Fangs: The Order

by Sapphic

Reserved

My stomach had gone from simply tying itself into knots all the way to making a noose out of itself. I was practically sweating by the time me and Vinyl had arrived at the practice building, the relatively silent walk through the sides of streets and back alleys serving to do nothing more than let my mind wander - a dangerous thing when I'm under stress.

I asked Vinyl why we didn't just teleport here to save time, simply not giving me time to worry would have been a good way to go, but she simply smiled at me and let out a small giggle while saying something about me worrying.

I had even bumped into her when she stopped to look up at the building's exterior, covering herself with the shade from a tree nearby.

"And here we are!" She said with great enthusiasm, head turning and giving me a toothy smile.

"Y-yeah." I muttered, looking back down.

"Being a downer isn't going to get you anywhere now Tavi; we're here now and there's no going back."

"Are you sure?" I asked, looking up, and honestly considering retreat.

She only dipped her glasses down to show the true spark of determination in her eyes that also seemed to hide another motive behind them. They seemed to waver, lingering on the edge of an entirely different intent; but I didn't notice that, her eyes seemed to pacify me every time they looked at me, drowning out my senses with just a stare.

"You've helped me a lot Tavi, so just let me help you out this time." Just the tone of her voice then was enough to send a shiver down my spine, and that combined with her eyes were plenty more enough to convince me to go ahead with this plan.

I trusted her.

"Alright." I sighed in defeat, lifting my head up just in time to see her hopscotch her way between her shadows until getting up to the door, waving her hoof like a filly for me to follow.

I snickered a little.

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

Vinyl had let me enter the building first for one reason or another, only to let me find that the building was packed with just about a third of the orchestra, or more specifically, all of the string section and my friends. I guess it would be expected they show up considering this was a possible first chair audition as well as a performance check. They all adapted different looks when I entered - some with a look of relief that I was still alive and others with a look of anguish that I had showed.

I felt the sweat from before begin to return, just the simple stares of the string section was enough to put me on edge, and the conductor hadn't even entered the room yet.

"So she lives yet." A stern voice spoke up, making me cringe.

"Of course ." I thought, turning my head to the side to see my conductor sitting in a chair pulled off to the side.

Knowing him, he had probably been sitting there since yesterday just to catch me at this particular moment.

"H-hello condu-" I began only to be interrupted by a certain follower.

"Oh wow, the outside of this place is really deceiving! It looks great on the inside!" Vinyl's cheery voice shot through the tense room with a tone that all froze at; it even caught the conductor off guard as his eyes widened slightly.

She trotted in, head on a swivel, with her nose to the air as she looked at the building's interior with an offset look compared to most others. I knew that wherever Beauty was, in the building or not, she had just cringed a little.

"...and I see you brought a guest with you?" He asked rhetorically, taking a second to look at Vinyl up in down in what I could only guess was judgment.

His eyes widened a bit and the bitter look on his face seemed to momentarily fade.

"You're that mare from the contest yes? The one who dueled Fredric and his friend on the piano?" He questioned, gaining the attention of Vinyl who had since wandered over to the crowd and was prodding at a mare's violin in curiosity. The poor mare seemed just as curious about what Vinyl was doing as Vinyl did about her instrument.

Though Vinyl's ears perked at the mention of the contest.

"That'd be me." She said, giving him a friendly nod.

"And you're here with Miss Melody?"

"If you mean Tavi, then yeah." She said, a bit confused by the use of my formal name.

The conductor shot me a glance.

"'Tavi'...how quaint." He said, earning a few snickers from the crowd before turning back to Vinyl.

"I've heard enough from your performance back then to know that you most certainly aren't clueless when it comes to the art of playing...despite your looks; so I thank you for coming." He said with a tone of appreciation, albeit small.

A figure rose from the crowd of musicians, anger in her voice when she mumbled.

"I'll be in the back." She said, hastily trotting towards the restrooms.

I inwardly sighed when I saw that the figure was none other than Beauty.

"So Octavia," The conductor said, snapping my attention to him. "what might be your excuse for not showing up to practices as of late?" He asked, brow cocked and waiting for my answer.

"I- uh" I stammered, searching for an answer.

"She was practicing with me." Vinyl spoke randomly, getting a shocked look from both me and the conductor alike.

"Really now?" He asked slowly, turning his head to me for confirmation and receiving a sheepish nod.

"She really has improved if I say so myself." Vinyl boasted, now full on toying with the stunned violinist's instrument.'

"Well I can't wait to see." The conductor said slowly, obviously eager himself to see if the statement checked out.

I gulped.

"Oh," Vinyl paused, putting down the violin and hopping up. "I don't suppose you all have a bathroom do you?"

"Last door on the right." The conductor said curtly, moving to his podium. "I suppose you want me to wait until you get back for your 'student' to perform?" He asked.

"Nah, I believe in her." She beamed, trotting off to the back where Beauty had stamped off to.

I could only gasp in an attempt to form words. Was this her plan? To simply lead me here after all of this training just to leave me on my own while she went off to the bathroom? It wasn't like her to pull some kind of prank when things were this serious.

While I remained dumbfounded, the conductor cleared his throat to gain my attention.

"If you would, Miss Melody." He gestured to a music stand set up no more than fifteen feet in front of him with the entire string section at my front.

"O-of course." I stammered, trotting over to the seat and laying down my case before pulling out my bow and cello as delicately as I could.

All of their eyes seemed to burn into me and I felt a bit of sweat form on my brow. I hadn't practice for this aspect of performing, just the physical part.

I raised onto my hind legs shakily, nearly falling but looking somewhat smooth; though a little slow to be considered normal. I steadied on the cello, my hoof's grip on the neck near nonexistent as I raised the bow up towards the strings. My hoof was practically shaking as I looked at the strings as if they would move themselves, by Vinyl's magic, but they just sat there making it ever more clear that I was on my own.

"Miss Melody, I haven't all afternoon." The conductor said sternly, his tone growing evermore impatient.

"M-my apologies." I stammered, letting out a quiet sigh as I knew I had to try playing myself.

Though when I tried to move the bow, it refused to budge.

When I looked down I saw the thinnest sliver of neon blue was wrapped around the bow, holding it in place. I took a chance glance back at the way to the restroom, but Vinyl was nowhere in sight. She must have hid herself well then, or maybe she had some kind of invisibility spell she knew, either way I was comforted at last.

"The rest of the string section will follow you along in their head to search for any mishaps that I may miss." He said simply, somehow registering that I was ready, and signaling for me to start.

I gulped and gave the bow a small tug.

*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Rose...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*

I flipped a page of the newspaper that filled my vision, moving on from the political section to the entertainment section with the satisfying sound of paper wrinkling following the motion. There was a small squabble in the nobility as of late that centered around the safety of their homes because of the recent rise in numbers of citizens of lower social classes; I didn't think anything of the issue, just that it was simply nobles being nobles.

"Rose would you please stop reading that paper just for a second and help me?" Maple called, her voice reflecting her struggle as she attempted to pry something from her brother.

"Give me a second." I mumbled, only half paying attention to what they were fighting over.

A lot of ponies said I got a bit too absorbed in the paper, and a lot of them seemed to distance themselves from me because of it, but why would I not get absorbed in an article that told me what was happening around me? It was just common sense to want to know what's around you.

"You said that minutes ago!" She whined, giving one final tug and pried out her prize, whatever that might have been.

Though in the same process, she lurched back and thumped into my side, her horn making a hole straight through the paper and ripping it clean in half when she struggled to get it off.

"H-heh...sorry." She said meekly, scooting back over to her seat.

I only sighed, folding up my paper.

I was currently inside of a carriage traveling somewhere; the only thing I knew is that we were indeed heading back to the main head quarters of The Order, but they had tinted the inside of the windows pitch black. Maple's brother said it was something about security protection, but what good was having a base if only the ponies there and the drivers knew where it was. What if I had a message for a captain, but a vampire had ambushed the carriage and killed the driver?

"Well then you'd best learn how to play dead or start running fast than the next guy." Is what Maple suggested, getting an approving smile out of her brother.

She was a near mirror image of her brother; her coat a lighter shade of blue that I would dare to call navy and her mane also a lighter grey than his. The only difference between the two being their gender and the small difference of shades in their coats and mane, but their similarities in wits was uncanny.

I had been a bit panicky on the way to HQ, so they stopped and bought me a paper to calm me down.

Now it was nothing but a waiting game with a countdown that no one could even guess, not even Maple's brother could give a solid estimate. He even said they took different routes each time they traveled just to eliminate the possibility of being tracked. And now with my paper in ruins - it having been my only way of passing the time - I was stuck to the silence.

Well, I thought I was.

"Hey Rose? You mind telling a story?" Maple asked out of the blue. Maybe she did it to try and make me forget my paper; and it worked too.

My ears perked up.

I loved stories, everything about them was perfect even if the story itself was bad. The act was nothing more than a conveyance of the past or a tale to stir the hearts of others. In my eyes, there was no act more nobler that to spin a lie for another's amusement at the sacrifice of one's own credibility. Then again, credibility was only called into question if the story wasn't good enough.

Some could call me a bard, though I could hardly accept such a title. Mainly because lots would laugh at it.

I started a story I had picked up at a bar a while back, one that involved the princesses themselves and a quick witted, silver tongued changeling that nearly breached the royal chambers. They both seemed interested, the brother not so much at first, but he came around after it began to pick up and at about halfway I could tell I had them hooked.

I wasn't sure exactly how long I was talking, but my mouth ran dry plenty of times while the story went on.

Well, until the carriage stopped that is.

It was awfully abrupt as well, as if we had hit something in the road rather than reaching out destination, though when the coach driver came around and opened the door for us my suspicions were dashed.

We piled out of the carriage, nearly stumbling over ourselves as we went to stretch our legs.

"Wow." Was the only thing that Maple said, staring at the large building in front of us.

It was huge, stretching up high enough for one to strain their neck to see the top; high enough to convince me that there was at least thirty or forty floors above ground. The walls themselves were made of largely glass, crystal clear as well, and revealed various ponies on the inside of the building going about their tasks. It branched off into other buildings that flanked the left and right of what I would dub the 'main building', each of them pertaining the style of the first.

The walkway we stood on had an elaborate flower arrangement gliding along the sides of it with a few fountains of light grey stone accenting it here and there with exquisite looking statues as the source of the water. The grass itself even seemed to be saturated compared to the grass I had seen back in Canterlot. Then again, I had a desk job.

A quick glance back revealed a large wall that was placed quiet a ways back, rising up maybe seventy or so feet with watchtowers littering the top. Just over the edge of the wall I could see the tops of trees, suggesting the "fort" was in the middle of a forest.

Truly a story worthy scene in my eyes.

"The Information Committee has already been gathered to come up with a plan to deal with the contract, with you two being the last to arrive." The carriage driver said stoically, walking back around to the front of the carriage and hooking himself up.

"Wait," Maple asked, turning to face the carriage driver just as he turned to face the wall off in the distance. "where do we go?"

"Where do you think? You've got one giant building full of ponies or a wall, you pick which one sounds like it has 'The Information Committee' in it." He said sarcastically, gesturing to the large building before setting off quickly, not bothering to give Maple a chance to reply.

We all turned back to the building, glass exterior reflecting enough sun to make all of us squint.

"Well," Maple's brother spoke first. "best not keep them waiting. You two are the guests of honor." He smirked, getting a chuckle from me and a scoff from his sister before we began walking towards the entrance.

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

Author's Note:

Ran a bit short with this one, I'll try and make it next time.

Comments

[Guilty King]

Why do you trick us so author?
Why?

[Danvs3]

6489278 because he can