This is a commissioned piece done by zhane00 on deviantart.com:
http://zhane00.deviantart.com

In this picture, Marsha took Nicholas, her human friend, out to a spot in the swamp where she knew slugs liked to congregate. In one of his crazier moments, he had decided to see if he could ride one of the slugs as a mount. Slugs, he argued, are strong, have incredible endurance, and are able to travel for days without rest. Despite their lack of speed, they can easily traverse water, hills, gullies, and even sheer cliffs via their sticky slime trail. Marsha attempted to dissuade him with a litany of reasons why it was a bad idea, but he was convinced it would work.

Having arrived at the slug pond and finding it full of scrumptious slugs, Marsha set him down. So as not to completely ruin his clothing with slime, he stripped down naked before beginning his task - running down and fitting his makeshift harness on a potential steed. Marsha watched bemusedly, trying not to laugh out loud, as he tried one after another with little success. The slugs either refused to move, or squirmed uncontrollably as he tried to guide them. One of them even had to be pulled off after trying to eat him.

After spending a good portion of the day helping Nicholas by herding the slugs in his general direction, hunger eventually got the better of Marsha, so she began gulping down the rejects. As if realizing its pending doom, his latest recalcitrant mount suddenly put on a burst of speed and, in an amazing turn of events, actually began obeying his directions via the reins. It had simply needed a little incentive to cooperate. His arduous task was complete; he had found a worthy steed. Now all he needed to do was persuade Marsha not to slurp it down...

Marsha and Nicholas have appeared in several stories so far. Marsha was introduced in All Is Not As It Seems. Followup stories involving her include Long Live Queen Marsha? and The Making Of A Queen. The later is where Nicholas makes his first appearance.

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