Just where were they… they had to be around her someplace. Mercury Shine had seen them a week before on a trot through the Everfree; a special herb that only grew in the heart of the forest, far away from the magic of pony-folk. They had a plethora of unique alchemical applications, the perfect reagent to have on hoof in her stores.
 
She casts about with her hooves, careful not to disturb any dangerous plants so deep in the forest, focusing intently and looking for the tiny leafed plant- scarce any bigger than a clover, as she recalled. Her forehoof brushed back and forth, sweeping plants and weeds away in her search- but strangely she hits a chunk of stone with a clack against the hard of her hoof.
 
The mare blinks, turning her gaze upward to investigate what she had walked into in her obliviousness, nearly jumping out of her skin when her eyes meet the shimmering rubies of a vicious snake!
 
“W-wah!” She yelps, stumbling back before she realizes it was only an unusually lifelike statue of that serpent… beautiful in jade, with two marvelous gems set into its eyes that seemed to glow with a radiant hue in the light. Her eyes locked in with those gems… how curious they looked, why would such a thing be out here she wondered.
 
Her mind wanders, but seems to come back to the rubies, the glow brighter and brighter, glittering now as she can’t look away. The glow begins to seep forth from the serpent, flickering out in living filaments that reach out, spiraling through the air towards her and forming similar filaments around her, twisting and turning like the tips of a flame.
 
She twitches a little, eyes stuck on the serpent as she feels a strange coolness creep up over her hind hooves and tail tip, followed by a sensation of squeezing, as if something had grabbed her in a powerful grip. It crawled upward, over her heels and onto her rump, a stiff compacting force followed closely by a coarse gravelly sound, unnerving as she felt a numb prickle in all the affected areas.
 
Something wasn’t right… She thinks, eyes twitching as she looked at the rubies. Something wasn’t right!
 
The mare blinks once, twice, shaking her head as she tries to get it out of her mind.
 
“G-gah… what is… this…” She winces, turning her gaze upward and out of the view of the serpent, freeing her mind from whatever force had kept her paralyzed in its view. She turns her head back, craning to see what was going on…