Fangs: The Order

by Sapphic

Stones

*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Beauty...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*

She now stood over me with a twisted looking smile on her face, her glasses dipping onto the bridge of her nose just high enough to not show her eyes, as she stared down on me. She had drag me to the center of the floor and pull me to the ground, the magical bonds stronger than metal.

I spat insults at her the whole time, but she kept going as if the room was silent. Eventually my drive began to fade and I simply just began to question her.

"Why?" Was one of the most common of them and silence was the most common answer.

But the most recent time I had asked it got a different response.

She lowered herself onto me, straddling my stomach and pinning me to the ground even more. She lowered her head down to mine so that we were near eye level with one another, her tangled wreck of a mane dropping down like a two tone curtain around us.

"Tavi says you don't like me..." She said with enough sultry to make my cheeks flush pink.

"No, I don't." I said simply. Why was I holding my tongue?

"Well, that doesn't matter. You made her happy, so I'm happy too." She said, moving towards my neck and hovering over it before speaking in a tone that sent shivers down my back.

"But I think you can make me happy too." She cooed.

I felt something well up inside me and did the only thing I could to get out of this situation and used the only thing she hadn't restrained with magic or her body.

I bit her.

Right at the neck I jerked forward and bit down, hard enough for her to yelp and lose enough concentration for her magical focus to waver, though not enough for it to completely fade away. I also seemed to snap her out of the 'mood' she was in, and she pulled her head back and brought her hooves to her neck.

"Ow! What the heck is wrong with you?!" She yelled with a different voice than before.

"As if I'd let someone like you take advantage of me." I taunted, gurgling up a wad of spit and letting it loose just to show my hate for her.

The red tinged spit flew and hit her square on the upper lip just below her nose, taking her by complete surprise and even managing to make her freeze up.

"Not so cocky now, are you you bint?!" I gloated, erupting in laughter as she simply sat there stock still.

Eventually I calmed myself, my laughter dying down into small bursts of giggles as she finally came back from her dumbstruck mindset by lifting a hoof and wiping the spit from her face and staring at the hoof it was wiped onto.

"Don't you see now you dolt, you're nothing more than a-" I was cut short by a sharp pain coming from my limbs that caused me to yelp.

I looked to the side to see that the bonds of magic had tightened significantly and pressed my hooves hard into the ground. On top of that, a new bond had been formed just around my neck and tightened to an uncomfortable degree so that it was nearly choking me.

I turned back to face her as she lowered her head down in front of me one more time, the glasses dropping from her face and bounding off to the side after hitting my body.

She stared at me with muddled looking red eyes filled with a strange hunger that would have normally scared me senseless, but there was something about the look of her eyes that froze me in place. They were piercing yet soft, making me feel comforted but at attention at the same time.

Her tongue snaked out and grazed over her top lip, wiping the red stain clean.

"Wh-what are y-you-." I stammered through my lack of breath, genuinely scared of this white mare now.

"Bitter." She said simply, lust back in her voice as she trailed a hoof up to my face before leaning forward with her head as she closed what small of a gap there was between us. I felt my face began to heat rapidly.

"W-Wh-?" I stammered, confused by her claim, only to be cut off.

She lunged forwards, lips pressing into mine with a probing tongue as my eyes widened to the size of saucers. I was too surprised to stop her, but shivers went down my spine as her tongue seemed to dance through my mouth and finally grazed onto my wound, getting a gasp out of me.

She noticed and pressed the assault, grazing the wound more and forcing it to pulse blood.

She suddenly pulled off of me, spitting a glob of red saliva off to the side, and looking deep into my eyes.

"You taste bitter, not nearly as good as Tavi; she taste sweet." She said simply while my eyes widened even more at her implications.

"Y-you did this t-to O-Octavia?" I stammered.

"And then some. I'm only trying to make her happy, and you just stress her out." Her voice sounded genuine, but I wouldn't belive her. She then pressed her full body into me, placing her mouth right beside my ear.

"So if you don't accept me as her friend, I may just have to make you." She said with a dangerous, yet still hungry, tone. Who knew that such a beast was hiding inside of this mare?

"Understand?" She asked, tightening the magical bonds that were splaying me out spread eagle.

"Y-yes. I-I'm sorry." I stammered, tears beginning to well in my eyes thanks to my lack of breath.

The bonds faded and she sat up straight with a sweet smile on her face, not the lusty smile from before, but an innocent looking one that could only be described as joyous.

"Thank you so much!" She said genuinely.

"H-huh?" I stuttered at her sudden change in demeanor.

"I'd like to thank you more, but I should probably get going, Tavi's performance is already over and she might be waiting for me." The mention of her thanking me anymore made me blush.

She removed herself from my body and gave me a quick smile before prancing out the door with glee and leaving me dumbstruck on the floor in the same position.

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

I felt the magical guide finally slid my hoof home to the final note, lingering before the grasp faded away completely and let me have control back over my hoof. I looked up to see that most of the other were simply staring at me with a look on their face, others just staring down at the book and not bothering to look up. The conductor however, was not so reserved.

"Well," He began. "that was...something." He said plainly and I felt my heart skip a beat.

"I-I apologize for not sticking to the reading conductor, I simpl-" My excuse was interrupted by the raise of his hoof.

"I asked you to play the music in front of you, and you did not. Simply having the ability to play a melody is much more simple than reading music."

Heads raised, some in hope and others in shock, at the sentence. My own heart began to wretch in my chest at the position I was in.

"Whatever the case, the music you played here in front of me was one of the best sounding compositions I've heard in all my days as a conductor. You showed a prowess to take melody and tune them and bend them to how you see best, and the result was a marvel of a performance and a treat of a song." He said flatly.

I felt my heart lighten as I began to smile at him, though he did not return it. But I expected that much.

The crowd seemed to acknowledge this as his choice, and some sighed with frustration and others with relief; it warmed my heart a little to see that some of these ponies I didn't even know respected me.

"But." He said.

"As I said before, you were asked to play the piece. And you did not. That is simple." He said sounding almost sad.

"If you cannot play the piece assigned and go off into your own melody, you will ruin a performance. I cannot have that happen, and as a result I..." He hesitated.

"I'd recommend getting a job as a composer or artist rather than a first chair cellist."

The room was silent as his voice dominated the room, every pony present in total shock, myself included.

I wasn't the best at accepting bad news, and most said I tended to under-react to it, which would check out in this case. I felt empty in a sense, but I wasn't going to show myself off to be unprofessional now in my darkest hour in the orchestra. If I was going to leave with one thing, and it not being my job, it could at least be my pride - what little it counted for.

"I...I understand your decision." I said simply, my voice intentionally stony.

"You have tale-" He began, but I stopped him there.

"Please, save that speech for someone who would think better of themselves after hearing it." I came off as harsher than I intended, but it was the truth. I knew I had talent, but I knew that hearing that kind of speech would only serve to frustrate me. I'd rather have silence.

I dropped from my position and began to place my cello and bow inside its case carefully as the rest of the room remained deathly silent. I would have felt awkward, but I just didn't. As soon as my things had been packed I slung the case over my back, my unconquered and awkward new strength nearly toppling me over, and began to head to the door.

I realized I still needed to get Vinyl out from the back, whatever she may be doing, but didn't feel like changing my course suddenly with all the eyes that were bound to be burning into me. I also was beginning to feel my nostrils burn and my throat begin to swell as I walked out, so I deemed turning towards the crowd a bad idea and just kept walking for the exit.

The last thing I heard before walking out the door was the sound of a single chair sliding backwards, as if somepony was getting up, though I could never guess who it could be.

*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*

I walked down a long corridor, Rose trailing beside me with a rather odd looking face on her, with my thoughts racing. I was finally getting to get back into action, no more sitting at that boring old desk and doing nothing, and on top of that I was getting a new team formed today so I might even be getting a promotion and lead some younger troops!

I was giddy, and Rose seemed happier than usual as well - probably from her provisional pass to see me during the day; she'd now look up to me too! I was going to be commanding troops now, oh man I was going to tease my brother so much. He always flaunted his position to me and took full advantage of putting me to mindless tasks.

My new task was to go back to the desk mare and get the room number I would be going to to meet up with my new unit, the judge pony said that she should have it.

We had reached the main lobby in no time, finding my brother off in a corner with a magazine in hoof; he took a glimpse up when he saw us and rose slowly while I trotted over to the desk mare.

"Room 6B, just follow the signs and you should be fine. If you get lost just ask someone and they'll point you in the right direction." She said curtly, not even bothering to look up from her desk when she spoke.

I simply shrugged before practically skipping over to my brother, ready to flaunt my position with full passion.

I arrived to see him reading magazines with Rose, who was also nose deep in paper.

"Hey brother~" I called in a sing song voice.

A grunt was all I got, but I wanted more attention so I pressed my face over his magazine to make sure he saw my full face.

"Guess what?"

"You got moved to a new squad and are hyper because you have the possibility of being able to lead a squad so you can finally get rid of me taunting you. And you now feel the need to poke fun at me in a vain attempt to mock me in a similar way?" He asked flatly.

"H-How di-?"

"Rose."

I shot the mare a glance and only got a sheepish shrug from her.

"Meanie." I said, sounding a bit childish.

He got up with a sigh and put the magazine down, poking Rose a little and getting her attention before nodding to the door. She sighed and picked up two or three more magazines and stuffed them in her mouth before getting up herself.

"Well, we'll be heading back now captain. Maybe we'll get assigned on a mission together sometime, assuming your unit stays together after this is all over." He said flatly, moving to the door.

"H-hey..." I stammered, stopping him.

I wasn't ready for him to leave, I mean, he may not be my favorite pony in the world to be with but he was my brother. This wasn't how I'd expect him to act either, he'd either be happy for me in a brief moment of brotherly love or at least try to mock me some, but he was just blowing it off as something trivial this time. It made me feel uncomfortable, like something was secretly bothering him about it.

"What?" He almost spat, and I recoiled a bit from his tone.

"Uh," I froze, I don't know why I had stopped him and I didn't have an excuse. What I wanted to do was just take the first thing that popped into mind and put it out there- to sound like an idiot and maybe just get a raised brow - but what I ended up doing was a bit worse to a certain extent.

"I, uh, am gonna miss you."

I froze and my heats began to heat as I realized how sappy I sounded. He could hear it too, and he snickered at it.

In a way, I was somewhat relieved he cracked a smile. On the other hoof, I felt like an idiot.

"Well, I'm sure you'll get put back in my unit. We can get you back to making lunch for the boys quick then." He said with a chuckle before trotting out the door with Rose before I could even think of a response, leaving me dumbfounded.

It actually took the intervention of the desk mare to snap me out of it - I was stuck there watching as the loaded into a carriage that had pulled up sometime or another.

"Miss," She coughed, snapping my eyes to her. "Room 6B is down the right hall. It'd be best not to make a bad impression." She said, clearly disturbed by my presence.

"I-of course." I said, stumbling my way to the hallway right of her and down a line of doors, still inwardly wanting to kick myself for what I had said.

"Stupid..." I mumbled to myself, wandering down the halls and only occasionally glancing up at the signs.

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

I finally managed to bump my way over to room 6B, the room on the furthest side of the right wing of the building where the appearance of other ponies grew sparse. The only ponies I found were janitors and the occasional squad captain roaming about. I figured this must've been the captains wing, which would make sense of it being empty since most captains were with their unit at almost all times.

Room 6B was pretty well hidden away too, being the last door on a dead end hallway.

I composed myself outside the door, exhaling and inhaling as I readied myself; I had always feared public speaking more than anything. Face to face conversations were much easier since you could almost read their opinion of the statement - and since there was no majority it was fine if they disagreed - but when it came to a crowd it was an entirely different story. Crowds could boo, they could easily influence themselves, and all it needed was one pony raising their voice and the whole building could come crashing down.

But this was different, to a certain extent. I was the superior and they the underlings. They would get in trouble from others if they turned rowdy on me; I had authority.

I placed a hoof on the door, sighing one more time before pulling the door open to face them all.

Except there weren't any.

Well, there was one, but that was it.

A single mare was laying on a small, yet decorative, couch with her head propped on an arm. She stirred at the sound of my entry and sat up immediately while rubbing her eyes.

"Um," I stammered, not expecting their to only be one mare here. You'd think that rookies would take their job more seriously; or at least show up before my wandering self did.

"Oh, hey." The mare said simply.

Her appearance was definitely unique compared to what I expected to see on a rookie.

Her coat color was an ash colored grey that went almost too well with her burgundy colored mane, which also seemed to have a personal flair to it. Half of her mane was straight and fell down past her chin, the other half - separated by her hair line - fell only just above her eyes and was layered slightly. It gave her a look that stood out dramatically, making her look like her own pony. Her eyes were a dark orange, almost brown looking.

"Um, hi..." I murmured, shaking off the bazaar lack of ponies. Maybe she knew. "Is anyone else on the way?" I asked, getting a quirked brow in response.

"Yeah, give 'em a minute. Speed ain't exactly a strong suite in this case." She said, getting a chuckle out of herself before readjusting on her couch.

I was a bit confused by her choice of wording but decided to just brush it off as nothing more than another one of her "different" traits. What was important was that there were more on the way.

I spent a few minutes sort of just sitting on the couch across from the mare and struggling to look her in the eyes. I cast glances up every now and then because I wanted to inspect her appearance further, but every time I brought my eyes up I only saw her own orange ones staring me dead in the eyes. She seemed to be smiling, and the smile grew larger every time I refused to look her in the eyes; like she knew I was too meek and loved it.

Finally, the door slid open once again and a pony walked in.

Well, I think it was a pony.

The stallion was huge, standing nearly three times taller than me, and had to hunch down just to fit into the room. His coat was a dark blue and his mane a sleek black; he was also one of the few ponies that I had ever seen have facial hair. And I don't mean just a small mustache or something, this stallion had a full fledged beard on his face. The beard was weird as well, being fairly straight until it came down down to the last inch where the bundles of hair bent into different directions; giving him a lumberjack look.

"Bout time ya got here." The mare beside me mumbled as she got up from the couch beside me and trotted over to the behemoth of a stallion.

The stallion looked down and gave a gritty smile at the sight of the mare before loosing a hearty laugh that shook me to the core.

"Can't beat yah anywhere now can I?" He said, his tone deep but not as deep as I would have expected.

They conversed for a bit, each of them laughing heartily before the mammoth pony turned to me.

"And who's this?" He grunted with a smile as he looked me over with striking yellow eyes.

"This is our third." The mare responded.

"We should probably greet her then?" He said, getting a nod from the mare before turning to me.

"Slandered greetin' then?" He smiled to me, signaling for me to start us off.

I gulped.

"Maple Wood; first lieutenant." I said proudly, finally gaining back some of my confidence.

He laughed heartily and gave me a pat on the shoulder, one that nearly threw me to the ground and dislocated my shoulder at that.

"Atta girl, ain't so hard to talk now is it?" He joked before introducing himself.

"I be Stone Wall; General. Though most just call me Stone." He said nonchalantly, smiling toothily.

"And I'm Flint Steel; General. Most us generals go on a first name basis with everypony, so we kinda expect the same in return." The mare sang in, looking at me with a fiery look in her eyes.

My eyes went wide and my jaw fell low enough that I could have hit the carpet below if I wanted to.

"G-general?"

Author's Note:

It was a tough decision on Octavia's job, but I think that this way will be a bit more entertaining in chapters to come.

Thoughts of the story so far? I appreciate any feedback.

Comments

[Kittycat01]

Hey look! I found this story in the featured box! Thought I would let you know!

[Sapphic]

6537946

[Kittycat01]

6539175
http://m.imgur.com/DEpDN3D
That should lead you to the screenshot I took of this story being in the featured box!

[Witchery]

Flint Spark... Where have I heard that name before?

[Twiggy Vampony]

Story so far is great, so many twists and turns keeps it really interesting! :3

[ShadowDrummer13]

Hah! That is so ironic, the first time I met a general it was something like that. They can be pretty laid back for their rank.