Redux: Lineage

I arrived back at the inn beat up and angry, heading over to the rest of the group and sitting down at the table.

"You've been gone a while," Zane said, looking at my injuries. "You alright there?"

"Yeah... kind of skipped ahead a little without you all," I said, giving a weak half-smile. "The Manticore's gone and we're close to getting the Barb Tails on our side. Only issue is: Karra, the leader, refuses to let us use her forces until we can prove we're capable."

"So... what?" Annerose asked. "She want us to fetch a sacred item? Fight a magical beast? Plunge into an ancient city and fight a locked away goddess or something?"

"Nope. Trial by combat, basically," I answered, staring sullenly at the table. "She'll let us command her men if we impress her enough in battle. I already had my shot... and failed fucking miserably."

"How bad?" Grael asked.

"I didn't touch her once," I admitted. "And she beat the hell out of me."

"Fuck..." Annerose said, looking at me with a worried expression. "Anything badly broken?"

"I left my pride in pieces on the floor back there," I moped. "But besides a few scrapes, I'm fine. You guys should probably head over there and give it a shot. She'll get mad if you take too long."

"Are you coming with us?" Zane asked.

"If it's alright with you guys..." I said, looking up at the three of them. "I'm gonna head back to the room and crash for a while. I'm sore, hurt, and can't be fucked to walk all the way back there again."

"Uh, alright, man," Zane said, standing up and placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Just don't be too hard on yourself, alright?"

"Yeah... okay," I said in the least-convincing tone of voice ever.

"I'll stay with you," Grael said, padding over to me only for me to counter his offer.

"You're part of the team too, Grael," I said, looking at him with a solemn expression. "You're gonna have to fight so you'd best do it now."

"I don't feel right leaving you here like this," he said.

"All I'm gonna do is sit around and mope," I shrugged. "You being here isn't gonna change that. Now hurry up and get going before Karra gets mad."

"Alright," Grael sighed, nuzzling my cheek gently with his soft head. "Just don't mope for too long."

"No promises," I said, giving him a gentle hug and a pat on the back.

He backed away, leaving Annerose sitting at the table. She looked at me with unreadable eyes, her face and mouth held in such a manner that I couldn't tell what emotion she was feeling, only to have her usual 'bedside manner' come out in force.

"Nut up, faggot," was all she said, getting up from the table as she spoke.

"Thanks, Anne," I nodded.

"Don't mention it," she said, heading off with the other two and leaving the tavern.

With that, I headed upstairs and entered my room, crashing on the bed and sighing loudly as a feeling of worthlessness washed over me like the tide over a beach. My first real combat scenario without the others around and I failed. Failed harder than anyone with as much training as I did has any right to and still call themselves a fighter. I rolled over onto my side, facing away from the door, and stared at the wooden wall. Now that the adrenaline of the fight had worn off, my injuries were starting to sting. It wasn't a crippling pain, more of an annoyance than anything else, but they were still a sign of failure.

How exactly was I supposed to be this great ruler or commander if I couldn't hold my own against a single catgirl? How was I supposed to inspire confidence in the soldiers under my command when they hear that I was beaten in a sword fight by punches and that I never landed a single blow on my opponent? I'd be a laughing stock amongst everyone. I'd be the new Blueblood in the castle, only more of a disappointment.

"You doing alright there, kid?" I heard Luna ask from the doorway.

"Yeah," I sighed.

"Well that's a lie," she said, closing the door behind her and walking over to the bed.

She sat down at the foot of the bed and placed a soft hand on my leg, squeezing gently in a comforting manner. I rolled over, looking at her concerned expression that flared into one of genuine worry as she saw the injuries on my face.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Karra wanted to test if I was worthy enough to command her army," I said in a bitter tone, merely reciting what had happened causing another wave of failure and despair to wash over me. "And I got my ass kicked."

"Badly?" Luna asked, moving further up the bed, parking herself right next to my chest. "Come here, let me take care of those for you."

She held up a glowing blue finger, holding it over the cut on my cheek and using her magic to clean the wound and knit the skin back together as I spoke.

"I didn't touch her," I admitted. "Not even once."

"That badly," she said, running her finger down to my chin and healing the small cut around my neck. "It's never a good feeling, is it?"

"I don't understand how I'm ever supposed to feel good about losing," I said in a low tone.

"The answer I'm going to give is worthless to you, mostly because you're not that type of learner," Luna said, moving her hand from my chin to my face, sweeping my hair out of my eyes and giving me a gentle, loving smile. "But you can always see a defeat as a way to mark progress. If you fight someone who is better than you, you can use them as a benchmark to work towards. Train and train until you're confident enough to beat them, and once you are, go back and beat them. Having a target to work towards is an amazing motivation to become stronger."

"You're right," I nodded. "That answer was worthless to me."

"I've got others, if you want?" she offered, still gently stroking my cheek.

"Go on," I said, closing my eyes and enjoying her warm touch.

"You can take the pain of defeat and use it to light a fire in your soul that drives you to improve," Luna said.

"Isn't that one the same as the other?"

"Slightly different as the second one doesn't focus on a specific, named target and is instead a more generalised goal," Luna said, shrugging her shoulders, placing both hands down by her sides and leaning back slightly.

"A technicality?" I asked.

"You're catching on quick," she said with a proud smirk. "But yes, pretty much. So, which is this going to be for you?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You gonna focus on beating Karra or just focus on training more in general?"

"Is sitting around and moping an option?" I asked in a dejected turn.

"Richter, that's always an option, just like giving up is," she answered. "But they're both options that solidify your failure. It doesn't matter how many times you fail, so long as you keep trying to improve. That's what counts."

"You ever considered a career as a motivational speaker?" I asked her.

"Many a time," she chuckled. "But I always found my calling on the battlefield more than a ballroom or fancy stage show. And before you ask, yes, I've had my fair share of defeats."

"As bad as this one?" I asked.

"Even worse," she nodded. "There was a fight against a demon in my youth where I was beaten to the point of nearly dying before I could even swing my sword."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. I got destroyed that time. And pretty much every other encounter I had with her until Celestia stood by my side," Luna recounted. "Even then, the battle still wasn't an easy one."

"How'd d'you beat her?" I asked.

"Eventually overwhelmed her with brute strength," Luna answered. "Lots of magic, lots of explosions, and lots of pain involved. That was when I finally got it through my thick skull that having your own strength be great is amazing, but working together with other people will make you stronger than you ever could be on your own."

"A good moral," I nodded.

"It was something that took me thirty years to learn," Luna said, moving further back on the bed and tucking her knees against her chest. "I used to 'lone wolf' it all the time; ever since I started adventuring, I hated having people around me. Always felt that if I had others around me, I always had people that could disappoint me. Took me getting kicked eight feet into solid stone before I realised that those same people who might fail you, might also save you. That was when I turned to Celestia for help."

"That seems like an interesting story," I said, sitting up and resting my arms on my knees. "I haven't seen a time where you two haven't worked together."

"Richter, the two of us practically hated each other at this point," Luna said, looking at me with a solemn expression. "We lived on opposite ends of the country, refused to speak to one another whenever it wasn't mandatory, and disagreed on everything we could. This was obviously before we took the throne... or before Celestia was meant to, should I say."

"You weren't in line?" I asked.

"I was, but behind Celestia," Luna nodded. "I'm her little sister, remember? She's eight years older than me. I was practically guaranteed to never sit the throne so long as I lived. It was our little bout with the demon that helped us realise how well we worked together. Celestia even put forth a proposition to our mother to allow us both to take the throne when she passed away or decided to abdicate the throne."

"Huh," I nodded. "The more you know..."

"Yup. But a lesson I want you to learn here," she began. "Value your own strength, but don't forget that you can rely on the strength of others to help you succeed."

"I don't think the others would let me," I chuckled, looking down at my boots as I spoke. "Especially Annerose. She'd never let me forget that I probably wouldn't be alive if not for her and the others."

"She is that lovable kind of girl," Luna chuckled, falling silent for a long moment before looking back up at me. "You don't shower after you have sex, do you?"

I was caught off guard by how random of a question this was, wondering why in the hell Luna was asking me it out of the blue, but she seemed to quell that alarm by her next response.

"I've got enhanced senses, mix of magic, and genetic reconfiguration," she explained, tapping her nose with her finger. "There's a unique smell of sex, and it's covering you right now."

"Oh..." I said, scratching the back of my head. "No, I didn't shower."

"I hope one of these days you're going to meet a nice woman," Luna said, looking up at the ceiling as she leaned back.

"Gee, Mom, why's that?" I asked her.

"Do you ever get sick of fraternising with whores all the time?" she asked. "Never want to take an actual lady out for dinner once in a while?"

"Are you saying Celana and Angela aren't ladylike?" I asked.

"Richter, Angela is manlier than most kings I've met in my life," Luna said. "And Celana is the living definition of why having taste isn't the same thing as having class. They're both sluts through and through. Isn't there some inkling for a nice relationship with a nice lady in you?"

"Surprisingly," I said in a sarcastic manner. "No, there isn't. And besides, I don't want a posh lady. Posh ladies are boring."

"You really think so?" Luna asked.

"Yeah, I prefer the fast and loose women because they're easier to get," I explained. "It's also much easier to get fast and loose women who are attractive because of who I am. If I was some regular Kento Olafsson from the Highlands of Yender, I'd be lucky to have a slutty woman to have a full set of teeth. But not only am I rich and attractive, I also live in Canterlot, one of the richest cities in the country, and we both know how nobles like their selective breeding. I've grown up around gorgeous, slutty women that are willing to get as freaky for me as I want them to simply because they'll get a status boost for sleeping with a prince."

"And you don't realise you're being used?" Luna asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"You say that as if I'm not using them in return," I said, delving into a part of my personality I often liked to pretend didn't exist. "I use the woman that throw themselves as me as much as they use me. They get the social status and I get the sex. It works both ways. And since that's the life I've grown up in, I think it's kind of ruined me as a person."

"You think?" Luna asked in an obvious manner.

"I know," I chuckled. "I've had the idea of promiscuous sex with strangers for favours ingrained so deeply into my psyche that I don't think I can do anything else. I think I've gotten so used to fucking gorgeous promiscuous women that I can't be attracted to anything else. I think that's the biggest reason I don't feel romantically attracted to Annerose, despite how beautiful she is."

"But you'd still fuck her, right?" Luna asked.

"Of course I would," I nodded. "But she isn't a slut. She's not just going to throw herself at me because I'm attractive and endowed. She's a woman that requires commitment and dependency, a relationship before she's willing to have sex with her partner... and that's just something I physically can't do."

"You're scared of committing?" Luna asked.

"Not scared as much as physically incapable," I said, scratching the back of my head. "I don't know... you've seen the life I've had, right? The girls I surround myself with?"

"Yeah, of course I have," she nodded. "There isn't a member of your family that hasn't seen you balls deep in a woman you barely even know."

"Do you at least understand why I always go for slutty women?" I asked.

"Because they're fast and easy," Luna nodded, looking at me with a disappointed gaze. "I'd be much angrier at you for that kind of lifestyle if you were mortal. I'd read you the riot act about how you're wasting your prime with young, hot airheads and when you finally want to settle down you'll be too old to attract anyone."

"But I'm immortal and unaging," I shrugged. "So I can literally keep this kind of behaviour up for the rest of eternity."

"Ugh..." Luna said, rolling her eyes. "At... at least you respect the women you're nailing. Not to mention you not only acknowledge, but also see the difference between a slut and a lady."

"There's that," I nodded, looking at her with a chuckle. "Which are you?"

"A mix of both, depending on how much I've had to drink," Luna said with a shrug. "So, we've got no chance of a Mrs. Richter anytime soon?"

"Not that I can see," I shrugged. "Why'd you ask anyway?"

"I didn't," Luna said. "I just asked if you didn't shower after sex as a backhanded way to tell you that you fucking stink and need to take a shower. So go do that, please."

"Have you seen the shower in here?" I asked. "It’s like getting pissed on by a Yuki-Onna."

"Then use my shower in the master suite," Luna said. "In fact, you can just have the second bed in the master suite and let Zane have his own room."

"You don't feel a little invaded by having me stay in your room?" I asked. "Not worried about me accidentally walking in on you naked?"

"No. If that happens, you get a show, and I stay completely indifferent," Luna shrugged. "I honestly couldn't care less about nudity at this point in my life. Now, go take a shower before you stink the rest of the room out."

I rolled my eyes, doing as told and heading towards the master suite of the inn. Though as I did, a thought ran through my mind. I just sat down and had a conversation, one of great detail, about my sexual exploits with my aunt. Sure, it wasn't nothing as graphic as intricately explaining to her my favourite way that a woman can suck my cock, but it did seem strange that she not only seemed okay with my sex life, but also interested in figuring it out. Maybe I was over-thinking it a little. After all, she seemed more focused on asking me if I was going to stop whoring it up rather than my favourite positions.

Though that comment about me catching her naked, something I did to make her feel awkward, was responded to by a laughing pass at me enjoying seeing her naked. Now, deep down in my perverted little psyche, that was true. I'd probably drool a river onto the floor if I ever got to look at Luna naked, as sick and as awkward as it made me feel to admit that I might be sexually attracted to her. But she didn't respond in a way I'd expected her to. Instead of seeming scolding and angry at the idea of me getting to see all of her, she seemed... welcoming with the idea, that maybe soon I'd walk out of the bathroom to see her lying on the bed, tits and all out for my eyes to feast on.

I shook my head, trying to clear it of my outright incestuous thoughts. I didn't wanna be focusing on the image of my biological relative's naked body and I felt rather disturbed about how awake my loins were when thinking about Luna's big, dark-skinned breasts resting against that shredded, perfect abdomen of hers, trailing her finger down her body and in between her legs while toying and massaging her tight, wet pu-

"Richter!" I heard Grael bellow in my head.

Alarm rocketed through my skull at that point, nearly making me fall flat on my face as I was torn from my daydream and brought back to reality.

"What?" I asked, wondering what I was getting scolded for.

"What the hell were you just thinking about?!" he demanded, sounding furious with me.

I realised at this point that I must've kept that thought, that little fantasy of my aunt masturbating in front of me, in the location of what Grael and I called the 'Open Box' of our mental link. The Open Box was essentially a 'place' in our link where thoughts could be freely accessed if one of us wanted to see them. We could use it to share memories and conversations with one another, either if they were happening currently or if we saved them for later. We could store our memories and thoughts in our 'Closed Boxes', 'places' in our own minds the other had no access to... but it seems that I'd forgotten to keep my incestuous fantasies in the 'Closed Box'.

"I... uh..." I fumbled, trying to think of an excuse at this point and found that nothing was coming to me.

"Richter... you're not having any strange desires, are you?" Grael asked me in a worried tone. "Nothing pent up or dangerous."

"I... I don't think so," I said, still feeling slightly awkward about the whole situation but still willing to discuss it with the one person I could trust with anything.

"Richter, are you lusting after Luna?" he asked me, getting straight to the point as he always did.

... Maybe?" I squeaked, genuinely conflicted about my own feelings towards my female family members.

"Is it something you think you need to talk about?" he asked. "Do you think it’s just filler thoughts that'll go away if you let them out?"

I was silent for a long moment, running several thoughts through my mind, in my closed box obviously, that involved my family members in sexual situations. On top of that, I was also thinking about the thoughts and attractions I had to them before I left: the feeling of sexual attraction my mother and I seemed to share with one another, like I saw when I changed in front of her, my lustful feelings for Celestia before and during my birthday function, and this most recent fantasy about Luna. Each time I'd thought of them like this, it had gotten progressively more sexually focused and sexually arousing for me.

"Richter, I can feel your arousal spiking from here," Grael said, bringing me back from my incest fantasies. "I'm getting a little worried here."

"Just... don't tell anyone about it, okay?" I pleaded with him. "I'll talk about it properly with you when you get back."

"Alright, just don't do anything stupid until then," Grael said, cutting the connection and leaving me alone in my head.

I continued to go to the shower, heart racing and head swimming with thoughts of confusion and self-hate. The sight of my female family members aroused me, like the sight of any other beautiful woman... but I knew they shouldn't. I was in two minds about this whole thing, hoping and praying that it was just a brief phase and not the tell-tale sign of some repressed desires.

But a thought did pass through my mind: if I confessed how I felt to my mother, who seemed just as into me as I was into her, maybe she'd be willing to-

"Richter!" Grael snapped.

"Alright, I'm sorry!" I barked in response, forcing myself to think about a goat juggling sacks of potatoes all the way to the shower so I could try and wash away the dirt and the guilt.