Lineage

I'd left Twilight’s castle of wonders after she'd informed me that she needed a few days to get the potion to brew and mature properly, and that it was a good idea for me to get myself physically and mentally prepared for the upcoming trials I'd have to face.

So I was planning to head to our own royal library to brush up on that confusing technique Luna had taught me ages ago. It involved using a certain type of magical energy to weave between concentrated beam attacks to separate them, and refract them in a hundred different directions, as well as making the beam much weaker. It was a technique she'd developed herself, actually, and saved the spellcaster a hell of a lot of energy.

I suppose I should explain our magic now, shouldn't I?

Well, every living thing has its own store of magical energy, and those that can tap into it are what we call magic users. They use the magical energy to cast spells at the expense of that energy. Now, while the energy is finite, it does replenish through rest and nourishment, but using too much of it can lead to death, as that energy can exhaust you to the point of heart failure.

It's why, for hundreds of years, scholars and mages alike are trying to find more efficient, yet still as effective, methods of performing actions. When training in magic, the first thing they ask you to do is fill a hole in the ground with water. Transmutation is an option, but most children don't have the energy to do it because completely rearranging the molecular structure of an object is a very difficult process and most people pass out before they complete it.

We were taught that sometimes the direct approach isn't the best one. Our instructor informed us that the two best ways were to draw together the water moisture in the air, as moving particles take almost no energy whatsoever, or to draw water up from the earth that was soaked in from previous storms. This way of thinking taught made us get creative in our magic casting and during combat. We were once tasked with hitting each other with a large wave in a pool of water. The first thought was to lift the water up and throw it at our opponent, but a demonstration of high wind on water showed us that a small yet powerful blast of wind to push the water itself was the more efficient method. So, when it comes to Luna’s refraction method, redirecting the energy of the attack doesn't drain nearly as much energy as throwing up a magic barrier, something you have to funnel energy into constantly to keep it up.

I was about to enter the library when I felt a warm sensation rush over my body followed by the sounds of splashing water. It took a second for me to realize that this experience wasn’t happening to me, but instead to Grael. And the only time Grael was ever warm and wet was during his weekly bath.

Something he loved.

“Enjoying yourself there, friend?” I asked him through our link.

“Very much so,” he responded. “The water’s lovely.”

“Right, I'll enjoy it when it's my turn,” I chuckled.

“As are the chambermaids,” he added.

“Well, why didn't you say that first?” I said with a cocked eyebrow. “Make room for me.”

I heard a chuckle from my friend before the link went quiet again, changing my objective location to the bathhouses in the southern grounds of the castle. I made my way through the halls, smiling and nodding at the servants and scribes who greeted me with “Your Majesty” and “Your Highness”. I rounded a corner just in time to see a person I hadn't seen in awhile: the Baroness of Breasts herself, Grandma Celestia.

The titanic woman stood with her hands joined over her stomach, wearing her usual white dress with tight sleeves, a high neckline, and a bell-style lower half. She was talking to one of her advisors about something, nodding quietly as she listened to him list off several things from a roll of parchment, one of them causing her to purse her gorgeous lips in thought before seemingly coming up with a solution to the problem.

As several more of her court approached her with questions, I decided she was too busy to talk to me, and I continued to head off to the bathhouse. The building soon came into view and I made my way over to the door, opening it to be hit in the face by the humid air of the steamy room. Rounding through corridors, I came to the place where Grael was always washed, seemingly done with his bath and now being dried, clipped, and groomed by the chambermaids.

Despite his constant presence around me, I often forget how enormous Grael is as an animal. To put it into perspective, the biggest breed of dog in the world is the Great Dane, a taller-than-average male standing at two-foot-eight. Grael, as a fully grown Direwolf from ear tip to paw base, stands at five-feet-two, his size more akin to that of a bear, with his length from nose to tail-tip being seven-feet, and the seat he sits in when having his front clipped needs him to be on his back while still almost upright, making him half a foot taller than Celestia in that position. When it comes to strength, I've seen him not only bump heads with a Timberwolf, but tear it to shreds in a matter of moments.

Basically, Grael is a monster, and I'm glad he's on my side or else I'd be fucked.

“Alright, buddy?” I asked him as I folded my arms.

“Good afternoon, Richter,” Grael said, looking at me with his bright green eyes and a wolfish grin. “Mother was here just a minute ago. She said she was heading to the hot springs outside.”

“Good to know,” I nodded. “She say anything interesting?”

“The usual: “If I'd known you’d be this huge I'd have given you back to Harald,”, “I really need to stop feeding you,”, “Does Richter use you as a protector or a portable mattress?”, and “We need to find a nice lady direwolf for you, you were nice to look after when you could fit on my palm.” Grael listed, shifting awkwardly as one of the chambermaids began to trim the fur around his genitals with a pair of scissors.

“You still haven't gotten used that, have you?” I asked him teasingly.

“Would you?” He asked.

“Dunno,” I shrugged. “I’ve never had my pubes trimmed with scissors before.”

“Don't,” Grael warned. “It's terrifying.”

“I live for danger,” I shrugged. “Remember drake-tag?”

“Yes, I also remember having to have my tail shaved to get off the fused hairs from the fire.”

“You can't deny it was fun, can you?”

“Yes.”

“But then you'd be a liar.”

“Do me a favour?”

“Anything for you?”

“Go and annoy mother instead.”

“Will do, enjoy the back, sack, and crack wax,”

“I hate you.”

“I love you too, buddy,” I chuckled, turning around and heading towards the indoor hot spring we’d created years ago, wondering what Mother Dearest was up to. The steam only became thicker as I walked into the hot spring area, hearing the water trickling down the artificial waterfall that'd been created as well as the sound of two voices chatting casually, one was my mother, and the other was Luna.

“Afternoon, ladies,” I said, sitting down at the water’s edge with a smile.

“Hi, honey,” Mom said with a smile.

“Richter,” Luna responded with a polite nod.

“We were just talking about you, actually,” my mother said, lowering herself into the water more. “Got time for a bath?”

“Uhhh…” I said, scratching the back of my head.

“I don't mind, do you, Luna?” she asked my aunt.

“Well… I guess not, we are all family after all,” she said with a shrug. “Go ahead.”

“Alright then,” I nodded, stripping down and lowering myself into the beautiful water, Luna splashing water onto her neck, her dark skin looking more delicious than ever whilst wet.

“Anyway, my dear boy,” Cadance said, getting my attention away from Luna. “We've been thinking, and since you're classed as an adult now, you should go through your Rites of Kingship”

I blinked blankly for a second, searching my memory for any reminders as to what that was before it clicked.

“That's not the one where I have to slay a mythical beast, is it?” I asked.

“Indeed it is,” Luna said. “And we've already got one picked out for you.”

“I get the feeling I'm not going to like this,” I sighed.

“Don't worry,” Luna chuckled. “It shouldn't be too hard, especially when you've got Grael with you.”

“Well… I guess that depends on what you're making me fight, doesn't it?” I asked. It was clear to me how fucked I was by the ear to ear grin of evil Luna had on her face as she spoke her next sentence.

“Well, as you already know, I've never believed in babying or sugarcoating any of the lessons I've taught you, whether it's combat, tracking or survivalism,” Luna began. “And I'm not going to tone down on the testing either, so for your Rite of Kingship, you're going to be taking a journey to the north, all the way into Winter’s Maw to take care of a little problem the locals are having. Does that sound doable?”

“So far, yes. But you've neglected to mention what I'm gonna be killing,” I said with a suspicious look. “I don't like that.

“And you're gonna like it even less when I tell you, dearest nephew,” Luna chuckled. “Are you familiar with an Eldritch Narrowscale?”

And my heart hit the floor.

The Eldtrich Narrowscale was an ancient species of dragon, named for its closely packed together scales that left no room for sword, spear or knife attacks. They were one of the deadliest breeds of hoarder dragons and could strip a man’s skin off with a lick of their tongue.

“Oh, yes. And it's a female, if the reports are to be believed,” she added.

Yes. Perfect. Couldn't ask for a better death sentence.

While the males of the species were, like most males, there to do nothing more than hunt, fight, and fuck, the females were as intelligent as humans, capable of speech, and had a track record abducting humans to use as playthings before devouring them, often torturing them by cutting them open with their claws before using a fire-heated tooth to cauterize the wound, as to not let them bleed to death.

Luna might as well of just killed me there and then. Why couldn't it have been a werewolf? Or a succubus? I would've rather killed a fucking toad king than go up against a Narrowscale.

“And the best thing is, we've already told the locals you’ll take care of it,” Luna chuckled, standing up out of the water. “You’ll have my help of course, but don't expect me to kill it for you.”

With that, the beautiful woman strode out of the hot springs and into the changing rooms, leaving my mother and I alone with myself on the verge of a heart attack.

“Well...” my mother said with a seductive tone. “Now that it's just you and me, baby boy, I wanna see how long you can hold your breath. I hope it's a long time, for your sake. I don't cum quick, as you'll remember."