//------------------------------// // Desert Flower // Story: Snakepony Salutations // by MightyShockwave //------------------------------// The sun beats down on you heavily. Visit Klugetown they said, lots to see they said! You were having an alright time, until the “Desert Tour” decided to up and leave you once they discovered you didn’t have enough frags for the return trip. Not to mention that was after they ‘confiscated’ the rest of your belongings as partial payment. Not you’re out in the middle of the desert, with no food and water. You know you won’t last long out here. You're a pony, after all, actual nature is something you are NOT prepared to deal with. You first thought as a pegasus was that you could just fly back, but the heavy desert winds just blew you further away. Guess you should have listened to mom and worked out those flight muscles. The wind just keeps on getting worse. Sand’s starting to pick up too. You can barely see. However, as you squint, you see that there’s a small rocky mountain in the distance. You use the wind to get there faster, hoping for shelter even as it carries you further away from civilization...if you could call the dump heap that is Klugetown ‘civilization’ that is. You find a crevasse to hide in. It’s still hot, and your throat is terribly parched, but at least you can ride out the sandstorm you think. You step further inside, the gaps in the top of the crevasse providing enough light to see...barely, it still feels like night. As you venture deeper into the crevasse, the sound of the wind gets further and further. However, now you can hear something else. Sounds like something heavy shifting over sand…and...was that hissing? As if to dismiss the hissing, you hiss back, a bit annoyed at the whole situation. As soon as you do so, there’s a sudden stillness, followed by the shifting and sliding motion suddenly rapid...and getting closer. Your heart skips a beat, and you hide behind a nearby rocky outcrop just as you could see the faintest blur come into view. As you cower, the shifting stops once more. You can hear it slowly approaching. Involuntarily, you let out a small whinny of fear. The shifting stops again. Whatever it is surely heard you. Suddenly, a sweet, gentle voice fills the air. ”Hello? Is somecreature there?” It says. It sounds like a normal mare, but you’re still too scared to take a look. ”H-hello...” you manage to squeak out from behind your rock. ”Who are you? You can come on out. I won’t hurt you...well, unless you make me,” the voice replies. You can sense both curiosity and apprehension in her voice. You’re still scared still, but as you mull over your options, you feel the sand beneath you rise strangely. Suddenly it explodes, and you feel something long and thick loop around your midsection, pinning both your wings and forelegs. You feel your whole body whipped out into the open, and your hindlegs kick in the air as you are suspended. You finally have a good look at your captor. She looks like a typical mare, with golden yellow fur and a relatively short, curly orange mane. Her green eyes are slit, like a batpony’s, but this isn’t the most unusual feature. That would be her massive serpent tail that explodes from just below her midsection. It’s a light gray with darker gray spots in a blotchy arrangement, so smooth that even in the little light in the crevasse reflects off its surface. It’s massive and thick, and definitely holds the lion’s share of her mass. It’s even hard to estimate how long she is. As you follow her tail with your eyes, you see that it submerged itself as a point, and you can see that the end that came out was poking out of the sand. You shudder at how tremendously strong that tail must be to be able to swim through sand like it was water. Yet, the pair of coils that grip you keep a gentle hold, but one that’s strong enough that you’re not sure you could struggle out of. You might though...if you try… As you ponder you options, the monstrous mare speaks. ”Oh, a pony!?” She says with genuine surprise. “What are you doing out here? This place is inhospitable to four-legses.” You explain your story to her, without leaving out any details. ”Oof, yeah, those Klugetowners are really something, huh? Thankfully, they hardly ever stumble around these parts. Enough of that, though. I have water, and a bit of food too if you’re hungry. Come on, let’s go to the kitchen,” she says, setting you down with her coils. She unwinds most of them from around you, however, she keeps one wrapped loosely around your neck. As she begins to slither back down the crevasse, you follow her. You don’t really have much choice unless you want to get rid of this living leash. Although, it does feel cool and comfortable, and it helps you deal with your overheated body by sapping heat from your blood as it runs into your brain. The crevasse opens up into a wider area, with a few piles of pillows all around and a couple of shelves filled with books lining the rock walls. You don’t spend much time here, as she continues to lead you down one of the offshoot paths budding from that room. You eventually reach another room, smaller than the last but still spacious enough for your host to comfortable curl her entire length. It’s much more bare; there’s a single shelf stuffed with sacks, a small clay stove with a pot on top, and a small pool of crystal clear water, with a small stream trickling down from an opening in the rock. ”Don’t worry, the spring is clean. I covered the bottom with rocks so that the sand stays out of it too,” she says. You eagerly trot over and begin to drink. The water is absolutely delicious, and you drink for what feels like ages. ”I don’t usually have guests, but you’ll need to stay until the sandstorm subsides. To go out there right now would be suicide. There’s a pony outpost about a day’s journey north of here. They’ll be able to get you back home. Sorry about your bits and other things though; I’d say it’s not worth going back to Klugetown for them,” she says. You finally feel hydrated, and raise your head to face the lamia once more. You finally notice that her tail is still around your neck for some reason. ”So, um, I guess we should get comfortable with each other while we wait it out. It could take a day or two, but don’t worry, I have some regular food. I don’t keep much since most of my meals come from catching desert beasts, but a well rounded diet keeps the scales healthy, you know?” You don’t know. She grins awkwardly. ”I also have a lot of books you can read to pass the time. Sorry, it’s just that ever since I left Silver Shoals back in Equestria, I haven’t really had many guests, so I’m a bit unprepared. By the way, I never introduced myself. I’m Sand Song, but you can call me Sandy for short,” she says. You ask her what made her come to a place like this. ”Oh, well, isn’t it obvious? I’m a lamia,” she says. “I guess it’s not so much me moving out here, but more like returning. My sister and I both moved to Silver Shoals when we were younger. Us lamias usually live in dry, desolate places like this, so we wanted to try the pony way of life. For a while, things were alright, we made friends, and we were pretty happy.” She sighs and looks forlorn. ”But, as time went on, I really started to notice things. Moms would hug their foals tight when I slithered by, shopkeepers would avoid eye contact when I bought things, it was tough for me to find steady work, all because of what I was. My sister is a hardy type, she just brushes all that stuff off, but it got to me that I wasn’t wanted by anypony except the friends I had. I didn’t want to just hypnotize them to like me, even though I totally could have. So, I did some research, packed up, and set out for a place that was more natural for my kind. My sister tried to get me to stay, but I just didn’t feel like I belonged. So, I said goodbye to her, packed up what I could, and headed for a place that was more natural for my kind...” She pauses for a moment. While she’s lost in thought, your thoughts turn to the tail around your neck. It feels strange, yet oddly cozy, cool and silky against your fur, giving it an amount of weight that seems to relax you. You go to move your hoof towards it, but stop at the last second. Sand Song, however, notices your motion. ”Oh, sorry!” She says, quickly unwinding from your neck. “It’s just that it’s been so long since I’ve coiled anypony. My friends used to let me do it to them all the time. It just feels so nice, wrapping my cold-blooded scales around a warm-blooded creature you doesn’t try to kill me, and I it.” You assure her that you didn’t mind, and in fact, were really enjoying it too. ”R-really?” She says, cheeks flushing red as she does so. “W-well, let me put it back then.” The tail wraps around your neck once more, giving a gentle squeeze before it begins to slither around, adding a second, thicker coil that presses down on your withers as it grasps the base of your throat, where it meets your midsection. It’s a bit heavier, but you’re a strong stallion. You thank her for it. ”Oh, you’re welcome,” she says, and for a moment you catch a hint of a smile behind her sullen face. The two of you are silent for a while, and your eyes begin to awkwardly shift around. To break the silence, you ask her what kinds of books she likes. ”Whatever I can get my coils on, usually,” she says. “Don’t have much choice around here, so I take what I can get. On days when I’m feeling really brave, and the temperature isn’t too bad, I slither up to the pony settlement I told you about earlier and see if they have anything for me. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. It’s still nice to visit them, they don’t shy away from me like others have. I can show you what I have, though, just in case you find something you like. I mean, you’re going to need to stay until the sandstorm subsides, at least,” she continues. “Or, if you’re hungry, I could make you some food. I got...hay...and nuts...” She takes a look back at the shelf ”And a few other things. Sometimes I forget what I have since I don’t eat that stuff very often. It’s all nonperishable, so it should still be good. I miss having a fridge, though. It was tough readjusting to a more natural lifestyle. I had to make that oven out of clay, and burn tumbleweeds for heat.” However, you're not really paying attention to her talk. You realize this might be a bit foolish, but you really want to make sure that she knows you don’t mind. Plus, if you establish dominance, then she might follow your lead while you’re together. You look straight into her deep purple eyes, right into the widening slits. You take the portion of her tail spooling off of you and scoop it up with your forelegs. Her tail started off thin, but this portion had grown to be very wide, and very dense. You have to struggle to lift it up, groaning as you do so, but you eventually hoist it up and tos it around onto your back, making yet a third loop around you. At the sight of this, Sand Song’s cheeks turn a little red, and a single pulse of glowing orange light extends outwards from her pupils. You’re not sure what that was, but you suddenly feel a bit more comfortable and relaxed. At least, you think, you were already really cozy in this strange lamia mare’s presence to begin with. However, the sudden surge of lightheadedness makes your forelegs buckle under the impressive weight of the coils on you. You fall onto your elbows, but the sand floor absorbs your force and the landing is painless. ”Oh no! I’m sorry!” Sandy says, quickly cinching the coils around you for a solid grip and lifting you back up onto your hooves. You can feel the serpentine muscle flex all around you, now supporting both its weight and your effortlessly. ”I forget how heavy I am sometimes,” she says with a nervous laugh. “Don’t worry, it’s all muscle.” She smiles and winks at you, and for a brief instant, you can see past the barrier she had erected towards others. However, this disappears as quickly as it had come, and her usual nervous face returns. ”So, um, I guess I could coil you, if you really wanted it,” she says. “Have you ever felt what it’s like?” You shake your head no. ”I figured. Lamias are a rare sight in Equestria,” she continues. “Well, it’s like a really big hug, but better. You’ll see.” You try to step forward, but it’s pretty hard to walk with the incredibly bulky tube hanging dwn in front of the top of your foregs. Suddenly, she moves the coil down and cinches it, pinning your forelegs to you midsection. You’re still standing, but your entire frontal weight is supported by Sand Song’s white and grey splotchy snake tail while your entire lower half is still supported by your hind legs. It’s a weird sensation, like you’re leaning on a cart, but you can’t complain. ”We could do it here, but this place doesn’t give a lot of space. It would make cooking a meal easier if you get hungry, though. Or, we can go back to my living room and get cozy on all the pillows. Or...” she says slyly, “...I can show you the sand pit. You know an antlion trap? It’s kind of like that, except my snake tail is at the bottom. I often use it to trap dangerous prey, that I’ve lured back here, but I think we can use it recreationally!” As much as you’d love to start spooling the rest of Sand Song’s chunky snake tail around you, you refrain. After all you’re a visitor, you don’t want to come off TOO strong. However, you do make a mention of the flash that crossed her eyes. ”Oh, did I do that? Sorry, I didn’t mean too,” she says. “I mentioned being able to hypnotize others earlier, right? It’s a power us lamias have. We can’t cast magic like a unicorn can, but we do possess the ability to mesmerize others with our mind. It’s mostly used for hunting, but it does work on ponies. It’s actually really nice, or at least my old friends would tell me that when they asked me to hypnotize them.” She scratches the back of her head with her hoof. You add that she should do it again, and that you don’t mind. ”P-perhaps I can show you how it works later, maybe. It’s a little intense, and it requires a lot of trust. I just met you, and I’m not sure you’d be totally comfortable being COMPLETELY in my power,” she adds with a nervous chuckle. You pout a bit, but then turn the conversation back to the coiling, and mention that you’d like to see the sand pit. ”Sure! Let me lead you there,” Sand Song says, turning around and going back down the path to the living room. She doesn’t unwind from you, still keeping you in that awkward position where your forelegs and pinned but your hind legs aren’t. However, you find that she perfectly matches your movements, and you can trot comfortably with just your hind legs alone. Something about feeling almost totally supported by her powerful yet gentle coils gives you a great sense of inner peace and intimacy, despite only knowing her for like an hour. She leads you back to the room with all the pillows, before turning down another crack that offshoots from the main room. This one quickly opens up into a wide, empty space. The far end is fairly wide opening to the outside, but not wide enough that it doesn’t stop most of the sandstorm from getting in. In the center is a large, conic depression in the sand, like an antlion trap you’ve read about in Equestrian Geographic, except much wider in scale. ”Here my sand pit, I dug it out myself,” Sand Song says, finally winding her tail from around you. You feel somewhat naked without those cool, cozy coils gripping your upper body, but you don’t complain. ”I made the sand pretty loose inside to trap prey that I can’t hypnotize. You’d be surprised how weird the beasts out here get, but they’re still tasty,” she adds. She dives into the sand, effortlessly disappearing into it like she was diving into water. More and more of her serpentine body follows after her, and you can see the faintest impression of her as she swims through the sand. Just as the end of her snake tail passes by, it hooks onto your rump and pushes you forward into the trap. The sand is loose, and it’s tough to find footing as you find yourself slowly sliding down towards the center. Out of the corner of your vision, you see Sand Song’s pony half pop up out of the sand. ”Let’s play a game! See if you can escape the trap. If you can’t, well, my tail will be waiting for you at the bottom,” she says with a playful giggle. Craning your head around, you see the end of her serpentine tail emerge and writhe around the deepest point of the trap, obviously making more and more sand fall with its motions. As you continue sliding slowly towards the bottom, Sand Song yells “And remember, no flying!” As you slide further and further towards the wiggling bundle of scales, a part of you just wants to relax to slide down and let them claim you. However, the competitive pegasus spirit compels you to conquer the lamia’s trap. You think for a moment, and then suddenly remember reading about traps like these in a magazine article, which also mentioned how to escape them. The trick is to move sideways rather than try to claw your way out. You spread your limbs and begin to shimmy to the left. You find that, while the footing is still loose, you’re able to step more solidly than if you tried to climb straight up. By the time you’ve kicked sand downwards, you’ve moved on forward. You slowly gain momentum as increased speed makes the slippage less of an issue, compounding your success. Even your wings give you extra balance and speed as you use them to give you a little extra thrust, giving you a definite edge. It takes some time, but you’re able to inch up more and more in the sand pit. At times, you glance at Sand Song’s face, her expression shifts between being surprised, and a furrowed brow of unmistakable determination. You notice the coils double their thrashing not too long after you see the latter. Still, this is a trap for beasts, and you’re a clever pony. By the time you get close to the top, you’re exhausted, but can definitely make it. But...you look down at Sand Song’s tail as it curls around. It moves with such dexterity, such strength, such precision… You remember just how good it felt around you, melting every inch it touched with its gentle grip. You realize...you don’t want to win… You fake a trip, and stumble almost all the way down the trap. You stop not long above the bottom, but you paw at the sand above you to make yourself sink all the way. Like a praying mantis, Sandy’s coils snatch you instantly as you fall within their range, winding you with just how much force they’re capable of. They roll all around you, not bothering to arrange themselves in neat loops. You’re half submerged in sand, with the coils moving through it like it was water. They feel predatory, like their only purpose is gripping their prey and crushing them. Indeed, they’re gripping much firmly than before, but you’re still able to breathe without too much difficulty. It’s a sublime feeling, to fall into the clutches of a mighty serpent. You close your eyes to enjoy the feeling as a thick segment wraps around your skull, blindfolding you. Suddenly, you feel the sand explode all around you as you’re hoisted up, still almost smothered in Sand Song’s silky smooth scales. You feel the entire bundle move outward from the center of the trap, finally hovering in midair. It turns, leaving you upside down. Gravity rips away the coil around your skull, revealing Sand Song’s face close to yours. She's...smirking? ”...You let me win,” she says snidely. You insist that you didn’t, that you were simply exhausted and made a misstep, and then panicked at the bottom. ”Don’t lie, I’m a huntress. I know when my prey is caught and when it’s going to get away. You had only a couple feet left to go. You could have even just jumped and been able to pull yourself up to the top of the trap,” she says, eyes furrowing. ”So the question is, why?” Her smirk makes you suspect she knows exactly why. ”Did you want to make me feel good about winning? Or...did you want to submit to the sublime pleasure that only the embrace of my coils can bring?” She says, turning her head so that she’s only looking at your with one eye. You’re unable to stop your blush and awkward smile, despite your insistence to the contrary. ”Hmm, well, I’ll have you know that I don’t like liars,” Sand Song replies curtly. You feel the mass of serpentine muscle around you suddenly loosen, and you begin to fall. Once you’re halfway out, they cinch again, stopping your fall. ”After all, it requires a certain amount of trust for me to be okay with coiling you, despite their strength, they’re still quite delicate. A single bite or scratch of a claw could leave a wound that could put me out of commission for some time. Ponies are less dangerous, but the same principle remains,” she goes on. The coils loosen again, and you fall almost all the way out. You’re hanging upside down, gripped only by your bony lower hind legs, forelegs dangling freely. ”So tell me, why should I trust you if you’re so willing to lie to me, someone you’ve just met?” She says, turning back to you with a cruel-looking smirk on her face. As if you tempt you further, her tail tip finds its way to your hind legs, curling and uncurling around them. You ask her what happens if you ARE dangerous? After all, pegasi have warrior heritage. You could pounce on her at any moment! ”Seems like you already have,” she says, a bit unamused. “A wiser pony wouldn’t just try to wrangle coils capable of crushing them instantly. At least, not before getting to know their owner better.” Her tail loosens again, and now you’re being held up by a single loop around one of your hind hooves. ”Last chance,” she says Your defiant face crumbles, and you sigh deeply. You stretch out your forelegs to her and look deeply into her eyes. You tell her that you were just playing around and only want a hug. Sand Song sighs, before looking at you with a warm smile. ”Well, I suppose that’s a good enough reason. All you had to do was ask, though,” she says. Her tail hoists you up higher, and beneath you Sand Song spools the middle of her coils into a cylinder shape. She drops you into the center, and they cinch around you just as your head passes through the other end. The force winds you, but it eases up to gently grip you once you’re in place. You are now coiled neck to hind-hoof in Sand Song’s thickest portions of her serpentine body, so thick that there are only three loops around you, and the top one still presses up against your jaw to cradle your head. All around you, scales twitch back and forth, caressing your fur with their unique texture. Your limbs can move not even an inch as her gel-like snake muscle molds along your contours, making a living cast of your body. ”Are you happy now?” Sand Song says. You nod, or, at least, try to; the coil cradling your head provides immense resistance to any head motion. Sand Song giggles at the sight. ”Good, I’m happy too,” she continues. “I had forgotten what it’s like to have a pony completely in my coils, especially a pegasus such as yourself. Your feathers feel really nice on my scales.” Sand Song closes her eyes and sighs in bliss as you try to flutter your wings within their scaly confines. ”Still, we’re not done yet,” she says, still reveling in the sensation. “How tight do you want it? Don’t tell me ‘As tight as you can make it’ because I wasn’t lying about being able to crush you instantly. My coils are over a foot thick of solid muscle, and ponies are so delicate that I could skip the constriction and go straight for the bone breaking.” She’s not lying; even though her coils are gentle now, you can sense the sheer strength beneath her loose snakeskin. You take a moment to think about your preference. However, you do mention that the coils are a bit restrictive, and it would be nice to be able to move your forelegs and wings. ”Oh, right, let me just...” Sand Song says. You feel her coils heaving all around you, and she creates a gap right below the thick loop holding your neck and upper barrel. You’re able to wiggle your forelegs and wings free, extending them over the coil surrounding your lower chest and belly. The coils gently close, loosely smushing your outstretched limbs in between two bands of coil chub. You’re able to casually use both your forelegs and your wings to rub back and forth, much to Sand Song’s obvious enjoyment. ”Oooh, that feels so nice...there’s really nothing like the sensation of feeling my scales being rubbed...I’ve missed it...” she says, with her eyes closed in pure revelry. After a few more sighs of bliss, she opens her eyes and stares at you with half-lidded snake eyes. ”Hey, I’m not holding you too tightly, right? I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable,” she whispers. You tell her not at all, and that it feels very nice. Sand Song smiles and nods in affirmation. However, you also ask her if she’s enjoying this too. ”Oh yes, it’s divine,” she affirms. “...But...” But? ”Well...my friends used to love being squeezed tightly. They used to tell me that it straightens out their spine and makes their joints pop to relieve tension. Plus, I kind of liked it too...closing in around their bodies like a vice...listening to the cute sounds they’d make...seeing that adorable shade of blue flush their face...” She says, staying off wistfully into space before catching herself. “N-not to imply that I was hurting them! They used to ask me to do that stuff, and I’d always stop just before it actually got dangerous.” You say that you don’t mind, and may even like to see what it’s like yourself. ”Well, alright, but let’s start slow, okay?” Sand Song says. You feel her coils ripple all around you, suddenly coming to life as the powerful muscles begin to press inward on your body. ”Let’s start with some basic constriction. Every time you breathe out, I’ll close in a teensy bit more. Just focus on maximizing your breathing, and tell me if you suddenly get uncomfortable,” she continues. You take a deep breath, only to notice that something is stopping you just short of doing so. Your chest has to fight to expand to its maximum, and you hold the breath as much as possible before exhaling. You feel the coils shift again. Your next breath is just a tiny bit shallower, hardly noticeable if you weren’t paying attention. Exhale, and another ripple of muscle all around you. They don’t even really feel like they’re closing in, just that they seem to be slithering around you in a corkscrew, inch by inch. You don’t mind, that just means there’s more for your forelegs and wings to rub. The process happens slowly, and you and Sand Song make idle smalltalk. After ten minutes, though, you suddenly notice that it’s significantly harder to expand your lungs, and you feel like they’re only operating at half capacity. You still feel like you’re getting enough oxygen though; as a pegasus, your lungs have supplemental air sacs that increase their efficiency to power flight. You’re comfortable, but it feels like Sand Song was only just beginning. The pressure, however, definitely has an odd relaxing effect on you. Your muscles feel like they’re just melting under her constricting touch, and you imagine that she’d have no trouble finding a career as a masseuse back home in Equestria. You coo in your relaxative stupor, only to find that it comes out as a bit of a hiss from the pressure on your windpipe. ”How are you feeling? I can stop if you want, or is it okay if I go even tighter?” Sand Song asks. You tell her that you’re fine, and that you want even more. ”Alright, just be sure not to ‘snap under pressure’ on me,” Sand Song says with a wink. More and more you feel her grip on you intensify. Your breathing becomes shallower and shallower as Sand Song unrelentingly squeezes your equine form. Air fails to become the real issue, though, as you notice your hind legs begin to feel numb and prickly. Her coils are squeezing so tightly that they’re cutting off circulation. Even your forelegs and wings, despite not being directly bound, soon start to feel similarly. Your affectionate caressing slows and eventually halts due to the inability of your limbs to obey your commands. The think, meaty loop around your neck constricts less than the rest of her, but you still struggle to get air down, and you can feel the heavy thump of your pulse pounding in your jugulars. ...You ask her if she prefers green tea or coffee. ”Well, I don’t really prefer either, but if I had to choose, probably green tea,” Sand Song says, still speaking to you as though crushing you in her serpentine embrace was the most normal thing in the world. You croak out a few more responses while you can. You can feel your spine straighten under the intense pressure, popping as Sand Song works out the bends with her unimaginable strength. The soreness in your withers that you’ve had for the past few days is gone, though you’re not sure if it’s because she fixed the kink or if the lack of circulation was leaving your body numb to it. Still, her coils close in. Their advance has slowed, but each millimeter that take from your rib cage’s expansion feels like a tremendous battle. One that you know you can’t win... Eventually, you go a few more breaths without noticing the pressure increasing. You feel like you’re teetering on the edge of consciousness, but muster the willpower to ask Sand Song what’s up. ”That’s the tightest I’ve ever gone with my old friends,” Sand Song says. “You’re taking it like a champ though, I’m impressed.” She leans into your face, until all you can see are her big, beautiful slit mare eyes. Your noses are just millimeters from touching. ”...Do you want to go even further?” She whispers. It may be foolish, but the defiant look on your face shows your bravery...or stupidity. ”R-really? Wow,I don’t know,” Sand Song says. She seems to test the waters with a few more squeezes. However, at this level, they begin to cause you to wince from pain. Your bones feel like they’re bending, and your hips feel like they’re about to cut into your skin from the inside out. You try to maintain a stoic face, but Sand Song is able to sense your discomfort. ”I...I don’t think I can,” she says, backing off a bit. “I don’t want to hurt you...” Her voice trails off. ”...Actually, there might be a way,” she whispers. She moves her pony half close to yours yet again. You can feel her solft, velvety snout press up against your own, and her pretty eyes encompass your entire vision. Your didn’t think your heart rate could rise even more. Suddenly, her eyes start to glaze over, whitening. A deep, dark purple ring, similar to what you’d see from a blacklight, pluses outward from the center of each eye, followed by another, and another…The black rings shimmer with purple pinpricks, like they were made of infinitely many sparkling amethysts. You’ve never seen anything like it, and you are instantly captivated. ”Look deeply into my eyes...look deep and relax….relax…” she whispers. You feel a warm sensation creeping over your whole body, making your tensed up body completely loosen as it spreads. Your shallow breathing slows down, and your heartrate lowers quickly. You just feel...so incredibly relaxed… Is this the magic of the lamias that you’ve heard rumors about? You try to say something, but your relaxed jaw doesn’t obey your commands. ”Listen to my voice...you can feel my coils all around you...they hold you...grasp you...own you...feel them closing in...tighter...tighter...” Sand Song continues, the rings in her eyes picking up intensity, and you can almost hear her voice as more and more booming in your head. You can feel the coils close in again, except there’s no pain at all this time. ”Tighter...Squeeze..Consssstrict...You love it...” she whispers, yet it feels like she’s talking right into your ear. You do indeed love it, but you can barely focus on it due to your whole attention being captured by her enchanting eyes. You do, however, feel like each square inch of your body is supporting 1000 lbs. of pressure. You can’t even begin to imagine how you can even bear this incredible sense of being crushed without your bones splintering. But, you don’t care, you can’t get enough of it! ”Constricting….squishing….crushing...you’re helpless against their might, the coils are your world...submit to their embrace...submit to them...” she coos. Your whole body feels like a bug under a hoof. The pressure is so intense you feel like you’re going to pop...like you’re physically merging with her snake skin. Your eyes almost roll back into your head from the sheer ecstasy from being pulverized. You can feel her breaking you, even though you can’t hear the snapping of bones. You feel pencil thin, and you feel like there’s no way your body could come back from this. You don’t care, though. You can’t breathe. You can’t think. You can only lay back and be loved by Sand Song’s powerful serpentine body, for what feels like will be the last time. ”So tight...so relaxed...so...happy...” she whispers. You have become numb, blind, and deaf to everything but her. She closes her eyes, but the damage has been done. She moves her head up and kisses your forehead. ”Now...sleep...” she whispers. Instantly, your eyes close, and you fall into a deep dreamless sleep. … Your eyes flutter open, and you blink the blurriness out of your eyes. You find yourself loosely enlaced in Sand Song’s coils, with another one half looped around the back of your head to act as a pillow. You head pivots around, and you realize that you’re in her living room with all the bookshelves and the pillows. You try moving your limbs, to gauge the damage. You find that, though they feel like lead, they seem perfectly functional, at least, in the loose confines of your coil cocoon. You turn your head around in the other direction, and spy Sand Song resting on a pillow with an open book in front of her. She doesn’t seem to have noticed your waking up You are just so completely and utterly relaxed that you don’t want this moment to end. You close your eyes, trying to fall back asleep, but to little avail. Sand Song’s coils are twenty times more comfortable than your bed back home though, so you laze around for like another thirty minutes. Eventually, though, Sand Song notices that you’re awake. ”Sounds like somepony’s awake,” Sand Song says, placing a bookmark in her book and using her tail tip to put it back on one of the shelves. She slithers her pony half over to you. ”Right on time, in fact,” she says. “Sorry for springing my hypnosis on you like that. I didn’t think I could go any tighter without hurting you, so I just hypnotized you to feel like you were being squished. I hope you don’t mind.” You shake your head, you certainly didn’t. The details are fuzzy, but you remember feeling awash with utter bliss. With just a few words, Sand Song had made you feel like you were being crushed to death. But in a wonderful way, somehow. It’s kind of scary once you think about it, but you suspect that if Sand Song wanted to actually hurt you, you’d already be a bulge in her snake tail. ”Well, I’m glad,” Sand Song continues. “It’s been a while since I hypnotized a pony. My old friends used to really like it. I know it must feel wonderful, and let me tell you, my house kept pretty clean when I could simply order them to tidy up. When each action sends wave after wave of euphoria, they didn’t complain that I was getting free maid service out of the deal.” Sand Song places a hoof to her mouth, giggling as she reminisces. ”Don’t worry, I let you sleep the night away. I’m pretty good at estimating how long one of my inductions will last, so I timed it for sunrise. The sand storm is gone, and now would be the best time to make our way to that outpost I mentioned yesterday,” she says. ”But first, you’ll need to get some strength. I don’t have much, but I managed to fry some hay for breakfast for you. I don’t usually have guests, so I broke out my bottle of vegetable oil for this one!” She adds in a tone that makes you think she wants to impress you. In actuality, it sounds pretty bland, but you feign excitement. You go to get up, but you still feel like you weigh 1000lbs. ”Oh no, relax,” Sand Song says as her loose coils begin to organize themselves into loops around you. “Your brain is still rebooting from my spell. Let me take care of everything.” She begins to slither back into the kitchen, having the length to comfortably move despite having you wrapped up from neck to hind hoof. It’s actually pretty nice, the subtle shifting of her coils caresses your fur, and you get a clear view of the purple morning sky from the top of the crevasse. In the kitchen, you turn your head to see a little fire burning in the clay stove, and Sand Song using her tail to grab a simply iron fork to pull out some fried hay and put it on a plain ceramic plate. Still keeping you loosely bound, her coils raise up so that you’re vertical again, and she carries the plate with her hooves over to you while her tail tip holds the fork. She uses the fork to grab some of the soggy-looking hay and hovers it right in front of your mouth. ”Open wiiiide,” she says. You blow on it a few times to cool the hay, band let her place it into your mouth. It’s not disgusting, but you’ll admit that you’ve had better. A LOT better. You still fake a smile and tell her it’s good. ”That’s a relief. I cook only rarely, so sometimes it’s hard for me to remember exactly what to do. Still, having this in your belly will make the trip that much easier. It’s one thing to carry you in my coils around my home, it’s another to carry you in my coils across miles and miles of sand dunes,” she says. “Don’t worry about me, I’m still digesting a Wildeboar I caught last week. I don’t know if you noticed a slight bulge in my tail earlier. He’s almost all done though, so you probably didn’t. Once I get you dropped off, I’ll probably go on the hunt again, just to see if I can find something substantial while I’m out and about.” She gingerly presses another clump of overcooked hay to your lips, which you take with little protest. ”I was thinking we could head out before the desert has a chance to warm up. If we leave right after we get you fed and watered, we should make it to the outpost around noon. It’ll be hot, but I have a canteen that we can fill with springwater. That’ll more than last us on the journey. What do you think?” She asks. Hearing her talk about traveling to the outpost so you can get home makes your heart sink. It seems like you only just met her. Besides, your vacation was still scheduled to last a few more days. You're pretty needed at your job, but they won't be angry if you come back a day or two later than planned. You can always tell your boss you got mugged. After all, you wouldn't be lying! You tell Sand Song that you can stay for a couple more days, and even help her hunt! "Oh gosh, I'm so flattered that you want to stay," she says, giving you a nice full body squeeze of affection. "Sure, I mean, it's not like I have the pleasure of company often. I'm not so sure about helping me hunt, though. The beasts of this land are dangerous, and, well, even my old friends have remarked that it's pretty freaky when I swallow something whole." You're still adamant. You'll cross that bridge when you come to it. "Well, if you insist, I guess I could take you out and show you how I hunt. Just be aware that life can be pretty rare in this desert, and sometimes it takes days of searching before I even find something, let alone catch it," Sand Song says. You finish your hay and Sand Song briefly rinses the pot, plate, and fork in her tiny spring, also taking the moment to fill up a canteen that she had off to the side. She uncoils you, much to your dislike, and you follow her out of the crevasse that she's made into a home. The sun has just barely risen above the horizon, and the air is still cool. You see Sand Song shivering in the brisk air. "It's fine, the air heats up really quickly," she says, slithering off towards a sand dune. You follow in tow, taking to the air. It strains your body less than trying to trot over loose sand, but you still hang close to the ground to not give out your position. The pair of you roam for hours, at first enjoying the warming air, but soon getting real tired of it as it continued to heat up to uncomfortable levels. Sand Song lets you drink from the canteen liberally. "Don't worry, my body is adapted to retain water. These scales keep it all inside," my says, smaking her coils. Still, you wander, and wander, and wander. By the early afternoon, you notice that the canteen is down to about a quarter of its capacity. "Hmm, we should probably turn back. That amount of water should last us until we get back to my home, if we head straight there. Just let me peek over this sand dune," she says. Sand Song gingerly pokes her head over the crest of the dune, wholly not expecting to see anything. However, her eyes widen and her head dips back down. "Shh, don't make any sudden movements, but there's a Mngwa on the other side of this dune," she whispers. A what? "A Mngwa, it's a type of desert cat, kind of like a lion crossed with a hyena crossed with a zebra," she says whiles she gestures at you to peek over the crest of the dune. Sure enough, you see some sort of big cat looking then with stripes and a hair crest in between its arched shoulderblades. You ask her what should you do "Well, when I see dangerous prey like that, I bury myself in the sand and strike IF it passes over me. It's a big IF, but there's no way I can simply overpower something like that in a fight. In an ambush strike, yeah, the poor thing is loses before it even knows it, but that's my only real option," Sand Song says. You ask what you should do. "You should probably move a few dunes over, and be ready to take to the air if it sees you, your big mission is staying safe," Sand Song says as she splays herself out. With a few wiggles of her coils, she sinks into the sand, burying her pony half as well. How she can still see eludes you, but you suppose that now's not the time to ask. However, you do take a moment to think about what you should do in this sort of situation. ... Of course, listening to Sand Song would have been the SMART thing to do. However, you were never a clever pony. Rather than carefully backing off, you take to the sky. "Wait!" Sand Song shouts, raising her pony half above the sand for a moment. However, quickly reburies herself. You soar through the air, and the attentive Mngwa spots you. You see it getting into a striking stance, but it relaxes when it sees that you're flying high. You hover closer to the ground, but not within range of the Mngwa's claws. It paces towards you, eyes looked on the delicious pegasus teasing it. Through some baiting manuevers, you're able to lure it over the crest of the dune and right over Sand Song is buried. Just as the Mngwa looks up as you pass above it, the ground underneath its paws explodes. You can't see from the huge amount of sand that's been thrown into the air. You stay airborne, looking concerned as the sand slowly disappates. Soon, though, you're able to see the Mngwa completely wrapped in Sand Song's coils, with only its long, feline tail free to writhe around. A few of its paws are visible, but all it can do is retract and extend its claws in a futile effort to fight against Sand Song's immobilizing might. "Hmm, that was a really dangerous stunt you pulled. These things can leap like freaks. It was ready to pluck you out of the air if I hadn't sturck when I did," she says. You tell her that you were concerned for her safety too. "MY safety? Oh, sweetie...I won the instant it stepped on my buried tail," she replies with a giggle. "However...now comes the 'less than savory' part. Since you're an herbivore, you might want to avert your gaze while I finish and devour it. I don't want you getting sick on me." You decide to avert your eyes, both out of respect and not wanting to be sickened. The Mngwa roars get weaker and weaker, finally falling silent. You can hear the intense stretching noises as Sand Song's massive coils squeeze with abandon. However, soon it gets quiet. Then, you hear gulping. You have half a mind to cover your ears, but you can't help but listen intently. You bite your lip, an any other context, this would sound extremely lewd. Even in this context it still does. You've never really been into the whole 'vore' thing, but the thought of being swallowed briefly croses your mind. Still, it's over in an instant. Now's not the time for such things. You can't help but sneak a quick glance, only to spy half of the Mngwa hanging outside of Sand Song's mouth, while her pony half bulges grotesquely. You avert your eyes again, trying not to be sick. You still like Sand Song, but you can't help but think of her more as a fierce predator now that you've seen what she's capable of. The gulping continues for what feels like an hour, with you sipping away at the canteen as the hot sun beats down upon your withers. Finally, the noises stop. "There, you can look now," Sand Song says. You turn back to her to see her pony half looking back to normal, while a large Mngwa-sized bulge inches down her serpentine body. She pats it with her hoof, obviously proud of her skills. You don't know whether you should be sick or impressed. "Alright, this bad boy will keep me satisfied for two weeks, maybe even three," Sand Song says. You just nod nervously. "...Sorry, maybe it was a bad idea to take you out hunting," she says. "Let's just get home, alright?" The two of you make a beeline back to her crevasse, making idle small talk that has a hint of awkwardness as you both try to pretend she didn't just devour a huge beast. You return just as the canteen runs dry, and you trot to the kitchen for a long drink of water. When you return to the living room, you see Sand Song lounging on pillows like she's ready to fall asleep. "Sorry, I get pretty lethargic after a big meal. Once digestion kicks in and I start extracting energy from it, I can keep going, but that takes a while usually," Sand Song says, laying back on a mound of plush velvet You give Sand Song's pony half a warm hug, with she lazily returns. "Mmm...I give hugs so often with my coils that sometimes I forget how nice it is to recieve then," she says with a giggle. You ask her if she'd like a rubdown of her tail. "Really? You'd do that...oh gosh, I'd love it," she says, cradling her cheeks with her hooves before flopping back down on her pillow pile. You go to work, dilligently stroking Sand Song's thick serpentine form. She coos and giggles softly as you tenderly massage the gel-like seprentine muscle. You can feel it melt like butter under your hooves; you suspect that Sand Song really strained herself capturing and constricting that Mngwa ealier. To move such titanic mass so quickly must have required an increidble amount of exertion, you imagine. Being so close to her coils allows you to inspect them and appreciate them in more detail; the subtle musclular structure, the perfect, unerring overlap of her scales, the gentle rise and fall of the whole muscular tube as she breathes, the smooth polish of countless hours of digging through sand...it's all so magnificent. "Oooh, you're good...I hope you don't mind if I fall asleep...I haven't been so relaxed in ages...feel free to help yourself to anything while I'm out...books...food...whatever..." Sand Song says, slipping a pillow over her eyes to block out the light seeping into the crevasse from above. The sounds of delight she's making from your touch makes you bite your lip, face flushing. You continue your delicate treatment of her snake tail, taking great care to skip the bulge of her meal, carefully rubbing the loose snakeskin in small circles to relieve all tension in those unimaginably strong coils. Eventually, you notice that Sand Song is quietly snoozing. You're at first delighted to see her happily napping away, but then you realize that she can'tcoil you while asleep. You go down to the end of her serpentine body, where she's thinner, and scoop up her tail tip and wrap it around your neck. You try to turn around in circles, trying to spool Sand Song's tail around you. Your efforts are met with middling success; you wind up mostly coiled, but the wrapping is uneven, and they are completely limp against your body. You could crawl out of them with little difficulty if you thought of something else to do, but they do feel a little cozy and cool on your body, still feeling hot after the long trek you endured You groan, what your doing clearly isn't working. As comfortable as Sand Song's coils are, they're not something you can just pull over you like a blanket. You crawl out of your makeshift cocoon, her tail slipping off you and plopping onto the sandy ground. Instead, you decide that Sand Song's mound of pillows would be a much better place for a nap. You gingerly approach, not wanting to disturb her. You take a moment, just to look at her while she sleeps. Aside from her titanic serpentine body, you wouldn't think that she could hurt a fly. It feels a little creepy, but you can't help yourself from slowly slipping in to spoon with her. You don't touch her beyond forelegs, but still, just being here and laying with her feels absolutely amazing. You're pretty exhausted from the trek too and the sun has progressed far enough across the sky that the interior of Sand Song's home is covered in shadow. The temperature is perfect, and this pillows, despite being a little sandy, are simply exquisite. Content, your eyes flutter shut, and you drift off to join Sand Song in dreamland. ... Hours later, Sand Song's eyes flutter open. As she goes to stretch, she suddenly notices that the two of you are spooning. Rather than freaking out, she just blushes and smiles at the gentle intimacy. Lamias are touchy-feely by nature, and she wasn't put off that you were sleeping in contact with her pony half rather then her coils. She cranes head head, giving you a little kiss on your snout. She licks her lips and then kisses you a second time. "You taste good..." she mutters with a hushed giggle. "You should be glad that I don't eat anything that can talk back to me." She slowly slips her tail under you, wrapping around you both and pressing you two gently together before falling back asleep herself. ... The two of you continue to enjoy each other's company over the next few days. You read together, go on walks (err...slithers) together to see the beautiful desert sunsets, snuggle in her coils, and even experimented with being hypnotized a bit. However, you only have so many vacation days, and subsisiting only on roasted hay and nuts is REALLY starting to wear thin on you. The dawn of the third day arrives, and, after downing some more hay, you fill your canteen and the two of you set off to the outpost. Despite being so chatty, Sand Song seems unusually silent as the two of you trek along. The trip itself is uneventful; a breeze provided some releif from the heat, and you were able to save energy by flying rather than trotting on loose sand. Around noon, you finally see a small settlement in the distance. It's tiny, but you can see train tracks leading north towards the Equestrian heartlands. Thank Celestia, you think. Sand Song turns towards you "That's it, the town of Neighson," she says. "There are like only a few dozen ponies there, but I'm sure they'll be able to help you get home." She looks down and her tail draws circles in the sand idly. "I...I would go down there with you, but I just went there last week for new books, and I don't want to freak them out anymore by showing up again so soon," she says, sorrowfully. "So, I guess this is goodbye..." You turn to Sand Song and give her one last hug, which she returns with both her hooves and her snake tail. The embrace lasts for a while, but eventually she lets you go. You thank her for her time, and tell her that you had much more fun that if you had stayed in that rancid tourist trap that is Klugetown. "I'm glad. I had a lot of fun too. It definitely gets lonely out here, but, it's probably for the best that I keep to myself. I'm happy for the most part, and I'd rather be lonely than get odd looks all the time," she says. Sand Song sighs deeply "Promise that you'll visit again? Just head due south from Neighson and you'll see my home," she continues. You tell her that you promise. "Thanks, I'll be waiting," San Song says. You hug once more, giving her back the canteen you borrowed, before spreading your wings and flying to the outpost. You turn your head as you fly, waving Sand Song goodbye. She waves back as she watches you from the sand dune. The flight only takes you about five minutes, the relief of seeing real civilization spurring you on. As you approach, you see a trotting stallion take notice and gallop into a small building emblazoned with the royal crest, and by the time you touch down on the main street, a pair of guard ponies come out to meet you. "Good afternoon, citizen," says the mare guard. She looks more hardened than the petite young stallion by her side. "Welcome to Neighson. There's no civilization for miles in the direction you came from. Is everything alright?" You regale your tale about how you were mugged and left stranded in the middle of the desert by a bunch of shysters, and about how you spent time with a lamia mare in the desert who rescued you and allowed you to stay with her in the days it took you to fully recover. Actually, you only really needed a single night for full rest, but your story is convincing enough. "Wait, lamia? You stayed with Sand Song?" She asks. You nod, and even tell them she escorted you here so you didn't get lost in the desert. "She was here? Why didn't she escort you here all the way? We love it when she visits," the guard mare adds. You're a bit confused, and tell them that Sand Song told you that she's only just tolerated by the residents The guard mare sighs heavily. "I don't know if you gleamed this already, but Sand Song is really insecure. I don't know why, but she just makes leaps of assumptions and sees things that aren't really even there. She thinks that everypony hates her, no matter what we try. It's sad, because she's a wonderful individual, and we all hate seeing her feel that way," the guard mare says with a heavy voice. "I hope that one day she realizes that." You're a bit stunned at this revelation, and turn back towards the sand dune, only to find Sand Song long gone. "But, enough of her. I probably already said too much. Respecting the privacy of others is part of the Royal Guard ethos," the guard mare says, taking on a more stern and authoratative tone. "As the senior officer on this outpost, I'm authorizing the purchase of tickets that will get you back home to Baltimare. Seeing as how your situation is an emergency, it will all be paid for with government funds. Equestria takes care of its citizens. Private Spear, fill out the necessary paperwork and book this pony's itinerary. Hurry up, the last train of the week arrives in a couple of hours." "Y-yes, Sergeant Lookout, ma'am!" the younger guard stallion stammers, before he ushers you inside the small building. You provide your statement, sign a few papers, and after an hour of filling out forms, you're handed a bundle of tickets and an itinerary telling you where exactly you need to transfer to get back home. The train arrives on time, and you climb aboard while the townsponies exchange cargo. You're the only one inside the meager passenger car, and according to your itinerary, the next stop isn't for another 3 hours. Though it'll be a lonely trip, you realize it's nothing compared to what sand Song lives with every day. You realize that you're going to have a lot of time to reflect on the past few days, on Sand Song, and what Sergeant Lookout said. You look longingly at the receding sand dunes as the train pulls away, already feeling a pull in your heart. You'll definitely be taking your next vacation sooner than usual, you reckon.