“I could do that with my hooves tied up!”
Out of all the things she could have possibly said, Rainbow Dash would come to regret making this particular claim the most.
It was on a particularly sunny Thursday, a little after half-past two in the afternoon. Rainbow Dash had thought that it would be a good idea to visit Twilight's library and see if any new, awesome books were on the shelves. After all, she didn't have a lot to be doing when there were no clouds scheduled, and Thunderlane was on duty anyway.
The claim was in response to a challenge from Spike. Twilight was out doing some dull egghead stuff, and Rainbow Dash had grown bored of watching Spike haul books around.
“These things are heavier than they look, Dash,” Spike grunted as he lifted a tower of books over to one of the bookshelves, his wings tensing as he strained under the weight.
“Pff, you're just a weakling, Spike.” She smirked.
“Oh yeah? Why don't you try then?”
Rainbow Dash eyed the book stack Spike had just moved, “Are you kidding me? I could do that with my hooves tied up!”
There. She had said it. Looking back on it, it seemed like such an innocent bet to make. What's the worst that could have happened? However, Rainbow Dash was completely oblivious to the events that she had just set in motion.
“You gonna put some bits where your mouth is?”
“You're on. Ten bits!” Dash challenged. She was feeling pretty confident. After all, how hard could it be to lift some books?
“Ten bits? Are you serious? I'm betting at least twenty you can't lift them up,” Spike retorted.
“Twenty-five bits doesn't agree with you.”
“Alright,” Spike grinned and spat on his claw, walking up to her, “You're on.”
Rainbow Dash spat on her hoof and bumped it against the dragon’s claw. With a smirk, she confidently walked up to the stack and flexed her legs. The muscles beneath her fur tensed and bulged, further adding to her ego. The stack of books was only about ten or eleven high.
Thisisgoing to be easy.
Rubbing her hooves together, Rainbow Dash moved to lift up the stack.
“Erm, you're not ready yet,” Spike said.
“Huh? What do you mean?” Dash asked, turning around.
She realized that Spike hadn't been watching her impressive display of muscle and strength. Instead, he'd grabbed a rope and was now walking back towards her.
“You said you could do it with your hooves tied up,” Spike mocked. “Prove it.”
Rainbow Dash eyed the rope warily and then eyed the stack of books. She was feeling just a little less confident now.
“Psh, you think this is gonna be hard?” Rainbow Dash grinned.
“You sure you don't want to back out?” Spike asked.
“Tie me up already!” Dash said stubbornly, sitting down and presenting her hooves to the amused dragon.
A few seconds of silence passed as Spike wrapped the rope around Rainbow Dash's forelegs. It was thick and certainly couldn’t be stretched at all. The rough cord restricted any movement from her forehooves, scratching irritably against her pasterns. Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth as she forced herself to not to pull back as her wings, too, were bound impossibly tightly.
“Done,” he stated simply and retreated back to a good spectating distance.
For such a little guy, Spike was pretty good at tying knots, she gave him that. Attempting to shift her front hooves, she found them to be completely immobile.
“Where'd you learn to tie knots?” Dash grunted furiously as she tried to wriggle her wings a little looser from the uncomfortable rope.
“There's this really interesting pony who went all across Equestria, living in extreme environments. He wrote a survival guide, and knot-tying took up a whole chunk of it.”
“You read it in a book?” Rainbow Dash deadpanned. “Yeesh, I didn't know you were an egghead like Twilight.”
“Whatever,” Spike sighed, “Are you going to give up on this bet yet?”
“What? No way!” Dash yelled and pushed herself up awkwardly onto her hind-legs. “Just watch me—” Dash grunted as her balance almost faltered. “—wipe the floor with this.”
It was only then that it occurred to Dash impossibility of the task before her. How was she going to lift a stack of books with just her hind-legs free? She really should have thought this through before betting money on it. Twenty-five bits was no small sum. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Spike smirk knowingly. Rainbow Dash felt frustration rise up inside her.
I’llwipe that smug grin off his face.
Leaning against the bookshelf, she gently tapped the stack, testing its weight. It was a lot heavier than it looked. Spike hadn't been lying.
Using her two available hooves, she grunted as she used all of her strength to lift the books.
They didn't even budge. From behind her, she could hear Spike snickering to himself, which only served to fuel her anger more. Trying once again, she lay down on the floor and wrapped her hind-legs awkwardly around the books.
“You look ridiculous, you know?” Spike giggled.
Rainbow Dash merely grunted in reply as she strained against the tower of tomes.
“Dash, admit it. You've lost,” Spike sighed.
Rainbow Dash shot him her deadliest glare, “No, I can do this!” she hissed.
Spike eyed the stack of books which was wobbling precariously, “C'mon, you're gonna hurt yourself,” he reasoned.
Dash didn't respond. Instead she shuffled onto the floor and pushed with all her might. There was a long scraping sound as the books slid slowly across the floor.
“There!” Dash yelled triumphantly, the familiar sense of satisfaction welling up inside her. She'd won, and now she was twenty-five bits richer!
“Dash, you were supposed to lift the books,” Spike protested.
“No one said anything about that,” Dash replied smugly.
“You cheated,” Spike said accusingly.
“You're just angry because you lost,” Dash jeered.
“No way! I'm not untying you until you actuallylift those books.”
“What?” Rainbow Dash shouted angrily. “You can't leave me tied up!”
Spike chuckled smugly, “Watch me,” he replied.
Rainbow Dash ground her teeth furiously. She really hadn't thought this bet through. She couldn't possibly hope to lift those books, and now Spike refused to untie her—
Dash blinked. Wasn’t this whole situation completely stupid? She had allowed herself to be tied up, making her look really stupid, and Spike had been laughing at her the whole time.
“You set me up!” Dash shouted in anger.
Spike laughed, struggling to stay standing, “And you completely fell for it!”
“Just wait until I get my hooves on you…” Dash growled. This only caused Spike to laugh even harder as she futilely thrashed around on the floor. “It's not funny!” she grunted angrily.
“No, this is hilarious!” Spike replied, tears of laughter streaming down his cheeks.
Rainbow Dash's face burned with shame. She'd been tricked by a dragon—a stupid baby one, at that!
“Let me go!” Dash demanded, however it fell upon deaf ears. Spike was laughing too hard to take any notice of what she was saying. “Spike, I mean it!” Dash growled. Her joints were starting to ache, and her wings were itching for freedom.
“If you want I can also tie up your other hooves as well?” Spike offered in between fits of hysteria.
“You wouldn't dare…” Rainbow Dash hissed darkly.
Before Rainbow Dash had a chance to make any more threats, she felt a rope wrap itself around her hind-legs.
“You little—” Dash yelled in surprise.
But it was too late; Spike had already securely fastened the rope around her hind-legs. The thick cord burned against her legs almost as much as the embarrassment that burned on her face.
“I’m going to murder you!” Rainbow Dash roared savagely.
“This is too rich!” Spike sobbed, unable to retain his poise any longer. He collapsed to the floor in uncontrollable fits of laughter.
“Spike!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “When I get my out of these ropes, you areso going to get it!”
Spike wasn't listening; he was rolling around on the floor almost helplessly. Rainbow Dash tested the ropes again, but they did not give. Raising the bindings to her mouth, she desperately tried to undo the knot. Once again she found herself cursing Spike’s impressive knot-tying skills; the ropes around her pasterns were fastened so tightly that she couldn’t get a grip on the knot with her teeth.
“That knot can only be untied by threading one back on itself, and you’re not going to manage that with your teeth,” Spike chortled.
“I don’t care!” Dash growled, and stubbornly continued to bite futilely at the cord restraining her.
“Hey Dash, you’re not ticklish, are you?”
Dash merely grunted in response. Grating her teeth together, she pushed with all her strength against her bindings. They stretched just enough that she might have been able to wiggle her hoof out of it.
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash felt herself laugh and her body thrash about as something ran against her side, rousing the sensitive nerves.
“Ahh!” she yelped, curling up into a defensive ball. This was only met by even more laughter from her assailant.
“Sweet Celestia, Rainbow Dash,” Spike howled in laughter, “You overreact when you're tickled.”
“D-don't do that!” Rainbow Dash growled.
“Or what?” Spike teased.
“Or I’ll… I’ll…” Rainbow Dash paused, scrambling for a sufficient threat, “I’ll tell Twilight!”
Rainbow Dash smiled inwardly in satisfaction as the dragon tensed a little.
“You’ll tell Twilight,” the dragon said slowly, “That you got tricked into tying yourself up by a little dragon?”
“N-no!” Rainbow Dash said quickly, “I’ll tell her that you… err…”
The pegasus cursed inwardly as it became apparent that she couldn’t tell anypony without the risk of ruining her image, and Spike knew it.
“I mean it, Spike,” Dash whispered threateningly.
“Chill out, Dash,” Spike mocked, gently prodding her side again.
“Ah!” Dash growled through gritted teeth. “Quit it!”
“Wow, Dash. I barely touched you that time!” Spike laughed.
Rainbow Dash didn’t answer. Instead she pushed with all her might against the ropes again. Spike was taking the prank too far, and she’d had enough.
Once again Dash felt her body lose control momentarily as Spike’s finger tickled her. The pegasus grimaced as the forced back the laughter that was bubbling in her throat. It was like she couldn’t even control the muscles in her face as she found herself smiling involuntarily.
“You look like you’re enjoying this,” Spike teased. Using both claws, he gently scratched Dash’s sides, causing the helpless mare to thrash about futilely.
“Spiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike!” Rainbow Dash howled, struggling to contain the laughter, “This is so not cool! Sweet Celestia, quit it!”
“Not until you admit that you lost the bet,” Spike replied smugly.
“What? You can't be—AHHH!”
Spike once again tickled her mercilessly. Dash couldn't help herself; she started laughing. It just tickled too much.
“Please,” she giggled helplessly.
“Admit you lost!” Spike demanded.
“No, I ca—Nooooooooooo!” Dash laughed, retreating away from Spike's remorseless torture, “I refuse!”
Spike didn't say anything as he scratched her side again.
“No!” Dash cried, “Ahh, please! That tickles too much!” She could feel tears streaming down her face as her whole body contorted erratically. This wasnot cool. Rainbow Dash did not cry.
“Submit!” Spike demanded with a cheeky grin.
“Fine! Fine!” Dash shouted. ”Just stop!”
“Fine what?” Spike asked, relenting his assault momentarily.
“Fine you're a huge jerk and a sore loser!” Dash giggled, earning her more punishment from Spike, “Ahahahaa! Stop! Please!”
“Have you had enough yet?” Spike asked with a sadistic smile.
“Never! You lost, Spike,” Dash responded, before the dragon in question resumed his crude method of torture and she spasmed in uncontrollable fits of laughter.
Blood rushed to Dash's face as she struggled to inhale enough air to laugh hard enough. Her head was starting to feel tingly and her sight was swimming from the lack of oxygen. Spike responded by cranking the torment up to eleven.
“Hmm, if you refuse to admit I’m right,” Spike said slowly, “Then how about this!”
Rainbow Dash didn’t realize what he was doing until it was too late. With an impossibly gentle caress of his claw, Spike touched Rainbow Dash’s hoof.
“NO—AH!” Rainbow Dash yelped—yelped being a major understatement. She bucked her legs, swatting away Spike’s claw and thrashed around furiously on the floor. Her hoof felt numb as if it had poorly struck a lightning cloud, and tingles ran up her leg from where Spike’s claw had made contact.
“Whoa!” Spike gasped, a little taken aback by Rainbow Dash’s extreme reaction.
“D-don’t touch my hooves!” Dash commanded seriously, although it was probably more like pleading.
“Wow, Rainbow Dash. I didn’t know you were that bad,” Spike giggled.
“W-what do you mean?” she demanded.
“Well, I know you’ve always been weird about ponies touching your hooves, but just… wow!”
“Well, just let me go, okay?” she growled.
“What? No way!” Spike snorted, “This is hilarious!”
“It is not!” Dash insisted, all mirth vanishing.
“Oh yeah?” Spike asked, as he scratched her hoof gently once again, warranting an overactive response that could put even Rarity to shame. Laughter bubbled up from Rainbow Dash’s throat, and a stream of tears flowed down from her eyes as she howled furiously.
“No more!” Dash pleaded desperately.
“No more what?” Spike teased.
“Please!” Dash cried. “Anywhere, just not my hooves!”
“That was the least convincing ‘please’ I’ve ever heard. Sheesh! Even Applejack can lie better than that!” Spike snickered as he locked her leg under his arm and scratched the groove in her hoof.
“Sweet Celestia! Please stop!” Rainbow Dash begged. “Please!”
“Hmm,” Spike said slowly, as if considering her proposal. “Nah.”
Her leg felt like it was being struck by lightning over and over. Yelling in horror, Rainbow Dash squirmed as best as she could. She could feel herself getting breathless. Already her head was swimming.
“Spike,” Dash pleaded as a last resort, “Please just let me go!”
“Aww, you’re no fun, Dash,” Spike chuckled, relenting momentarily. “Consider this payback for that prank you pulled on me the other week. You know, the one where you messed up the whole library.”
“That wasn’t meant for you, I swear!”
“Yeah, sure. Just like all the other ones weren’t either. What about the ice cream? Or the fizzy drinks? Or the lemons?”
Dash bit her lip nervously, “I’m sorry, okay!” she yelled.
“Shucks, Rainbow. I didn’t expect to get an apology out of you that easily,” Spike smirked, slowly stroking the groove in her hoof once more.
“Spike,” Dash moaned as her leg shuddered at the touch “Please… Not my hooves!” She didn’t know what it was, but she was starting to feel a lot more flustered. Maybe it was the fact that she was struggling to breathe, but the room was feeling a lot hotter all of a sudden.
Spike didn’t even bother to answer, opting instead to simply giggle and run his claw up and down her leg some more. Dash bit her lip. She’d been in the same position for a little too long. Her limbs were starting to ache and her joints felt a little creaky. It was also too hot, and she was starting to feel more than a little uncomfortable.
“Spike, it’s too hot,” Dash complained, voicing the growing discomfort.
Spike frowned, “You think I’m falling for that one? Nice try, Dash,” he sighed sarcastically, stroking the groove in her hoof again.
Rainbow Dash let out a loud moan. She hadn’t meant to, but her head was too hazy and her hoof was getting too numb.
“Dash?” Spike asked, “Don’t think you’re getting me with that old trick.” However his expression was one of confusion and concern.
“I… don’t you think that’s enough now?” Rainbow Dash whispered, her voice fading away as her head throbbed and her body itched. She wasn’t totally uncomfortable, though.
“What do you mean?” Spike teased, his confident smile returning, “Can’t you just ‘lift’ me like you did with those books? C’mon, admit you’ve lost!”
Rainbow Dash bit her lip. She should just say that she’d lost. She had lost. There was no way anypony could lift that many books with only their hind-legs. The whole bet was stupid. The whole situation was stupid!
But… there was another thought nagging her. One that she found herself unable to ignore.
She wanted Spike to continue. She wanted Spike to run his claws all over her body and play with—
Rainbow Dash’s eyes snapped open in surprise. Suddenly it all made sense—but it was way too early for this; it wasn’t due for another week, at least!
There’s no way I’m in heat this early!
The full horror of the situation dawned upon her, and she forced herself to resist her urges.
“Spike, seriously! This is not cool!” she pleaded. She couldn’t tell Spike about what was really going on. She couldn’t tell him how much he was arousing her. Spike was pushing a button that he wasn’t supposed to be pressing.
Spike chuckled, “What’s with you all of a sudden? Have you just realized that I’m still waiting for you to admit you’ve lost and that you think I’m the most awesome dragon you know?”
“I lost and you’re the most awesome dragon I know,” Rainbow Dash said quickly. “Now let me go. Please!”
Spike frowned in disappointment. “Pff, you’re no fun Dash. What’s with you?”
“I’m fine!” she squeaked. “Just let me go.”
“I, er… Dash, why’ve you…” Spike paused before looking around curiously. “Huh.” He eyes glanced from left right and he wrinkled his snout. “What’s that smell?”
“What do you mean?” Rainbow Dash questioned before she smelled it too. Her ears flattened against her head as it dawned on her just what he could smell.
“Has Twilight left some food out or something?” Spike murmured as he sniffed around for the source of the scent.
“It’s nothing, okay?” Dash said quickly. “Just untie me and let’s pretend this never happened.”
Spike returned his attention to Dash. “Why, what are you hiding?” he asked suspiciously.
“Nothing!” she squeaked, squirming under his skeptical gaze.
Spike continued to watch her, his eyebrows scrunching in confusion. He could see something was up, she knew. Without another word he began to search around the room. He waved his snout about, sniffing loudly as he searched. Rainbow Dash bit her lip as he walked a full circle and approached her again.
“You’re hiding something,” he said simply.
“Untie me and I’ll show you.”
“Fat chance,” Spike snorted, his eyes narrowing with each passing second.
Rainbow Dash gulped as Spike disregarded all sense of personal space and continued his search for the smell. He placed his claws on her legs and glanced behind her. Spotting nothing he began to sniff the air again.
“Spike!” Rainbow Dash protested weakly as his snout prodded her wings, moving lower and lower. He stopped when he reached her belly and retreated suddenly, his eyes wide and face flushed.
“I… er… it’s coming from you,” he mumbled awkwardly.
“Well of course it is!” Rainbow Dash hissed. Instantly she regretted her outburst and Spike cocked his head curiously at her.
“You… You’re in heat?” he asked.
“W-what? N-no, of course not!” Dash said quickly, mentally punching herself. “Don’t be stupid.”
“I… well…” Spike stumbled over his words.
“Let’s just pretend this never happened, okay?” she whispered.
