There are many, haunting, stories told of the denizens of the Everfree Forest. Multi-headed reptilian beasts, animalistic mixtures with arcane powers, and wooden minions are just a few. These are told to the youngest of foals as truths to heed with caution. As such, there is rarely intrusion into the deep woods, and the occupants continue with their lives unabated. The more fearful tales never find an ear to be spoken about, are never made into scratches of ink upon a page, and are forgotten very soon. It is foolish, then, to wander so deeply into the thick forest and believe that everything is learnt from books.
 
Panic had already set in for the young, studious, unicorn. She stepped anxiously through the blanket of fog that swam up to her knees. Beneath her was mere grass, obscured by the silver mist to make the footing treacherous. She was here, alone, to collect Honeycomb Sap for her alchemy practises. The purple pony was well versed in most forms of magic, which she felt would keep those only spoken-of mysteries at bay if they dared approach. Teleportation was a specialty of hers, and it made this excursion less terrifying. Twilight kept it half-cast, ready to dissipate at the crack of a tree branch or the growl of a timberwolf.
 
Her hoof struck something that was neither rock, nor wood. Its shape was not visible through the mist that had become thicker. The only light came from the crescent moon that barely cut through the numerous trees and foliage above her, the glow of her horn with that spell, and the opal eyes that had been watching her. Twilight took a step back, and her heart pounded in her chest. She inhaled, then blew the top layer of the fog away. It would only gain her a second’s glimpse, and she hoped that it was merely a moss-covered log that she could joke about later. Twilight took another step back when the oceanic blue shape was marginally revealed. For a few more moments she had her calculative, investigative, mind, and could identify the epidermal layer of something that was quickly shut out of her thoughts.
 
Twilight recoiled with a loud cry of shock. It couldn’t be. They didn’t grow to this size. Her pupils contracted as her eyes scanned over what she saw. Dorsal scales of a main blue with a regular, rounded, rectangle of an even darker shade that it might as well have been the night-sky. Only one animal possessed these. A snake. Twilight’s mouth dried up, and her heart-beat skyrocketed. Her mind ran over and over it, time and time again to try and disprove the sights that she had seen. A slender, rounded, tip rose from the knee-length fog and turned towards her as though it had a head and sight. The last thought of the unicorn was that this was not the head of the serpent, and merely a decoy to distract her.
 
She whipped around, turning her back on the end of the serpent. The head was already protruding from behind a towering trunk. It was then that the panic overwhelmed her, and she could not even scream. Emerging into the light was another pony, with his short fur the same blue as that terrifying serpent’s scales. Green, messy hair trailed down from his head to rest on his hips. Below those hips were no legs, but the morphing from equine to large, muscular, serpent. He dwarfed the old maple tree in both length and girth, with a disappearing tail that was more than Twilight’s height in thickness. The unicorn trembled on the spot as he slithered towards her. His pony upper-half never touched the ground as the huge length kept him aloft.
 
Sine cooly observed the tiny pony standing shivering in the middle of his trap. The glowing purple light had been easy to stalk from afar, as the shadows it cast were deep. Sine liked his dark forest, and the light would have to be extinguished. His tail-tip rose again, ready to strike the figure whose eyes had been reduced to nothing but terrified pin-pricks. On her face was a supremely terrified expression. Wide, unblinking, eyes. Mouth held agape. Eyebrows raised high and slanted towards the turned down ears. Sine recognised her reaction. He had seen it many times before, and would see it many times again. His own face was blank, steady, and emotionless as she stood there, panting and sweating, until his coils crashed into her.
 
In a second, his tail-tip had darted forward and looped around the sharp, glowing, horn. The light was smothered instantly, with just a deep spark of amethyst shooting from the tip. Like lavender lightning, it lit up the terrifying expression that had slithered closer. Sine flung forwards the sheer mass of his muscular bulk from the dreadfully long tail that was swiftly closing in. Pile after pile flowed in past the trunks of bark, trapping her inside the small clearing. Less than a second later, the purple pony was pushed to the ground, forcing her to collapse where half a loop of one solitary coil laid its muscle down over her body. Sine could smell the fear in the air that poured off the petrified pony like water. For a second, his typically blank face twisted into that of a hungry, starving, drooling, predator. Baring sharp teeth and furious eyes, Sine closed in on his smothered prey. In the glow of her sparking horn, he must have seemed a voracious monster.
 
The weight was tremendous. Twilight was only slim, and did not fare well, physically, just like all mages. The air was driven from her lungs, crushed out by the mere pressure of the monster’s long tail. In her paralysed state, Twilight barely noticed that the monster’s scales and muscles continued to move and re-adjust to her miniscule shape. He seemed to be drawing her underneath in an eagerness to crush any lasting resistance from her. Her throat clenched up, making her unable to draw a breath in fright even if the giant’s tail were not clutching her. Her stare switched between the blue coils and the face of the terrifying hybrid as if she was not sure whether to focus on either one. All around her was the terrible thumping of the serpentine coils drawing in closer and landing heavily against the foggy grass.
 
Twilight hacked a cough from a compressed throat. The motion was quite unconscious on her part. The fear had overwhelmed her from the very second she had realised the size of the snake. Amongst her friends, who seemed so far away now, she was frequently teased about it. Loose strands of pasta or knitted recreations were common methods, but sometimes they’d be more elaborate. They’d have a giggle and a laugh, but there was no breath to chortle now. Twilight’s eyes began to glaze over, and the edges of her vision blurred.
 
There was a scraping grind of his tail moving. Twilight’s limp body was hoisted off the ground with no resistance. A bare whimper leaked from her lips. She left the fog by Sine’s volition, and was placed on top of one of his numerous, huge coils. For a second, the pressure alleviated. It was a temporary relief from the strain. Temporary, for as she settled on a scaled surface as wide as she was tall, it curled around her back, and began to squeeze. Everything from her neck down was covered by the folding swathe of muscle and blue scales. Twilight’s eyes lost focus, and the coils pushed up at her chin.  
Sine slid around until his face was almost pressed against the silly pony. His expression was back to its static, observing, almost uninterested look. Sine enjoyed this part. It was interesting to see how they reacted to the sheer pressure. His tail rolled over her horn, keeping the magic spell from activating. He had little knowledge of magic, but preferring the mages, as their weakness was even more evident when his coils began to tighten. He could feel her body in his grip. They were quite fragile, but he liked to keep them in one piece. This capture was for the look of their faces. Hers was nice. Drooping ears, a purple tinge to her already violet face from the fear and slow strangulation, and an unconscious drool that dripped down his scales.
 
She twitched lightly. He kept her struggles down without trying. Perhaps a little tighter. Until the sun rose.