Lineage

After destroying Annerose’s conception of reality and all the things she knew, the two of us made our way into the brothel by the window, getting odd looks from people down below but none of them saying anything. We dropped low onto the cold, wooden floors and closed the window behind us, the sunlight giving us ample brightness to search around the main office.

“So where’s the safe?” Annerose asked.

“Over there,” I said, pointing at the large metal… the large, open, metal container. “Oh… that’s not good.”

“What?” Annerose asked, looking at the safe. “Oh no.”

“I think it’s safe to assume that it wasn’t just left open by the owner of the place,” I said, getting up and walking over to the safe, spotting two things that caught my eye. The first was on the floor: a corpse with several, sharp objects sticking out of their torso. I knelt down, turning the armoured body over and discovering it was a female in her mid thirties with long, blonde hair underneath her helmet.

“What do you think?” I asked Annerose as she knelt down next to me.

“Well… the weapon’s not drawn, there are no scuff marks on the knuckles of her gauntlets, nor any slashes or indentations on the arms to show us there was any kind of scuffle, armed or unarmed,” she said. “No damage to the face or neck, and with where the… knives? Knives are, I’m guessing the kill was from her lungs filling with blood.”

“Seems accurate enough,” I nodded. “Though I’m confused as to why an armoured knight is hanging around in the office of a brothel.”

“That’s a good question,” she said, turning back to the safe. “Oh… how cute.”

“I think it’s a calling card,” I said, looking at the small, cat-shaped piece of jet Annerose took out of the safe.

“A cat burglar,” Annerose chuckled, tucking it into her pocket. ”Cute indeed.”

“So we’ve got robbery, murder, and heavy security,” I listed off. “And from the fact that a calling card was left, we’ve got a well-established and rather confident cat burglar in our midst. One who is brave enough to operate in broad daylight.”

“Well, broad overcast snowfall,” Annerose corrected.

“Indeed,” I smirked. “How much you wanna bet this cat burglar is working for a rival gang?” I asked.

“On what grounds?” she asked.

“This place is too shitty for a big score, probably didn’t get more than five hundred gold out of this safe,” I began.

“I would suggest that maybe they’re just getting started,” Annerose commented before patting the pocket with the piece of jet in it. “But most amateurs don’t have a signature. I think it’s a good idea to ask around the city.”

“And you don’t have guards this well-armoured unless you’re expecting trouble, a sign of routine hits on specific places,” I finished.

I then pulled the two sharp objects out of the guard’s back, seeing them as nothing more than pieces of shrapnel.

“What’re you thinking with those?” she asked.

“I’m gonna guess magic propulsion,” I said, looking up at her. “Probably blasted from our cat burglar.”

“That must’ve been loud,” Annerose said. “A blast needs a lot of power to puncture armour and the sound of armour getting buckled is not a quiet one.”

“So either everyone downstairs is deaf,” I set-up.

“Or they’ve already found the body and went for the guards,” Annerose finished.

“Then we should get out of here,” I said, getting up and patting her on the back, both of us heading out of the window and down to the ground again.

“What’s the play here?” she asked.

“I’m gonna go back to my tower and see if I can get someone to trace the magic residue on these shards, if there is any,” I explained. “I want you to ask around the city and try and find something out about this cat burglar.”

“Sounds like a plan,” she chuckled. “I’ll meet you back at the Hound with whatever I find at noon tomorrow, okay?”

“Right,” I nodded. “See you there.”

The two of us broke off, heading to our respective abodes to continue our mission. Once inside the tower, I pulled my hood down and headed up to Luna’s chamber only to discover she wasn’t there. Though thanks to my hearing mutation, I was able to pick up the sounds of gentle water splashes and swilling in said water, giving away that she was bathing. I walked over to her bathroom door and knocked on it.

“Richter?” she asked.

“Yeah, mind if I come in?” I asked.

“Not at all,” she said. I opened the door, being greeted by a welcome rush of heat as Luna lounged around in what was essentially an artificial, soap-filled, hot spring, steam rising off the warm looking water as the beautiful, dark-skinned alicorn relaxed, leaning her head back against the marble wall she sat against. She looked at me, eyeing me up for a long moment, before gesturing to the other side of the bath.

“Take a dip,” she said. “You look exhausted.”

“Right,” I nodded, stripping down and getting into the bath, immediately enjoying the feeling of the warm, soothing water. “I’m guessing you’ve enchanted the bath, then?”

“Of course I have,” she said, splashing her neck with the warm water. “Now, what is it you need?”

“I need your help tracking down someone,” I answered. “I have something I think might have magic residue on it, but we both know I can’t track that myself.”

“You tried scent tracking it yet?” she asked.

“Didn’t consider it,” I shrugged. “The thing smells of burnt metal. If there was perfume, aftershave, or even body sweat on it, I could’ve done that.”

“Damn,” Luna said, sitting up straight in the water, getting her game face on. “What did you say you’d found?”

I took a little while to explain everything to Luna, the older Alicorn listening intently as I told her what Annerose and I had found, nodding along to confirm she was listening and making a statement once I’d finished.

“I don’t know exactly who you’re looking for,” she said. “But I’ve heard about them before. They’re relatively new on the scene, only started a year back, or at least that was when she started leaving the pieces of jet. You try to scent track yet?”

“Nothing to track. Faint scent of perfume that I don’t recognise, but it got too muddled in other scents to track more than a few feet,” I explained. “I figured you were the best thing to turn to.”

“Indeed, where would you be without me?” Luna asked with a smile.

“Dead,” I said with a shake of my head. “Do you want me to wait for you to finish bathing before you track the aura?”

“If you wouldn’t mind,” Luna nodded, lowering herself into the water up to her mouth before blowing bubbles into the bath.

I looked at her entertaining herself in a childish manner for a long moment before getting out of the bath. I dried myself off, left the piece of metal on the towel table in the room, dressed, and headed back to my room. I dressed down, hanging my robes up in the wardrobe and sat around wearing tight pants and a white shirt, lying on the bed with my eyes locked onto the ceiling, thoughts running through my mind as I focused on nothing. I was drawn from my mouths by the sound of Advalia’s tail lashing through the air as she walked into the room, a towel wrapped around her hair and nothing else as she allowed everything to hang free.

“Heya, big boy,” she said, flashing me a fanged grin. “When did you get back?

“A few minutes ago,” I answered, watching her dry her hair with the towel as best it could before tossing it aside and sitting down on the bed.

“Luna told me about the shit you kicked off in the square today,” she said, lying down on her back and staring at the grey ceiling.

“Yeah, trying to fix it now,” I nodded. “Well… I say fix, more like burn the city down slower than before.”

“Well lemme know if you need anything cutting up,” she said, giving me a thumbs up. “I’m the girl for that.”

“Will do, Addy,” I nodded. “So, what’re you planning to do once we get back to Equestria? With your pay?”

“Prolly buy a ranch mansion,” she shrugged. “Buy some horses, breed them, raise them, fuck them and sell them.”

“Huh. Sounds like something Celestia’d do,” I smirked.

“She’s the kind of freak I aspire to be,” Advalia sniggered. “I wish I could take a horse cock as big as she could.”

“What’s your fascination with horses, anyway?” I asked. “Surely it’s not just the size, or else you’d be going for Direwolves and Wyverns, right?”

“For me it comes down to two things: The medial ring and those big, musty nuts,” she said, getting an erection from merely describing them. “The ring feels incredible, especially anally, and the taste and smell of big horse nuts makes me cum in my pants. I love mashing my face into those soft knockers and sucking them for hours.”

“You’re weird,” I stated calmly.

“This coming from the guy that’s raw-dogged his mother?” Advalia asked, now masturbating to the images she’d just described.

“At least she’s my own species,” I stated.

“Are you seriously trying to kink-shame me right now?” Advalia asked. “You fucked a dog!”

“Grael’s a wolf, thank you very much,” I corrected.

“Still doesn’t change the fact he stretched your asshole out enough to drive a train through,” she growled, playing with her nipples as she jerked her cock off.

“Do I detect a hint of jealousy in your voice?” I asked.

“Yes,” she stated. “If I got the chance I’d live on a diet of Direwolf dick with a side of his asshole.”

“I think he’s into that, actually,” I chuckled.

“As is everyone,” she said. “Except you!”

“I’ve already told you, I don’t like it,” I responded.

“There’s nothing gay about getting rimmed, Richter,” Advalia said quickly. “Now accept that and lemme dine on that thick rump of yours.”

“How many times do you have to be told no?” I asked.

“As many times as it takes until you give in and say yes,” she growled.

“It’s never gonna happen, Advalia,” I sighed.

“You’ll give up and say yes eventually,” she said in a sinister tone. “And when you do… my fork and I will be waiting to feast.”

“...”

“...”

“That was a little bit too far, wasn’t it?” she asked after a moment of silence.

“Just a tad,” I nodded.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ll use a spoon if you feel more comfortable with that instead.”

“Get fucked, Advalia,”

“Believe me. I’m trying to.”