Redux: Lineage

After gathering the others and settling down at a large table, we each gave our own testimonies about our experiences with Heimili, her demon army, and, in the case of Lot and I, what we came across in her cave. The three Alicorn listened intently, Luna especially unhappy about the story we told after what had happened with Arala earlier on in our journey.

"Look," Celana said once the story was finished. "If there's any kind of demonic presence or dealings going on in this city, I need to know about it. I'm not having any manner of hellspawn running amok here, especially after what happened."

"If Richter's right in his retelling, then you've got nothing to worry about when it comes to demons," Luna said, leaning back in her chair and pointing at Celana. "That thing's sealed up tighter than the royal treasure vaults and it is going nowhere unless somebody lets it out."

"Which means one of us is going to have to go and dismantle the thing and purify the area," Celestia added on. "We don't want some poor sod wandering into that cave whilst treasure hunting and opening a portal to the some horrific plane of existence. Luna, can I trust you to take care of that?"

"Sure, Lot and I should have the thing down in a few hours," Luna nodded.

"Am... am I going to be very helpful in this matter?" the Snow Elf asked in a confused manner.

"Not really, but I like spending time with you," Luna said with a smile.

The Snow Elf blushed quietly, turning her eyes down from the rest of the table, just as Karra rolled hers, jabbing a finger into the solid oak table and raising her point.

"I'm still getting every scrap of gold in that place, right?" she asked, looking between us all. "Because that'll be a very nice amount to have in my pocket after I rebuild near you guys."

"You've already purchased Equestrian land?" Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nope, you guys did for me," Karra grinned. "And you're paying for the rebuild, too."

"Same with me," Angela said, throwing her hand in the air as she rocked back and forth on her chair, chewing through a wooden spoon as she did so.

"And where did that assumption come from?" the oldest Alicorn asked with an intrigued expression.

"The kid," they answered in unison.

I felt all the eyes of my female relatives burning holes in me as they turned their heads, Celestia more so than anyone else due to her being the one that predominantly dealt with the treasury.

"Really now?" she asked. "And how much did you agree to give away to these fine ladies?"

"Whatever the hell we want," Karra chuckled, flashing a fanged grin as she leaned back. "That's not a problem is it?"

"Not for you, no," Celestia said, continuing to glare daggers at me before turning back to Angela and Karra. "So what exactly did he promise you?"

"Wrote us both decrees that allows us any piece of land in Equestria and unlimited access to the treasury to build whatever the hell we want," Karra explained. "So long as we pay taxes once we start making a profit."

"Right then..." Celestia said, clearly hiding her irritation with me behind a smile before exhaling slowly. "Then I'm afraid I'm rearranging those terms, and if you don't like them, the deal doesn't go through. Okay?"

"I'm listening..." Karra said, her wide smirk dropping from her face and being replaced with a look of cautiousness.

"Good. First change: you don't pay taxes on the properties after your first month in work, you start paying them the second construction starts," she began.

"But that's-" Karra started.

"-I'm not finished yet, deary," Celestia said in a stern tone. "Secondly, you'll pay the appropriate and applicable tax rate for the type of property you're building the second the contractors set foot on that land. So if you girls want to build your multi-storey fortresses, then you're going to start paying taxes on them, okay?"

"But how are we supposed to fork over that amount of money before we start doing business?" Karra asked in horror. "That's not possible!"

"That's also not my problem, sunshine," Celestia said with a shrug. "If you don't want the government to fleece you, try building a shack with a sign painted on it to pay taxes applicable to that and build up from there."

"Do you understand how much manpower and inventory space I'll lose going back to working out of a shed behind a market stand?" Karra growled.

"A damn sight less than you'll lose paying to rebuild your pile of rubble outside or getting a premium piece in Equestria the proper way," Celestia said with a confident smile. "So what's it gonna be, ladies? Are you in, or are you out?"

"You're asking me to abandon what I have here and start from nearly nothing," Karra snarled. "Do you understand how hard that's going to be?"

"Slightly easier than starting over from literal nothing," Celestia shrugged, picking up a wine glass and a wine bottle from the table and pouring her a drink. "You get your premium land, you get a place of work, and you start earning a lot faster than you would if you built your fort. If you start small, you don't pay as much tax and it won't even need to cut into your reward money that much. Everybody wins."

The two were quiet for a long moment, Angela thinking it over a damn-sight more than Karra did, with the catgirl slamming down her drink and storming away.

"You're a damn con-artist, Celestia," she snarled. "I'm out."

"Your loss," Celestia shrugged, turning to Angela with a wide smile. "Angela? What's your decision?"

"May... may you run me through the exact tax rates for specific properties please?" the construct mage asked as she scooted around the table to Celestia. "I'd like to weigh up my options before truly making a decision."

"Smart girl," Celestia smiled, beginning to run her through the differences between Equestrian land tax rates and property tax rates.

With that going down, I turned back to the other two princesses who still didn't look too pleased with me.

"I... I thought it would be a nice thing to do," I said, scratching the back of my head in an awkward manner.

"Which it was," Luna said. "But a very, very stupid thing to do."

"Was it really that bad?" I asked.

"The two of them could have sponged such a large amount of money from the treasury with what they had planned, that we'd need to re-budget everything from military training to population feeding," Luna explained. "It might not have run us dry, but it could've opened up a serious set of weaknesses other countries could use to take advantage of us."

"Oh..." I mumbled, lowering my eyes from everyone present and sighing quietly. "Can I disappear for a minute? I need to use the bathroom."

"Sure," Luna nodded, knowing full well I was lying through my teeth. "I'll get the story from the others while you're here."

"Right..."

With that, I headed off to my room upstairs, closing the door behind me and sitting on the bed. A mix of anger and humiliation ran through me, wondering how in the hell I could've been that stupid to begin with. I'd signed away what could have been literal millions of bits to two near-random strangers without having any idea how much money we had in the treasury, nor how much had already been promised to other practices. I gripped the back of my head and bit down on my bottom lip, fury and self-doubt burning strong inside me.

The first thing I'd done as a prince. The literal first decision I'd made as an official ruler would've burned a hole in the country. Not only that, I'd shown off to everyone how unbelievably inept I was when it came to making decisions. I stared at the floor, red in the face with embarrassment and about one more fuck-up away from giving up already. I didn't raise my head when I heard the door open, nor did I look at her when the lower half of my mother's pink dress came into view.

"Richter," she said in a soft tone, her voice dripping with sympathy and affection. "Don't beat yourself up about it."

"Why shouldn't I?" I asked, still refusing to look at her.

"Because it was an honest mistake," she answered, sitting down next to me and cradling me in her arms, squeezing my face into her breasts.

"A stupid one," I countered.

"That, while misguided, still came from a place of honesty and honour," she said, sighing quietly. "You meant well, but made a bad call. It happens to all of us."

"This badly?"

"Sometimes even worse," Cadance said. "But you're not in the mood to talk about it. So let's talk about something else."

"Like what?" I asked, still feeling miserable.

"Let's talk about a little something Celestia informed me about while we were preparing for the others to arrive," she said, shifting herself to a position that didn't even hide the fact she was shoving me into her cleavage, gently running her hand through my hair as her voice took on a much more sultry tone. "Something that happened to involve a certain young man having certain thoughts about certain relatives."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," I stammered, failing to keep my cool as I tried to pull away from her, only for her grip to strengthen and keep me in place.

"Oh, but you do," she chuckled, shifting our position to lay me down on the bed with her sitting above me. "You know all too well what I'm talking about."

"M-Mom..." I said, staring into her now-glowing pink eyes as she placed her soft hand on my stomach, drumming her fingers in a gentle, enticing manner.

"Little fantasies that you feel guilty about, but can't help find arousing, no?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow as she lay down next to me, resting on her elbow as she ran her other hand down her slender, curvy body. "Imagining a little aunt of yours playing with herself? Imagining your lovely old grandma's lovely big ass? Am I getting close with these?"

"I... this... you're..." I stammered, trying to move my head away as she leaned towards me, sliding a hand up my back to prevent me from moving.

"So, my handsome little stud..." she said, leaning forward and kissing me, sliding her tongue into my mouth and lashing it against my own.

Fireworks set off in my head, eyes, taste buds, and sexual organs flaring wildly as the taste of her tongue, of my mother's tongue rocketed through my system. She rolled slightly, pinning me down onto the bed and continuing to drive her tongue deeper into my mouth, allowing me to suck the delicious muscle as I lost my sense of rationale for a second too long. I allowed her to guide my hands onto her backside, instinctively squeezing her phat rear as I'd done with so many other women, so many times before. She then broke away from me, her eyes glowing like the embers of a warm fire, as a smirk spread onto her beautiful, delicious lips before she said the sentence that would set my world alight:

"Let's have a nice, honest talk about incest... and all the things you're going to love about it."