“The Great and Powerful Trixie cannot believe her luck!”
The showmare kicked the busted wheel on her cart, yelping in pain as her black traveling horseshoes provided little to soften the crunch on her hooves. They helped keep her hooves from getting sore on the long journeys between towns, but solid they were not.
“Stupid wheel!” She shouted through gritted teeth. “The Great and Mildly Discomforted Trixie shall throw you right in the garbage dump when she replaces you!”
Trixie snorted. Wheels, she never liked them. Always so prone to breaking down at the worst possible time, she couldn’t trust them! Even now, her brow furrowed. It was just so…sinisterly round…
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to collect her thoughts. Perhaps the Great and Procrastinating Trixie shouldn’t have waited so long to replace an aging wooden wheel. Her front hooves rubbed her temples, soothing her high strung nerves. She had already made plans in Baltimare for her Humble and Penitent Equestrian Apology Tour, and it was still a week’s travel away. She looked around, only to find dense forest surrounded her completely. Trixie didn’t expect to see any trace of civilization, but it didn’t hurt to at least try. This route that she took was completely deserted, mostly because it passed through a particular dangerous forest, which, unfortunately, our brave heroine found herself stuck in. Trixie, in her complete and total overconfidence, scoffed at the supposed danger before planning her journey, with complete faith in herself that she’d be able to outwit any creature that she came across.
However, she didn’t anticipate that her cart would break right in the middle of the dark unknown. Sure, her unicorn blood gave her telekinetic abilities, but she strained enough to move her cart while it had working wheels. She couldn’t possibly imagine lifting the whole thing with her mental power and carrying it to the nearest town. The hope of another pony stumbling across her was next to nothing, so Trixie resolved that she simply had to fix this problem herself. Using her magic to levitate her magician’s hat and cape into the safety of the cart’s interior, she bent down and took a good look at the source of her woes.
“Well, it’s busted,” Trixie muttered to herself. Indeed, the wheel was cracked straight down the middle, with only the thinnest splinters holding the shattered wood together. She delicately lifted it off of the cart’s axle, using her telekinesis to move a large rock from the side of the road to prop the cart up while the gears of her mind turned trying to work towards a solution. Trixie considered herself an accomplished sorceress, but unfortunately for her, all she knew was illusion magic. Granted, she knew basic utility spells like conjuring a spark to light a fire or a small lightning zap for self defense, but nothing that would be particularly helpful at this time. Her magic could completely change the world around her…but the trouble was making that change a real thing. She could snap her fingers and the wheel could APPEAR like it was fixed. By Celestia, she could make it look like solid gold if it tickled her fancy. However, the instant she would try to reattach the wheel, the illusion would shatter and probably leave her worse off than even before. No, no, Trixie knew that she had to do this the old fashioned way. But, she resolved that this wouldn’t take too long. After all, the Great and Powerful Trixie should be able to fix a simple wheel…right?
Trixie’s horn glowed an ethereal blue and sparks erupted from the tip. Slowly, a long piece of rope danced its way out of the cart’s window. Manipulating it with her telekinesis, Trixie wound it around the shattered wheel, using her magic power to anchor spots of the rope in order to tie knots. It was threaded through the spokes every which way, until the wheel ended up looking like a spider web from all the haphazard criss-crossing. She ended up using the entire length of her good performing rope, but eventually Trixie managed to completely tie the wheel up.
“There, that should do it,” she said out loud, her voice dripping with self-satisfaction. There was nary a pony around for miles, but Trixie loved her own voice. “You have been served your punishment, vile wheel!”
Trixie used her telekinesis to move the rock that she had her cart propped against, and reattached the wheel to its axle. Satisfied with her work, Trixie stood up and began to focus all of her telekinetic energy on her cart, taking it under her mental hold. Like a lightbulb, it flickered to life, with a shifting blue aura encapsulating each and every inch of the rickety old cart. With a swish of Trixie’s horn, the cart began to move, and her alongside it as she once more continued her journey.
…For all of two seconds before Trixie’s sense of self-satisfaction was shattered by a resounding crack as the wheel snapped apart. Her eyes snapped downward, only to see her precious rope now hanging loosely between shattered spokes.
“UGH!” She groaned, thrusting her forelegs to the heavens in frustration. “STUPID WHEEL!”
Suddenly, a sweet, feminine voice filled the air.
“It appearsssssss that you’re having quite the bit of trouble…” it said.
Trixie’s eyes shot open, her ears perking up and orbiting as she tried to locate the source of the mysterious voice.
“Who’s there?” Trixie called out, hiding the slight jolt of fear that she felt very well. “Show yourself!”
The rustling of the canopy on the other side of the road made Trixie brace for action, clenching her teeth and ready for anything. Her eyes narrowed as the flat, broad, scaly head poked out through the leaves. It was covered with shining, silver scales that glimmered in the midday sun, with dark gray splotched breaking up the serpent’s metallic appearance. Its two brilliant blue eyes, deeper than pure sapphire, had a single black slit running down their centers. A long, whiplike tongue flicked out from the serpent’s mouth intermittently, as if controlled by some twisted reflex.
“A…snake?” Trixie asked, confused by the beast’s sudden appearance. Snakes couldn’t talk…could they?
“That’ssssss Missssss Ssssnake to you,” the serpent hissed through her pursed, scaly lips.
Trixie’s eyes widened. Well, that answered that question.
“W-well…Miss Snake,” Trixie stammered, quickly collecting herself. She was a caught a little off guard by the talking serpent, but Trixie knew that Equestria was a land where magic flowed in abundance. It breathed life into the world, and something like a talking animal wasn’t completely out of the realm of possibility. “The Handy and Technologically Adept Trixie appreciates your offer for help, but can completely fix her problems on her own!”
The silver serpent giggled, her tongue flicking out with each hissy laugh that escaped her lips.
“I’ve been watching you for a while. It ssssseems like you could usssse some help,” the snake replied. “By the way, my name’sssss not Missssss Ssssssnake, it’s Zara.”
At that moment, the tip of Zara’s tail dipped down from the canopy, periscoping around before it darted towards the stray splint that had flown off a ways down the road. Trixie looked in awe as it snaked through the air, scooping up the fractured wheel without straining in the least. Just how long was this snake, thought Trixie as she watched it curl back around and gently set the piece of wheel at her hooves. The tail then let itself go limp, falling to the ground with an unceremonious plop.
“Hmph, thank you,” Trixie said as she sat down to work with the broken wheel bits, keeping a wary eye on that insidious-looking tail. She didn’t want to say anything, but she was ready to cast a quick magic missile if Zara tried to do anything. Trixie had a show to perform, ponies to entertain, and she couldn’t do that from within a snake’s stomach.
“You’re very welcome, Trixxxxxxie,” Zara replied coyly, eying the pony below her with great want in her eyes. This blue mare was very pretty, if a little pompous. However, there was something about her that made her stand out from the others Zara had met over the course of her long life. She wanted to get to know Trixie better, but didn’t quite rule out eating her just yet.
As Trixie pondered the engineering enigma set before her, Zara silently exposed more and more of her thick, scaly neck from the safety of the canopy. Trixie was too focused on how splinters fit together to notice Zara’s head orbiting her cart, examining the curious markings of the side. Having lived in the forest all her life, Zara never learned to decipher the mysterious symbols that ponies called “writing”, but even she could tell that these letters were meant to grab the eyes of passerby. The snake’s head poked in through an open window, turning back and forth as she surveyed the cluttered interior. The cart was filled to the brim with all sorts of boxes and trunks, stuffed so much that it looked like their latches could snap open at any time. The only space free of untidiness was a small cot, covered with a purple sheet with a star pattern and a matching pillowcase to boot. Zara’s tongue flicked madly inside, tasting the subtle scents that she could extract from the heavy must. The taste of one pony dominated the others, which Zara reasoned to belong to Trixie, but there were countless other scents in addition to hers. The crates reeked of the smells of what seemed to be an entire herd of ponies.
“Ssso, a performer, hmm?” Zara thought to herself as her head retreated out back into the warm sun. “Interessssting…”
The sly snake maneuvered her head back around to the other side of the cart, hovering a few inches above Trixie’s back. The magician was completely oblivious; her mind was busy trying to hook spokes together like interlocking rings. Zara smirked; this mare was headstrong, but it seemed like she wasn’t very bright. Just the way she liked ‘em!
“Sssssssso…” Zara hissed as her head crept into Trixie’s view, making the blue mare jump with surprise. “You’re sssssssome kind of ssssstreet performer?”
Trixie’s snout scrunched with frustration. “How do you know that!?” She yelled in her exasperation.
Zara’s neck curled into a tight U-shape, mimicking the shrugging of shoulders. “Call it a hunch,” she replied. “Bessssssides, your outfit accentuates how much of a pretty mare you are. Conssssssidering that you’re traveling in a cart, I assssssume that you mussssst put on ssssssome sssssort of traveling show.”
Trixie sat on her haunches and crossed her forelegs, still angry at the snake. She wanted to fix her wheel, not play twenty questions with a pernicious python.
“Well…you assume correctly,” Trixie said, turning her nose up. “You are in the presence of the Great and Powerful Trixie, the greatest…”
Trixie bit her lip, catching herself. Starlight’s voice popped into her head, reminding Trixie to restrain her grandstanding. After all she had been through, having a friend did certainly give her an incentive to change her ways.
“…ahem…The Great and Powerful Trixie, famed magician,” Trixie said, smiling to herself. She wasn’t TECHNICALLY lying; she was pretty famous…albeit for dubious reasons.
“Oh my, I consssssider mysssself honored,” Zara said, deliberately stroking Trixie’s ego. “I don’t ssssssee many performersssss here in thisssss foressssst. If you may, I’d love to sssssssee ssssssome of your tricksssssss!”
Trixie’s gaze met Zara’s, flashing a look that was a mix between annoyance and capitulation. “If I show you some tricks, will you leave me alone?”
“I promisssssse,” Zara said, fully aware that she had methods to “change Trixie’s mind” if it came down to that.
Trixie let her forelegs once more touched the ground, feeling a bit of relief at the prospect that she’d soon have peace and quiet. All she had to do was a few acts, and then she could do back to fixing her wheel. She could use the practice anyways. The question was which acts should she do? All of her props were still packed away, and she didn’t feel like digging through mountains of junk to get to her trusty magic cups. Her eyes scanned the outside of her cart, looking at the painted sides, the swishing leaves, the mossy rocks, the rope and wheel bits…
Trixie’s eyes lit up. Of course! The rope!
“I’ve got it!” Trixie exclaimed, “…and it’s something right up your alley, Miss Zara!”
Trixie bent down and grabbed the rope in her mouth before walking to the other side of the cart, letting the painted side of her cart serving as the backdrop of her improvised stage. The magician carefully coiled the rope at her feet, while Zara watched on intently, her head periscoping as Trixie trotted around.
Trixie raised her front hoof and wiggled her flanks.
“Come one, come all!” Trixie began, unable to stop herself from slipping into her showmare’s voice. “Feast your eyes on the amazing dancing rope!”
Suddenly, Trixie’s horn glowed a bright blue and she stomped her hoof, making sparks appear on the ground. Instantly, the rope at her feet glowed with a matching light, and it began to stir. Telekinesis was a trivial thing to master, but Trixie was quite proud of herself for developing this trick. It allowed her to “grip” thousands of points on an object independently, allowing her to make the rope move back and forth like it was a living creature. The rope-snake rose into the air, swaying back and forth like a living creature. It curled into itself one way, and then the other, before posing like a cobra waiting to strike. With another stomp of her hoof, the “head” of the rope lunged forward, striking at the air a couple of times before pulling back and continuing its dance. It wiggled around back and forth a little bit more, before slowly lowing itself back into the pile.
“Ta-daaaa” Trixie said with a determined grin, obviously pleased with herself. “How’s that for a snake dance?”
“Well,” Zara began, averting her eyes, “to be honest, I’m afraid it wasn’t quite impressive…”
Trixie’s jaw dropped, before coming back up to form an irritated scowl. The nerve of this annoying anaconda! She was about to lay into Zara, but Starlight’s nagging voice calmed her mind once more. The magician closed her eyes and rubbed her temples to try and calm herself.
“Well,” Trixie began after taking a deep breath. “How would you suggest the Great and Powerful Trixie improve that trick?”
Zara smirked. All too easy…
“Let me show you a real sssssnake dance. Watch closssssely,” hissed the snake as the tip of her tail moved itself into view. Trixie stared intently as it rose upwards, sticking straight up to roughly her eye level. Slowly, the tail began to lean to the right, and then it stuck back straight up before leaning to the left. It repeated this pattern, growing faster and smoother until it moved like a mechanical metronome. Trixie’s eyes went back and forth in her skull, following the tip, initially a little unimpressed with this “dance”. Before she could open her mouth to say anything about it, though, Zara’s tail began to undulate as it moved back and forth, as if it was slithering through the air. It took Trixie a few seconds to notice, but the undulations seemed to expertly catch the light of the midday sun, funneling it in sheens down the serpent’s dark-splotched scales. It caught Trixie’s interest and compelled her to focus on it, especially when Zara began to add little “flourishes” to her dance. She would sway just a little bit more in one direction for a bit, then her tail would curl around into a hook shape, then wind itself into a swirl before resuming its regular dance. No matter what type of movement the tail did, it continued to expertly reflect the light of the sun across its scales in a way that always guided Trixie’s gaze to the next part of the dance. It was a never ending flow of light across scales, one that Trixie found herself paying very close attention to.
Zara chuckled as she saw Trixie grow ever more enraptured with her dance. The sly serpent was very proud of her abilities, and although her dance lacked true hypnotic properties, it could more often than not distract a pony enough that she could get a minor suggestion or two through.
“Perhapssssss we should have a ssssome privaccccy for the show, wouldn’t you agree?” Zara hissed with a subtle tone of glee as she continued to treat Trixie to the snake dance.
“Hmm? Oh…yes, you’re right,” Trixie said, just barely taking her eyes off the undulating tail to give Zara a quick glance before returning to it. Trixie’s mind almost forgot about the question entirely as her attention once more returned to the unnaturally graceful dance. She could have sworn that the scales looked like diamonds with the way the light reflected off of their shiny surfaces.
Zara’s tail wiggled back and forth a few more times, slowing down as the dance slowly came to an end. Without the bizarre movements, her scales resumed their normal shine, the tail falling to the ground with a loud plop.
“How’sssss that for a ssssnake dance?” Zara said with a confident smirk.
“A-amazing. It was beautiful,” Trixie replied. She hated admitting that she was beat, but that dance was ten times better than the little wiggling her rope usually did. Those deft motions, the way each move flowed perfectly into the next…Trixie would be certain to try to mimic that in the Baltimare performance. “So, my next few tricks should be done in privacy. The Great and Powerful Trixie does not perform for free, and it would be improper for anypony else to see a performer taking advice from her audience.”
“I undersssssstand,” Zara said, her broad, silver-scaled head nodding in agreement. “However, I’m afraid that there’sssss little privacy here, other than the inside of your cart…or up my tree.”
Trixie bit her lip. Zara was right. Looking around, she could only see tree after tree surrounding her. It wasn’t like she could go deeper into the woods; the trees weren’t so dense that you couldn’t see past them. Her cart was completely full, and she’d need to totally unpack if she wanted to show tricks in there. Even so, would Zara even fit inside? She seemed like a gigantic serpent.
Trixie crossed her forelegs and glared at Zara’s deceptively innocent face. The idea of going into a python’s tree made her a little on edge, but there was something pestering her to not do any more tricks out in the open.
“Alright, sure, the Great and Powerful Trixie shall perform among the leaves,” she said, accepting her instinct. Trixie was a mare that always trusted her gut, and it worked out well for her so far. “However, remember that I’m a unicorn. Any funny business will get you a magic missile to the face.”
Zara nodded, perfectly aware the danger Trixie posed. It was one of the reasons why she was spending so much time and energy trying to get Trixie to be more comfortable with her rather than taking her in an ambush.
“Of coursssse, of courssssse,” Zara hissed as her tail began to retract back into the canopy until only a straight segment dangled down just barely touching the ground. “You are sssssso kind to keep me company, I wouldn’t dream of harming a hair on your little head. Now, if you come over here, I can use my tail to lift you up.”
With a pouty face, Trixie walked over cautiously to the hanging tail. Up close, she could see the faint outline of muscle underneath Zara’s loose, scaly skin. It moved faintly, as if swinging in a breeze that wasn’t there. With a sigh, Trixie wrapped both forelegs around Zara’s tail. She initially started to climb, but moments later she felt the tip of Zara’s tail wrap around her petite midsection, gripping her belly snugly. Trixie was hoisted up as if she was weightless, and she held onto the dark-splotched tail tightly as she passed through the canopy and into a large, open space in the middle of the crown of the tree. The tail barely flexed; even through the snakeskin, Trixie could feel the sheer power of the muscle underneath its scaly exterior. Looking around, Trixie could see that this tree was bizarre in the sense that leaves seemed to only grow at the ends of the tree’s large, horizontal branches. She could also see that Zara was truly massive. The serpent was weaved in between the branches like a spider’s web, wrapping and criss-crossing back onto herself as her long body climbed the precious few anchor points the tree offered. As Trixie was set down on a particularly wide branch, she thought to herself that Zara had to be 60 ft long, possibly more. What’s more, she noticed that the tail around her belly wasn’t unwrapping from her.
“Um…your tail?” Trixie asked with confusion, looking at Zara’s head as it popped up through the leaves as well.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Zara replied, bringing herself to eye level with Trixie. “I jusssssst think it would be a good idea to keep my tail around your waissssst, just in casssse you losssse your balanccce. Thissss way, I’ll be able to prevent you from falling. If you don’t feel comfortable, you can alwayssssss put your trusssssst in your acrobatic skillsssss…”
Trixie rolled her eyes. Zara had a point, and Trixie hated it.
“No, no, it’s fine,” Trixie began. “The show must go on, no? Just, let the Great and Powerful Trixie decide upon which trick she will use to shock and amaze you.”
Trixie brought her front hoof to her lips; this would definitely be a toughie. She was good at improvising, but without access to her cart, she had little to work with. She’d have to perform a completely magic-based trick, but what? False fireworks? No, that wasn’t an act in and of itself. Magic cards? Again, she’d need at least a deck of playing cards for it to work. Zara didn’t seem too impressed with the last trick, and Trixie thought that she needed something good to wow the pestering python, lest Zara keep begging for more tricks.
“Tell me Trixxxxie,” Zara began, interrupting Trixie’s train of thought. “Do you perform stage hypnosis?”
“Why yes, the Great and Powerful Trixie does, in fact!” Trixie exclaimed. Despite her stage hypnotism being one of her weakest acts, she was more than ready to indulge Zara’s wishes if it meant that she could get the bumbling boa out of her life.
“Would you show me?” Zara asked.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie would be happy to!” Trixie replied.
Trixie closed her eyes and brought her hoof up to her face. With a swish of her horn, a tiny yellow orb of light appeared at the end of her leg. Trixie’s eyes shot open dramatically, and she began to wave the orb back and forth in front of her face. Zara played along, her scaly head shifting back and forth to keep the tiny ball of light at the center of her vision.
“Watch the pretty orb of gold…” Trixie said, sitting on her haunches and waving her free hoof in the air like she was weaving some arcane spell, “…and you will do as you are told!”
With that, Trixie flicked the golden ball into Zara’s face, where it exploded into a burst of magic smoke. In the snake’s head, Trixie’s voice whispered the words “play along”, but Zara felt little else compelling her to obey. She didn’t expect Trixie to have true power like she did, but didn’t know a simple enchantment like this passed for hypnosis in pony communities.
“Ahem, the Great and Powerful Trixie commands you to act like a chicken!”
Zara responded by simply flicking her tongue out, clearly unimpressed.
Trixie stomped the branch with her hoof, starting to get really miffed at this picky python. She lived out in a forest, how could Zara not be impressed by magic? The Say-Sound Spell was difficult to master as it was, let alone combining it with an illusion. Did Zara REALLY expect to be mind controlled? Those kinds of spells are incredibly complicated and access to them is heavily regulated by Royal Authority, for good reason.
“Oh come on!” Trixie shouted in her frustration. “You can’t say that wasn’t dazzling! Couldn’t you at least humor me by playing along with the act? Does nothing please you?”
Zara reared up a tiny bit, acting a little defensive.
“Sssssorry, I didn’t mean to give off that impresssssion,” she replied. “That little ball of light was beautiful, and ssssspeaking directly to my mind did catch me off guard. It’ssss jussst that, well, I think it could be better.”
Trixie half a mind to let Zara know that it was very rude to demand tricks only to demean each and every one, but she held her tongue. She recalled the rope dance, and how Zara was able to show her a new dance for it that was unarguably far better. Perhaps she could let Zara teach her again. After all, nopony would know that her new routine was copied from a giant talking snake!
“Well,” Trixie said, still with a hint of annoyance in her voice, “…what would you suggest then?”
Zara giggled. This was simply delicious! This mare was too proud (or too dumb) to notice that she trotted right into a trap. All Zara needed to do was just seal the deal.
“It’sssss sssssimple really. All you need to do isssss realize that a hypnotic trancccce issss sssupposed to be relaxing,” Zara began. She tilted her head forward a little to give Trixie a good view of her eyes and began to slowly move her head back and forth. “You move your orb of light too quickly and too erratically. You have to establish a ssssslow, sssteady rhythm, like thissssss…”
Trixie pouted, but listened intently. Her eyes went back and forth in her skull, following Zara’s head. She uncrossed her forelegs and moved them to her sides, accidentally placing them on the coil around her waist before quickly moving them up to rest on the light blue fur her body.
“Sorry,” Trixie muttered as she continued to follow Zara’s movements.
“It’ssss no problem,” Zara replied. “But, moving on, poniessss enjoy patternssss. You can capture the attention of the volunteer with them. You want them to be focussssssed on you, so a ssssimple, repeating pattern will help with that.”
From the blackness behind Zara’s slitted pupils, a single bright blue spark appeared in each eye. Like a flame, those sparks grew bigger and bigger, feeding on some unfathomable source from within Zara’s very soul. The blue flame was swallowed by the blackness of her pupils, and soon after Zara’s eyes began to change in color. Shades of blue pulsed across her sclera, overriding its natural luster with rings of soft, ethereal light that immediately caught Trixie’s attention.
“…Like thisssss…” Zara hissed softly.
Trixie’s eyes widened at blue spirals that pulsed through Zara’s gaze. They were like embers, burning away the last layer to proudly display themselves before being consumed by the next color. Trixie didn’t complain when the serpent’s pupils narrowed; she could see more and more of the ever-flowing fountain of enchanting light.
“Impressive…” Trixie said as she stared, not once suspecting that the light from Zara’s eyes had magical properties. To her, they just proved Zara’s point about patterns capturing a pony’s eye. Her hostile frown began to melt as Trixie tried in vain to trace each ring across Zara’s eyes. Every time she tried to focus on one, it seemed to “slip” out of her focus. The colors seeped through the cracks in her brain like water through a sieve, but Trixie felt compelled to constantly chase for the true beauty behind what she was seeing.
“Tell me, how do you do it?” She continued, not noticing that her eyes were subconsciously opening up as widely as they could to better catch every bit of the wonderful light.
“Oh, I ussssse thisssss to help me ssssssee at night,” Zara lied. “It’sssss a power I’ve had ever ssssince I wasssss a hatchling. I’ve jusssst had othersssss tell me that it looksssss pretty. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Trixie was too distracted to notice that her nodding seemed to coincide perfectly with the raising and lowering of Zara’s head.
“Yes…it is…it’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen,” Trixie muttered. Her pupils were beginning to dilate from the incredible light bathing her face, and her lips parsed slightly in awe.
“Oh, you flatter me, Trixie,” Zara said with a cute giggle. “I ssssuppose I can let you look a bit longer, to sssstudy what I wassss talking about.”
“Yes…study…thank you…” Trixie said absentmindedly. The display was just so tantalizing…it wouldn’t hurt to look just a moment longer…
But, a moment turned into a minute, and one minute turned into two. Trixie didn’t notice how her breathing became slower and deeper, or that her forelegs gradually slipped from their position to hang straight down against her sides, or how the coil around her waist just so happened to loosen just enough that they’d slip right inside. All she felt was herself growing more and more calm and relaxed the more the mesmerizing colors washed across her brain. Sapphire…cyan…sky…they tantalized her mind with their incredible beauty. On and on they flowed, with only the dark slits of Zara’s pupils providing a reference point that Trixie diligently followed.
“A…amazing…” Trixie mouthed. She felt compelled to raise her hoof to touch the source of this enchanting power, but her foreleg felt resistance when she tried to move it. It took all of her willpower to glance downwards, away from those infectious lights, only to see Zara’s cool, scaly tail pinning her forelegs to her sides. Her heart began to sink; this was definitely not right.
“Stay focusssssed, Trixxxie,” Zara said, immediately prompting Trixie to snap her head back up and keep gazing into the serpent’s enchanting eyes. Trixie felt confused; why did she feel compelled to do what Zara told her? She should have kept her gaze averted, or closed her eyes, or something!
“Z-Zara…what’s g-going on?” Trixie asked. It was difficult to even string together a full sentence, like she had downed 5 mugs of hard cider. Her horn glowed as she desperately tried to recall the incantation for magic missile. Every time she mentally went through how to use her horn to pluck the strings of the aether, it was pushed out by crashing waves of blue color. Every time she tried to get her bearings, the light swept away her thoughts, leaving over a blissful sea of blue behind. The aura from Trixie’s horn slowly faded as she fought a battle inside her head just to have even a single coherent thought.
“You ssssssseem ssssso high sssstrung, Trixxxxie,” Zara said, never relenting in her mental assault even for a second. “Jusssssssst reeeeeeelaaaaaaaax…”
Zara’s voice boomed in Trixie’s head. It wasn’t loud per say; it just felt unnaturally powerful. The way Zara drew out the syllables in “relax” made it reverberate throughout Trixie’s core. Against her will, she felt her limbs grow numb, and began to slouch like she hadn’t rested in days. Her eyelids dropped as weariness overcame her, only kept open by the overriding need to keep staring into Zara’s hypnotic display.
“P-please…st-stop…” Trixie muttered as she tried to put up as much resistance as she could. The coil pinning her forelegs wasn’t tight at all, but Trixie’s hooves felt like they made of lead. Were it not for the spell, she could have easily lifted her forelegs out, she wagered. Instead, she was cruelly toyed with as the spell made it so that it took all of her might to lift her hooves even a single inch. Even tossing herself over the branch might have been better than the situation she was currently facing, but her hind legs were solidly stuck to the branch. Any sort of exertion seemed completely beyond Trixie’s grasp, no matter how desperately she tried.
“I know,” Zara hissed, a deceptively cute smile on her face, “...why don’t we play a game? Don’t you like to play gamesssssss?”
Trixie’s mouth curled upwards in a small grin and she nodded, following Zara’s movements. She did like to play games…
A flicker of reason sparked in the back of her mind, though, making her remember the danger she was in. Her grin turned back into a frown, and she uttered a groan of defiance.
“It’s called ‘Carefree Coilssssss’ and it’sssssss my favorite game,” Zara said, completely unfazed by Trixie’s meager act of defiance. “The rulesssssss are sssssimple: the more and more I coil you, the more and more carefree you become. Jusssst let all thossssse worriesssss and troublesssss leave your mind, filling it with gentle blisssssss…”
As she spoke, Zara’s tail began to trace itself around Trixie’s body, tickling her through her fur as the scaly tube looped around her midsection, coming to rest right around the bottom of the barrel of her chest for a moment before beginning its third pass around her. Trixie did her best to struggle, but the light from Zara’s eyes beat into her mind. Each twitch, every budge, every shake of her body completely drained Trixie’s energy. She tried moving her mouth to speak, but words left her every time she did. Zara’s voice repeated in her mind, becoming louder and louder the more Trixie’s body was engulfed in a whirlpool of silver scales. Her seductive voice chanted sweet promises of relaxation and comfort, drowning out even the strongest thought from Trixie’s internal monologue. As Zara’s tail wrapped around Trixie’s body a third time, the poor mare found herself questioning why she was feeling so worried in the first place. She could no longer remember her fear; it had slipped her mind much like the details of some random daydream, supplanted by endless waves of enchanted blue crashing against the shore of her mind. By now, Zara’s coils were starting to get thick around Trixie’s middle, pushing the rest of her serpentine bands upwards along Trixie’s body. Even if she was fully conscious, the sheer serpentine strength of her bindings would have left Trixie completely at Zara’s mercy regardless.
As Zara’s tail came around for a fourth time to press up underneath Trixie’s chin, her panicked expression had completely melted into a completely vacant one. Her mouth hung ajar as both her body and mind approached complete relaxation. She felt like she was drowning in those mesmerizing blue rings, unable to feel anything but the sweet bliss the voices in her head described. Her gaze followed Zara’s eyes without hesitation, now desiring as much of that sweet mental ambrosia as possible. Trixie no longer felt any need to escape, in fact she was in no condition to actually think about any plan that didn’t involve letting her mind wisp away into nothingness.
“Ah…a….ahp…” Trixie uttered with the last of her free will, vocalizing the numbing chaos that swam in her mind.
“Jussst hush, my dear,” Zara said as the end of her tail curled up and wrapped around Trixie’s mouth, giving the poor mare a scaly gag.
Zara’s coils began to press in gently, squeezing Trixie just enough to massage her weary body. Though Trixie’s expression remained motionless, her body sang with pleasure as Zara’s coils slowly corkscrewed around her, wringing out her last bits of free will like she was a towel. Unable to speak, unable to move, and thinking only of eternal bliss, Trixie finally fell into a trance. Her own spiraling eyes defocused and her mind went completely blank except for the ever repeating pattern of blue pulsing over and over again in her mind’s eye.
“Sssssssee? You’re ssssssso good at that game,” Zara said to the thoughtless mare. The sly serpent’s mesmerizing spell was no longer necessary, and her eyes returned to their mundane shade of blue. Her silver-scaled head orbited around Trixie, who stood stock and still in her meaty bindings. Trixie was indeed quite pretty, and there was something about her personality that resonated with Zara. Perhaps it was the satisfaction of conquering such a proud and confident mare. Perhaps it was the glee of luring her into a trap with her being oblivious at every turn. Also…she was unusually skinny. Now that Zara had Trixie in her coils, she could feel just how thin the poor mare was. Trixie’s bones dug into Zara’s pliant snakeskin; the serpent wondered just how often the magician actually ate. Either way, Zara simply didn’t feel that Trixie would be fit as a meal, at least for now. Besides, keeping her around would open up so many more…opportunities…
“I sssssuppose we should begin your reprogramming now,” Zara said, playfully pressing her cheek against the entranced Trixie’s. “There issssss sssssso much to be done!”
