Pine waited one minute, letting Lilly’s scent fade to be sure she was gone, and then collapsed holding the now red sword handle

“Nice act huh...” Pine looked up at Lemon pleading silently with his eyes “...I’m not a monster... am I?” he asked softly, his vision beginning to darken and blur as if he was going to pass out.

Lemon rushed over to Pine, staring at the sword in his chest turning his body red

“You-you’re not a monster, Pine” Lemon managed to choke out between sobs “You’re a g-good stallion. P-probably less of a monster than even me... I’m not sure I would have let her go, and that scares me deeply. Thank you... for making the right choice... I hope...” Lemon nuzzled Pine’s head sadly, her heart aching with concern

“What should I do? Should I get medical herbs? Do you think I can drag you to a stream to wash your wound? I... I don’t want to leave you alone...” Lemon said her eyes welling up with tears.

“...You don’t know how to help me medically... And pulling the sword out will likely cause more damage,” Pine said sadly “I hate to admit it... but I think we’ll have to go to Ponyville and see if somepony is willing to help,” Pine managed “You’ll have to carry me but I’ll try not to be too much of a dead weight... alright?” Pine asked looking at Lemon’s tear ridden face “Hay, Shh it’ll be okay... You’ll see.” He whispered managing a gentle smile.

Lemon sniffed, mentally collecting herself

“Alright, just pile as much as you can on me, I’m an earth pony, we don’t have much magic, but even an artist like me is as strong as ten unicorns when it comes to the nitty gritty,” Lemon glanced at Pine’s tail “Though, I’ll have to drag some of you. I mean, let’s face it, Pine, you’re gigantic,” Lemon said dipping herself down so Pine could better brace himself against her

“Do you think we should, I dunno, wait for the cover of night to go there? I love the town but the residents tend to flip out at the first sign of danger.” She said a little concerned. The wound was pretty bad though; she half wondered if Pine would last until the evening. Still, he knew his body a lot better than her. Whatever he told her was best.

“Could easily last until the night but I’d likely go into hibernation in a attempt to recover,” Pine took a shaky breath wrapping his front left hoof over Lemon’s shoulders and a few coils around her torso “If that happened you’d have to bring help here, which is less appealing since I’d have to be assisted on the dirty ground... as for the residences of the town,” Pine chuckled “I reckon they’d have found out about me anyway, even during the night.” Pine said closing his eyes then snapping them open as Lemon began to move forward

“Do you have a hospital, we should head there since it’s a wound to my pony half... we’ll see if we can convince a doctor... or something” Pine’s eyes closed slightly and he slumped against Lemon, his body barely moving to assist Lemon.

“Pine?” Lemon asked concerned. She needed to move fast, and she knew it, but Pine’s serpentine form was tremendously heavy, it was only due to her earth pony muscles she could bear his weight at all. Any other kind of pony and Pine would’ve been in deep trouble. The massive coils looped around Lemon restricted her movement somewhat, but she wasn’t going to be galloping, so she shrugged and paid it little mind, as long as it allowed Pine to hold onto her. Lemon moved as fast as she could, under the weight of the semi-conscious Lamia, through the cave and back out the other side. Despite it being a bunch of twists and turns on the journey there, somehow she knew where to go to get back onto the original path back towards civilization. Still, the path was long, and Lemon hoped she wouldn’t be too late.

Ponyville had very loosely defined boundaries, with houses scattered few and far between in the outskirts. Thankfully, the community clinic wasn’t too far into the town, but Lemon passed more than a few ponies who either stared in awe, mouths agape, or bolted back to their homes. Either way, Lemon would be the talk of the town in the near future, for better or worse, but right now she didn’t care one bit about her reputation. Lemon reached the hospital as the sun was beginning to set and wasted no time in barging through the main lobby doors

“Is...Is...” Lemon gasped. Carrying a titanic Lamia all that distance made her exhausted and she was gasping for breath “Is there somepony who has experience with magical creatures here?” she asked even in her head the idea was ludicrous.

Doctor Stitches, a clean bandage white coated stallion with a short blond mane, was, to say the least, caught off guard when an exhausted bright yellow mare charged in carrying a slumped over, pale, light brown... thing! It looked slightly pony on top but where its hind legs and tail should be a long serpentine tail had grown out. The doctor might have told the pair to get out, that the hospital was no place for jokes... but the sword and blood running down from the duel holes wasn’t fake... you couldn’t fake the smell or how it hardened on a ponies fur

“Doctor should we...?” Nurse Redheart, the pony currently on reception, asked approaching him. Stitches looked back at the tired mare, from what he could see the stallion was likely holding on by a thread and the mare had brought him here with no backup plan should this fail... since he wouldn’t reach the end of the road if the plan did fail there was likely no point thinking one up.

“He won’t reach anywhere else to get aid... I joined this career to help those suffering... whether they’re entirely pony or not even slightly pony! Bring him into the back with me, and tell me how he came to obtain that wound” the doctor said turning and began walking down the hallway towards an operating theatre, calling several of his strongest willed doctors and nurses, they’d need anypony who wouldn’t be afraid to treat this stallion. As they walked down the hall the doctor asked various questions, both their names to start, where she’d met him, had he been a pony and turned into this thing, how long since the wound and how he ended up with a sword stuck in him. The last one he had to repeat since Lemon had entered some sort of flash back daze.

Everything was happening just so fast. Thank Celestia there was at least one doctor willing to step up and help. Still, everything felt so unreal; she could barely hear the doctor’s voice sometimes

“My name is Lemon Glaze, his name is Pine Wood, and I met him in the forest yesterday. For all I know, he’s been like this his whole life. We were... attacked... by some mare, she seemed to personally hate him. Her name was Lilly Petals, I think. She stabbed Pine in the chest with the sword still in him and she... ran off after the fight... and Pine told me to bring him here because his second heart couldn’t support him enough.” Lemon suddenly felt Pine become weightless against her as a team of unicorns magically lifted Pine off her, skilfully unravelling his coils from around her and carrying him into some sort of sterile room. It felt good that she could once again move freely, but she was still deeply concerned about her new friend

“Do you think you can help him, doctor?” Lemon asked with pleading eyes.

Stitches sighed sadly

“Well ma’am I have to be brutally honest...” The doctor sighed again looking at Lemon’s expression “Ma’am this is the first ever snake-pony that has likely ever been treated in pony history by another pony. We have little to off but hope that the area we’re treating is pony like, otherwise we’ll be going in blind, Pine isn’t exactly in fate’s favour,” The doctor said sadly

“I think you should go wash up, I’ll let you know how it goes at the end.” The doctor said entering the room.

“S-sure... thank you, doctor” Lemon muttered. She desperately wanted to stay in the operating room, but she knew she would just hurt more than help. Lemon couldn’t let her feelings get in the way; they were, after all, what got her into this mess. With tears in her eyes, she slowly trotted back to the main lobby, ducking into a bathroom to wash Pine’s blood off her coat. She then took a seat in the lobby and did nothing but stare at the ground, still in total shock over what was going on.

About an hour passed before doctor Stitches returned to the lobby

“Miss Glaze,” Lemon looked up at him puffy eyed and bloodshot like she’d been crying “You best follow me.” The doctor said waiting for her to walk over and follow beside him. They walked past the operating theatre and down various hallways; the hospital was like a maze. Stitches led Lemon to a single, regular looking, door for the private patents ward and he pushed it open gently. Lying on the bed, heavily bandaged across his torso, was the sleeping form of Pine. His tail had been spread around the floor with pillows and cushions laid down on the floor along with hot water bottles between various spots to keep the cold blooded Lamia warm

“He appears to be stable, though we’re not entirely sure, we can’t hook him up to a heart rate machine since he has two and we’re not sure how fast a healthy snake-ponies heart beats. If anything changes call a doctor or nurse, I’ll leave you two alone for a few minutes so you can... absorb this.” The doctor said walking away closing the door behind him.

“T-thank you” Lemon choked as the doctor left. With a sniffle, Lemon approached the wounded form of Pine, gingerly stepping over the lengths of his serpent tail that criss-crossed around his bed. To see such a mighty predator reduced to a state like this was shocking, and not in a good way. He looked almost dead, if not for his raising and falling chest; he could have been getting buried, probably in a very large coffin. Lemon reached the bedside and gently rested her head against Pine’s, before giving his cheek a gentle kiss

“Pine... I don’t know if you can hear me, but please... please pull through... please... for me...” she whispered into his ear.

Pine smiled softly in his sleep, as if Lemon’s voice reassured him in his dreams, he rolled over towards the sound of her voice and mumbled in his sleep

“Lemon.” And blushed his hooves contracting as if hugging something only he could see, parts of his tail flexed as if trying to message Lemon or coax her into sitting down on them.

Lemon saw Pine’s gestures, then, very gently, she laid her foreleg across Pine’s chest and brought herself in for a light hug. It was a little awkward because Lemon had to avoid touching the bandages, but it was a hug all the same. Breaking the embrace with the same softness that she initiated it with, she walked over to a particularly thick segment of Pine’s snake like tail and began to lightly pet it. Anything to sooth him now, she decided.

Pine’s eyes fluttered open at the soft, warm touch on his scales. He half thought he was dead because it seemed too warm and comfy to be his life, but Pine was in too much pain to be dead. He managed to look towards Lemon who was petting his tail gently, he smiled slightly at seeing her beside him

“Told you I’d be fine,” he managed pulling his tail towards him, pushing Lemon next to the bed again “Guess we’ll have to get around to that hypnosis invitation later, huh.” Pine whispered. Pine wrapped his tail around the back of Lemon’s head and brought her down and gently kissed her

“Thank you, for saving me, Lemon Glaze.” He whispered wrapping the coil around Lemon’s neck like a scarf.

Lemon was beaming! She had thought she might never see Pine open his eyes ever again. She returned his kiss and began to stroke her scaly collar with her hoof, it was comforting to feel his conscious grip again

“You had me worried there, ya know,” she said “you were bleeding a lot, when doctor Stitches returns, you’re going to thank him.” Lemon said unable to stop herself from nuzzling his cheek immediately after

“You still have a lot of healing to do though, and here’s hoping you don’t get some sort of infection.” Lemon said half-jokingly. The worst may have past, but Lemon was still a little worried, she wouldn’t believe he was fine until he was up and slithering about again without a thousand bandages holding him together.

It was at that exact moment the feeling of happiness was shattered by a swarm of ponies along with the voice of doctor Stitches trailing behind them

“He needs rest; he’s just had a sword removed from him! Don’t you dare go in there.” Pine looked towards the door

“What’s-AGH!”A bright flash caused Pine to flinch and cover his eyes with his hooves making his chest hurt too “Ow-ow, what’s happening?” he mumbled as various ponies began shouting questions at him. Lemon was also swarmed and asked various questions from innocent one like her name to some awkward questions if the two had an affair. Pine might have threatened them all to back off but, as it was, he could barely move from the bed

“Leave me alone!” he said only receiving several more questions. In the background Stitches was also being questioned, but was still attempting to get them out of the room.

Then one of the ponies pulled Lemon away, she struggled to get free and Pine jumped out the bed, almost falling down before shoving the pony clear across the room

“Back off!” Pine hissed before wincing and holding his bandage, another wave of photo’s being taken

“Pine you’ll re-open your wounds doing stunts like that!” Stitches said finally reaching the Lamia and mare, Stitches turned to the reporters

“You are breaking and entering a recovering patients room, leave before I call the authorities!” with a lot of grumbling and booing the ponies left, Pine remained at Lemon’s side waiting for them all too leave.

As the last reporters left, Lemon rolled her eyes

“Ugh, reporters,” she groaned rubbing her temples “I was afraid something like this would happen. Hardly anything happens in this hick-town, so when anything actually interesting happens all the newspapers go ballistic,” Lemon sighed “But it was better than leaving you in that cave…” Lemon pushed the unpleasant thought out of her head

“Either way, once you’re feeling better you can stay at my place… Or, if the reporting fervour hasn’t subsided by then, we can go back to your valley,” Lemon turned to doctor Stitches “How long do you think it will take him to recover?” she asked.

“Okay, well, that takes care of where he will be staying. Thank you for that Miss Lemon Glaze, but even if the reporters are being a problem I would advise against retreating into the Everfree, for more than the obvious reason of it being dangerous. You barely made it the first time carrying him; should he become worse out there or get an illness from something… you may not be able to pull the same miracle twice.” The doctor said forcing Pine back to the bed

“As for recovering I cannot say, he’s had a sword go clean through his body and out the other side. Not something a bit of bed rest and a week off can generally fix… no, he will likely need months to recover, at best. Pine will likely be able to leave in a week or so once we’re sure he’s stable, but he won’t be climbing trees for a while,” the doctor looked at Lemon’s worried face

“If you would like, because the other doctors have noticed Pine’s snake half is cold blooded, you could stay to make sure he stays warm. Last thing he needs is a cold and I’m afraid we don’t have the time to constantly change the water bottles for him, also the other doctors may be busy with other patients, since winter seems to be the time everypony jumps out their windows, so you staying close will mean he has somepony to check he’s okay at all times. If you wouldn’t mind of course.” the doctor said.

Pine made a mental note to find a way to thank the doctor for letting Lemon stay, he knew almost for a fact she would, and he’d be able to finally use up that invitation… and coil her up, which he always enjoyed

“Just change his hot water bottles over there,” the doctor nodded to a set of taps “And make sure he doesn’t move his body too much or too fast, think you can do that for him?” Stitches asked.

Lemon nodded

“Keep him warm, got it.” Lemon repeated in acknowledgement, that shouldn’t be too difficult, though she thought that perhaps it would be tough to get him to rest; Pine was a mischievous Lamia

“If anything happens, I’ll call somepony. Alright, I think we’ll be okay for now. Once again, thank you, doctor, for saving him.” Lemon said nodding politely.

“Thank a pony for doing his job it’ll just go to his head,” the doctor said softly then looked at Pine “You stay in bed or I’ll have you tied to it”.” He threatened Pine, who put on an innocent face and the doctor looked at Lemon

“You have your work cut out with this one.” He said walking away. Pine waited a solid minute before grabbing Lemon with his tail and pulling her onto the bed

“The doctor said to keep me warm and you don’t need refilling constantly like a bottle.” Pine said grinning, he, unfortunately, couldn’t hug her since it would hurt so he made do with lying slightly in front of her within reaching distance. Pine settled for coiling Lemon up until only her head was visible and Pine grinned at Lemon, Pine’s tail piled a little over the yellow mare’s coily prison, making it so if she moved every ripple would feel amazing

“Struggle, I dare you.” Pine whispered.

“Whoa!” Lemon said playfully as Pine’s tail hoisted her into the air and onto the (Surprisingly sturdy) hospital bed. She was impressed, even in his injured state, the Lamia’s tremendous strength and dexterity let him left her up like it was nothing. Lemon was dropped onto a particularly thick segment of Pine’s tail, the squishy muscle cushioning her impact. Before Lemon even had time to react, the segment curled up around Lemon’s chest, pinning her forelegs to her body and span her around, with each full rotation adding another powerful coil. It briefly reminded Lemon about how a spider cocoons its prey.

Pine finished his work with a final loop around Lemon’s neck, thick enough that it served as a cool, smooth cushion for her head. He wasn’t squeezing, but the sheer weight of his coils put a little pressure on Lemon’s body, not to mention the segments he laid on top of the cocoon

“Oh is that a challenge?” Lemon replied in her best seductive voice. The mare began to squirm around in her scaly prison in a false effort to escape. Lemon thought it would be tough, but she was surprised that she couldn’t move an inch, even though the coils weren’t tight, they expertly pinched and curved to perfectly match the movements of her body. Lemon didn’t want to stress Pine’s weak body too much to fight as hard as she could, but Lemon still wiggled her body to fight the imprisonment. She was totally helpless in this state, but it was also exciting. Even though she had only know Pine for a short time, it just felt so right to be in his grip, letting the warmth of her body bleed into his cold blooded scales.

Pine smiled at Lemon’s weak struggling, even if she wasn’t trying fully, it was still nice to have her fur pressed against his scales as she battled the cold across his body with her own warmth. But he suddenly made Lemon cease her struggling by squeezing her. Lemon froze taking a deep breath, it hadn’t been painful, on the contrary it had probably been very relaxing, with every part of her body being simultaneously massaged by his tail. Pine brushed Lemon’s mane out of her eyes

“So... about that hypnosis invitation, mind if I take you up on it?” Pine asked softly, smirking.

Pine’s constriction was absolutely divine. Lemon’s face flushed red as the air was forcefully exhaled form her lungs. It was firm, but gentle, like a caring lover. The sensation of Pine’s scales, smoothly gliding across her fur as the coils clinched, as well as the magnificent moulding of the firm muscles all around her was one of the best feelings Lemon had felt in her entire life

“Hmm, maybe,” Lemon said with a light hearted chuckle “You can try.” She said in a sing-song voice. Her body had already given up to Pine’s coils, but Lemon wanted to play hard to get in giving up her mind. She shut her eyes gently, stealing the occasional peek with a single eye and giggling.

Pine chuckled, Lemon was so cute with that tinge of red on her face, and her challenge made it all the better, especially since she was clearly opening her eyes to see the spirals once they started. Pine closed his eyes and when they reopened, swirling, pulsing colours of different shades began moving across his eyes, Lemon’s single open eye locked with the colours and her eye widened to see as much of the colours as possible. Pine chuckled before whispering

“Both eyes, Lemon.” She opened the other one without resistance which was, momentarily, its normal purple before it began to copy its counterpart in staring into the sea of enchanting colours in front of Lemon and beginning to pulse with various colours as well

“Doesn’t it feel so nice? To let all of your worries just wash away... To enter a secluded place in your mind where everything is pure bliss, which only I can take you too? It’s lovely, isn’t it?” Pine cooed softly to Lemon grinning.

Lemon was a little surprised. Even her brief glances were not enough to allow her to resist, she remembered it taking a little while to get hooked into a trance, but this time it was almost instantaneous before she couldn’t tear herself away. Did Pine hypnotise her to be more susceptible? Or was it just a natural thing. Lemon let her closed eye peek open on Pine’s command. She couldn’t help but listen to him. The enchanting colours were muddying her mind; she began to latch onto Pine’s words as if they were her own thoughts, it just felt so… right… to obey…

“Worries… wash away… only you…” Lemon began to repeat softly under her breath like an oath. As tempting as it was to give in now, Lemon still intended to play hard to get. It was more fun that way, and what was left of her wanted to see just how long she could last against the mental assault

“Heh… not yet Pine…” she whispered, forcing her mind to fight the muddling commands of Pine, playfully.

Pine raised his eyebrows in surprise; Lemon was certainly fighting much harder than last time… More fun really. Pine let his eyes speed up and began to massage Lemon all across her body and when she moaned, opening her mouth to exhale from the light constriction, Pine darted forward, ignoring the tinge of pain, and kissed Lemon. With her mouth gaping open in wonder from the colours it was easy for Pine to cheat and wrap up her tongue and massage it as well. He imagined she might have her eyes rolled up into her head in pleasure if the spirals, which were now point blank to her own eyes, were not holding her gaze

“Any more surprises, Lemon?” Pine though mentally sending the challenge.

Pine’s loving coils kneaded Lemon’s body, as if wringing out the few ounces of willpower left in her. The hypnosis was dulling her senses, and it felt like the massive bands of scales were melting into her body. She began to go limp, the thick ring of muscles around her neck now supporting her entire skull as her body entered a hypnotically-induced super-relaxed state. It was pleasure that Lemon had never felt before. When Pine closed the gap between the pair, Lemon could feel the hypnotic spell intensify to unprecedented heights. With each coil of the Lamia’s tongue around Lemon’s, more and more of her mental defences were utterly obliterated, with Pine’s magic free to take her mind and do with it as it wished. She could feel her mind being sapped away, the calming darkness of the trance ever encroaching, and yet, she wasn’t afraid. The mystical colours, combined with Pine’s handsome face, made her eager for it, in fact

“…I’m… yours…” was all Lemon managed to get out before she gave into the Lamia’s spell. She was gone now, her independent thoughts temporarily replace with an existence that knew only happiness, be if from Pine soft coils, his charming voice, or his beautiful eyes.

Lemon had given up and a small smile spread across her face, Pine kept his eyes swirling mystically with the colours knowing that she’d recover no matter how deep he sent her

“Hmmm what should I have you do…?” Pine smirked slightly before lying on his stomach folding his hooves in front of him on his pillow before resting his head, still keeping eye contact with Lemon. Pine uncoiled Lemon, stroking her neck with his tail, which made her shiver from his touch

“Mind massaging my tail, Lemon?” Pine asked softly, of course she would she was in his power and Pine always liked to have something or somepony spread warmth throughout his tail. Pine closed his eyes spreading his tail around the bed so Lemon would have to climb over it; of course he left several loops around body like vines, enjoying the mare’s warm body.

The mindless Lemon let Pine’s words sink into her very soul. They had to, for she was unable to form thoughts of her own. Not like she minded at the moment; the hypnotic spell had her in pure ecstasy right now, and she was sent deeper by the minute by the Lamia’s still spiralling eyes

“Of… Course.” Lemon whispered softly, as if on autopilot. Lemon was mentally aware of everything happening, but she couldn’t feel herself making any conscious decisions. It was as if she was in a dream… a very pleasant, colourful dream.

Lemon lay down as much as her loose scaly bonds would allow, nuzzling up to the nearest segment of snake tail that Pine had lazily dropped around the bed. She gently rubbed and prodded it with her hooves, feeling the soft muscle react and deform under her touch. As Lemon’s hooves massaged along the direction of Pine’s scales, Lemon lowered her snout so that she was able to softly touch the serpentine body and move against the scales this time. The happy, blank mare let herself slowly glide across Pine’s scaly lower half, hopping from place to place if two segments were right next to each other, just giving her all to make Pine feel good.

Pine smiled lazily, letting his eyes droop slightly, his tail began climbing over Lemon’s body as she switched from coil to coil getting closer to Pine himself. She eventually couldn’t move from the sheer weight of his coils so he dragged her over to him, letting her snuggle up to him, his tail massaging her. Pine lit his eyes up into a sea of spirals again and the pair lay there enjoying themselves, Lemon more so likely. Eventually Pine’s eyes began to droop and he lay his head down closing his eyes. Lemon, left with no orders, was giving the default order to fall asleep, her eyes half closed the spirals working to make her sleep. A small message leaked from Pine’s dream and Lemon leaned forward, locking herself into a kiss with him before passing out. Pine, in his sleep, wrapped his tongue around Lemon and hugged her enjoying a dream of her massaging his coils as he hypnotised her.

Lemon was in pure bliss. It was just too much; Pine had brought her into a wonderful place, a deep trance that blended the entire world into a drunken slur of happiness. The last thing she felt before the comfort of hypnosis sleep took her was Pine’s tongue wrapped snugly around her own. Lemon closed her eyes, and dreamed about Pine and his enchanting eyes in her deep sleep.

Author's Note

Well crud, looks like Lilly isn't done, but she isn't trying the head on game no more! Also Doctor Stitches is a pony I made up, you won't find him in the actual show... at least... I don't think you will, never know (Though seriously he is my OC now).

Also, more hypnosis! Yay! :D