It had been little over three months since the wedding, the last thing Ruby and I had spoken of before going to bed back then after the stroll around town and the afterparty was the lamia ‘marking’. Ruby had told me simply and plain.

“It’s up to me when it happens, and I have a few ideas, I just need to gather a few things.” And I could see the faintest of flushes on her cheeks… I had a rough idea of what was planned.

I expected Ruby to just drop down on me suddenly every time I came home (that still feels odd to say) but she never did… So, we almost began a set routine. I would wake up most days and head into town, for the first couple days wedding guests lingered to explore, but soon had to return home. Twilight and Luna stayed behind for a while naturally, Twilight digging through the building that had been identified as the library, trying to find a full book other than occasional scraps of old books, pages, odd notes and battered scrolls, but she soon had to leave, taking what she had recovered to study. Though she did ask those clearing the site to send her anything tangible, even if it was just a sentence or two, it could lead to some great discoveries of the lamias’ past.

Finally, Luna remained for a month, helping me settle in as joint mayor of Shady Grove, it was… Stressful. I kept worrying I’d fail and screw up on the first day but I appreciated the help Luna provided and once most of the construction was certified there was little to do for a while. Until the town actually had a community and homes for traders to live in there was no need to contact and keep up to date with other towns. With me now informed on what to do, Luna soon took her leave. So, for the last two months I would go in once or twice a week to check things were settled, occasionally writing short letters to Luna to tell her everything was running smoothly or for help if I wasn’t certain on a decision.

Upon realising that she didn’t need to go into an office to help me run the town now I’d got the hang of it, Ruby quickly set up her own business in our house. A small personal business; a hypno-therapy masseuse. It was just a sneaky way for Ruby to earn bits and get to coil ponies, but she did seem to take it relatively seriously. Ensuring she had good products to use, which were only obtainable from Las Pegasus currently, she also bought two folding gel pad beds, bright blue things for ponies to lay on who might not be all too comfortable with a giant snake wrapping them up.

Ruby got a little side piece with Note’s as advertisement, who now lives here and acts as the reporter for the town to the papers across Equestria and got the nickname ‘Lamia Charmer’ though he admits he knows who the charmers are to us.

Similar to me as Mayor, Ruby found little success at first, most ponies didn’t mind meeting us, but trying out a lamia massage with only Ruby and the customer around didn’t put many at ease nor make them eager for it. So, for the first week and a half Ruby just read a selection of massage treatment books Twilight had sent her, a little dejected, in the spare room on the second floor across from our bedroom. She called it her ‘Forest of bliss’. I admit, I did try it a couple times and paid her to make her feel better, trying her ‘Scale sea’ treatment, where she used one coil to treat my back and hooves in a swaying motion like the waves of a tide and her favourite she’d made up; ‘Protective encasement’ which is a full sealed cocoon that can target any part of the body, though I imagine it being a little more extreme for first timers. On her little pamphlet that she had made it read ‘Block out the hardships and stress of the world in a world of blissful, muscular coils and scales’. It was really nice and I had to be left for a little while before my body woke enough to move.

Ruby got her lucky break when a Canterlot pony visited, also her first customer beside myself or Note, upon hearing the rumour of a lamia offering massages, no competition yet and it sound exotic to her most likely so why not try it with her empty week. Ruby was all charm, her voice was smooth, soft yet commanding as I listened from the bedroom I felt oddly calm and at peace and I kept reading the same line like I was stuck on auto pilot. The Canterlot pony was all high and might, and a little rude, acting like her time was precious and Ruby ought to be paying her for the visit, but she stayed calm and offered the treatment selection. Ruby managed to convince her to try some coil pads and work up when she was comfortable, the unsuspecting mare also chose hypnosis, scoffing at the idea her mind could be dominated.

About two hours later, when the session she’d paid for ended, the way the mare spoke and acted almost made me think Ruby had another client. She stood with jiggly legs and relaxed eyes and a vague smile, a glazed gaze and she quivered as Ruby curled a coil around her neck ‘suggesting’ she should put in a good word for her. The mare just nodded, droning to herself how good it had all felt, yet confused as if she couldn’t remember it correctly. I just smirked at Ruby’s innocent smile as the mare left.

After that it wasn’t uncommon for me to find a pony or two at home in the Forest, which Ruby soon decorated to fit the name, with a tree printed wall paper, a canopy ceiling and a forest floor carpet, even getting some nice plants and flowers to make the place smell sweeter. Ruby seemed rather happy, even if almost every treatment was Scale sea’s or coil pads, she did occasionally manage to cocoon a pony when they provided her with a letter saying they had a bad back. Ruby was able to set their bones painlessly in place again with a dab of hypnosis to draw their minds away from the discomfort and pain. She got really popular but only worked the last three days of the week, so she was in demand as the best masseuse. I still never caught her implanting that idea into pony’s minds, but I knew… We both knew yet nopony was upset nor was it really a lie at this point, so it wasn’t doing any harm, why stop something ponies were enjoying?

And that was what life became, Ruby and I would generally work Friday to Sunday on our own jobs, and spend the start of the week doing as we pleased. Every so often we’d walk around town watching it grow out like a nurtured plant. A big deal was made of almost everything, the first house, first block of houses, first set of apartments, a bed and breakfast pub, the bank, which everywhere else is just a source of evil bankers, actually got a big deal out of it too! Finally, a few shops opened up and with someplace to stay a few tourists began to trickle in for the late spring to early summer relaxation. Construction at the town hall had been finished in the second month, up until then I just used the living room table, and with tourists the work began to pick up. Organising relationships with towns, businesses and taxes (That was ‘fun’ thankfully we don’t need too much to maintain the town yet so it’s low enough that I don’t feel my soul burning yet) took most of my time, and Ruby began to notice whenever she got near that I was tense. However, recently she just smiled and didn’t hypnotise me to bed or even coil me up, I actually had to use the chairs in the living room!

“Have I upset you?” I asked after a couple nights of this.

“No… I just want you craving for next Monday.” That was all she said and all I wouldn’t get more out of her until that day.

Author's Notes:

Epilogue 2 is ready, just need to proof read, probably be out later today or tomorrow :)