“Expected to cross over so easily?” One of the pit mares asked after Ruby and I had been moved aside.

The mares who had, apparently, dug their own hidden fox holes to ambush us were our guards, they were both dark brown like dirt with deep grass green hair, the first had a shovel as a cutie mark the other a pickaxe.

“Somehow I’d actually managed to kid myself into thinking that, yes.” Pickaxe chuckled.

“Are you a changeling?” The pickaxe mare asked.

“Private, we don’t speak to prisoners.” The leader muttered, glancing over from writing a letter.

“Yes Sergeant… He’s writing to the high ranks back in Canterlot.” The shovel mare said.

“Why?” Ruby asked.

“I need permission to bring you in… Or orders to execute.” The Sergeant muttered.

“Our laws don’t allow execution!” I said.

“He’s messing with you, Bolt.” Ruby whispered the Sergeant chuckled softly then wrapped the letter in his magical aura and teleported it away.

“He’s actually sending that to get somepony who knows the changeling check spell, he doesn’t know it.” The shovel mare whispered audibly to me.

“I am fully aware of how to cast the spell and capable, I simply need permission.” The Sergeant grumbled. Ruby, the twins and I chuckled softly.

Several minutes past and I continued to tap my hooves on the ground.

“Hay, you’re what ponies call a lamia right?” One of the bored Pegasi guards asked, Ruby nodded slightly “Is it true you can hypnotise ponies?” Another nod.

“That’s so cool, you can make somepony do anything?” The pickaxe mare asked.

“Well, I suppose so. I’ve never really tested the limits.” The shovel mare leaned forward.

“Can you hypnotise the Sergeant?” She asked softly the few ponies within earshot grinned. Ruby nodded and the ponies muttered encouragingly .

“Ruby I don’t know if this is such a good idea…” I whispered Ruby grinned.

“Well, we’ll likely be here a while it’ll pass the time. And come on, you wanna see what it looks like from another ponies perspective, right?” I sighed but nodded, I was curious to see how hypnosis worked.

“Hay Sergeant.” Pickaxe called.

“What is it Private?” He looked over and Ruby must have started up the hypnosis.

The sergeant blinked in confusion.

“What are you… Doing?” He asked.

His pupils slowly shrank into pin pricks he eyes twitched and his pupils shook as if fighting. Then the sergeant’s jaw dropped and spirals began to dominate his eyes. The Sergeant swayed but remained where he was, her started off with a pair of slowly pulsing colours in his eyes but then a third joined and they sped up. Soon he had rapidly changing rainbow coloured spirals in his eyes, it was amazing to see for myself.

“Is that how I look?” I whispered to Ruby.

“No, you look cute hypnotised.” She answered. The Sergeant snapped and he slowly began to smile as his surrendered his will.

“Whoa cool, so you can tell him to do anything?” Shovel asked walking up to her superior and waving a hoof in front of his face.

“Pretty much, though he can’t tell us anything, he’s limited to anything I can put in his mind, everything else in locked up with his will.” Ruby explained.

“So what should we make him do?” One soldier asked.

“Something REALLY humiliating would be good.” Pickaxe said.

“Oh, make him do some stupid dancing, I wanna see that!” Shovel said.

Ruby gave the order and the Sergeant stood up and began doing some very sluggish silly dance moves. We all burst out laughing at the grinning mindless Sergean, we then made him believe he was a filly at a tea party. Finally our fun ended when a return letter was sent back. One of the Corporals picked it up whilst the Sergeant continued to talk to ‘Lieutenant Fluffernant’.

“Er-I think we need to wake him up… The reply is… Critical.” She said I glanced at the reply and my mouth went dry..

A dark blue circle with a white crescent moon wax seal was on the parchment symbolising the writer.

“Ruby… Wake him up, now.” I whispered darkly.

“Why who’s it from?” She asked.

“Just wake him up.” Ruby blinked but told the Sergeant to wake up none the less.

He wasn’t pleased, he growled at Ruby, who flashed a few spirals causing him to flinch and shut up. He took the letter and saw the seal, he glanced at his soldiers and opened it.

“What’s it say sir?” Pickaxe asked.

“Six words: Bring them to Canterlot castle now.” The Sergeant looked at us both.

“Get in a circle around the wagon and prepare to teleport.” He barked.

The non-unicorns, Pegasi and Earth ponies, scrambled into a loose formation around my wagon, Ruby and I were pushed in the centre of them all. Then the Unicorns formed a square around us with large spaces between them. Their horns lit up and the whole area I was stood in, as well as the ponies and Ruby, began to magically glow. I felt myself lift off the ground, my wagon tipped to one side as it raised up and I heard a few things clattering inside.

“Just great.” I mumbled to myself.

Ruby however was enjoying the weightlessness. She was lying on her back as if on an invisible hammock, she grinned at me then we disappeared in a bright flash of multi-coloured magic.

I had thought we’d appear someplace with a load of royal guards, when in actual fact we arrived in a large room. It was completely empty, circular in shape, with fuzzy glass, you know those ones you look through and everything looks blurry, like the ones in bathrooms so you have light but also privacy. The only thing in the room was a long line of banners hanging from the ceiling, the left side was a bright golden sun on a white flag while the right had dark blue with a white crescent moon on it. I glanced around and gasped. Standing before our square formation was a dark blue pony, her mane was night sky blue with purple rims and it had STARS in it and it was moving like rippling mist! Real constellations and everything. She stood exactly eye level with me, above average height obviously, she wore a jet black necklace with a crescent moon and her cutie mark was the same, perched on her head, just behind her horn, was a jet black crown. The pony ruffled her wings, then smiled at our party. We’d been summoned by Princess Luna.

The party assembled all bowed to the princess, myself included, except Ruby who stared in confusion. I grabbed Ruby’s shoulder and pulled her down into a bow. Luna chuckled softly.

“Rise, my little ponies.” She said softly. We did as she asked.

“Who is she?” Ruby whispered to me.

“I’ll be the one to introduce myself, please, if you’ll give me a minute to speak to my troops.” Lune turned to the Sergeant “Report.” He nodded.

“As we informed the Captain yesterday we had discovered a campfire out in the badlands, since we don’t have jurisdiction to go out that far we decided to wait and see what they did. The pair attempted to cross over to Equestria, as you can clearly see one of them is an inhabitant of the badlands, rightly so.” Pickaxe chuckled softly and leaned towards Luna.

“He’s just grouchy because she made him think he was a filly at a tea party.” She whispered.

“Be quiet Private!” The Sergeant barked a clear shade of red. Luna held her mouth with a hoof, her eyes twinkling as she tried not to laugh.

“Very well, thank you Sergeant for taking the necessary actions. However I don’t think the stallion is a changeling, considering present company it wouldn’t really affect him if he was in disguise. But to be sure…”

Luna’s horn began to glow and something like a scanning beam flashed across my head and down my body to my hooves. When the light faded nothing had happened.

“There, the spell failed he is a normal pony. Sergeant you and your soldiers may return to your station, inform another team to take the border patrol, you’ve all earned a break… But if I may, will you stay, miss?” Luna asked nodding to Pickaxe.

She nodded and the other guards and her sister left, Shovel cast a look at her sister nervously and Pickaxe smiled encouragingly.

When it was just the four of us Luna turned to Pickaxe.

“You said the lamia made the Sergeant think he was,” Luna chuckled “At a tea party. Can you describe what she did?” Pickaxe shifted nervously.

“I have nothing I can think of to compare it to other than hypnosis, that’s what it looked like. I didn’t directly look at her so I dunno but… The Sergeant’s eyes basically started changing with pulsing rings then he started smiling and then we messed with him.” Pickaxe said slowly looking nervously at Ruby.

“Yes that sounds about right… Thank you, you may leave as well now I imagine your sister outside is worried.” Lune said Pickaxe smiled and left, sure enough I could see Shovel hugging her as the door closed.

“Now… You two.” I gulped.

“Follow me.” Luna said walking towards the same door Pickaxe had just gone through, but when we went through she was already gone.

“What about my wagon, how are we going to get it out of the castle, will it fit through the door?” I asked, Luna smiled.

“We got it in, I’m sure we can get it out.” She said simply.

Luna led us through various hallways of Canterlot castle, patrolling guards dropped their spears in surprise and backed away from Ruby, others stared their weapons lowering as they gaped. Ruby didn’t seem very comfortable with all this. At one point however I managed to push her mind from the situation.

“Hold on please, Princess, I’d like to show Ruby this.” The pair stood beside me “Say hello to Canterlot Ruby.” I whispered, Ruby gasped.

The tops of the multi-coloured buildings below the castle shone in the mid-morning sunlight, from here we could see little ant sized ponies going about their daily business, the majority dressed up as if the gala was going to happen today. But we were more focused on the beauty of the place, the bright white, blue and gold as well as the soft green grass.

“It’s amazing.” Ruby whispered softly.

“Wait till you see someplace without all the nobles showing off.” Luna said “Yes, Canterlot is pretty, but I always preferred Ponyville, so much cuter… Maybe because life is simpler there.” Luna muttered to herself absentmindedly “Anyway, we should move on. Come along.” She said continuing on her way, we followed behind after a final glance at Canterlot.

We entered what I assumed was Luna’s bedroom, it was like walking into the night sky, if that was possible. The carpet was the colour of grass at night and deeper shadowing gave the image of hills, the walls were deep dark blue night sky with constellations running up the wall and the ceiling was dominated by a full moon. Luna’s room had a number of small bookshelves and draws. A small desk sat in one corner, beside a window with a circle of starts around the curtains drawn closed, with a small pile of papers and a quill in a bottle of ink. Against the wall opposite the door was a large circular bed with moon white curtains around it, in the middle of the room were a bunch of throw pillows tossed about like seats, everything seemed to represent some form of the night and the world under its gentle light.

“Wow, this place is really pretty.” Ruby said softly glancing around.

“Thank you, I quite like seeing the stars even during the day.” Luna said softly.

Luna walked over to the throw pillows and sat down, Ruby sat down, pulling her tail around herself, but I remained standing, trying to catch Ruby’s eye.

“You may sit, sir.” Luna said politely I did and kept my head bowed slightly.

“Apologies, Princess. My name is Boltblood Thundercloud… But Bolt is shorter. My friend here is Ruby Scales.” I said mentally slapping myself for not introducing ourselves. Luna and Ruby shared a small smile with each other.

“What’s so funny?” I asked looking at Ruby.

“Nothing Bolt, nothing.” Ruby said with a slight grin.

Luna looked between the two of us, when she looked at Ruby she looked sad.

“I am several thousand years old, only slightly younger than my sister,” Luna stated, Ruby and I glanced at each other.

“Well… For a millennia you’re doing pretty good Princess.” Ruby said with a slight smile, Luna chuckled softly and shook her head.

“Sorry, what I meant is, I have been around for a long time. I have seen and learnt much, even some things I wish I had not, and I know a lot about lamias as a race.” Luna smiled sadly at Ruby “I was even around when your race was sent to the badlands… Do you know why you now live in the badlands?” Luna asked Ruby who shook her head.

“No, I always believed we’d been driven out with pitchforks and torches because we were… Abnormal.” Luna shook her head.

“No, I remember, once, your race was quite friendly. You helped ponies who were stressed or afraid, relaxing them with… Unique techniques. You were also great land transporters, able to travel lighter since your body could go longer without having to be weighed down with packs of food.” Luna looked at Ruby’s tail as she said this.

“What happened, to drive them out?” I asked.

“One lamia, a single lamia, decided that his powers were better suited to controlling ponies to his will. He hypnotised many ponies in secret and twisted his own body into a weapon, then charged Canterlot… He failed. His mindless slaves were returned to normal after one hit and they were incredibly sluggish in movement. But it was actually the lamias who fought him back, since nopony could approach without suffering his gaze and switching sides, but they were not affected. Driven out of Equestria he disappeared, to I do not know where… But the lamias were not looked at the same by anypony again… Not even themselves.” I blinked.

“Wait the lamias… Drove themselves out?” I asked Luna nodded.

“Afraid that history would repeat, they packed up. Several ponies, who were married to lamias at the time, left with them. They were not chased out but left as heroes who had protected their allies, friends and families… But, like most things, ponies forgot about them as time went on until they were strange stories or stereotypes of the badlands.” Luna finished.

Luna then looked at me.

“From what I have gathered from the Sergeant, and my own personal guards, reports say you came from a lamia town, which I am surprised has even formed considering how they lived recently judging from reports my sister gathered. Can you tell me if they still seem like the majority of their old selves?” Luna asked me.

I glanced at Ruby and thought back, while the ponies in their care were not very well looked after when I arrived they were willing to improve how they cared for them, even let them return home… They were just afraid to be alone, likely how they’d grown up. And then there was Diamond and Sunny, Diamond willing to help anypony or anything seemed like how Luna had described the old lamias and Sunny… She was a leader willing to become the bad guy to be the good guy. But there was Midnight… But I wouldn’t judge them all upon her. I looked at Luna and nodded, she smiled.

“Now a much more difficult question… How much do you trust Ruby?”

I paused and looked at Ruby, who was suddenly very interested in the star patterns on the wall, but her ears were perked up, straining to listen.

I thought over everything Ruby and I had done together, starting all the way back to our rocky meet up. My first counter that I might not fully trust her was her hypnotising me… But didn’t I trust her now doing that to me. What about getting me enslaved? Well I was sat here talking to my Princess on my home turf with Ruby covered in the injuries for earning my freedom. Finally I made my decision.

“I would trust Ruby with my life.” I said softly Ruby’s ears twitched and she stared at me, I smiled slightly and Luna smirked.

“Well… We’ll see.” She said mysteriously.

“What do you mean?” Ruby asked Luna smirked.

“Hypnotise him.” Ruby blinked “If you trust her with your life, your mind is okay to submit. I need to know you believe she will not bring you any harm before I let her travel around Equestria.” Luna said.

“You’re going to let us go… Just like that?” I asked Luna nodded, Ruby smiled slightly. This seemed easy enough.

Ruby turned to me, shifting her tail getting comfortable.

“You know what to do.” Ruby whispered softly as her eyes began to swirl softly with pulsing colours.

We were almost touching noses and the close proximity aided Ruby’s hypnosis. My mouth hung open after a couple seconds and my body became limp, Ruby smirked and her tail curled around my neck, all thoughts evaporated from my head and I smiled faintly. Ruby leaned forward and gently kissed the bridge of my nose then turned to Luna.

“There, done.” She said Luna chuckled softly.

“We aren’t done yet.” She said “I want you to eat him.” Ruby gasped.

“W-What?” She asked nervously.

“Eat him, then spit him out.” Luna ordered. Ruby looked at me hungrily, she leaned closed to my face.

“I’m sorry,” Luna continued to watch on “But I refuse.” Luna blinked in surprise and Ruby faced her “I’m not going to eat him, not without his say, I refuse.” She said defiantly.

If I’d had any thoughts of my own, I’d of thought Luna would be furious, instead she smiled.

“You truly care about his feelings then… Very well, you have passed my test, you may travel Equestria.” Luna’s horn glowed and a roll of dark blue parchment with a crescent moon seal appeared “Just encase somepony bothers you this should clear it up. Now I’ll help you get Bolt’s wagon into the courtyard.” Luna said standing up.

Ruby seemed to have no plans to release me from the hypnosis any time soon, she wrapped a coil around my neck like a leash and led me sluggishly through the castle. We encountered a few guards and Ruby would drop the collar and take my hoof instead when we did, eventually we made it to the room we’d arrived in.

“Oh, the wagons damaged. I hate to ask Luna but could you help…”.

“Of course, I’ll have a craftspony come around today and fix it.” Luna began to cover the wagon in her dark blue magical aura still talking “I know you may not like it but, would you mind waiting until nightfall, when most ponies are asleep before traveling through Canterlot. I’m sure a lot of other towns and cities will be friendlier but I do not want to panic the ponies here as they are… Less adapt to the unusual.”

“You mean they’re snobs who only like the high class.” Ruby said and Luna chuckled.

“That is an accurate assumption.” She said with a grin as the wagon disappeared.

“I’ll show you where I teleported it, call the craftspony and have somepony bring you some supplies, since you ran out at the party.” Luna said then coughed nervously but she’d spoken.

“How did you know about that?” Ruby asked, Luna smirked.

“Maybe in the future, dear Ruby. But today is not a good day to give out my secrets I’m afraid… I wish the two of you luck and… Inform Sunny that she has the right to let her citizens into Equestria, but only cross the border during the day. Also tell her I’ll contact her how they can do that, when you next visit home.” Something else that confused us was that she knew Sunny, but Luna started walking before Ruby could interrogate her. Ruby looked at me.

“She is almost as an interesting mystery as you… Almost.” Ruby said following behind Luna.

She brought us to the castle doors, which I’d only ever seen from the distance outside, and opened them to the Canterlot guards, a small road twisting slightly down to the castle gates. My wagon was parked in the shadows of some bushes and trees but looked quite cute. Luna left with a nod and smile and Ruby led me over there, holding my hoof under the gaze of the guards.

I imagine it would have felt strange to be back in my wagon if I had the space in my mind to feel strange, but I was too busy enjoying the hypnosis high. Ruby led me into the bedroom and piled her tail along the floor like a bean bag, she pushed me down onto my stomach facing her and her eyes began to light up into deep pulsing colours again. My mouth hung open in a blissful smile and my tail swished slowly backwards and forwards, making Ruby giggle. Ruby held out her hooves and I sluggishly reached for them, sitting up slightly and leaning over the pile of coils, taking her hooves she pulled me into a hug falling backwards so I lay on top of her. Ruby grinned up at me as my hooves kept me up, one either side of her head. Ruby’s eyes stopped pulsing returning to normal.

“Wake up Bolt.” She purred, I blinked a couple times as my mind returned to normal, I stared down at Ruby, who grinned at me as I took in the situation.

“Hi.” I managed Ruby chuckled and I pushed back away from her.

“Is that all you have to say?” She asked.

“No, why didn’t you let me go form the hypnosis?” I asked.

“You upset you didn’t get to say goodbye to your Princess?” The way she said it made me feel foalish.

I grumpily walked out of the bedroom and searched around my kitchen, Ruby following with a mischievous grin. The majority of my stuff had been taken at the party but raw ingredients and more plain stuff had survived the raid.

“Want a cake for dinner… I don’t think I can make much else.” I said Ruby smiled.

“Sure Bolt, that’s fine.” Ruby said.

Ruby watched, having learnt not to bother me whilst doing my thing, from the table but she seemed more focused on me than the cake.

“What’s up?” I finally asked, Ruby blinked.

“Nothing, just trying to think of a way to convince you to do something with me.” She said waving a hoof in a casual way “I’ll tell you after the cake, alright.” Ruby promised, I nodded slightly as I set the cake within the oven.

The simple Victoria sponge was good, but my mind was occupied by others things at this point. Namely the things Luna let slip and directly told us, her knowledge of Ruby’s home and Sunny. While I doubted the Princess of the night, or even day if Celestia was involved, which I assumed she was from the few things Luna let slip, I was still worried that if somepony could keep tabs on Ruby’s home, what was stopping others? I stared out the window beside the table, the view was mostly greenery and a few flowers in the patches of grass. Ruby finished before me and joined me in silent thinking, but our thoughts were likely dead different.

“Hay Bolt,” Ruby suddenly said.

“Hmm, what is it, Ruby?” I asked looking back at her, Ruby was gently massaging her own tail, I wondered if she did that when nervous because she looked like she was.

“Would you mind helping me with something?” She asked.

“What?” Ruby tapped her hooves together.

“I-I’ll tell you a minute it’s sort of awkward.” She said blushing.

“If it’s embarrassing you can do it alone if you prefer.” Ruby shook her head.

“No, I need somepony to help me I can’t do it alone.”

“What? You can’t do what alone?” I asked Ruby looked at me a faint shade of red.

“Shed.” I blinked.

“You shed, like a normal snake?” I asked Ruby nodded but considering how she’d started off talking she seemed a lot more comfortable.

“Yeah it’s normally really itchy and difficult to do alone, but with some help maybe you could help me pull the old skin off.”

The first clue I should have noticed was that she seemed too comfortable, no signs of uncomfortable itching, but I assumed it only itched when starting to shed or if left too long. Eventually I agreed and Ruby stood up leading the way cheerily to the bedroom, I followed behind. Ruby pulled her tail along the floor as I closed the door.

“Alright, what do you need me to do?” I asked.

Immediately I knew something was wrong, Ruby had her eyes closed but she was grinning widely… And not in any particularly playful way like she normally did, she looked… Intimidating.

Ruby opened her eyes as her horn lit up, I half expected spirals but her eyes remained purple, but they had lost her cute twinkle, they seemed rather cold without it. I heard something like crunching frost and whipped around to see the door handle being covered in frost and ice, Ruby’s magical aura around the ice. I gripped the handle and leaned against the door but it didn’t so much as shake a few little flakes of snow off. I looked at Ruby and she grinned baring her fangs.

“Ruby… What are you doing, this isn’t funny if this is a joke,” I said my ears folding against my head in fear “I thought you said you wanted help shedding.” I realised how stupid that sounded immediately.

“You know I lied… But not about needing somepony’s help… I just specifically needed a stallion.” Ruby said slowly. I backed against the door and gulped and silently prayed for help that would never come.

Author's Notes:

So we finally get to see our first canon character! YAY! And I build some story around lamias That will be very important later! :3 And then Ruby goes crazy... You're all hoping I'm going to use that tag I've put on but haven't used yet aren't ya? Well, I might just make Bolt escape and lock Ruby in! >:3