Redux: Lineage

"So, what's the plan?" my father asked after I'd gathered everyone into the 'war room'.

I wasn't sure how to start with this, as both Cassandra and Verella would most likely be furious about the lack of direct support from the elder Alicorn, especially after I'd kind of promised them that they'd help. I took a moment to collect my thoughts, trying to spin the story in a way that wouldn't anger the two of them.

"Celestia's enlisted the help of the Blades of Illuminia to take care of the problem," I said in as confident a tone I could muster. "We're to wait for Twilight to arrive and then she'll transport us to the Fortress to iron out a plan."

"I thought you said Celestia herself was going to help?" Verella asked in a displeased tone.

"This is her helping," I answered. "The Blades are a larger force. We can send them to multiple places at once and cover much more ground in much less time than if we only had Celestia and Luna on our side."

Verella was quiet for a long moment, still scowling at me, before her eyes softened and a sigh fell from her lips, shaking her head as she looked to her side.

"Can't argue with that," she admitted. "Strategy is strategy."

"I also don't think it'd be a good idea for you two to tag along," I said, broaching this subject very carefully.

"Why's that?" Verella asked.

"Because the Blades are an order dedicated to stamping out darkness wherever they go," I answered. "They probably won't take too kindly to you and Cassandra setting foot in their fortress."

"You're probably right," Verella nodded, looking back at her aunt before back to me. "Is there anywhere we're allowed to stay for the rest of the day? If we're not going to be accompanying you to the fortress, I'd really like to get my head down for a few hours."

"I'm sure I can find you somewhere suitable," Claurio said with a gentle smile. "Shall we find a room to your liking?"

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Cassandra nodded, following the Empress as she made her way out of the room.

That left myself, my father, Zane, Annerose, and Grael to wait for Twilight's arrival before we could continue our plans to stop the Vampires.

"Please tell me she's at least somewhat punctual when it comes to urgent matters?" Grael asked my father after several minutes of silence.

"She'll remember eventually," Shining shrugged. "I hope."

"How can she be the chancellor of an entire country if she's this atrocious at keeping time?" the Direwolf asked as he rested on his haunches.

"Mostly because Celestia tends to drag her out of her lab to most functions whether she wants to or not," Shining answered. "With Celly not being there... I imagine she'll need reminding a few times more."

"Perfect," I said, sitting on one of the desks and staring at the ceiling as I leaned back. "Anyone know any good games to pass the time?"

"A singalong could be fun," Zane said with a chuckle.

"I will swallow my own sword if either of you even suggest those things again," Annerose growled, sitting down on the floor and resting her head on her palm.

"That'd at least be halfway to entertainment," Grael sighed, rolling his eyes as he lay down by my feet.

"Maybe we should have asked for beds of our own?" Zane suggested, finding his own comfortable sitting spots.

"Gods above, you lot don't half like to fucking whine, do you?" Shining asked. "If I'd have even thought half of the shite you're coming out with in front of one of my commanding officer's, he'd have slapped the fucking soul out of me."

We all let out a combined mess of groans, whines, and sighs of boredom, desperate to find some way to pass the time until Twilight arrived.

After around four hours of sitting in the hall, barely managing to make conversation at this point, Twilight appeared in a rather comical puff of smoke, covered in what looked like griffon feathers and some kind of green mixture with her mascara smudged all over her eyes and nose. She stood completely still, tear marks all over her purple and black dress, her hair looking like a crow's nest that had just gone through a hurricane, and a very panicked expression.

"I forgot," she squeaked out.

"What the hell have you been doing?" Shining asked.

"Collecting samples from unwilling sources," she said, stuffing what looked like fragments of an already-hatched griffon egg shell into a pouch on her belt.

"For four hours?" he asked.

"I'm persistent," she shrugged.

"Try stupid," Shining sighed, shaking his head as we all climbed to our feet.

"Eh," she shrugged, flaring up her magic; a purple aura with licks of black energy in it, and throwing a large portal ahead of her.

"We all ready to save the world?" she asked, looking at the portal with a determined expression.

"You're getting a bath and some sleep, young lady," Shining said, picking her up by the scruff of her collar and carrying her towards the portal.

"I'm not opposed to this," she shrugged, pointing forwards. "Onward!"

The rest of the group made a collection of disappointed noises ranging from growls to sighs as we followed them both through the portal, immediately noticing the drop from the warm, summery room temperature to the freezing cold and biting wind of the frozen north. There was a loud, effeminate squeak of shock from Zane as the cold hit him, followed by pretty much everyone dog-piling on top of Grael, clinging to him and his warm, thick fur to try and absorb some of his body heat.

"The things I put up with in this family," he sighed, walking forwards as best as he could with around four hundred and fifty pounds of weight clinging to him.

"Please try to make yourselves look somewhat presentable," Twilight said, the concept of irony truly lost on the woman as we approached the gates.

The fortress was a large and ancient one, with high walls reaching well over thirty feet that blocked access to the enormous fortress, carved from cold, grey stone and covered in colder, white snow. The wind tore through the valley, making it a stinging and bitter place to be. The sun seemed like it struggled to reach the floor of the valley most hours of the day, making it seem like cold and darkness were a common occurrence down here.

We spotted two guards outside the door, wearing what appeared to be fur-lined plate armour with a mix of cloth robes marked with a sigil. It was a mighty sword with the backdrop of a ten-point star behind it, each point marked with a small twinkle, seemingly representing Illuminia herself with the other ten being the other Goddesses. They clutched at steel halberds, their helmets focused on us as we approached. I expected to have to present a story and a reasoning for why we'd appeared out of nowhere, only for them to clap their arm across their chest and bow low to us...

No, not to us. To me in particular. I returned the gesture, out of a sake of politeness, and the two of them straightened up, returning their weapons to the default standing position and speaking in clear, yet echoing voices, thanks to their helmets.

"Your Holiness!" they exclaimed in unison. "It is an honour for you to grace us with your divine presence."

"It's an honour to meet ones as devoted as yourselves," I said, trying to bullshit my way through this situation as I had no fucking idea how to respond in a manner befitting a 'Holiness'. "I have need of an audience with your Knight-Commander and High Priestess. Will you bid myself and my companions entry?"

"With the greatest honour, Your Holiness!" one of them answered. "The fortress and all of its facilities are yours to use as you please!"

"The High Priestess is currently in session with the pages, but Knight-Commander Cindria should be available now," the second said.

"Thank you," I said, beckoning the others to follow me as I walked inside and the gate closed behind us.

I immediately felt the need to shrivel up and die as I felt well over two hundred sets of eyes fall on me from all over the entrance to the fort. Those training, smithing, sharpening, cleaning, building, or merely passing by immediately performed the same gesture as the guards outside, almost bringing down the mountains around us with a united holler of 'Your Holiness', before waiting for me to respond.

I proceeded to lock up at this point, not having the faintest idea on how to address all of them in the manner they expected me to, looking between all of them in a panicked state as the seconds began to tick by, the awkwardness of the situation causing my entire body to scream in an uncomfortable manner. Thankfully, my father stepped forward and saved me from melting on the spot, using years worth of barking orders and giving speeches to handle this as elegantly as possible.

"We have need of your Knight-Commander!" he called out to them all in a confident and strong voice. "Whereabouts does she reside in her off-time?"

There was a second of silence as the Blades decided who was best to answer the question, finally having a female Blade, lacking a helmet, walk over and give us directions. She made the same saluting gesture as all the others did, bowing her head, before pointing to a long stone corridor just past the rings of training dummies.

"Knight-Commander Cindria should be meditating in her chambers just past the mess hall and up two flights of stairs," she answered, coming across as confident as I wished I was. "She'll be more than delighted to meet you, Your Holiness."

"Thank you," I managed to nod out, barely able to keep my voice from cracking out of my sheer will to die.

With that, we made our way towards the corridor, only for my father to put a hand on my shoulder and slow me down a little.

"Still can't handle the praise, eh?" he asked with a chuckle.

"What am I supposed to do in that situation?" I asked, my heart still pounding in a nervous manner. "I can't just nod along and ignore them, or else I feel like an absolute cunt, and I can't think of anything to say that isn't just 'Yes, lick my boots, peasants.' What was I meant to do?"

"I will say, you handled it better than I would've at your age," Twilight said, patting me on the shoulder and giving me a smile that looked rather insane thanks to her bedraggled state. "I probably would've just curled up on the floor and started reciting alchemy formulae as a coping method."

"That would've been good for a laugh," Shining chuckled.

"Why do you hate me?" Twilight asked, giving him a dead-pan glare.

"I'm your older brother," Shining shrugged. "I'm supposed to hate you."

"Ugh, it's fucking freezing out here," Annerose said, her teeth beginning to chatter as she rubbed her upper arms. "Please tell me there's some kind of fireplace somewhere."

"No idea," Twilight shrugged. "Never been here before."

"Really?" Zane asked. "Then how did you know where to teleport us to?"

"Telepathic information trade," Twilight answered. "Celestia merely put the memory of the location in my mind which allowed me to teleport to it."

"Handy trick," Grael nodded. "Can she transmit a new mental state that'll fix your forgetfulness?"

"Why is everyone bullying me today?" Twilight asked in a confused manner.

"Because you smell," Shining shrugged.

"He's got a point, you know," I said with a sarcastic wag of my finger.

"I hate you all," Twilight moped.

We headed up the staircases, the short, steep stone carvings making a rather brief-yet-intense workout for everyone involved, before coming to what was obviously the door to the Knight-Commander's quarters. Large, imposing wooden doors carved with the sigil of the Blades on both of them, iron clasps and knockers showed a large amount of expense and skill involved with the creation of such doors.

"Are you gonna knock?" I asked Zane in a nervous manner. "Because I'm not."

"Oh for..." Shining sighed, walking up to the door and pounding on it with the flat of his fist. "Knight-Commander Cindria, I am General Shining Armour of the Equestrian Army! We have need to discuss matters regarding a campaign for the protection of innocents against a Vampire incursion!"

"Why can't you be as 'to-the-point' as that?" Annerose asked me. "I remember spending fifteen minutes waiting for you to finish having tea with an old woman because you were too scared to interrupt her story."

"We were guests and I didn't want to be impolite," I said in a sheepish tone.

"We were hunting down a vicious monster and you thought it was a good idea to stop for tea and fucking scones," she growled between gritted teeth. "Not to mention I had to keep swatting away her fucking rat-legged mutt from humping my leg the entire time."

"Time and a place, ladies," Zane said, parting the two of us and waiting for the response from Cindria.

The door swung open, revealing a woman that matched Celestia's description to a T, only she left out the fact that this woman looked like she could probably knock down a castle wall with a mean glare. I immediately felt a surge of terror run through me as the woman, standing nearly as tall as my father, eyed him up with a hard expression before scanning over all of us, settling on me after a moment. Her yellow eyes flared open briefly, a look of shock and surprise on them, before she saluted me in the same manner all the other Blades had done and bowed her head.

"Your Holiness," came her gruff greeting, in a much less grandiose but much more respectful way than the others. "My apologies for not sensing your presence earlier. Had I done so, I'd have been the first one to greet you at the entrance."

"Don't, uh, don't worry about it," I said, trying desperately to not blurt out some shit like 'It's okay, mom' at how small and weak I felt standing near her.

Goddesses, I was not qualified to be in charge of these people.

"General Armour... why is His Holiness not taking command of this operation?" Cindria asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Because the boy's a little in over his head right now and probably can't even remember how to tie his shoelaces," my father said with a smile, patting me on the back.

"He's not wrong," I said in a whimpering tone.

Cindria was silent for a long moment, studying me up and down with a critical eye, making me feel as if that man-eater stare was going to make me spontaneously combust, before she seemed to realise something.

"Ah, my mind has slipped and my judgement has fallen yet again," she said, bowing her head in an apologetic manner. "I forget His Holiness has barely seen his eighteenth summer. Even with all his heavenly might, it would be more than disrespectful to force such a large task on one so young. Do you take ire with your father's command?"

I had never responded to a question with a flat 'not at all' so fast in my entire life. I barely even waited for Cindria to stop speaking before pretty much shoving my father into the commander's chair and sprinting out of the room of responsibility. I wasn't a general, nor was I a tactician. I barely even knew where to position my clothing to make getting dressed the next morning an efficient task nevermind how to position units to ensure victory against a rival army.

Not to mention all of the lives that I could waste, all the families I could rob of a loved one if my strategies failed in any kind of way. A brief shiver ran down my spine as I thought about it, a cold sweat forming and a boost in my heart rate accompanying the panic of merely thinking about being responsible for the death of so many people. There was no way that I could ever look my people in the eye and send them off to-

"Richter," Grael said in a soft tone over our mental link.

The sudden voice nearly made me physical jump, but the warm feelings of calm and relaxation that Grael was now sending to me helped bring my anxiety levels down a good bit, soon feeling much warmer and less panicky after the brief treatment.

"It'll do you no good to panic over hypotheticals and flights of fancy," Grael said in a deep, soothing voice. "You're surrounded by capable friends and family that will help you bear the burden, so there's no need to worry yourself sick, okay?"

"Yeah... you're right," I said, taking a deep breath and trying to stop thinking about it.

"I always am," Grael chuckled. "Now, turn your attention back to Cindria. If you worry so much about your lack of tactical thought, it would do you well to attempt to glean even the basics from experienced commanders."

With that, he severed our connection, and both of us turned our minds back to the conversation at hand, Cindria inviting us all into her chambers rather than standing outside in the cold. Her room was what I'd come to expect from commanders that had their home on the battlefield. Tomes and volumes numbering in the high hundreds that spoke of war, strategy, tactics, and all manner of the other pieces that built up great leaders. The room itself was warm and cosy, my nose picking up a scent of ginger, possibly coming from enchanted incense, and the fiery scent brought on a larger feeling of warmth and comfort.

I soon began to realise just how tired I was at this, it barely being more than enough time for my body to have restored itself after the battle with Heimili, the scuffle in the town with the Vampires, and the hours now drawing later and later with no sleep in sight for me. There was nowhere to sit down besides Cindria's desk and her bed, neither of which I felt was a good place to sit in the middle of a conversation without looking like a boor, so to my feet I kept, merely trying to stave off the exhaustion until there was a time to rest.

"So," Cindria said as she closed the door behind us. "A Vampire Incursion?"

After looking at me for approval, my father took the reigns yet again and began to explain the situation we were in regarding the Vampire civil war, the shattered Houses, and the attempt to resurrect Sanguine by Selana and her forces, something that seemed to rile Cindria up to no end. If the Blades ever needed a moment of thought before acting, if they ever took a second to sum up the situation or look at it from an objective versus subjective point, that policy had been thrown out the window. Cindria was fired up and ready to tear Selana and her Vampires to pieces over her actions and wasn't shy of being vocal about it.

"The ungodly heathen dares to think she could enforce her sacrilegious will over the denizens of this world?" she spat, fury burning in her yellow pupils. "I shall convene with Jenevive about the matter this instant. The Blades shall be by the side of all those who need them in this time, and we shall not rest until we have washed this world clean of this tainted kingdom."

"Can... can I come and meet Jenevive?" I asked, throwing my selfish desires into the mix.

"Why?" my father asked.

"Well, I haven't met all the leaders of the Blades yet," I answered quickly. "And I'd kind of feel rude if I just ignored her for the rest of the night and didn't introduce myself."

"Uh-huh," my father said in a slow, drawn-out manner that couldn't have made it more obvious that he didn't believe my bullshit for a second before sighing and turning back to Cindria. "Is it okay for him to meet Jenevive tonight?"

"General Armour, I'm in no position to grant or deny His Holiness 'permission' for anything," Cindria chuckled. "Should he wish for us to disassemble the fortress brick my brick and reassemble it as a statue of a giant dog, we'd have no choice but to do so with a smile. His word is law, and his will shall be done, no matter our own personal feelings on the matter. If he wishes to see Jenevive, then everyone else shall make time to adhere to his wish."

It was a really good job that I had some level of self control and was infertile to all other species except my own. If I were a lesser man, then every female Blade in this fortress would be pregnant within twelve hours. Note to self: do not abuse your complete and total control over your... minions. Ugh. I felt dirty just saying that.

"So, Your Holiness," Cindria said, turning to face me with her hands joined behind her back. "Shall we pay our High Priestess a visit?"

"Gladly," I said with a smile, trying to keep the appearance of a dignified and respectable prince instead of the drooling horndog I was being right now. "I hope we get along with one another."

Boy, did I hope...