Fluttershy's hooves thundered against the muddy road, splashing water as she galloped. It was a dreary, overcast day, a small break in the rainstorms that Ponyville had been having. It was a time when few others would want to go out, which was precisely why Fluttershy had taken this opportunity to venture out for her secretive task. She didn't want others to see her visiting the weird stand that had erected itself in a shady alley near the main square, manned by an equally weird griffon with a crooked beak and an unidentifiable accent, going so far as to don a simple cloak with a hood to further hide herself. Her heart raced as she galloped through the wooden gate that marked the boundary of her property, wasting no time in opening the unlocked door and slamming it shut behind her. She breathed slowly, deeply, catching her breath as she threw off her mud-flecked coat and wiped her hooves on her doormat. She trotted into the living room with her saddlebags, gently setting them down on her coffee table before sitting on the nearby couch.
"Angel, are you here? Momma's home," Fluttershy called out, her eyes darting around the room. No sign of Angel, or any critter really. This was the kind of weather where animals would shack up in their nests and burrows, getting cozy while they patiently waited for the sun to finally pierce the grey skies. That was just fine with Fluttershy; the fewer eyes saw her new...experiment...the better. She lifted the flap of her saddlebag with her wings, using her feathers to grasp a vial filled with a yellow substance, stopped with a cork and bearing nothing but a label with talon-scrawled text. Warnings and instructions, Fluttershy supposed, if she had forgotten what the merchant had said. For now, though, she just set the vial on the table, marveling at its subtle golden glow, her mind racing with anticipation as she tried to work up the courage to take a swig.
"Oooh, that looks quite fun, Fluttershy. What is it?" Discord said as his head poked over the rear of the couch.
The sudden sound of Discord's voice made Fluttershy jump up in the air before slamming back down onto the cushions. "Eeep! D-Discord!? What are you doing here? Why didn't you say anything when I called out?" Fluttershy replied, quickly using her body to hide the vial from Discord's gaze.
"That's strange. My unannounced visits usually bring a smile to your face," Discord cut back snidely. "Besides, you called out for Angel. When I showed up half an hour ago, he tried to boot me out like he always does. It's always so amusing to think he expects me to let myself get bullied by a bunny. After it was clear that I wasn't leaving, he took off to...well...wherever he usually goes whenever I come around. Now, if you asked if *Discord* was here, I would have gladly said something...maybe."
Fluttershy rolled her eyes. "Discord, now's not the time."
"Oh, is something wrong? Perhaps I can help out," he continued, not skipping a beat.
"Nothing's wrong, it's just...just..." Fluttershy stammered, trying desperately to think of a polite way to ask him to leave.
"Planning something with this?" Discord said, twisting his hand and making the vial appear in it as if pulling it out of thin air. Fluttershy's neck snapped back behind her, letting her see coffee table's now-poitonless surface, before turning back to Discord with her face red with embarassment as she watched Discord closely read the label. "Snake Oil...yadda yadda...dose size, one swig...effects last one full day per dose...huh."
Discord tossed the vial behind his shoulder, and it fell behind the couch. Fluttershy braced herself to hear the sound of smashing glass, but she instead head a gentle thump behind her. She glanced behind her again, seeing the bottle perfectly safe and undamaged on the coffee table, right where she had first placed it.
"Fluttershy, if you wanted to do some species swapping, all you needed to do was ask me," Discord said. "It would have definitely saved you some bits."
"You...don't think it's weird?" Fluttershy asked with some trepidation.
"Fluttershy, as the undisputed expert of weird, I can safely say this is pretty low on that scale," Discord said, levitating and drifting lazily through the air. "Though, I am curious about what spurred this new interest. It seems quite unlike you."
Fluttershy took a deep breath. "Promise you won't tell anypony else?"
Discord smirked. "Oh Fluttershy, you know me. I'm many things, but I'm not a liar. The truth is often *far* more fun. I promise that I'll keep your secret."
"Well, a while back, Rarity got swindled into buying some snake oil thinking that it was something to make her fur shinier, but she ended up turning into a half-pony, half-snake monster. At first, we were really scared for her, but then she realized she really liked it, and it just seemed so fun. She gave the best hugs, and there was just something about those coils that felt so nice to have draped over my withers. It was kind of saddening to see the magic wear off. Now the merchant is back in town...and...well...I didn't want to bother Rarity again, so...," Fluttershy explained, her blush slowly fading as she grew comfortable around Discord. He seemed to always know the right thing to say, and Fluttershy was thankful that she had grown close to him.
"Ah, I see, if you couldn't lamiafy your friend, you wanted the next best thing," Discord said, performing a backstroke as if he was swimming through the air.
Fluttershy just meekly hummed and nodded.
"Well, here, let me help you. I can mold your body far better than any potion can," Discord added, deftly reaching his lion arm in between her forelegs and scooping her up by her stomach.
"W-wait!" Fluttershy eeked out, unable to really protest much with a soft, strong paw on her belly. Discord knew just how to push her buttons, and she couldn't help but love it, even if it meant going along with his shenanigans sometimes.
She felt his talon hand make a snug ring around her midsection with its thumb and index finger, before sliding it down along her body. Fluttershy gasped and her eyes rolled up in her head as she felt her lower half flood with an indescribably weird sensation. It wasn't painful, but she felt like her legs were being torn apart before being instantly stitched together again, before being stretched like dough. She closed her eyes, just taking it all in as she felt herself changing, remolded effortlessly by Discord's otherworldly power. She could feel it reaching through her spine, tickling her brain like feathers inside her skull. Yet, through all this, she remained still; Fluttershy trusted Discord...at least, trusted that he wouldn't hurt her. His judgment, however, was another thing entirely, but deep down Fluttershy did enjoy the excitement his misadventures brought.
When she finally felt the overwhelming magic leave her body, Fluttershy felt Discord drop her onto a soft pile of...something. She initially thought that Discord had conjured up a mound of pillows to drop her on, but as she regained her senses, she began to realize that she could feel the deformation all around her. Moreover, these pillows felt like they were covered by some kind of smooth, plasticy exterior rather upholstery, and filled with something firm and gel-like rather than soft and fluffy. Her eyelids fluttered open only to see that these 'pillows' where a tube of yellow scales, with a repeating pink butterfly pattern along their length. Her heart raced as she craned her head back to see that the tube wound all around the floor, almost covering it, eventually terminating at her waist. She gasped...bringing a hoof up to her mouth, utterly spellbound by her new serpentine body.
"See, easy as pie," Discord said also admiring his handiwork. "And to think, you were probably going to force some foul-tasting potion down your throat to achieve this."
"D-Discord! What did you do?" Fluttershy stammered.
"Hmph, and here I was expecting a 'thank you'. Was it not your intent to transform into a lamia? I just did it without any of the nastiness of whatever swill you bought off of some crackpot potion seller. Plus, my magic has the added benefit of rewiring your brain so that you instantly know how to control your new body," Discord continued.
Fluttershy sighed. Discord was right, she didn't know what she was expecting. Perhaps she just got so caught up in the idea that she didn't realize what implications drinking a transformation potion would have. She shuddered, sending a twitch pulsing all the way down her long snake tail. She was utterly huge, much longer than Rarity had been, almost completely filling the living room with her new bulk. Yet, despite her mass, she felt like she had total control of it. Fluttershy found the tip of her tail amid the sea of scales, lifting it in front of her face and making it curl and twist. It responded to her commands exactly, as if she had spent her whole life with it. It all just came so...naturally. It was hard for her to comprehend the strange feeling of being instantly adapted to a new form, but Discord was hard to comprehend in general. She just ended her little tail test by letting it run through her mane like a comb, loving the sensation. Fluttershy then raised a portion of her thick midsection in an arch, dipping her head underneath and letting it fall onto her withers, curling it upward a bit to cradle her own head like a neck pillow.
"Mmm...how long will it last?" Fluttershy said as she nuzzled her own scales.
"Forever," Discord said curtly.
Fluttershy's mood instantly sank. "W-what do you mean forever!?"
Discord chuckled. "Calm down, calm down, let me rephrase. What I did wasn't just cast an enchantment. I changed your body on a fundamental level. You are now a lamia, with all the quirks, needs, and abilities that entails. So, you don't have to worry about it wearing off at an inopportune moment. When you've had your fill of fun, just tell me and I can change you back to your full pony body."
"Hmm...well, alright, that's fine, I guess," Fluttershy said, pinching the portion of serpent around her shoulders to give herself a hug of reassurance. "I was hoping to be in this form for a couple of days though."
"Oh, that's no trouble either. I'll leave you to it then. I'll check in occasionally to see how you're doing. Ta-ta!" Discord said with a wave.
"Discord! Wait!" Fluttershy yelled, lunging towards him. But, he simply disappeared in puff of smoke, leaving Fluttershy to crash against the wall. She peeled her face away, blowing her frazzled mane out of her face. She realized that knowing how to move in her new form didn't mean that she'd know how being so bulky actually handled, and she figured that she'd just need to be careful until she got a good feel for her new slithery body.
Just then, her eyes snapped to the backdoor entrance. She could feel a tiny thumping, minute and almost imperceptible, pulsing across the floor. She knew what it was; snakes often her very sensitive belly scales that could detect the rhythm of creatures stepping close by. Discord had mentioned she had new abilities, but it was strange to feel an entirely new sense of perception thrust upon her perception of the world. Sure enough, Angel's head poked through the small flap at the bottom of the door, his little rodent jaw dropping at the sight of Fluttershy's new lamia form.
"Oh, hey Angel," Fluttershy said sweetly. "Don't worry, Discord's gone for now. You can come in." He shook his head silently before dipping back out, and Fluttershy's tremor sense let her know that he was hopping away.
"...I'm sure he'll get used to it soon," Fluttershy thought to herself.