//------------------------------// // Deleted scene: Stan, Carl, and the lamaga // Story: Celestiphilia // by Dr Atlas //------------------------------// “STAAAAAAAAAAAN!...STAN? Ugh...Come on Stan, I wanna go home, just come out already….please…” Carl hung his head and continued walking through the forest, he had been at this for an hour, and he still couldn’t find eye or tail of Stan. “First he almost gets us killed by that monster, and now he’s off to find another one in this forest.” Carl looked up, seeing more trees, bushes, vines, leaves, and plants he had never seen before. “At least my eyes still work for the darkness, years in a cave do that to ya.” He continued walking until he entered a clearing. “Maybe he’s not here anymore, maybe he’s just out and about in town, finding more ways to get himself killed, wouldn’t be surprised if I found him on the side of the road dea…” Carl stopped walking and started realizing what he said, did he really think Stan would die from all of this? Carl shook that thought away. “No...n-no, Drunk or not, Stan can still...be okay…” He gulped. “I hope anyway.” His eyes started wondering from tree to tree, seeing nothing but...tree. “STAN! If this is some game of hide and seek, then you win, okay. So can you come out already!” Carl held his hoof to his ear, hearing nothing but the sounds of the forest. “Hu, so this is what a forest sounds like. Thought it’d be kinda...scary...” In truth, Carl wasn’t that afraid of this place, he never heard spooky stories about the forest, just things in the forest. “Maybe some elevation would help.” He started fluttering his wings, but the second he did, his ear flicked, making his wings stop mid way in the air. “Uh...Stan?” He turned to where his ear had pointed and saw nothing but more forest. “W-was that you.” At that point, Carl’s mind started guessing just what made that sound. “I-If that’s not him...t-then.” Carl shifted his eyes to look for something to defend himself. Unfortunately, all their was was sticks, so he grabbed the biggest he could find, which was the size of a twig. “H-Hey! Stan, i-if that’s you...t-then come out...a-and if it’s…” He started shaking. “n-not you t-t-t-then...y-you know...g-go...” *SNAP* “AWAY!” Carl yelped and started looking around, wondering where that snap came from. “L-Look, S-Stan, i-if this is fun for you, t-then just...STOP! Okay!” He started hyperventilating. Images of creatures and monsters from his brother’s stories started flowing through his head. “S-stay calm, Carl. S-S-Stay c-calm.” He repeated to himself. “j-just think of...g-good stories, y-yeah, ones that Chrysie told...uh...T-The story of Michal was-” He heard rustling, “Uh...t-t-the part about Ed and how he saved-” More noises were heard, making Carl grip the twig tighter. “T-T-That story Steve told about the d-d-darklings was k-kinda cool.” He knew that was a downright lie, but his mind couldn’t help it with these noises, each one scarier than the last. Carl could feel his heart pound against his chest. He could do nothing but back away from where ever the noise came from. “T-T-That story of t-the striped enchantress was...b-bad…” He cringed and stepped further away from the clearing, entering the darkness of the woods. At that moment, something long and thin started gliding across the ground behind Carl; his mind oblivious to it. “T-there was the story of t-t-the belly button eater...wait...do I even have one?” He sat down and inspected his stomach, just as a pair of yellow eyes flashed behind him. “No, don’t see one, maybe Paul would know, he has holes in his stomach.” Carl’s eyes faced forward and his mind swam with questions about his own body while a long tail came out of the darkness below him. “Maybe we just have holes in our arms and legs.” Carl inspected his arm while the tail surrounded him. “Nah, we gotta have more somewhere.” Carl stood up and made his way out of the darkness, making the tail try and coil round him, though all it got was air. “If I just had more light, than I could see...wait, wasn’t I supposed to be doing something?” “Standing still.” “No, no, I was looking for something, or someling, or maybe some mon. Mon...ma...maahoonster…” Carls mind became aware of his surroundings once he heard that voice, it sounded nothing like Stan, or anyone he ever heard of before. “Uh...S-stan, t-that you?” He asked stupidly. At that point, Carl felt something grab his shoulder and spin him around until he faced the darkness again, but his eyes could barely make out a pair of glowing yellow eyes there were very close to him. “Uh...h-h-hello?” Carl tightened his grip on the stick, hoping it would prepare him for whatever would happen next. Though, that hope quickly went away once he saw a snake-like tail grab it and yank it out of his hooves. “Bad boy; You’ll poke your eye out with this thing.” Carl saw it fly out into the darkness, along with his hopes of living. “Uh...u-u-uh...uh…” Carl couldn’t say anything, he had no idea what this thing is, all he knew was that it’s eyes were staring into his soul, and it’s tail was strong enough to take away something out of his hooves. “You sound scared, hmmm, I wonder why~” That voice, even though it sounded soft with a feminine voice, was still scaring the wings off of Carl. “W-who..w-w-what...w-w-where’s…” Carl continued shaking in fear while a tail came up behind him. “Hmm, can’t even make out a sentence.” The voice said again, “Maybe you need some help.” “W-what kind a he-GAHK!” Carl felp a tight grip around his throat before he felt it around his shoulders, then his chest, then stomach, then finally the rest of his body, he tried to struggle, but with no air, it made it difficult. He closed his eyes and tried getting his arms out of whatever was restraining him, but whatever was around him made sure that wasn’t happening. “Gaahh, g-grrrah ah...leck...l-lemmy go gack!” He could already feel the air leave his body from the constant strain of the tail. “Now why would I want to do that?” The voice said, starting to loosen it’s grip on him. Carl took a breath and continued to struggle. “W-what’d ya wrap around me? Steel rope?” The voice giggled. “That’s a tail, deary.” “T-tail?...w-what kinda-” His question was answered once the tip of the tail made contact with his nose. “This kind, silly.” The voice giggled again and shook the tail in front of his face. Carl grinded his teeth, still not knowing who and what this thing is. “Y-y-ya y-y-you’r...s-some kinda snake?” “Yes and no.” Carl leaned back right as the creatures face came out of the shadows, now he could see, not just the eyes, but the face as well. It’s had a body two times his size, with it resembling the everyday pony, mane, snout, the only difference was the size of her mouth, and it had a face that was starting to both creep him out and adore it. “Now, you could say I am, but I’m pretty sure I’m not just a snake, I’m-” “A lamaga…” Carl whispered. The creature raised an eye. “Heheh...what?” “M-My brothers told about...things; you’re like, half-ling, half-snake...right?” Carl could still hear the hissing his brother made when they told these stories The creature chuckled and came closer to Carl, her face just inches away from his, giving him a full view as to what she really was. “I may not know what a ‘ling’ is, but I’ve been told by my other vic- or...friends that I’m part pony.” Carl looked away from her face and started seeing the upper part of her body, it looked just like a pony, only it had no legs. “Uh...w-where’s your legs? M-my brothers said you at least have four limbs.” “Legs?” The creature pulled back and laughed. “Oh. You mean my hind legs, lemme ask you something, creature. Why would I need legs when this tail is the only transportation I need.” Carl looked down, seeing that he was still coiled by this creature. “W-well, it’s...ah...a nice tail, d-don’t you think you can let me GAH!” The creature adjusted her grip on Carl and brought her arms up to the sides of his face. “I just can’t let you go now, we have much more to talk about. My name’s Beatrice, by the way. I must say, it’s quite strange to find something like you in a place like this, not many visitors come around these days.” The creature shrugged and continued smiling at him. “So, what’s your name?” Carl still didn’t like any of this, even with the calming face, the calming voice and the very...calming...eyes… “Bwah...uh...OH! M-my name...my names Carl.” He felt dazed, he didn’t know if it was because of how tight she was holding him or something else. Beatrice giggled. “Carl? Hmmm~ Haven’t heard a name like that before, usually the foo- or...the friend has two of them.” Carl nodded, oblivious to the word error. “Y-yeah, most ponies have strange names.” Beatrice came closer to Carl, their face’s inches away from each other. “What are you anyway? You don’t look like a pony...or a rabbit, or a mongoose, or any creature I’ve ever seen.” Carl nervously chuckled. “I’m  a...uh...a...aahh...uh…” Carl started drifting off, he didn’t know why, but the creature before him did, so she blinked once and cleared her throat. “AHEM, what are you?’ Carl rapidly shook his head. “A changeling! A creature who can shape shift into certain animals and feeds off their love!” Carl panted heavily, not knowing why he just said all of that. Beatrice grinned. “Looks like I still got it.” Carl looked up at here. “Got what?” The snake pony looked away. “Oh, nothing you need to worry about.” That only made Carl worry more. “W-well, t-this has been a nice talk...s-so can you-” “Why do you wanna leave right now, can’t you stay just a little while longer?” She blinked again. “L-Listen, I really need to...to...to get...find...be....some...where...yeah…” Carl started drifting off again, every word he said took more effort than the last. He yawned. “W-why so tired…” Beatrice’s eyes went wider, spinning with colors Carl had never seen before, each one of them looked beautiful, he couldn’t stop staring, each swirl opened up a strange feeling of calm and happiness, as if everything in his mind at peace. “You don’t need to be anywhere but here?” Beatrice whispered. Carl started smiling, the colors of her eyes started to transfer to his. “Y-eah...o-okay. Heheh...pretty pretty…” He chuckled and continued looking at her eyes, unable to look away. Beatrice shook her head, Carl did the same. “It seems your mind is just as easy as the others, such a pity.” “Yeah...pity the things…” Carl continued staring, he didn’t even blink the entire time. “Just relax, little bug…” She smiled as her tongue came out of her mouth. Carl noticed and raised an eye. “W-whatcha doin’?” He asked dazily. Beatrice ignored his question and licked the side of his face, Carl giggled at this, “Heh, t-that tickled.” Beatrice slurped her tongue back in and rubbed her chin. “Not bad, and to think with such a strange body it wouldn’t taste as good.” Carl laughed again. “Yeah, my brothers always say how good changelings taste, at least...that’s what they say in their stories.” He tried licking his own face with his tongue, but Beatrice widened her eyes again to make him focus his attention to her. “Close your eyes, little bug. It would be...unpleasant for you to have them open during this.” Carl only nodded and did as she said, hoping he would see more swirling colors after this. Beatrice could only smile at the pitiful display. “Such a poor, little creature, almost makes me sad to do this.” She grinned, showing her small, white teeth. “Almost~” She hovered over Carl and slowly opened her jaw, her mouth closing in on Carl’s face. All Carl could do was lower his ears and smile, ignoring the drops of spit and the tongue starting to wrap around him. He knew he was making her happy while doing this, and if she was happy, then he was happy. “CARLLLLLLLL! CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA...rl!” Beatrice imidatly backed away and clamped her jaw shut, making Carl open his swirling pink eyes in worry. “What's wrong beatriceeeee?” He felt worried, because if she was worried, then he was worried. “Don’t I taste-” Beatrice wrapped a tail around his mouth and looked around. “Another one?” She groaned. “It sounds just like him.” Beatrice looked back at Carl and smiled. “Tell me, is there anyone else who was with you when you were walking out here.” She unwrapped her tail and hoisted his body upside down in the air. Carl raised his ears up and smiled. “Yeah! There was my friend Stan, he’s a little dazed right now, and I was trying to get him out of this place because of how dangerous it is, I mean, you could get caught by monsters out here, Beatrice.” Beatrice smiled. “Looks like a second serving.” She whispered. Carl cocked his head and scratched the back of it. “Second, how can you eat me twice, Beatrice, can’t I only-” Beatrice dropped the changeling head first on the ground. “Stay.” She said before she slithered out in the clearing. “Okie dokie mistressussses!” Carl waved to her and sat in place. “I wonder if she has a surprise for me.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Oh Caaaaaaaaaaaaaarl! I have a surprise featuring booze sentral if you come out here!” Stan took another swig of beer and hiccuped. “Okay, I have half of a prize for you if you come out…” He took another one. “Okay, now it’s just four thirds...or one and one third.” He gazed at the bottle. “Maths hard.” He continued studying the bottle while a familiar pair of eyes came up behind him. “Carl was right.” She whispered. “He seems completely dazed, looks like I don’t even have to work for this one.” She slowly started coming into the clearing.  Stan immediately turned around and extended his arms. “CARL!” He leapt straight at her, tackling her to the ground. “GAH! W-what the he-” Stan stood over her and smiled. “Carl! You have no idea how long i’ve...wait, you’re not Carl.” Stan leaned in closer to her, for some reason, Beatrice felt a bit startled by this, usually it was her doing this. “You look like some big pony. OH! Are you that one pony who is friends with a goat?” The snake-pony had no idea what he was talking about, nor did she care. So, without another word, she started raising her tail behind him, prepared to strike. “Oh, I am no pony.” “Really?” Stan got off of her the second she struck, making the tail smack right into her nose. She yelped while Stan rubbed his chin. “Weird, and here I thought that goat was famous for doing big poines, Oh! maybe she’s friends with Jasper!” Beatrice launched right at him, prepared to squeeze the life out of him for making her hurt herself, but Stan put a beer bottle in his mouth and leaned back, making her miss and land in the dirt. “MMMMMHHH hm! That is some goooooooood stuffs.” Stan belched. He then realized he drank the rest of it and frowned. “Aw, now I can’t celebrate with Carl...oh well.” Stan shrugged and threw the bottle behind him, making it smash against Beatrice’s head. Stan noticed this and raised his eyes. “Whoa, I didn’t even know you had a tail!” Beatrice tried getting up, but jumped and landed on her back. “You look a lot like that one story my brothers told, only you don’t have any legs, did you get them cut off or something, cause that’d be cool, I thought I had to do that one day, but then it turned out that the branch was easier to do, so I...hey...you okay?” Beatrice only groaned in response. Stan flipped her over to see her eyes in a daze. “Whoa, your eyes are all swirly like, that’s so pretty, do you think I can do that too!” “HEY! Those are my ssssswirly eyezez!” Stan looked back up, seeing his friend, Carl, coming out of the thick forest with the same kind of eyes Beatrice had. “CARL! Such a short time without seeing! Hows my-” Carl then rushed right at Stan and tackled him to the ground. “You stay away from her! She’s mine!” Stan cocked his head. “Yours? I thought you didn’t have a mareee friend yet?” “I don’t, she’s my-” “So she’s not your friend?” “No! She’s..sh-she’s” “Then you don’t know her.” “No! I don’t...know...know...I...I don’t know her…” Carl finished in a tone Stan could only describe as a robot. “Well, I don’t see why I should stay away from someone you don’t know, and why are your eyes like that, Carl?” “M-my eyes are like...what?” Carl got off him and rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming. “Well, how’s about I introduce you then, I mean, I don’t know her either, but maybe it would be nice.” Stan stuck his tongue out of the side of his mouth and made his way to Beatrice. As for Carl, he started blinking his eyes, each time, the swirls went slower and slower before there was nothing but blue. “W-what happened?” Carl asked, his head still pounding “You tackled me and asked what happened.” Carl turned around and gasped. “S-Stan! Y-You’re okay!” Carl rushed right at him and tackled him again. Stan seemed unfazed and smiled back. “Yup, I’m ay okay, why’d ya think I wasn’t?” Carl pulled him back up. “Because you’re in the forest, you have no idea how many things could try to kill you in this place.” “Like that thing?” Stan pointed at Beatrice. Carl only glanced and looked back at Stan. “Yeah, Stan like that...th..that…” Carl then slowly turned back to the knocked out snake-pony. “S-Stan, d-did you-” “Knock her out?” Stan finished. “I think I did; that bottle did most of the work though.” Carl only sighed and hugged Stan. “Stan, you have absolutely no idea what would’ve happened to me if you hadn’t shown up. So...thanks.” Stan smiled and patted his back. “Aw, don’t thank me, Carl, thank the snake lady, she’s the one who did the trapping in the first place, heck, I think she’s trying to do it again right now.” Carl broke out of the hug. “Stan! Why would I thank her, she’s the nasty, cruel, down right evil monster who tried to kill us. She’s-” “Right behind you.” Stan finished and pointed behind his friend. Carl followed the hoof until he was face to face with Beatrice again. She stood over them and glared. “Nasty and cruel am I?” Stan nodded. “Yup. That’s what Carl said, silly bug, thinking that beauty like that can-” Carl hid behind Stan. “L-Look, j-just stay back! I-I have a Stan, and I’m not afraid to use it!” Beatrice laughed. “Oh! What are you gonna do, throw him right at-” *SMACK* Carl threw Stan right at her, their heads colliding and eyes going in a daze. Carl winced at the pain as both of them landed on the ground, Stan laying on top of her with their eyes locked. Carl slowly walked up to them. “S-Sorry Stan, I-I-I had no...y-you’re alright...right? Stan?” Once Carl was close enough, he saw both of their eyes still looking at one another, with Stan’s going slower than her’s “Stan!” Carl grabbed him and brought him back on his back hooves. “Stan, for the love of the queen, are you alright?” He started shaking him while Beatrice mumbled to herself. “It’s a long ball coach!” Stan said before shaking his head. “Oh, hi Carl.” He waved as his eyes returned to their normal blue-ish green, telling Carl he was still drunk. “Stan, I-I’m sorry, I-I was just.” “Aw, don’t worry Carlz, I’m sure you’ll find love one day.” Stan patted his friend’s back. Beatrice started fluttering her eyes open, still swirling with mixtures of blue and yellow. “L-love…” She whispered. “Love? Stan, I don’t care about-” “Oh, Carl, Carl, Carl.” Stan patted his head. “Still searching, never finding.” Beatrice rolled over on her front hooves. “C-Carl…” “Stan, love is the least of my importance right now.” Beatrice put her hooves on the ground and started raising. “Love...ca…” “Carl, you need to know love is like an onion, so if you pursue it, you will eventually stink with love.” “Love...Carl!” Stan and Carl turned around to see Beatrice standing up again. Before either could react, she grabbed Stan. “Here we go.” Was all he could say before he was flung into a nearby tree, his hoof getting caught in a branch. Stan gazed at the luck. “whoa! Twice in a row, that’s bringing back memories.” “Stan!” Carl ran for him, but was quickly tripped by Beatrice’s tail. “Love….Carl.” She repeated again. Slowly dragging him closer. Carl dragged his front hooves on the ground and tried to struggle, but the tail only started coiling around his body again. “W-Wait, d-don’t do this...I-I’m not even as tasty as-” Beatrice clamped his mouth shut with her hoof and smiled. “Love...Carl…” Once she retracted her hoof, Carl dropped his jaw, seeing her eyes were now swirling with blue. “W-what…” He flinched as she rubbed her nose against his. “Love, Carl~” She retracted away and rubbed the side of her face against his. “Oh no.” Carl tried struggling again, but her tail was just as strong as before, he turned and looked at Stan, seeing he was still struggling with his branch. “Stan! Help, t-this snake is-” “Once sec Carlz!” Stan yelled. “This took me fifteen minutes the last time, and that was when I was sober, so just wait while...I try...and co..mu..no..caaaayy.” He tugged with every syllable, but the arm wouldn’t budge. “Just hang in there Carl...heheh. hang.” He laughed and continued pulling. “Stan! Will you hurry and-” Carl was cut off by the tip of a tail turning his head back to Beatrice, he face still smiling and her eyes still blue. “Love, Carl.” She said, leaning in for a kiss that was too big for Carls lips, which led to her just surrounding his muzzle with them instead. Carl closed his eyes and waited for it to be over, knowing he would be full after all of this.