Rainbow Dash let out a long sigh as she buried her face in her towel. Flying above the clouds while doing drills for hours on end certainly worked up a sweat, but the feeling of cooling off in the air-conditioned locker room was a relief on her aching muscles.

She grabbed one of the water bottles from her locker, popping the cap off and chugging. The ice-water flowing down her throat revitalized her as she downed the entire thing in one go.

“Feeling good, Dash? Glad that training’s over?” Fleetfoot asked.

“Ahh...Yeah I am! Can’t wait to get back home and catch up with all my friends.”

“Well, I hope that break was refreshing enough, cause you’re not done yet.”

Rainbow turned around to see Spitfire standing near the door, a few of the other Wonderbolts stood behind her. “Oh, we’re doing more drills?” she asked, stretching her arms above her head in preparation.

Spitfire adjusted her shades. “Not exactly. Training’s all done, but we just wanna give you a little parting gift before you go home…”

Several of the Wonderbolts behind Spitfire started to chuckle, reaching their hands forward and clawing their fingers as they made a slow, menacing advance towards her.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened in horror. “W-wait, again? C’mon, guys, you already did it to me like a couple of days ago!” she laughed nervously, slowly backing herself into a corner. “C-Can’t we pick someone else today?”

“We could...but it’s more fun when it’s you,” Spitfire smirked, blowing her whistle, signaling the other Wonderbolts to charge at her.

Rainbow Dash tried to make a break for the door, managing to dodge the grabbing hands of a few of her fellow Wonderbolts. Unfortunately, with Spitfire blocking the only exit, she couldn’t evade them forever, and once one of them got a grip on her ankles, the rest were able to restrain her.

Four of them grabbed onto each of her limbs, pinning her down to the floor. Two others started taking off her shoes and socks.

“No, please! C-can’t we talk this out? How about we do this next week? Or tomorrow?” Rainbow Dash pleaded, struggling against the tight grip of her fellow Wonderbolts as she felt her arms rise up against her will.

Spitfire stood over Rainbow with a smug grin, her arm raised high. The room went silent as they waited for her signal.

Once Spitfire threw her arm down, the other Wonderbolts descended onto Rainbow Dash. All at once, they struck. Their fingers dug into her sides, armpits, and hips, and scribbled across her belly and wings.

Rainbow Dash panicked, her body twisting from side to side to try and break free. “No, please! No no no no nooOOHAAAHAHA!” Once the tickling started, her body tensed up from pure shock before it went back to struggling.

Of course, they weren’t going to just leave her feet alone. The other Wonderbolts pushed and shoved each other for a chance to swipe their fingers down her soles. Usually only getting a second or two of tickling in before being pushed aside by another.

“Aww look, she’s screaming already!”

“You can take a little tickling, can’t ya?”

“Move! I wanna tickle her feet next!”

Dash didn’t particularly care that her feet were worth fighting over. The process of their fighting didn’t nearly matter as much to her as the result, which was the torturous sensation of fingers sliding across her feet in every direction at every moment.

“Stand aside.” Using her authority as Captain, Spitfire pushed the group aside to get a foot all to herself. This gave her the opportunity to give her a more focused tickling. With one hand, her fingers started at the ball of her foot, and slowly raked down to the heel. Once her hand got halfway down, her other hand started at the ball and followed. “C’mon, Dash, it isn’t that bad, is it?”

Rainbow Dash let out a shrill scream. “GAHAHAHAHAAAA! PLEHEHEHEEEASE! AAAHAHAHAHA HEHEHEHEHELP MEEHEEHEEHEE!” She cried out, knowing that help was not going to be found in anyone currently listening.

Down on the ground at the outskirts of Ponyville, Fluttershy was spending her time resting on the couch and drinking tea, thankful that she could have a day without any planned meetings or world-threatening disasters.

Just as she laid down and closed her eyes to nap, there came a rapid series of knocks on her door.

Fluttershy let out a quiet, resigned sigh, her peaceful day seemingly cut short. She got up off the couch to answer the door.

“...Rainbow Dash?”

“Hey Fluttershy. You’re not...busy, are you?” Dash said, a nervous smile on her face. “...Can I come in to talk?”

“Of course!” Fluttershy welcomed her friend inside. As Rainbow sat down on the couch, Fluttershy poured her a cup of tea.

“I didn’t think that you’d be back from the Academy so soon. How are you enjoying being a Wonderbolt?”

“It’s great. Pretty much everything I dreamed of,” Dash said flatly as she took a sip of tea.

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow in suspicion. She expected her response to have a lot more enthusiasm to it.

Rainbow Dash looked at Fluttershy and tried to fake some excitement. “I mean, it’s amazing! Sometimes I still can’t believe it’s real! You learn a lot being a Wonderbolt…” After a few moments, the facade was dropped. There was no easy way to get it out, but the sooner she knew, the better. “...Mostly that they reeeeaaally like tickling…”

“T-they what?” Fluttershy felt her heart skip a beat. There was no way Rainbow Dash really said that, right?

“Yeah. Aside from embarrassing nicknames, it’s pretty much their go-to method of hazing. It’s routine for one of the unlucky Wonderbolts to get mobbed and tickled all over by the rest of the team.”

Fluttershy could feel her cheeks burning redder. The mental imagery was enough to put her in a stunned silence.

“I mean, it’s great when you get to tickle someone else.” Rainbow rubbed her temples. “But it’s just the worst when you’re the one being held down, unable to move, as what feels like a hundred fingers start poking you everywhere. As they dig their fingers into your armpits and your sides and your wings...Having them hold your toes back as a bunch of wings flap against your feet…”

Pomf!

“...Yyyeah. Point is, that’s why I need you to help me…”

Fluttershy jolted out of her fantasy. “Huh? O-oh! Help you with what, exactly?”

Rainbow sighed. “For whatever reason, they love to gang up on me the most. And I know for a fact that you would love to be in that position yourself, so I need you to...help me be a little more like you with tickling…”

“You...want me to help you like tickling as much as I do?” Fluttershy asked. The thought of Dash willingly asking to be tickled was enough to make her giggle.

Dash scoffed. “I’m pretty sure that’s never gonna happen. Just...making me tolerate it a little bit is enough.”

“I...Are you sure?”

“Fluttershy, I’m literally asking you to tickle me to my limits. Can you please say yes before I start regretting this?”

“Okay let’s get started right away!” Fluttershy immediately sprang up from her seat, grabbed Rainbow Dash by the wrist, and pulled her upstairs to her bedroom.

Once they were in her room, Fluttershy quickly got to work, pulling out ropes, wrist cuffs and fuzzy handcuffs out from underneath her bed.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and sighed. “...On ANY other day I would have SO many questions.”

Fluttershy tried to fight past the embarrassment as she looked between the ropes and fuzzy handcuffs. “Alright, so...how do they um...restrain you?”

“They, uh...usually pin me down to the floor, make sure my armpits are exposed, they take off my shoes and socks…Ugh...cause they like to fight over who gets to tickle my feet...”

Fluttershy nodded, putting the handcuffs back under the bed. “Ok, just lie down here and I can get started.”

With a resigned sigh, Rainbow Dash jumped onto the bed, spreading out her arms and legs to the position they’re usually restrained to.

Once Rainbow Dash was in position, Fluttershy got to work. First she tied the ropes around each of her bedposts, just below the carved hearts, attaching the other end to the four cuffs. The cuffs were then secured on Dash’s wrists and ankles. “How’s that? Can you move?”

Dash started to pull against the ropes, giving them a few test tugs. She turned her arms and legs, but the cuffs were put on tight. Tight enough so that she couldn’t slip out, but not to the point of any major discomfort. “No, so I guess that’s good...”

“Alright, then I think we’re about ready.” Fluttershy looked over to the foot of her bed. “Just one more thing before we start…” She grabbed onto Rainbow’s sneakers and started pulling them off.

Dash could feel her heart rate skyrocket as Fluttershy took off her shoes. “Fluttershy? I miiight start saying things I don’t really mean. So I’m just...apologizing in advance.”

Fluttershy nodded as she put the removed shoes onto the floor, getting to work on pulling her socks off. “Alright, I’ll start as soon as you’re ready, but if it gets too much for you, just say ‘blue’ and I’ll stop, alright?”

“You promise?” Dash asked, curling her now bare feet.

“I promise.” Fluttershy gave her friend a warm smile to comfort her.

“Ok...I-I think I’m ready…” Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth, trying to get mentally prepared.

As soon as Fluttershy heard Dash give her the green light, her smile changed from one of gentle reassurance to one of mischievous excitement, so eerily similar to the kind Rainbow would get just before the Wonderbolts attacked. “Good, so am I...”

Seeing the sudden shift in Fluttershy’s demeanor, along with her hands slowly moving towards her stomach set Dash into an early panic. “WAIT I CHANGED MY MIND THIS WAS A BAD IDEA STOP STOP STOP!”

For a split second, Fluttershy hesitated, but since Dash didn’t say the safe word yet, her hands continued on, though her immediate begging made her reconsider her approach. Perhaps if she eased her into it, she’d get used to it faster. Instead of madly skittering her fingers across her belly like she first intended, she walked her index and middle fingers up her sides.

The merciful treatment was a small relief on Dash, though she still dreaded the moment when Fluttershy would inevitably make it worse.

Fluttershy moved up Dash’s body, getting to her ribs, changing her approach to quick pokes as she moved up, watching in amusement as Dash wiggled around.

“Eeehahahaha!” The switch in strategy got Rainbow to crack, she jolted with each poke to her ribs.

After Fluttershy hit the top ribs, she moved up to her armpits, only sliding her index and middle fingers against the exposed pits.

“W-WAHAHAHAHAIT! GAHAHAHA!” Even with Fluttershy being as gentle as she was, Rainbow’s thrashing put the strength of the ropes to the test. She fought desperately to lower her arms to defend her armpits. She wanted to scream out the safe word right away, but knew that if she tapped out only seconds after it had started, she’d never be able to last against the real thing.

The grin on Fluttershy’s face only grew as she started ramping the tickling up. Her fingers slid into the short sleeves of Dash’s shirt, getting directly to her pits.

“NONONONONOHOHOHO! STAHAHAHAAAAP!” Rainbow Dash kept yanking her arms down, hoping that she could snap the ropes and break free through sheer force of strength alone.

Fluttershy giggled, leaning in closer as the speed of her fingers gradually increased. “Goodness, Dashie, I’m barely touching you! You gotta be tougher than that when I start tickling for real!”

“BAAAHAHA SHUHUHUT UHUHUP!” As much as Dash was struggling now, she knew that Shy was still going easy on her.

Fluttershy slowed her tickling back down. Just before she stopped entirely, her hands shot down to dig into her sides.

“GAHAAAAAAAWHYYYY!?” The slower tickling made Rainbow drop her guard, so the sudden attack made her wings start flapping in shock.

Rainbow’s frantically flapping wings gave Fluttershy a flash of inspiration. After playing with her sides some more, she moved onto her next target, digging her fingers into the base of her outstretched wings.

“OHOHO FUHUHUCK NAHAHAHAT THE WIHIHIHINGS! NOHOHOHO STAHAHAHAP!” Rainbow started wildly flailing her arms, trying to take a swing at Fluttershy off pure instinct.

Even though she didn’t say the safe word yet, Fluttershy figured it was for the best to give Rainbow Dash a break. “Um...are you alright?”

“Y-Yeah...fine…” Dash started gasping for breath, calming herself down. “You’ve...you’ve wanted to do this to me for a while, haven’t you?”

“Maaaybe a little bit,” Fluttershy sheepishly admitted, rubbing the back of her head.

“Well, at least one of us is having fun...Just...just gimmie a minute...to catch my breath…”

“You know, I don’t remember you being this ticklish, Dashie…” Fluttershy teased.

Rainbow Dash threw her head back and cursed under her breath. “Ugh, I swear to Celestia if the Wonderbolts somehow made me MORE ticklish…”

“Heehee, you’re making me jealous,” Fluttershy grinned, returning back to her fantasy of a gang of pegasi tickling her all over. “I almost want to join the Wonderbolts myself!”

“Trust me, if I could let you take my place for this stuff, I would.”

“Speaking of, are you ready for me to continue?”

With a heavy sigh, Dash nodded. “Yeah, I guess…”

Fluttershy gently placed her hands on Dash’s stomach. The instant tensing and squirming upon contact made her smirk just a little bit. One by one, her fingers started tapping against her tummy.

Dash tried to keep the giggling inside, but her breath got shakier with each finger added. Once all ten were moving, she clenched her teeth and craned her head back, groaning in frustration.

Fluttershy’s fingers started to wiggle against her stomach, gradually picking up speed. She still wanted to ease into the rougher stuff in hopes that Dash would be able to adjust better.

A small, nervous giggle slipped past Rainbow’s lips. The slow and gentle tickles were infinitely preferable to the merciless gang tickling from the Wonderbolts, but it was difficult to enjoy it, knowing in the back of her mind that Fluttershy was going to make it worse eventually.

Fluttershy’s hands moved down to her hips, still trying to keep a slow pace. As she went back up, she slipped her hands underneath Dash’s shirt, tickling her toned tummy directly.

“Gyaaahahahahaaa!” Rainbow arched her back in shock, Feeling Fluttershy’s hands directly touching her stomach felt so much worse, having her underneath her clothes made her feel embarrassingly vulnerable.

Fluttershy let out a little squeal of delight. Dash’s stomach was naturally muscular, but even the light touches were enough to get such loud laughs out of her. The tips of her fingers glided across the grooves between her abs, being careful not to drive her too crazy by dipping into her navel.

Rainbow started punching the headboard and the pillows nearby as she cackled. Fluttershy’s excited giggling made her even more embarrassed. “WHY WHY WHYYYHAHAHAHA!?”

As Fluttershy playfully squeezed Dash’s abs, her gaze slowly wandered to the side. Those blue feet of hers freely wiggling and curling looked so tempting, but at the same time, she knew she’d only have a few precious seconds to tickle them. She hadn’t heard Dash call out the safe word yet, so it was possible she’d be able to handle just a little bit, right?

Her hands slipped back out from under Rainbow’s shirt as she took a step closer to the foot of the bed, then another, and another...

Rainbow didn’t know why Fluttershy seemingly stopped, but she wasn’t going to complain about another chance to recover. As she was catching her breath, she looked up to see Fluttershy eagerly staring at her feet with fingers at the ready. In an instant, her entire body tensed up. “NO! Don’t you dare! Don’t you d-AHAHAHAHA YOU BIHIHIHITCH!”

Fluttershy’s cheeks quickly turned red from being cursed out. It felt like years since she had Dash’s feet at her mercy, and they were just as ticklish as she remembered. Even the light skittering of her fingers got her screaming.

“STOPSTOPSTOPSTOP PLEHEHEHEAASE AHAHAHA FUHUHUHUCK!” Unlike the ropes around her arms, the ones around Dash’s ankles were taut. The most she could do to defend her feet was curl them up or try and slap Fluttershy’s hands away.

Fluttershy could feel her wings starting to pop open behind her, but she didn’t care, her focus was on getting the most out of every moment she got to tickle her feet. Her fingers clawed up and raked down her helpless soles. She almost felt bad for tickling her crazy.

...Almost.

In her panic, Rainbow Dash looked and saw what felt like an evil grin on Fluttershy’s face. “BAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! B-BLUE BLUE BLUE BLUE BLUE!” She prayed that her friend wasn’t too far gone to hear her and keep her promise.

True to her word, Fluttershy instantly pulled back. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! Are you alright?”

Dash’s toes were still twitching, even as Fluttershy went to check up on her. “Yeah...fine…” she gasped for air, rolling her head to the side, “I...I think...I’m done…”

Fluttershy nodded in understanding, quickly getting to work undoing the ropes. “I’m so sorry, did I go too far with your feet?”

“Kinda?” Dash rubbed her wrists once they were freed. “It’s just...it’s gonna take a while for me to get used to this…”

“Get used to what, being tickled, or me having rope and handcuffs underneath my bed?”

“...Yes.”

As Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash giggled to themselves, Dash sat upright. “I can’t believe I asked for this…”

“How often do the Wonderbolts...tickle you?”

“Like, every other day.”

“Oh gosh,” Fluttershy giggled. “Now I’m getting jealous of them, too!”

“Yeah, I know you’re having fun with this at least…” Dash sighed as she put her shoes and socks back on.

Fluttershy sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. “How is it? I’m not making it worse for you, am I?”

“Well, you’re not nearly as bad as all the Wonderbolts at once, so there’s that. You stopped when I told you to, so that’s nice. I think it might be working, but that might be because it wasn’t as horrible as I expected.”

Fluttershy looked at Dash with hopeful eyes. “Does that mean we can do this again?”

Dash playfully rolled her eyes. “Yes, Fluttershy. I’ll be back tomorrow, alright?”

Fluttershy hugged Dash tight, squealing in delight as she lifted her up. “Ooh, this is going to be so much fun!”

“For one of us, yes…”

Tomorrow came, and Fluttershy went about her regular business, cleaning up and taking care of the animals around her cottage. The time when Rainbow Dash was supposed to meet up again got closer and closer, and Fluttershy started to worry that she wouldn’t show. Not that she would blame her, she did go a little overboard the first time. When she heard a knocking on her front door, she nearly tripped over herself in excitement as she went to open it.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash! You’re here!”

“Yeah, I can’t believe it either,” Dash joked. “You wanna get started or what?”

The two pegasi returned to Fluttershy’s bedroom, and Fluttershy repeated the process of tying Dash down to the bed.

As Fluttershy finished tying the last knot, Rainbow Dash spoke up. “W-Wait, Fluttershy? Can you...keep my shoes on this time?”

“Of course!” Fluttershy nodded in understanding. As disappointing as it was to not get at those dangerously sensitive feet again, if it got her to like tickling just a little bit more today, it’d be worth it.

“A-Alright, whenever you’re ready then, I guess.” Dash took a deep breath, trying to mentally prepare herself.

“Same thing as last time. Just say ‘blue’, and I’ll stop no matter what.” Fluttershy decided to start off with lighter tickling again. Her fingertips brushed against Dash’s stomach and sides.

Dash quickly broke out in a giggle fit, her hips wiggled from side to side, still jolting from the gentle treatment. She tried to get into Fluttershy’s mindset of enjoying it, though her heart raced with fear imagining the kind pegasus going tickle-crazy.

Though Dash’s feet were off-limits, her upperbody had plenty of tickle spots to exploit. Fluttershy just had to be careful to not get carried away. Her fingers dug in a little bit harder into Dash’s muscular stomach, hoping to raise the volume of her laughter. She kept relatively quiet to not fluster her too much with verbal teasing, and to make sure she wasn’t accidentally talking over her if she was screaming out the safe word.

“Bwahahahaha!” Even with all of her laughter, Dash’s anxiety was still high. She mentally reminded herself that Fluttershy was a friend that would stop whenever she asked her to in order to try and relax herself.

Fluttershy’s fingers picked up speed again, sliding back and forth across the grooves of her abs through her shirt, following her movements every time Dash’s body tried to twist away.

Dash’s body was still trying hard to fight back on instinct, but no amount of bouncing and twisting on the bed was able to completely shake Fluttershy off of her.

With how much Rainbow Dash was thrashing about, Fluttershy had to control her. As Dash was trying to leap off the bed, her hands shifted from her stomach to her sides, giving them a firm squeeze.

“EEEEHAHAHAHAAA NOHOHO!” Fluttershy’s plan seemed to work, as the squeeze temporarily immobilized her. But each subsequent squeeze renewed her thrashing.

Fluttershy alternated between squeezing Dash’s sides, and little rapid pokes to her hips using her thumbs. “Heehee, you’re so bouncy today, Rainbow.”

“NAHAHAHAHA STAHAHAHAP IT!” Rainbow Dash’s cheeks got noticeably redder from Fluttershy’s gentle teasing; she turned her head to the side to try hiding it.

Fluttershy eventually let up to give Dash a chance to breathe and calm down. “Are you holding up alright?”

“Yeah...I’m fine,” Dash nodded. The little teasing Fluttershy did earlier gave her a horrible idea. “But maybe you-” Wanting to back out of her suggestion as soon as she started talking, Dash quickly shut her mouth, hoping she didn’t hear.

“Hm? What is it?”

Dash groaned. “I just thought...if I’m gonna get used to the Wonderbolts tickling me, it might help if you acted like them, too. So...ugh, this is gonna sound so stupid…maybe you could talk like Spitfire or something while you do this?”

“I...guess it’s worth a shot.” Fluttershy cleared her throat, trying to make her voice lower and gruffer. She went back to squeezing Dash’s sides. “Come on, Dash! I thought you were tougher than this!”

Even if it wasn’t a perfect impression, it was enough to evoke memories of being back at the Wonderbolt Academy. It pushed Rainbow Dash to try and steel herself a little bit more.

Fluttershy pouted and glared to try and get into character as she tickled more aggressively. She squeezed and kneaded her fingers against her abs. “You aren’t thinking of giving up now, right? Uh…You’re a Wonderbolt now, aren’t you?”

“Y-YEHEHEHES MA’AM! EEEEHAHAHAHAHA!” Dash nodded, not realizing that she was now treating Fluttershy as if she was her commanding officer.

“Um, I can’t hear you! I’ll...go for your wings next if that’s what you want!” Fluttershy shouted, trying to get into this impromptu roleplaying session.

Dash let out a panicked squeal, her eyes widening at the threat. “NOHOHO! P-PLEHEHEHEASE!”

“Yeah! And then I’ll…I’ll...” Fluttershy paused, struggling to find the right words to say.

As Dash caught her breath, her face reddened with shame rather than exhaustion. “Ugh, I really just said ‘Yes Ma’am’ to you, didn’t I…?”

“S-sorry, I don’t know if I can be a good Spitfire if I don’t know her that well.”

“Well then just...say something you would normally say, I guess?”

“Alright...” The harsh glare on her face turned into a playful grin. Her fingers squeezed her stomach and danced along her abs. “Ooh, I can’t believe you’re still so ticklish, Dashie! Coochie coochie coo! I’m gonna give your tummy soooo many tickles!”

“OKAY THAT’S SO MUCH WORSE AAHAAAAHAAA!” Rainbow Dash arched her back with a wild cackle, her cheeks instantly flushed red.

“Your laugh is absolutely adorable! Oh, I’m having so much fun tickling you!” Fluttershy giggled as she spidered her fingers across her stomach. Being given permission to do some verbal teasing meant there was a lot to catch up on.

“NOOOOOHOHOHO!” Rainbow Dash quickly wished that both of them had just stayed quiet.

Fluttershy slipped her fingers underneath her shirt, feeling Dash’s stomach tense up with each little touch before spidering her fingers all over. “Your tummy is so strong, but so very ticklish, too!”

“ALRIGHT STOP STOP STOP STAHAHAHAHAHAHAP!” Fluttershy’s teasing wasn’t humiliating like the Wonderbolts’ hazing, yet it still messed with her mind in ways she couldn’t explain. She squealed and tried to roll around on the bed in an attempt to block her voice out.

“And that’s just your stomach!” Fluttershy said, taking her hands out of Dash’s shirt. “There’s aaaaall sorts of tickle spots on you that I want to get to! Like your hips!” She demonstrated by digging her fingers in.

Rainbow Dash yelped as her body launched itself skyward. If she was talking about the other ticklish spots on her body, she prayed that her shoes stayed on.

“And your wings!” Fluttershy’s fingers brushed against Dash’s outstretched wings, running her fingers through the feathers. “Biiiig tickly wings!”

The stimulation made Dash’s wings start to stiffen up. “FLUHUHUHUTTERSHYYYYY! JUST STAHAHAHAHAP TALKIIIING!” Dash pleaded with tears in her eyes, each little tease made her body tingle.

“Alright...” Fluttershy pulled Dash’s shirt up just enough to expose her midriff, she leaned in closer and took a deep breath.

“Wait DON’T-AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!” Dash realized what Fluttershy was doing a second too late. Her pleas started to come out just as Fluttershy started buzzing her lips against her belly. She shut her eyes tight, feeling the tears flow down her cheeks.

Fluttershy made a dramatic point to lift her head up high to take a deep breath, before descending back down to continue blowing raspberries on Dash’s stomach.

“BAHAHAHA FUHUHUHUCK YOUAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Each raspberry broke Dash’s concentration, leaving her howling and crying on Fluttershy’s bed, until she finally managed to spit out “BLUE!” amidst all her laughter.

Fluttershy’s ears perked up, and she quickly got to work freeing Rainbow Dash while she recovered. “Am I doing alright, Dashie?”

“Yeah...you’re definitely making it feel like I’m back with the Wonderbolts. Though usually there’s a lot more of them tickling me at once...” Dash’s eyes widened in a horrified realization. “DO NOT GO AND GET ANYONE ELSE TO HELP WITH THIS.”

“Heeheehee, I won’t, I promise,” Fluttershy laughed. “So, um, are you starting to...like being tickled?”

“Well…” Dash scratched the back of her head. “It wasn’t as bad as yesterday, I guess. It’s kinda alright just cause it’s you, but it’s terrifying how good you are at tickling...”

“Um...thanks?” Coming from Rainbow Dash, that was some sort of complement, at least.

“All that tickle talk though...I still have chills…”

Rainbow Dash forced herself to return to Fluttershy’s cottage each day to be tied down to her bed and be tickled out of her mind in hopes that she would get used to it. For the most part, Fluttershy was merciful, giving her body gentle tickles at first and gradually increasing the intensity over time.

Being able to tickle Rainbow every day was like a fantasy come to life for Fluttershy. Of course she wanted to help her, but an opportunity like this was likely never going to come again, so there were moments where she might have got a little carried away by going too intense too early.

Progress was being made, after a few days, Rainbow Dash allowed Fluttershy to take off her shoes and socks, even though she could barely take a minute of foot tickling without screaming and swearing before saying the safe word. It was a long and torturous process, but it would be worth it if she had built up her tickling tolerance.

Rainbow Dash was set to go back to the academy for rehearsal in a couple of days, so she needed to prove that she was prepared for them.

As Fluttershy finished tying the knots around her ankles, Rainbow Dash went over the plan they agreed on for the day.

“Alright, five minutes, and then you’re gonna stop, right?”

“Mmhm...” Fluttershy nodded, showing Dash the timer already set to five minutes.

“And you promise to stop once the five minutes are up?”

“Yes, Rainbow Dash, I promise.”

Dash let out a few shaky breaths. “A-Alright…” She was putting a lot of trust to be at Fluttershy’s mercy for such a long time.

Fluttershy looked at Rainbow Dash with a reassuring smile. “It’ll be alright, Rainbow Dash. I’ll stop if it seems like it’s too much for you, I swear.”

Rainbow Dash sighed, trying to mentally reassure herself. “Okay...I...I guess I’m ready.”

Fluttershy started the timer and placed it next to the bed. With the clock running, she started off by wiggling her fingers in Dash’s armpits.

“Eeeehahahahaha! Nohohoho whyhyhy?” Dash immediately started squealing and yanking against the ropes. Fluttershy going for her pits first did not make her feel confident she was going to last.

After all the strain they were put through in the past couple of weeks, the ropes had frayed considerably. Fluttershy hoped that they would stay intact for five more minutes. Out of caution, she continued tickling at the same speed, dancing her fingers against the taut hollows of her armpits.

Dash looked at the timer, seeing that only a few seconds had passed since it started. She pulled down harder to try and defend her pits, hoping that the ropes would snap before she did.

Fluttershy let her fingers slide down Dash’s athletic body, giving playful pokes against her ribs and sides before she went for her next target: her wings.

“AAAAIIIEEEEEEHAHAHA!” Rainbow’s wings popped open once Fluttershy dug her fingers in.

Seeing Dash laugh and thrash around made Fluttershy’s wings pop open too. With all that extra room now available, she started stroking her wings, going from the base all the way to the tips.

“PLEHEHEHEHEASE NO! NAHAHAHAT THE WIHIHIHINGS!” Dash tried to flap her wings to escape, but they had stiffened up in shock. It only made it easier for Fluttershy to comb her fingers through and ruffle up her feathers.

“Oh yes your wings! Your fast and ticklish wings!” Fluttershy said in a singsong tone. Once she reached the wingtips, she reversed course, sliding all the way back down to the base and staying there, scritching at her exposed wingpits.

“AAAAAHAHAHAAA! F-FLUTTERSHYYYY!” The tickling to her wings made Dash squirm and yell, but it was the verbal teasing that got her blushing hard.

Fluttershy alternated from gentle strokes against her abs and hard diggings into her wing pits, the smile on her face growing the more laughs she drew out of her. “C’mon, Dashie! You can take a little tickling now, can’t you?”

Dash took a look at the timer, horrified at how little time had progressed. “P-PLEHEHEHEHEASE! I CAHAHA! I CAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“You’re doing great so far! It’s just a little bit more, ok?” Fluttershy’s gentle encouragement was in stark contrast with the aggressive tickle methods.

“BAHAHAHA IT TIHIHIHICKLES SOHOHOHO MUUUCH!” Tears started to form in Dash’s eyes.

“Heehee, I bet it does! Coochie coochie coo!” Fluttershy sang, her fingers lightly dancing against her abs.

Even though Fluttershy had temporarily eased up on the tickling, all the cutesy talk was flustering Dash. The soft strokes against her belly forced girly squeaks out of her.

Fluttershy lifted her hands up off Dash’s stomach, gleefully walking towards the foot of her bed.

With the small amount of time Dash had where Fluttershy was not tickling her, “P-Please be gentle…” she whimpered, knowing exactly what Fluttershy was going to do next and knowing there was no stopping her.

Fluttershy decided that she had enough time to grant Dash’s request and at least start out gentle. Her fingertips slid down her arches, eager to hear her reaction.

“KYAAAHAHAHAHAHA!” With the ropes so taut, all Dash could do with her feet was curl them up in defense.

Rainbow’s howling laughter and fidgeting feet made Fluttershy’s wings twitch with excitement. Her fingers started wiggling against her toes to try and get them to open up for more tickling. “Gonna tickle aaaalll over your feet, Dashie…”

“NONONONO FLUTTERSHY MERCIHIHIHIEEEHEEHEEHEE! BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!” Dash’s toes uncurled and slightly spread out, much to her dismay. Fluttershy’s words painted a picture in Dash’s mind that made her wings shiver.

“Ooh, I love hearing you laugh like this!” Fluttershy was absolutely giddy as she tickled, getting her fingers under and between her twitching toes. “A-tickle tickle tickle your toesies!”

Dash’s ears folded to the sides of her head, but she still couldn’t block out Fluttershy’s teasing. She could feel her cheeks burning up as she screamed with laughter. “OHMYGOSH DOHOHOHON’T!”

“I’ve always loved how ticklish your feet are!” Fluttershy cooed, having her fingers poke and wiggle against random spots. “Oh, this is so much fun, I don’t want to stop! I wanna keep tickling your cute feet all day long!”

Rainbow Dash could feel her blush reaching all the way to her ears with all the verbal teasing Fluttershy was giving her. She wildly swung her arms around, “EEEHEEHEEHAHAHAHA! SHY PLEHEHEHEHEASE! TOOHOOHOO MUHUHUHUHUCH! TIHIHIHIHICKLES TOO MUHUHUCH!”

As Fluttershy raked her fingers down Rainbow’s soles, her wings trembled. She could also feel the blush on her face burn her cheeks. “Laugh for me, Dashie! Lemmie hear that wonderful ticklish laughter of yours!”

Rainbow Dash had no choice but to comply. She screamed, gasped, and cursed, and her laughter echoed throughout Fluttershy’s bedroom. She tried to struggle, but found her feet seemingly immobilized. The rest of her body could thrash around fine, but her feet were helpless against Fluttershy digging her fingers all the way down her feet. All the playful verbal teasing made her mind fuzzy, making it near impossible to focus on anything that wasn’t the intense tickling against her soles.

Just as Fluttershy was ready to reach under her bed to get some more tools for her feet, the loud ringing of the alarm indicated that their time was up. She quickly snapped out of her tickle-dom state to free Rainbow Dash from the fraying ropes and give her a much-needed refreshment.

Dash was still a mess long after Fluttershy stopped tickling, lying on the bed gasping with wheezy giggles as her toes twitched. It wasn’t until after she chugged down some cool water that she began to calm down.

“Are you ok, Rainbow Dash?”

“Y-Yeah...I’m fine now. Aaah...I’m pretty sure that was more intense than any drill or tickle attack the Wonderbolts have put me through.”

“So, do you enjoy being tickled now?” Fluttershy asked, her eyes twinkling with hope.

“Oh, it’s still horrible,” Dash said bluntly, shaking her head. “...But it’s not the worst thing ever anymore. So...thanks, Fluttershy. I hope this helps the next time the Wonderbolts try it on me again.”

“Ah…So I guess that’s the last time we do this, huh?” Fluttershy said, trying to hide her disappointment.

Rainbow Dash let out a heavy and conflicted sigh. “Well, you made me not hate being tickled entirely...so maybe it’s not impossible for you to help me learn to like it a little bit.”

Fluttershy gasped. “R-Really?”

“Not any time soon, though.” she interjected. “Please...for the sake of my sanity.”

“Heehee, alright, alright.” Fluttershy giggled. “Well, I know I had a lot of fun tickling you, but I really hope that I could help out.”

“I guess we’ll see once I get back to the academy…”

As Rainbow Dash made her way back home, she realized exactly what she agreed to and froze in shock. “...Oh my gosh, I think I might actually be starting to like this.”

Once Rainbow Dash had returned to the Wonderbolt Academy, the biggest thing on her mind was when they would inevitably strike and tickle her senseless. She hoped that all that training with Fluttershy was worth it.

As all of them lined up to start their drills, Spitfire matched out in front of them.

“Welcome back, team! I hope you all enjoyed your time off, because we’re going to be working your wings to the bone!” Spitfire yelled, standing at attention. “Now then, before I make you do laps, there’s something I think we should do first...”

Rainbow Dash felt her heart sink. She could feel all eyes turn towards her.

“Since Rainbow Dash is our newest member, I think we should give her a special welcome back!” Spitfire smirked, looking in Dash’s direction. “Just so she feels at home with the team!”

Before Dash could try and run. The Wonderbolts next to her grabbed onto her arms and held her down on the nearby grass.

It didn’t take long for the Wonderbolts to swarm around her and pull her shoes and socks off.

“Please let it be worth it, please let it be worth it…” Dash mentally repeated as she watched the other Wonderbolts push each other aside, wanting to get a good spot to tickle.

Without a signal from Spitfire, the Wonderbolts got to work, all of their fingers digging and wiggling all over Dash’s body, waiting to hear that laugh of hers again.

As she felt the fingers scribble everywhere from her armpits to her hips, Dash’s previous doubts were quickly cleared up. This was still torture, but thanks to Fluttershy, at least it was a more tolerable torture. It did not prevent her from being any less ticklish and squealing with laughter, however.

Most of the Wonderbolts grinned, Dash’s laughter only fueled them to tickle harder, and fight each other to get the opportunity to do so. They dug into and stroked her wings, slid up and down her armpits, and poked around her ribs. Her feet were still the popular spot to target, with over a dozen fingers skittering all over her defenseless soles.

“BAAHAHAHA! FUHUHUHUHAHAHAHA!” The grip of the other pegasi gave Dash a little more freedom to struggle compared to Fluttershy’s ropes. She could slip her wrists away for a bit, even if they would just grab her again. As bad as it was being tickled everywhere at once, it was surprisingly nowhere nearly as bad as Fluttershy focusing on one ticklish part of her body.

“Huh, usually you’re crying and begging right about now,” Spitfire mused as she watched her team work together to make Dash a ticklish wreck. “Soarin’! Hold her toes back for me, will ya?”

Soarin’ did as he was told, pushing the toes on her right foot back. As the other Wonderbolts continued working over her upperbody, Spitfire dug her fingers underneath her restrained toes.

“AAAAIIIEEEHAHAHAHAHA NOOOOHOHOHO!” Rainbow Dash violently thrashed against her teammates, trying to kick Spitfire away.

“Still as ticklish as ever, aren’t you Dash?” Spitfire spidered her fingers over her soles. “You might have the most ticklish feet I’ve ever seen on a pegasus…”

Pomf!

Though she wasn’t fully aware of it, Rainbow Dash’s wings sprung open and stiffened up.

Spitfire nearly let out a laugh in disbelief. After collecting herself, she slipped her fingers between Rainbow’s toes. “Well, haven’t seen that happen before...”

Dash didn’t understand what Spitfire was referring to...until she felt fingers scratching and stroking through her now outstretched wings.

“Now why would something like this happen?” Spitfire thought aloud. “The wings, the blush on your face...It’s quite a reaction from someone that hates being tickled, unless…” She looked at her with a knowing smirk. “Did you go through some ‘tickle training’ just for us, Dash?”

Dash started to tear up, the question barely registering in her head. “EEEEEHAHAHAHAHA STAHAHAHAHAHAP IHIHIHIT!”

“Answer me!”

“GAHAHAHA! Y-YEHEHEHES MA’AHAHAM!” Dash blurted out in a panic.

“Well, we were gonna get Fleetfoot tomorrow…” Spitfire said, prompting a shocked “Hey!” from the other pegasus. “But since you’re so used to it, we might be doing this to ya more often. Not all the time of course, but you might just be the first Wonderbolts favorite…”

Rainbow Dash mentally cursed herself out. This was definitely not how she wanted her legacy to be as a Wonderbolt. All those sessions with Fluttershy paid off, just not exactly in a way she wanted.

“Gotta say, Dash. I’m impressed by the dedication. Didn’t think anyone would willingly put themselves through more tickling,” Spitfire said as she raked down her taut arches. “You must’ve had a friend to help you out, huh?”

“AAHAAAA YEHEHEHES! IHIHIT’S FLUTTERSHAAHAHAHAHAHYHYHY!” Dash quickly nodded, more worried about her current situation than the future situation she’s putting Fluttershy in.

“Interesting…” Spitfire smirked. Perhaps she should pay a visit to Dash’s friend later...

Author's Note

Next Time: The Recruit