentence, turning my request for her into a defeated sigh as I turned and went back into my apartment with my head hung low.

As I shut the door behind me, a familiar voice called out.

"Octiiii~" She sounded a bit more frustrated this time, thought undoubtedly still playful in tone; probably from me not coming to her on the first call.

I let out a second sigh as I trotted back into the bedroom, my mind brewing once more on how to find a plan to deal with the upcoming dinner. Some say that my rapid thinking process was a bit inconsiderate and odd thanks to the fact I never really questioned why I was doing something, but rather how I was going to do it. Shakes had told me that it was similar to how Vinyl thought, but that mine was much more rational when it came to finding the actually solution.

'Funny, I'm usually less active on a day that I had my job than I am today.' I thought, pushing open the door to my bedroom.

"Yes Vin-"

Vinyl was on the floor, stomach facing the floor, and about halfway emerged from the bed; she had stopped just short of a sunny spot coming from the room's windows. She had a dopey grin about her, her eyes unfocused as she stared up at me with an entertained look on her face. Her hair had a feathered texture to it and came down her face like a series of rivers to cover up parts of her glassy eyes. Her top half was sprawled across the floor, front hooves sticking out in front of her as if she were reaching for something. The one thing that raised my brow was the gentle look she had about her. I'm not sure what exactly evoked this sort of aura from her; but it was definitely there.

I found myself wordless at the sight while she simply smiled at me and waited for me to continue my sentence. It took a minute, but I was back on track.

"Y-Yes Vinyl?"

"Can you shut the blinds for me? I can't go very far with them open." Her request was reasonable enough so I replied with nod.

"Oh!" She began again.

"I'm kinda cold, can you get me a blanket too?" She asked sweetly.

I raised a brow at that request as my eye traveled up to the bed, eyeing my comforter. I took a few steps forwards and place a single hoof on it but jumped a bit when the feeling of a soft cheek ran across my leg, making me step back in instinct.

This motion managed to bring the comforter off the bed, letting it fall and pile up in a ball on top of Vinyl.

I was beginning to move forwards and pick it up off of her, but her own hooves wrapped around the thick cover and brought it into a tight hug with what I guessed was her face.

"Thank you!" Came the muffled sound of her voice from beneath the mountain of cover.

I let out a small giggle at her behavior, ignoring the familiarly glassy look her eyes had about them and moving over to my blinds and shutting them before heading out the door once more. A brief look back at the bed showed me that Vinyl was sort of moving around in an attempt to get out from under the bed.

I smirked once more before moving to my living room to shut my other blinds.

Most of them were already closed since it was Vinyl's typical place to rest around my apartment, a stray one or two were off in the corners from where Vinyl didn't venture. I also decided to a bit of cleaning while I was at it, straightening up the couch and fluffing the arm pillows. I was in the middle of picking one of said pillows, using the ground as a sort of support to fluff them, when a something happened.

My ears twitched at a sound.

My head straightened up in disbelief, a small twitch running through my left eye as I turned back at the door.

The door opened on its own this time, Shakes trotting inside with a casual grace about her with a complete disregard for the fact she just entered without permission. Not that I minded, normally I wouldn't quite care if she came in on her own; but three guests within such a small period of time was doing a number on me. I shivered at the thought of what nobles had it like; they had to go through this everyday.

She smiled at the sight of me as she used her hind leg to gently push the door shut.

"Hey, good to see you're okay." She said with a relieve tone.

As to why she was using such a tone? I had no idea.

My head ached a little as memories of last night tried to surface on their own, only small patches coming through while the main piece remained foggy. What I could remember was that Shakes and Sweeps were a bit concerned over where I was for some reason.

"Yes, fine." I replied curtly. "Just a bit of a headache."

Silence.

"So, uh, where were you?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked. I was here of course, why would I not be at home? The only other place I was at last night was at the bar eating dinner, though after that it got a bit hazy; I did remember coming home though. I couldn't quite fine a reason as to why my memories would be hazy, but thinking of the reason only hurt.

It was her turn to look confused.

"Well you kinda disappeared on us last night, you know, with Vinyl. Gave me and Sweeps a heck of a scare."

"I...I don't seem to recall anything like that." I said truthfully.

"Well where did you wake up?" She asked simply, smiling at me gently.

"Under my bed."

I think it was the fact I had said the answer to her question so nonchalantly that took her off guard and left her silent with a blank face. Thought it could have just as easily been the answer itself being rather bazaar. A combination of the two? Maybe, but either way she was left staring at me with a poker face that could rival stone.

"Riiight." She said slowly.

"Um, anyways, I just came by to~"

There was that phrase again. 'Just came by to'. Beauty had used it as well and I gave a brief wonder to how many more times I would here it today. If I was lucky, none. But knowing how my luck typically runs its course the princesses themselves would be showing up at my door with the 'just came by to' saying and some random activity following. Though I should hardly jinx myself.

"~see if Vinyl was still going to stop by tonight to see about that job position."

My mind snapped back to attention at the mention of Vinyl.

"I would not know myself. I'll be sure to tell her you stopped by to remind her." I said curtly, a bit anxious to get the third house guest of the morning out of the door quickly. Not that I hated Shakes, I just hated visitors to my house.

"That'd be appreciated." She said, lingering a bit more in my home.

'Leave, please. Leave, please. Leave, please.' My mannered inner thoughts chanted.

"Sorry 'bout kinda barging in and leaving, but I've gotta get back to the bar to open it. Gotta air the place out from all the drinking my sis has been doing."

The second Shakes turned towards the door my mind rejoiced silently.

I walked her to the door to see her off - and to look down the hall if anypony else was coming to pay me a visit. Walter too maybe? - and she gave me a quick hug. Why she did, I didn't know, but it seemed like it was out of relief. Maybe it was because I was okay, who knows. After that it was the single word 'Bye; and she left. I let my eyes follow her down to the elevator and she gave a brief wave before entering and leaving my sight.

Not a pony in the hall, the coast was clear.

I shut the door and felt my knees give as I slid down to the tile floor, using the door as a support of sorts.

"Finally." I muttered to myself, eyes closing in happiness at the sound of silence.

*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*

I had stayed in my downed position at the door for at least a half an hour and maybe more. Believe it or not, but sleeping on the floor was quite a change from sleeping on a mattress; it left me feeling tired with a small crick in my neck that I couldn't seem to get out no matter how I stretched. Another reason might have been me camping out the inevitable next pony to come to my door with something to say or something to do. Of course, I was silently praying that that didn't happen.

About fifteen minutes in I began to hear these weird knocks coming from the hallway, I could also feel something bumping into the wall with enough force to shake me awake. It felt like it would of had to have been furniture, what with the weight it was carrying behind it when it hit the wall.

Vinyl, for some reason, had come mulling through and asked me why I was on the floor.

I told her it was a long story.

She simply shrugged it off before asking me to use the shower, to which I nodded, and she had been inside the shower ever since. I began to wonder why exactly she liked to take long showers, and how they would soon affect my bills, but decided that if she wanted to take long showers then she could do so.

I could hear the muffled sound of the shower from where I sat against the door, and it began to lull me to sleep.

Knock.

My eyes jolted open.

Knock.

My head got a brief moment of air time thanks to the force they were packing behind their knocks.

Knock.

"W-Why..." I whispered to myself, before struggling to pick myself up off the floor and turning to face the door for the fourth time this morning. I was a bit annoyed at this point, and found myself grumbling under my breath as I opened the door.

"What is i-" My breath caught at the sight I took in.

"Oh my..." Was all I could mutter.

Two mares and a stallion stood at my door, a small company of ponies, but that wasn't the reason that I was left wordless. One of the mares was blue with a gray mane, she looked oddly familiar to me but for some reason I couldn't seem to recall her at all. Nothing much to be surprised at, but her company was composed of quite the characters.

The second mare had a coat similar to mine, though hers was a more darker grey than my own. Her mane was a brownish orange, cut short on one half of her head - about to cheek level, while the other stretched down past her chin. She had a smokey smell to her, not unpleasant but definitely noticeable. Her smile was disarming enough, and her orange eyes went well with her whole look. She looked a bit odd to be around Canterlot, but then again Vinyl was in my home as well.

The last one took the cake.

A huge stallion, having to duck down just to get his green eyes below the top of the door frame. He had a lumberjack beard, full and flaunting, that bent around his hardy smile. He himself was a dark blue, making his black hair a bit of a task to make out, but it was achievable nevertheless. I couldn't help myself from staring at him, he was the largest pony I had seen to date, and seemed like a sore thumb in the Canterlot society and was more fit to be living in a cabin in the Everfree.

"Heya Neighbor!" The ashy mare said happily.

Comments

[Guilty King]

Neighbors?
Oh that is just great.
Well done sure.

[ImperialGuardsmen]

ok, that just happened. no need for panic
...
...
...
I am panicking

[Witchery]

6655828 Might be even better depending on what happened to Octi the prior night.

[Guilty King]

6656082 Yeah, I'm still 50/50 on that whole situation.
But I must say I am surprised, and happy about being surprised.

[ppg1998]

It's Saturday where is the next chapter ?

[The Batmane of equestria]

I TOTALLY CALLED IT MOTHERBUCKER!!!!!!

[Silentwoodfire]

Let the shenanigans begin!