Cuddles 2: The Return of the Cuddler
Walking down the main street of Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle, accompanied by her number one assistant, Spike, were happily making their way out from their home and towards that of their close friend, Rainbow Dash. The weather was good today, and so everypony was out in droves, smiling and waving as their resident librarian passed them by. Twilight, naturally, returned the gesture to each and every single one of them. Spike, who was busy eating some gems from a bowl he was carrying with him, looked up to his oldest friend whilst munching down on a particularly tasty ruby.
"So...why are we going to Rainbow's?"
Twilight looked down at her assistant, giggling slightly at his clearly lacklustre table manners, before giving him his answer.
"She wanted us to see her latest flying manoeuvre, remember? I figured it'd be a good way for me to add to my study of pegasi flying skills."
Spike nodded at that, though didn't dare tell her that her study wasn't really of interest to him. What DID interest him though was seeing Rainbow show off some new technique. Even though many in the town, her closest friends included, had often rolled their eyes at the cyan pegasi's boasts, there was no question in anypony's mind that she could at least back up her claims on a regular basis. And so it was that the two of them eventually reached the outskirts of the town, making their way to the clearing that led to Rainbow's cloud-house. It was here that they were due to see her, but, surprisingly, she was nowhere to be found on the ground. Frowning at this, Twilight looked up at the bottom of the cloud-house, thinking that, perhaps, her friend had chosen yet again to sleep in today. So, clearing her throat a little, Twilight called upwards.
"Rainbow?! You up there?!"
There was no response from up above, however, the two of them did hear a voice coming from, strangely enough, the area immediately around them.
"Over here!"
Twilight and Spike both turned to see where the voice, which they instantly recognised as Rainbow’s, was coming from. Their heads turned to the direction of a collection of large bushes nearby, and for a moment, they both thought that, maybe, this was all part of some big prank Rainbow was trying to pull off. So, hesitantly, both of them began to walk over to the bushes, half-expecting their friend to leap out and scare them, or something along those lines. However, as the moments passed, that was not what they got. Instead, as they approached, they began to hear the unmistakeable sound of grunting, perhaps resistance of some sort, taking place from the other side. Nervously, the two of them walked around the bushes to try and find their friend. Once on the other side, that was exactly what they got. However, what they had most definitely not been expecting was the manner in which they found her.
"Hey, guys," Rainbow said in an annoyed manner.
Before the young unicorn and dragon was their friend, Rainbow. But, this was completely unlike how they usually saw her. Sitting on the ground, not even attempting to fly, and bearing a look of great annoyance. But what struck them most was the fact that she was accompanied by someone else. Someone that, unfortunately for them, they had met once before. A hairless and clothed ape, his arms wrapped around Rainbow and holding her tight, with his head nestled into her mane while bearing an enormous and contented grin upon his face. This creature, which they had learned was called a "human", was something they'd encountered before. Not so long ago, this same being had been met by Twilight, and soon enough, she too had been ensnared in his dastardly cuddling attack. If it hadn't been for Spike's quick thinking at the time, she may well have stayed that way. Now though, here it was again, latched onto another of Twilight's friends, but seeming completely oblivious to how annoying it was to her. Regardless, it was a sight that soon led to Twilight giving herself a firm face-hoof and letting out a groan.
"Ugh! Him again!"
Spike dropped his bowl of gems on the ground when he caught sight of the human, looking up at Twilight with worry on his face.
"But I thought you got rid of it last time!"
However, as he said that, a look of confusion crossed his face.
"Wait...how did you get rid of it last time?"
Twilight groaned at that before walking towards Rainbow.
"There's no time to explain! Let's just deal with Rainbow!"
Rainbow, upon hearing that, nodded enthusiastically as her friends approached, all the while poking the human's head with her hoof in an effort to get him off her. When Twilight finally stopped beside her friend, she scratched her chin with her hoof while regarding the outsider. Spike too was pondering this whole mess, and looked up to the young unicorn.
"Should we get Fluttershy again?"
Twilight shook her head at that.
"No. Let's not get her dragged into this one."
She then developed a frown on her face as she began to eye Spike.
"After all, we wouldn't want a cuter pony getting mixed up in this, now would we, Spike?"
Spike let out a sigh at that.
"I'm never going to hear the end of that one, am I?"
Snorting, Twilight turned back to Rainbow, wherein she saw that the latter had begun flapping her wings hard, trying to get herself off the ground. However, the human merely clung on harder, to the point where he was almost dragged up into the air with her. Eventually though, Rainbow's strength gave out, and she collapsed to the ground once more. In this moment of weakness, she was suddenly taken aback as the human re-positioned his arms, so that now both Rainbow's forelegs and wings were pinned to her body, with the human's grip even tighter than before. Although Rainbow was understandably worried at this, the human just kept on smiling, letting out that contented moan Twilight had become so familiar with.
"Hmmm...soft."
Rainbow let out an annoyed groan at that, turning to Twilight with a pleading look in her eyes. Twilight, rolling her eyes and chuckling at the sight of this, walked up to her friend and patted her head in a reassuring manner.
"Don't worry, Rainbow, I've got this one."
Although somewhat irritated that one of her best friends just treated her like a filly, Rainbow nevertheless kept quiet, hoping that she actually had a way out of this. Twilight turned around, gesturing to Spike to come over, which he soon did. With all four of them together now, Twilight closed her eyes and began to concentrate. Spike and Rainbow gave each other odd looks, making it clear that neither of them knew what their friend was doing. However, it soon became clear that Twilight was casting some kind of spell, as evidenced by the lighting up of her horn. Feeling somewhat worried, Rainbow and Spike closed their eyes, with the human just remaining oblivious to it all. In mere moments, the brightness of Twilight's horn reached it's apex, and all four of them were surrounded by a near-blinding flash. It was an experience to say the least, but in time, that light died down, and when Rainbow and Spike opened their eyes again, they found themselves, not in the field beside Rainbow's home, but rather in the basement of Twilight's treehouse.
The place was as they both knew it, filled with many gadgets and tokens of science dotted around the place. Both of them now knew that Twilight had cast her famed teleportation spell on them all, made all the more obvious by the queasiness Spike felt after having gone through it. Twilight, ignoring her assistant's plight, instead casually walked over to something her friends had not noticed the first time around. It was a massive cage, clearly designed for something far larger than a pony, forged from heavy iron. Twilight stood beside it and raised a hoof to open it up, after which she stood beside the open entrance and started to make her horn glow. Having already experienced her magic today, Spike and Rainbow closed their eyes yet again. However, this time, it was no teleportation spell that was cast, but rather a magic that Twilight used to create something out of thin air. When the spell was complete, both Rainbow and Spike looked on in surprise to see that, right in front of Twilight, was what was unmistakeably a large plush doll of Fluttershy. Although confused by this, both stayed silent as the toy became engulfed in Twilight's magic, levitating upwards as Twilight finally spoke towards the human.
"Hey! Remember this one?"
This was the first time the human had actually noticed Twilight during all this, but when he turned to face her, he took one look at the doll and his face lit up with utter glee. Twilight, seeing this, gave a mischievous smirk as she used her magic to throw the doll right into the middle of the cage. As she'd planned, the human promptly let go of Rainbow and darted head-first into the cage, embracing the fallen doll with the same fervour he'd used to cuddle Rainbow. In this moment, Twilight kicked the door of the cage and shut it tight, magically creating a lock to keep it closed. The human remained oblivious to this, and the other three just looked at him, with Rainbow in particular seeming relieved.
"Whew! Thanks, Twi!"
The unicorn gave a nod at that.
"No problem. Now, if it's all the same to you, I say we get as far away from this creature as we can."
Rainbow nodded in agreement over that, and soon the two mares began to make their way out of the basement. Spike though, looked to the human before turning to his friends.
"So...we're just leaving him here?"
Twilight turned to face him with a reassuring look on her face.
"Don't worry, Spike. I'll bring down a bowl of milk or something later. In the meantime, we need to get him back home...again."
Spike nodded at that before following them up the stairs.
"So are you going to tell me how you got rid of him last time?"
Twilight chucked at that as the three of them approached the door to the main level.
"Well, Spike, what I did was..."
But her words were cut off as she closed the door behind them, leaving only the human alone in the basement, still content to remain with his life-sized Fluttershy toy. However, that solitude did not last long, as the silence was broken by the sound of boxes being knocked over, and a bubbly Pink pony bouncing out from behind them.
"Wow! That's the longest I've ever gone in a game of hide and seek before!”
However, a look of realisation then crossed her face.
“Wait...oh...I need somepony else in the game to play that! Always forget that bit!"
So, shrugging her shoulders, she began to walk towards the door leading to the outside of the basement. However, she'd barely made two steps before she passed the occupied cage, her eyes drifting in the direction of it's lone inhabitant, stopping her in her tracks. Although first showing clear curiosity at the strange-looking creature within, she tilted her head a little before forming a massive smile upon her face.
"Hiya! I'm Pinkie! Wanna play hide and seek?"
