The Laughing Wonders

Chapters

Prologue: An unusual Interview (Light tickle torture)
Chapter 1: Welcome to the Wonderbolts (Clean)
Chapter 2: Getting a feel for things (M/M tickle torture)
Chapter 3: A Learning Experience [Part 1] (Clean)

Prologue: An unusual Interview (Light tickle torture)

Was this a mistake? He almost felt like it might have been a mistake to come here, to even try doing this. After all, he was completely new to all of this, in every sense of the word. Maybe it was knowing that that was making him so damned nervous right now.

Copper Buckle swallowed softly, looking around himself; the small lounge wasn’t any different from the last time he looked up. The walls were lined with lightly padded, sky blue chairs, matching the color of the walls all around him. On the wall directly across from where he sat was a love seat, the coffee table in front of it littered with a few athletic magazines. On the wall over the couch stood a logo familiar all around Equestria; a winged lightning bolt, colored a vibrant yellow and standing out plain as day against the sea of blue around it.

The logo of the Wonderbolts, Equestria’s foremost flying team.

And yet, here he was about to try for a position that left him planted on the ground. The irony wasn’t lost on him, of course. But then again, he wasn’t going to get in on his flying ability…

He was sitting outside just one of many offices in the administration building of the Wonderbolts’ main compound. Funnily enough, his trip to the compound was the easiest part of his journey; the hard part had began upon his arrival. Starting with convincing the security ponies at the front gate to let him in. Apparently they weren’t aware that he was scheduled for an interview today, and it had taken more than just a bit of persuasion to convince them to actually call the HQ and confirm he was supposed to be there.

But then after that had come the challenge of actually finding his way to the office he needed to go to. According to the information he’d been given upon setting up the interview, it was to be in the Lieutenant Comamnder’s office on the second floor of the administration building in the north wing. But fat lot of good that information did him; for whatever reason, there didn’t seem to be ANY signs in the building telling which wing was in what direction! Mixed with the fact he hadn’t bothered to keep track of which way north even was, and it left him wandering around for a good 20 minutes until, by pure idiotic luck, he made a correct turn and found himself in a small lobby/waiting area. And there across the room was a door with a frosted-glass window, Lieutenant Commander displayed across it big black letters.

A quick check of his phone’s clock showed that, at the very least, he wasn’t late for his meeting. He had left his motel room early just in case something like this had happened; a habit drilled into his head by his mother from an early age. So now all he could do was sit down and wait, glad to be able to finally have a rest.

Normally, even for an unathletic pegasus like himself, the journey here wouldn’t be so hard. However, the wheel-bottom case resting beside him showed exactly why his journey had been as tiring as it was. He’d been forced to push the heavy thing around since this morning, as its contents were far to heavy to carry around for an extended period of time. Thankfully, the hardest part had been getting it up the stairs; it was really a shame that this was the off-season for the organization, hence why he hadn’t seen… well, anyone really, save for security patrolling the grounds. He would have appreciated a bit of help with the lifting, and getting some proper directions.

Still, no way to change any of that now, he figured. All that was left for him to do now, was to sit back and wait for another ten minutes or so. At least there was a clock in the lobby that let him keep track of time. With little else to do, he take a glance down at himself to give himself one final look-over.

While no bastion of physical health, Copper was at least in decent shape. A tall stallion, there was no denying his lanky stature. He didn’t have much in the way of muscle either, though if needed he was at least capable to doing some heavy lifting. His coat was a right, almost shining copper brown, his mane and tail a somewhat pale, rustic green, both kept short so that the former would keep out of the tinkering pegasus’s eyes while he worked, and keeping the latter from being caught in any of his inventions in case of an unaware sway in any direction.

He also dressed the best he could for the interview, though given the funds he had at the moment it wasn’t much. A simple white dress shirt, black slacks and matching shoes that he tried to polish the best he could. Now he was just hoping that he didn’t end up feeling he was underdressed when he was called in.

Really though, he was half-amazed to even find himself here in the first place! Buckle didn't know if he should consider himself lucky for having gotten word of an interview for this new position, or consider himself crazy for trying to jump into the big leagues right out of school. He had been working his way through his higher education for quite some time now; engineering, technical design, programming, crafting and construction… everything he’d need to know to craft just about any type of machine or object he desired. Of course, the result of so many years in higher education meant he was now in his mid-twenties and only just getting out of school to put his personal craft to work in the real world.

And what a first job THIS would be if he got it.

Honestly, he had been certain that one of his oldest, closest professor from his old university had been pulling his tail when he invited Buckle to his office after class just to tell him about the job. And yet the more he looked into it, the more it became clear it was true.

Apparently, big changes were going to be coming to the Wonderbolts when their newest batch of recruits arrived for training at the compound. And they were changes that, frankly, he was still amazed to know about.

Now, he knew about pegasus anatomy, and quite well too; so did most of his race. It was basically a poorly-kept secret that pegasi were quite… sensitive. At least, in the physical sense they were. And they had to be; when your latent ability was controlling the very weather, it meant that your body would adapt to pick up on the smallest changes around you. Such a thing was necessary to make sure that you were always aware if something was going wrong and could be ready to dodge or flee at a moments notice. Of course, such sensitivity was a double-edged sword for most pegasi in that their sensitive nerves left them quite weak to gentle or rough sensations against the skin.

And it was that, apparently, that ended up being the jumping-off block for this change to the Wonderbolts training methods. Apparently, after quite a bit of coercing from some of the higher-ups in the organization, Spitfire herself had cleared the new program to go though… on the promise that someone be hired who could supply them with all the new machines, constructs, and technology that they would need to get it off the ground! And from what he had learned said machines were going to focus around one singular thing; being made to either firmly restrain and/or tickle the ever-loving snot out of any pegasus unfortunate enough to end up in them. According to some more recent studies that had been run on pegasi (And ACTUALLY PUBLISHED in medical journals, to Copper’s surprise), ticklish sensations, while never causing the same reaction in any two subjects, always seemed to motivate the subjects to do better at whatever goals they had set for them. Of course, this motivation was expressed differently in different types of pegasi in question, but it seemed to be solid, consistently-proven data on the part of the researchers.

Enter Copper; a stallion who, in the words of his professor, was one of the brightest minds he had seen in quite a while when it came to crafting and creating machines and properly programming them. It showed in his strong grades, as well; he had managed to graduate in the top ten of his class, and his future was all but secured. He could do anywhere he wanted to go with his ability and raw talent for invention.

So really, who was HE to turn down a possible job working with the Wonderbolts? It was the dream job of many, and even if he wouldn’t be in the skies, he’d still be among the best fliers of this generation. Really, it would have been foolish to turn down such a possible position. Sure, this may not have been the most… orthodox field of work for somepony to enter, but if this worked out, he could help usher in a brand new era for the Wonderbolts! And if it failed? Well… who ever got anywhere without risking failures in life!?

Also, it may have helped that the pegasus had long since discovered he personally held a bit of a tickle fetish. And really, who didn’t enjoy mixing their work with pleasure?

Either way, he couldn't turn back now! He would just have to go in and give it his all, even if he wasn't sure just how this interview would go; he'd been required to bring an example of his work to show off in the interview, hence the case he’d brought along with him. But he was ready now; he’d go in, give it his all, and even if he failed he wasn’t going let it drag him down! He could do this!

“Copper Buckle, I presume?”

The pegasus jumped in surprised; he’d been so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn’t even been paying attention to his surroundings. Not that he thought he had to, of course; he had figured he was alone, save for his interviewer. Who, apparently was no standing beside his chair, glancing down at the brown pegasus who finally broke out of his daze and looked back up.

Like many pegasi, and many Equestrians in general, Copper was a fan of the flying team and kept track of the Wonderbolts every season, though he personally had never been lucky enough to get to see a show in person; the closest he got were live performances streamed on the giant TVs around his university campus. Also like many fans, he had his favorite members of the team that he enjoyed more than others. But there was no doubt that his favorite member of the team had always been Soarin, Lieutenant Commander of the entire force and perhaps the physically strongest among all of them. So of course, upon learning where he’d need to go, Luke had quickly pieced together who would be interviewing him and had tried his best to mentally prepare himself for a serious, professional meeting with his favorite flyer.

And yet that didn’t stop him from feeling wobbly in the knees as he laid eyes on Soarin in real life for the first time. The stallion was built tall like Copper, but was far broader and more filled out, thanks to his years of constant, hard training to build a level of physical strength that would leave most pegasi jealous. And his showed on what he could see of Soarin’s arms, even if it wasn’t much. In lieu of the flight suit he was usually seen in, Soarin today was adorned in the more professional Wonderbolt dress uniform; he wore a blue, button-down short-sleeve dress shirt, a black tie fastened around his neck, along with a pair of tan slacks and shined black dress shoes. And yet, despite the professional appearance, he actually had a rather relaxed, welcoming smile on his face.

“Well, don’t just sit there and gawk; I’d hope you haven’t gone through the trouble of faking such a nice resume just so you can stare at me?” he asked, voice laced with a playful tone and even chuckling at the end. Seemed he wasn’t exactly foreign to such a reaction.

Still, Copper knew he couldn’t give a bad first like this; he took a deep breath to steady himself and stood up, turning to face Soarin and giving him his best smile, “Yes, that’s me. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, sir.”

“Ooh, now relax a bit; you don’t need to be THAT professional here,” he assured, reaching out and giving Copper a firm pat on the shoulder. By Celestia, he was strong; that single pat was enough to make him stumble, having not expected such force behind it. Not only that, but Soarin was about half a head taller than he was! But even as he stood there, Copper wasn’t getting any sort of authoritative vibe off him; if anything, the Lieutenant Commander seemed to be quite relaxed at the moment. In fact… he almost seemed excited for some reason…

However, Copper wasn’t given much time to think about that as Soarin turned around rather abruptly, motioning to follow after him with a casual flick of his wrist, “Come on then, follow me and we’ll get this started right away.” He was heading towards the now-open office door, and Copper didn’t hesitate to follow after him, wheeling the case along beside him.

While it was no surprise that Soarin would have his own office being second in command, it was rather surprising to see how sparse it was. There was a row of windows against the far wall, but all the blinds were drawn, light only coming from the lamps above. Right in front of the windows was Soarin’s desk, with nothing more than a few papers on it and a simple name-plate. A large, comfortable-looking chair was behind it, and two more, far simpler chairs sat in front of it. And… that was about it for the furniture. Aside from that, a filing cabinet in the back left corner, a potted plant near the door, and a few framed pictures on the wall, there was nothing else in the room, leaving quite a bit of open space.

Soarin, however, didn’t go behind his desk; in fact, he stopped once he was beside it, turning back around and facing him. He crossed his arms, yet he still had a fairly casual air about him as he spoke, “Alright Copper, I’m gonna get straight down to it with you; after you sent us in your resume, I have to admit that I was impressed with what I saw, and the references I had all vouched for you and told me you had skill worth bring to the big leagues. So, we’re gonna jump past the usual stock questions; instead, I want to get to the demonstration. Feel free to use the space I got here to set things up; I’m just gonna go ahead and watch you work.”

Copper had definitely not been expecting that! Did this even count as an interview if there weren’t any questions!? He wasn’t even sure how to respond verbally to such a curveball! Or… was that the point? Was this part of the interview, perhaps? To see how he might react at having things change on the dime to a situation he didn’t fully expect? It was always a possibility, even in the position he was looking at, and adaptability was probably something they’d be looking for anyway! So best to just go with it for now.

He gave Soarin a nod, smiling once more, “Sure thing, just give me a minute.” He bent down, popping open the latches on the case and setting the top aside; he reached in, taking firm grip on the device inside. With an audible grunt, he managed to lift it out, moving it over a few feet before carefully and quickly setting it back on the ground with an audible thud.

Said device was, of course, a pair of stocks; they were probably the single most classic restraint for tickling, so what better device to make for this interview? However, he had of course ended up adding a modern, technological twist to them. The stocks, it seemed, were made out of solid metal! Several black buttons were located at various parts of the smooth, polished grey surface, and on the front side, set between the two padded holes was what looked to be a black screen of sorts.

Copper reached down, flicking a switch near the base of the stocks; the screen lit up for a few briefs moments, and now several different words were lit up inside ovals near the bottom. He gently tapped the oval marked ‘Rise’ and moments later a gentle whirring was heard as the stocks began to slowly lift up into the air, supported by a trio of metal legs appearing out of the underside. Soarin watched on, eyes a bit wider as he watched the device climb a good four feet or so before coming to a stop, clearly having reached it’s full height.

However, he remained silent as he walked forward, bending down to get a closer look at the restraint. He gave a gentle “Hmmm…”, a finger scratching under his chin as he walked a slow circle around, all while Copper watched from a foot or so away, he himself eyeing Soarin. It seemed that he was doing his best to spot any possible imperfections on the surface, but so far it seemed he had found nothing.

“I’ll admit, the design is rather basic,” he said suddenly as he stopped in front of the stocks, bending down so his face was level with the device. “However… it’s definitely got more to it than meets the eye. The buttons around it and on this scree are enough to tell me that.” He broke his gaze from the stocks, looking over at Copper, “So, care to tell me how it functions?

Copper carefully released a breath he hadn’t even realized he was holding, and gave Soarin a nod, “Well, a few ways; for one, it's powered by an energy cell that can be solar charged, so no need to plug them into something or keep replacing batteries. Also, the locks on it are magnetic, and strong enough you'd need the jaws of life to pry them open if they're not unlocked first. Not only that but the lock can be manual, and turned on or off with the press of a button, or you can set it on a timed release so it only opens after a certain amount of time's passed.” He stepped forward, tapping a blank spot on the screen, “This will show the time remaining, and it can also keep track of time spent in here overall if you’re just looking to make it a certain length of time but wanna open them at will. Not only that, but there are a few extra buttons on here that can open up a few additional restraints, or reveal storage drawers for extra tools and supplies, thought there isn’t anything in there just yet.”

For a moment, Soarin said nothing, taking one last look at the stocks before he got to his feet and turned to Copper. However, a moment later his muzzle split into a broad smile, “Copper, I like your style buddy! You clearly did your research and came in with just what we’ve been looking for; something sturdy, resilient, and with a nice modern twist to make it even MORE effective than it would have been before. You got a strong head on your shoulders kid, and these things are proof of that!”

Upon hearing such praise… and from such a notable figure, at that… Copper couldn’t help but grin a bit. Soarin was actually, genuinely impressed! With HIS creation! He felt like he could float into the clouds, but for the moment decided on a much more simple “Thank you, sir” in return for the compliments. Still, it was hard NOT to feel on top of the world after such a big-name stallion praised your work…

“So, how do you want me?”

…But apparently it was also VERY easy to be caught off-guard in such moments and find yourself come speeding back down to the ground.

“Ummm… excuse me, sir? Did I just hear you correctly?” Copper asked, grin quickly turning into a semi-confused frown. Had Soarin really just asked…

“How do you want me?” Soarin quickly repeated, “Come on buddy, you gotta focus on what I’m telling you here.”

“Well, no, I heard you just now. I just wasn’t sure if I… heard right is all,” he responded, looking off to the side as his voice go a bit lower near the end. Now things were starting to veer off in a direction he hadn’t been expecting…

“Well, why wouldn’t I get in, huh?” Soarin asked him, propping one arm on the stocks as he leaned against them, free hand giving the side a few taps. “I gotta see if they can do what they’re built for, and I’m pretty much the only pony here who’s gonna get in ‘em willingly. So, how’s about unlocking ‘em for me and telling me how ya want me?”

…Okay, that DID make perfect sense, Copper realized. He really needed to calm himself down... but could he? Truth be told… this was starting to become something of a personal vision of his.

Copper wasn’t usually one to talk about his sexuality, nor express it all that much; his mind was usually so focused on his projects he didn’t give much time to such thoughts. But when he did… well, he knew he was attracted to stallions, and many time his more inappropriate thoughts would involve interaction with the same sex. It didn’t help that many of those thoughts featured Soarin in particular, either…

NO! No, he HAD to keep this professional; Soarin was just volunteering to put his invention through a proper test! Nothing more than that. He just had had to keep himself under control, and he knew he could do that. He nodded quickly, motioning to the chair behind his desk, “Right, of course; please, just bring your chair open and make yourself comfortable, I’ll get this set up.” He got a nod in response, and while Soarin walked off he gave a button on the side of the stocks a firm push; there was a quick buzz as the charge in the magnets deactivated, allowing him pull open the heavy top.

Soarin was soon back over, nestled in his desk chair behind the stocks, which Copper thankfully lowered a foot or so to put them more level with Soarin’s height. Once they were stable, Soarin actually smiled a bit as he set his ankles on the padding of the lower half-holes. With a dull slam of metal on metal, Copper quickly sealed them once more and reactivated the magnets.

Soarin gave his feet a few quick paddles; already he could tell he was stuck firmly, the stocks not even budging an inch. And while there was some room in the holes, it was really just enough to keep his blood circulating and little extra. It seemed even that was enough to bring a bigger smile to his face, “Impressive, even got the hole size just right when accounting for padding. Nicely done, Copper.” As he talked though, the brown pegasus couldn’t help but notice that excited edge to his voice was back.

“Well, I knew it wouldn’t do much good if you had somepony in here and they could wiggle their feet around THAT easily.”

“Heh, very true Copper, very true. Frankly, I’m loving this more and more. And you’re looking better and better in my book… just one last thing.”

“What is it?”

Soarin looked up, flashing Copper an actual grin, “Well, all these bad boys need now is a stress test.. .so, let me have it.”

“You… you’re serious?” Copper could feel his face lighting up red from what Soarin just said. He thought he may have been implying it earlier, but now Soarin had just gone right out an asked for him to tickle his feet!

“How many times do I have to say this? Yes!” he said, finally sounding a bit irked as he rolled his eyes, “Look, if you’re nervous about how I’m gonna react or something, don’t worry about it. Just trust me when I say, I can handle it. We’ll keep it short though; let’s say, fifteen minutes. That oughta be enough for me to get a gauge for these things stress-wise.”

“Well… if I have your permission… alright,” he nodded, walking in front of the stocks while pulling one of the thinly-padded chairs over and having a seat. Once he was comfortable as he could get, he carefully reached out, almost unbelieving at what was about to happen. He was living what was surely not just his own fantasy, but a fantasy of many around Equestria! Here he had Soarin, Lieutenant of the Wonderbolts, in stocks with his feet at his mercy! Granted it wasn’t for long; he reached for the touch-screen’s timer controls, quickly setting the auto-release for fifteen minutes and starting the countdown, before he brought his focus back to the task at hand. No way could he waste such an opportunity, even if he had to keep himself professional as he could in what was to come.

The laces of the shoes came undone easily, and a few tugs made them loose enough for the shoes to easily slide off. He gave one of the black buttons on the stocks a push, this one on the opposite side from the lock button. All it seemed to do, however, was bring out a simple metal hook on that side of the stocks, allowing Copper to hang the shoes by their laces. He also wasted little time with Soarin’s socks, giving the black, blue-toed sheers a few good tugs before they came off and then stuffing them in the shoes.

Just like, his feet were bare and exposed; while his whole coat was a pale, greyish-blue, the soles of Soarin’s feet seemed even paler than the rest of him, almost white with a pale blue tinge. Not only that, but they had to be size 14 at least, if not a bit bigger. His arches were fairly wide too, leaving him with a shallow but spacious instep on each foot. His toes seemed a bit short however, and somewhat rounded with thicker, almost pudgy stems. But perhaps the biggest thing was their condition. While all athletes knew that it was important to keep their feet in peak condition, Soarin’s seemed… well, flawless! Not even the smallest trace of a callous anywhere, no dead, peeling skin, even his toenails were trimmed and filed properly! Honestly, they looked on pair with some of the foot models that Copper had browsed through on slow, lonely evenings on his phone…

“Heh, you like what you see down there?”

…And he had been staring at them for well over a minute, he realized. If he hadn’t been blushing before, he most definitely was now.

And yet, Soarin just gave a friendly chuckled and smiled down at him, “Yeah, I know it may be a bit surprising how nice they look, but I try to keep my peds in top shape, you know? I just went and got a proper pedicure the other day. And don’t think you gotta hold back because of that, okay? Lemme have it, I wanna put these to the maximum test!”

So, he got pedicures? Copper actually let himself chuckle a bit; again, he was no idiot, and he knew how to put two and two together. Finally, things were starting to make sense… but he said nothing for now. After all, Soarin wanted him to give it his all right? Then he would do just that.

He brought his hands up, fingers curling in with their nails aimed for the soles, “Alright, but I should warn you I’m a bit rusty at this… haven’t tickled anypony in who knows how long.” And with that said, lunged his nails in, pressing them gently against the top of each arch before slowly dragging them downwards, nails gently grazing over the amazingly soft, plush skin of Soarin’s soles. Sure enough, the effect was almost instant.

“PffffffffttttthahahahHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” Soarin’s laughter began softer, but suddenly spiked as Copper’s nails dragged over the instep of his arches. It also caused his feet to spasm and paddle around in a vain attempt for his reflexes to try and get his feet away from the cruel fingers, but they had no such luck. Once more, the stocks didn’t even budge from their position as Soarin’s feet squirmed about, unable to escape from Copper’s fingers. Said fingers soon found their way down to his heels as well, now, starting to wiggle about in random directions. Sadly, the results were less impressive, only getting a few deep chuckles and lighter snickers from the pale-blue pegasus.

Of course, it didn’t deter Copper; after all, by a look at the clock he still had 12 minutes left, and more spots to explore. His hands came back up, nails pressing up against the balls of his feet and beginning to stroke up and down rapidly, having plenty of space to roam about as he left his hands drift left and right to make sure that he could cover every inch of the area. After all, if Soarin’s reaction was any indication, he had just found quite the sensitive spot.

Poor Soarin didn’t seem to be taking the nails all that well, or at least that’s how it looked; he was gripping the armrests of his chair firmly to stop himself from flailing around or lunging forward on instinct, like anyone might do to in such a situation. Instead, he was clearly fighting to keep himself from falling out of his chair and diverting all of his energy into his legs and feet, which were currently jerking about and tugging at the padded holes as much as they could, all while laughing nice and loud without trying to hold it in. In fact, his cheeks seemed to be getting pink as the minutes ticked away, mouth unable to close thanks to the sensations shooting up from his feet. Rusty or no, Copper was being vicious!

And with about 7 minutes left, he decided to give Soarin a short break, fingers pulling away from the balls of his feet at last. The once immaculate pale-blue skin was now tinged with multiple small, zig-zagging lines of reddish pink, a few left-over tingling sensations slowly fading from the area as Soarin panted softly, head leaning back and staring up at the ceiling. However, his ears twitched at hearing the movement of mechanical parts, and he peered back down only to look on in surprise… and mild delight… as he saw what had happened.

Copper had pushed another button, and this one brought something out on top of the stocks it seemed; a long, narrow metal bar with multiple small, adjustable looped straps dangling off of it. Loops which Copper was casually sliding around each one of Soarin’s toes, adjusting them to they were snugly secured around each digit and holding it back nice and taut. He soon had all ten secured back firmly, leaving Soarin unable to move his feet at all anymore.

“Heh, toe bonds too, eh? Definitely a boOOOHOHOOHOHOHOHOHOHHOHOHOHOHOHHOHO!!!” Soarin was cut off rather abruptly mid-sentence however, as copper wasted none of his remaining time and went for the last piece of uncharted territory on Soarin’s feet. He could tell from the trembling, Soarin was definitely trying his damnedest to flex and curl them, but the straps were holding firm and allowing almost no movement now. And while that was definitely a bonus for him, it wasn’t so much for Soarin.

The Lieutenant Commander of the Wonderbolts found himself unable to retain any tact or grace as perhaps the most sensitive area on his feet was attacked by the other stallion’s nails. His head shot back, eyes wide and starting to tear up as he let out a rather shrill shriek of laughter when the pads of his toes were met the cruel scratching. Copper had managed to properly catch him off guard, and now he was paying the price as he found himself unable to control his laughter or reactions, letting out another high-pitched shriek of laughter when the wrinkles in his toes were met by the scratchy, cruel sensation of nails against skin.

Copper, for his part, was trying to do all he could to make Soarin thrash about in the stocks, and it seemed to be working; he could see his ankles bumping around against the padding in the holes. His toes were also straining with all their might to break the straps as he scribbled up and down their stems without any mercy. While wasn’t truly, genuinely vulnerable as he still somehow managed to hold his hands down on the chair, it was still clear that the laughter and struggling were all very real.

And, if Copper was honest with himself? It was starting to excite him a bit…

However, all good things had to come to an end eventually, and despite the fun he was having, he knew better than to continue once the timer on the stocks finally showed a line of zeroes. He stopped just as the end came, his hands pulling back as another buzz sounded, signaling the magnetic locks were released once more. It didn’t take long for Soarin to slump back in his chair, panting gently and getting his breath back as Copper worked carefully to undo the toe bonds. Once the last one was off, he opened the stocks just enough for Soarin to pull his feet out, which he happily did.

“Woah… oh.. okay…” he panted a bit, sitting himself up straight once his feet were finally out, though he kept them off the floor as he reached out, retrieving his footwear from the hook and quickly getting them back on. “First of all, I gotta say… for a guy that hasn’t done this in years, you’re a pretty darned good tickler,” he said, giving Copper a genuine grin which was returned with a smile from the brown pegasus. “And second... the stress test was enough to convince me, you made these for more than just show.”

Copper, again, was starting to feel like he was on top of the world; today was going better than he had ever expected it to! Soarin himself had not only complimented one of his biggest projects several times now, but he had actually given him a chance to play out a fantasy he’d had more than once in recent years. And now, it looked like actually had a legitimate chance at getting this position! “Thank you sir! I can’t tell you how much this means to me, really; I’m just glad that my personal work was able to impress a stallion of your position. And that you were willing to trust me enough to allow such a test in the first place.”

“Well, it’s all part of the interview, you know,” Soarin told him, standing up and wheeling his chair behind the desk once more, wiping some sweat from his brow as he leaned against the side of his desk. “One of the biggest factors we’re looking for here is a pony we can trust with this sort of responsibility. And I’m proud to say you passed that portion with flying colors. In fact, I’ll be honest; out of the handful of ponies I’ve seen for this job, you’ve got the best chance so far.” He chuckled a bit at seeing Copper’s eyes light up, holding up a finger, “But, I got others coming in over the rest of this week, and I’m giving them all a fair chance for the position too. You’ll know in a few days if you got the position or not, so stick around town until at least Saturday, okay?”

“Oh, of course,” he nodded, standing up himself as got to work packing up the stocks, soon having them back inside of their case. Still, the back of his mind was still bubbling around in joy; hopefully, Soarin’s impression of him, and his work, would stick around through the end of the week. With one last farewell, he turned and started out, only allowing himself to grin once he was finally outside of the building.

For all of the unexpected curveballs he’d just been handed, Copper really couldn’t help but think that he’d just given the best interview he’d EVER give.

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Unfortunately, the wait for Saturday felt like a month to Copper. Since he didn’t actually live in Canterlot, he’d been stuck in a small, average motel room for the last few days. But finally, the day had arrived, and he was feeling a bit nervous, he had to admit. The confidence he’d been riding on the day of the interview had soon run out, and now he was nervous he may have been over-shadowed by somepony else. He was trying to distract himself by any means he could think of; drawing up new design plans, web browsing, reading the new books he’d brought along, even browsing the limited selection of channels the room’s TV had. Still, he kept finding himself unable to focus much, bringing his phone out every few seconds as he waited for the call that would end up deciding his future…

Finally though, at around three in the afternoon, it finally began to go off. Swallowing his nerves, Copper answered and held the phone up to his ear, keeping his voice straight as he could, “Hello?”

“Hey there Copper!” Soarin’s voice rang out clear from the other end, sounding as relaxed as it had a few days ago. “Hope that I’m finding you doin’ well?”

“I’m alright, yeah. You?”

“Heh, preeeety good right now. Tell me; you make sure to stick around Canterlot like I told ya?”

“Of course!”

“Heh, good to hear it, because I want you here bright-eyed and bushy-tailed tomorrow at noon; we need to get you situated into your new living arrangements.~”

Copper honestly wasn’t sure how he didn’t drop the phone then and there; instead, he actually managed to tighten his grip on it, throat suddenly feeling dry as his chest bubbled in joy, “Wait… does, does that mean…”

“Congrats buddy; no one else had the creativity, quality, and spunk you did. So welcome to the Wodnerbolts Copper! Now, can I expect to see you here tomorrow with all the stuff you got on you?”

“Y… Y-Yes, of course!” he said, not realizing just how loud his voice gotten, “Oh my… t-thank you! Thank you thank you thank-!”

“Woah, woah buddy!” Soarin chuckled a bit on his end, “Cool your jets; I’m sure you’re excited, but try and tone it down. Look, celebrate tonight however you want, just be responsible and meet me here tomorrow, ‘kay?”

“R-Right, understood sir!”

“Hey now, no need for that ‘sir’ business; just call me Soarin. I promise ya, I’m a more laid-backed boss than you might think. I’ll see ya tomorrow newbie, and congrats again; I think you and I are gonna get along juuuust fine here.”

“See you then,” Copper responded, hanging up moments later and falling back on the bed. He was staring up at the ceiling in disbelief; he had actually done it. He didn’t know how… but he had landed what had to be his absolute dream job!

Copper Buckle; tickle tech designer for the Wonderbolts.

He didn’t know just what this new job would bring for him in the future of course, but that would come in time. And he was in for QUITE the tenure…

Author's Note

First of all, I want to give a BIG thanks to my amazing boyfriend, Godleon for giving me the support and encouragement to put this out in the first place.

So, here it is, the first chapter of a personal project that I decided to put there and share with the world. :twilightsmile: I know, it's FAR from being for everybody, but I wanted to put my writing out there and see what other people who ARE into this stuff, sparse as they may be, might think. Also, this is meant to help me work on my story writing skills, so please do excuse the weaker writing for now. :twilightblush: But feel free to offer any writing tips/advice you might have, and just let me know what you think overall.

Not exactly sure when the next chapter will be out, but expect it to be clean; it'll mostly be about establishing more of the characters and learning about how things are going to function. Until then though, hope you all have a good day!

Chapter 1: Welcome to the Wonderbolts (Clean)

“Hmmm… should probably be a bit taller… but then it’s gonna need to be reinforced at the base so it won’t fall over…” The only sounds in the large room came from Copper’s pencil as he worked on his latest design. Or at he least tried to; this one was starting to give him a bit of a headache.

About three months had passed since Copper's rather... unique interview with Soarin that had landed him this rather unusual, but highly fulfilling job. An interview that STILL managed to send a happy shiver down his spine when he thought of it even now.

Though that was mainly because it had so far been the ONLY time he was lucky enough to have the Lieutenant Commander's feet at his mercy. Mainly due to the fact that they were both fairly busy over these last few weeks. After all, the new season was rapidly approaching, and with it, the first ever group of newly graduated recruits to be put through all of these new training methods. As such, it had called for Copper to kick his skills into high gear and have as many functioning devices ready at the start as he could, while of course keeping their quality up to the standard he had set for himself.

Thankfully, he had PLENTY of space for it. This position, unlike a good number of other maintenance positions, was year-round and required him to be available pretty much twenty-four/seven. So, it had actually come with included lodging; specifically, a small but rather cozy apartment located in the basement of the compound's modestly-sized maintenance building. It even came furnished, albeit with just the basics; shelves, lamps, and larger pieces of furniture such as chairs, a desk, dresser, and bed. While nothing overly special, he considered himself fortunate to have his own home down here. But really, that was small potatoes compared to the workshop that his new home was attached to!

Copper was no stranger to machinery workshops; he'd spent the last several years working in numerous others. However, those had either been workspaces in university, or the occasional shop he’d spent his summer months working at. None of them had ever been designated as his own, private workspace. None had been as big as this one, either; honestly it seemed a bit less like a workshop and more like an unused underground gym given it's size. The place was easily big enough to fit anything he could have possibly been capable of making with his own two hands, wide and long with a ceiling easily fifteen feet high. Upon his arrival, numerous work benches were already lined up against the walls, which themselves had pegboard he could move around with ease. There were even a series of sturdy metal rafters on the ceiling above that, if needed, he could hang any projects on that he needed out of the way, if the included storage room he had off to the side didn't have enough space.

Of course, while it may have started out rather empty and open, it didn't stay that way for very long; now, it was a mess of all sorts of components and electronic items. Tools of varying types lined the walls, or were scattered around the work benches or sticking out of toolboxes on said benches, several of which he’d pushed together to make individual work spaces around multiple areas in the room, many of which here holding several different devices. Several electric winches were now attached to the rafters as well, able to be moved back and forth across them if needed, and each with a long, dangling chain with thick, sturdy clamp-on hooks on the ends. However, at this moment in time they weren’t in use the hooks hanging safely out of the way.

At this moment in particular though, Copper himself was away from all of that, and seated at an artist's desk tucked away in the front left corner of the room. Though, he was still in his usual work outfit; a pair of blue overalls, a grey shirt visible underneath them, and a pair of brown work boots. As was usual these days, he had recently gotten a message from the higher ups (It was amazing how useful fax machines could be even in this day and age) about a new device that they wanted him to construct, and he was still in the middle of working out some of the finer details in the blueprints.

That was pretty much how the professional side of things had gone since he began his job, though; get messages from the admin offices, and fulfill their requests as soon as possible. At the very least they didn’t drown him in orders… well, at least not anymore. There was a slight rush for him to get some of the 'basics' finished in high enough quantity so they could be set up, and so his first few weeks he’d had to keep a list around of just what he needed to build and in what numbers. It was honestly a bit surprising how much they were asking for, but he at least had the funds to get it done and still keep to his quality standards. Over time the list had dwindled, and at the moment he was pretty much caught up on his work, hence being able to start on these new plans right away.

Unfortunately for him, the stallion had been so wrapped up in catching up on his work over the last while, that he had legitimately lost track of time outside of his workshop. As result, he didn't even realize what day it was.

Which was NOT a good position when you worked with an organization that worked like the military.

There was a knock on his workshop door that abruptly snapped him out of his working mindset. Not many of the officers headed down to this level of the basement, mostly due to their own personal little fears about his work, but some did come down on occasion. From those he had met so far, he quickly discovered that at least some of the Wonderbolts more elite fliers were pretty nice ponies. Though most of them seemed to give his inventions a wide berth.

Another knock came at the door, and this time it actually opened, revealing none other than Soarin. However, this wasn’t too much of a surprise to Copper; while it was true that the duo had both been busy doing their parts to prepare for this upcoming season, Soarin had made sure to visit every few days to check up on Coppers progress and make sure he wasn't completely overwhelmed with his workload.

However, what did surprise him was that Soarin was in his full, proper dress uniform at the moment; near identical to the uniform he’d worn during their interview, the biggest difference was this shirt was a deeper, almost navy blue and had several ribbons and medals on the chest, as well as a golden aiguillette, and his tan pants had been swapped for deep grey ones. "Hey Copper! Sorry to bother you but I just wanted to make sure you were-" he abruptly stopped himself upon seeing Copper at his desk, standing beside the door and giving him a quick glance over. "So...why aren't you ready?" he asked, his eyebrow raised as his eyes locked with the brown pegasus’s own.

As much as he didn’t like being interrupted while he was wrapped deeply into his work, Copper could tell from Soarin’s dress and expression that he had clearly missed something.

"Wait... what are you talking about?" he asked raising an eyebrow as he looked at Soarin, "I don't have any other plans today; I've been working on the design for this latest requested machine all afternoon. What's going on?"

Soarin looked at him with an ‘are you for real’ look, his eye twitching softly. "Copper, the new recruits have their welcoming party and ceremony tonight; Spitfire's reminded you several times and it’s starting in fifteen minutes!"

"Wait... that was TODAY!?" His eyes went wide in surprise, hand ducking into his pocket and quickly pulling out his phone. A quick glance at the calendar confirmed it; he had officially lost track of his days down here. He had been sure that tonight’s event was still several days away! Still, if he doubled-timed it fifteen minutes would hopefully be enough time... "O-Okay, just give me ten and I'll be ready, promise!" He hopped up from his chair, heading across the room to to back wall, up to a door marked 'Private'; with the twist of a key he was in his apartment, not wasting any time as he rushed into the bedroom and began to re-dress himself.

While he may not have been allowed a proper dress uniform due to the position he held, Copper was at least told he needed to get a proper dress outfit for himself for any of the more official events he may end up attending, such as tonight's ceremony. Thankfully, he not only had the money now thanks to this new position, but had gotten a good idea of what to buy for himself so he didn't stick out too much from everyone else.

It also helped that Copper knew himself, and had planned ahead for a problem such as this; among other precautions, he had set his outfit for tonight aside in his dresser already.

He soon emerged from the apartment once more, now wearing a smart-looking, blue button-down shirt with tan-colored pants and a pair of black dress shoes, a matching tie done up around his neck. He was back across the room in seconds to meet Soarin, giving him a nod, "Alright, I'm all set."

Soarin looked him up and down, a tad impressed about how he had gotten ready so quickly. He nodded, fixing the tie on his suit as they walked. Honestly, Copper was quite thankful that Soarin had come to fetch him; he would have most likely missed the entire thing if he hadn’t! In fact, Soarin had become a rather welcome sight these days, one of the few living lifelines he had to the outside world while he dealt with the biggest workload he'd ever had. During some of his check-ins, he would take some time to actually talk with the engineer and learn a bit more about him. In turn, Copper found himself learning a fair deal about Soarin that he had never heard about, nor expected.

However, one thing he wasn’t all that surprised to learn was that Soarin had been among the group who originally proposed this idea in the first place. But he was among a very small number of proposers. Aside from him, there had only been three others who had enough confidence to bring up this year’s new training regiment.

Among the others had been Fire Streak, who only really got behind it when he actually took a look at the publish studies that Soarin himself had seen in the first place. He had, albeit somewhat reluctantly, agreed that the data seemed to be sound, and put his backing behind the project. A bit of a necessity, since he needed one of the standard rookie trainers and was needed to even bring this to the table in the first place.

Another among them was none other than Fleetfoot; practically the face of the Wonderbolts, she perhaps had the biggest presence outside of the organization. She had, among other things, been featured in several prominent athletic magazines over the years and was known to endorse numerous products as well. She also had arguably the best public image out of all the other best-known members, having a great connection with fans and always being happy to interact them if the moment arose. Considering that such a drastic change in training methods was going to be introduced this year, it was basically inevitable that the press would have a field day reporting on it when it was made public. So having the biggest public face of their team throwing her support behind it would, hopefully, lessen any negative impact they got from it. That and, according to her own words, she was personally all for it ‘just for the personal kicks I’d get from watching what happens to the noobs.’

The fourth Wonderbolt to get behind it had actually been a bit surprising to Copper; apparently none other than Rainbow Blitz had thrown his backing behind the idea. One of the newer members of the Wonderbolts, Blitz had actually worked his way through the ranks rather quickly thanks to his ability and raw talent, and found himself among some of the fastest to make it into the upper ranked squads, becoming the lieutenant of Squad Four in only four short years. All while, according to Soarin, juggling time in his hometown with his close friends and even a serous, steady relationship! Quite impressive, to say the least, which was why having him behind the plan had been all the better. Though, much like Fleetfoot, he had apparently backed the idea for his own personal reasons. Though when he asked just what they were, all Copper got from his friend was a cryptic, “You’ll see.”

"Since you're the head of this new department, you're gonna need a speech. I assume you'll just make it up on the spot? It's what Silver does each year" he snickered a bit at his own words.

"Actually, no; Spitfire was kind enough to tell me that in advance, so I did at least prepare one ahead of time for this," he responded. He actually remembered that meeting quite clearly; it had been the first (and so far only) time he had met the Head Commander of the wonderbolts in person. But unlike Soarin, she seemed to give off an aura of strength and leadership, keeping their words focused on the subject at hand, which had been to come and inspect his work after a his first few weeks there. Still, she at least didn’t flinch when she saw his inventions, so that was a plus.

He patted his right pants pocket gently, "It's all in here if I need to reference it. I've lost track of time before this, particularly when I get lost in my work. But I try to compensate for it by planning ahead for stuff like this."

“Clever stallion; I’m guessing that you prepared what else you’ll need for tonight in advance, as well?”

He nodded, “Yeah, it should be there already and prepped to come out.”

The two were outside by this point, and began over to the main training facility, by far the largest building on the entire compound. It was a good five stories tall at least, mainly because there were inside areas that needed to left wide open for flight exercises and training sessions, and it was big enough to just barely hold every other building on the grounds inside of it. It also tended to serve as a bit of an all-purpose building, with numerous different rooms and halls inside for groups of pretty much any size.

Case in point, the main event hall, which had been set up for the ceremony this evening. It was more than large enough to hold everypony who had come this evening, with some space still left over, albeit blocked off for now. Numerous round tables had been set up, complete with either blue or yellow tablecloths and centerpieces of large lit-up Wonderbolt insignias. Since it was a larger special event, the food for the evening was buffet style; several straight tables had been lined up against the far wall, laden with numerous different foods from appetizers to desserts and everything in between.

It was also fairly packed at this moment, with this year’s new recruits and their families already here, as well as most of the current Wonderbolts. At this moment, the majority were either milling around with food and drink making conversation, or sitting at one of the numerous tables with friends and family celebrating personally.

There was a collapsible stage at the far end of the room as well, a blue curtain raised up at the back bearing the organization’s logo as well. A podium was set up at the front for the evening’s speeches, and a row of chairs in the back for other high-ranking members to sit during the ceremony...as well as Copper, the brown pegasus thought himself.

Soarin walked in beside him and patted his back with a chuckle, "Best get something to eat, especially before Surprise finds out the dessert bar is all you can eat.”

He chuckled a bit himself, giving a nod; his new friend had been quite the handy encyclopedia on many of the current Wonderbolts, especially the higher-ranked ones, whom he seemed to be on very good grounds with judging by the stories he had about some of them. But his remark had reminded Copper of something; he hadn't eaten since lunch, and he was starving! Without wasting a moment, he was on his way to the buffet table, glad for the convenience of catered goods.Naturally little expense had been spared for this evening, and a special catering company from Canterlot had supplied the food; it was much as a feast for the eyes as it was for the stomach. As he loaded up a plate with what seemed most appetizing, Copper took a glance around the room.

Wonderbolts of all kinds were around: from the high ranking officers to several of the lower ranking fliers, the reserve units, even the security and special effect staffs. Then, of course, there were the new cadets; a group of young, fresh-faced pegasi that stood out like a sore thumb from the rest of the evening’s guests. Whether having predecessors of greatness in their line before them or seeking their own, these were the youth of the skies and it showed in the energy and excitement they had.

Copper had to admit though, part of him felt a bit envious of the new recruits. He had taken a seat at one of the tables near the front with his meal and had a clear line of sight to one of the other tables, were a small group of new recruits were sitting together. All looked rather excited as they celebrated their graduation from basic training, clearly having forged strong bonds together through their experiences at the academy.

He would never deny the jot that came with his new job, but there were times he wondered how it must feel knowing you'd get to fly with the greats. Sadly, it was a chance he knew he couldn't have... he glanced back at his wings; even furled up, there was no hiding their smaller-than-average size. It wasn’t unheard of, but there were rare cases when some pegasi were born with stunted wings, and fate had dealt him an unfortunate hand in that regard. While he was by no means grounded, he couldn't fly for long periods of time thanks to them tiring out rather quickly, meaning any hopes me may of had of flying prowess were dashed long ago.

Still, it was an unfortunate fact of his life that he was unable to change, and something he had long since managed to come to terms with. Besides, he had his own personal passions that gave him satisfaction with his life. He had found his love of tinkering and designing machines at an early age, and it showed in his cutie mark; an open toolbox, with numerous tools sticking out of the top. It was only natural for a pegasus to enjoy being in the air, but as much as he did enjoy feeling the air rush by him, he was also quite content to toil the days away in his workshop.

Plus, they may not be looking so excited in a little while, he thought to himself with a slight chuckle. While he knew that the recruits had been told in advance that they would be the first group to try out a new training regiment this year, they still had no idea just what it would involve. But tonight, that was going to change. And he would be the lucky pegasus to drop the news.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soon enough, it was time for the official ceremony to begin, and everyone had taken their proper places, either down in the audience or up on the stage. Spitfire, of course, went up for her speech first, stepping up to the podium with her team, showing the same aura of leadership and strength about her just like Copper remembered. Her speech was one of inspiration, strength and most of all teamwork, as well as a message of good luck to the new recruits. As she spoke, Soarin stood behind her with Fleetfoot and Rapidfire, all holding a professional air of their own. Soon enough though, it came time for Copper’s own speech, the Head Commander introducing him to the crowd.

“Now I know this isn’t how these ceremonies usually go, but I’m going to be turning the mic over to our newest member of staff; will our new Chief of Athletic Technology, Copper Buckle, please step forward?”

Copper, for his part, had been sitting near the far end of the stage along with several of the higher ups and other chiefs of staff. Needless to say, he’d definitely felt a bit out of place sitting among some of the most well-known faces in Equestria, but he simply went with it, sitting off to the right end of the row as Spitfire gave her speech. When he was finally introduced however, he got to his feet and approached the microphone; at least he knew what he wanted to say, and had the audience's full attention already.

He gave his thanks to Spitfire and cleared his throat a bit, the Head commander moving off to the side while her teammates took their own seats. Adjusting the microphone a bit, Copper began to speak, "Hello everypony; first and foremost, allow me to give my congratulations to this year’s newest group of graduates from the academy. Anyone who can overcome the physical and mental strain of Wonderbolts training has truly earned their spot in this room. However, I myself am also new here; this will be my first year working among all of you, as the new and first Chief of Athletic Technology. I'm excited to bring my skills with machinery and engineering to the Wonderbolts, and to help usher in a brand new wave of modernized training programs for this year’s newest cadets. Now, some of you may be wondering what I mean about that, so I'll be up front; starting this year, the Wonderbolts are going to be incorporating far more unique methods of training and exercise, mainly among the newest members as they work to hone their skills and work for spots in either the reserves or this year's new recruit squads."

The crowd was clearly interested, eyes filled with wonder and ears perking up as the new starts seemed a bit excited; they were going to learn about these newer, modernized training methods! Some were even hoping to overtake the more senior members in no time flat with this year’s regiment! Of course, the only ones who knew the truth were the Lead Squad and High Ranking officials sitting on stage.

Copper looked out among the crowd of faces; while the more caring part of him knew that what was coming would be a rather cruel bomb drop, his more devious side was curious about the crowd’s reactions to what was coming next. He chuckled a bit, smiling at the crowd, "However, this new regiment may not be what you're expecting. Rather than simply starting new programs that will focus on intense physical strain, much of the same training routines will be kept in. But along with those, several new exercises will be added in, taking advantage of the new machinery I’ve been able to supply. There will also be a change in discipline methods for those who can't keep up with the demand of their Senior Commanders or those who shirk off in any way."

Again grateful that he had planned ahead for this day, he looked aside and nodded to a pair of waiting maintenance workers, who went behind the stage and rolled out something covered by a black tarp, carefully having it set down on the stage beside him. After a quick thanks, Copper grabbed the tarp and cast into the floor, revealing a set of metal stocks affixed to metal legs, leaving them high enough for everypony in the room to see. They looked fairly similar to the one’s he’d made to show off to Soarin, except that now there were longer any buttons sticking out at random areas. Rather, touch screen panels had been set up on the left, right, and center of this pair's top half, a nice upgrade he was able to give his original model. "These are just a basic model, but I think they speak for themselves; these stocks are just one of MULTIPLE devices rookies might find themselves in if they get in the bad graces of their commanders."

That's when the hopeful, excited mood of the newbies quite clearly crashed, their eyes widening with shock and some even going pale as they stared at the stocks; they knew EXACTLY what they were, and the implications behind them. The majority of the crowd was clearly stunned to see this, some were looking on with interest, and others were finding it bizarre, questioning how this would even work! Meanwhile, most of the higher ups were clearly holding in their own reactions to the crowd, though Fleetfoot looked like she was about to explode into her own fit of laughter and Soarin just grinned in amusement.

Copper actually had to hold in a few chuckles himself; the reactions were all he had been expecting and more, honestly. Still, he had to continue on, so he swallowed in his snickers and cleared is throat again, "Again, these won't be used solely for punishments; I've been hard at work these last few months creating numerous machines that will be incorporated into some of your more specific, advanced exercises and workouts. I'm sure that your future Senior Commanders will be happy to fill you in on all those details when the time comes, however. In the meantime, I’ll leave you all with this; I expect EVERYONE here to be respectful of my creations, and if any sabotage or purposeful harm comes to them, there WILL be consequences."

There was a murmur among the crowd now as they all looked and spoke to one another. Spitfire, seeing it was her time to come back in, stepped back over and took Copper’s position at the podium.

"Thank you, Copper Buckle." She nodded to him as he headed back to his seat, taking lead of the ceremony once more. "I will stress that this is a much newer and highly experimental training program, based around evidence that it can help the emotional, mental, and physical growth of our new cadets. While it is rather unorthodox, this is also a fully legal and permitted experimental period, approved by Princess Celestia herself. I promise you all we have not grown mad in our actions; we are just changing things to try and improve the generations that come after us all, and the results shall be seen in our future actions."

Copper was already back to his chair and sitting once more when Spitfire started the second half of her speech. And with good timing; it looked like a good amount of ponies in the crowd were finally recovering from the shock of his announcement as Spitfire went on to wrap things up with the night’s highlight; the graduation walk. She reached under the podium, pulling out a stack of small, bronze plaques.

“Now, we’ll begin tonight’s graduation like we always do; every year, out of twenty four best cadets chosen to graduate, we select the top eight cadets of each graduating class based on their performance, ability, and discipline. These eight will go on to received a more advanced training course, to better test their skills and hone themselves. So I would like to call up this year’s Advanced Senior Commanders, Lieutenant Commander Soarin and Lieutenant Commander Rainbow Blitz, to please step forward.”

Suddenly, Soarin’s little “You’ll see” made a lot more sense. Copper looked over as Soarin and Blitz both got up from their seats, stepping forward and flanking either side of the Head Commander. While both had professional, neutral expressions on their faces at the moment, it was quite obvious both of them were holding back other expressions. And if Spitfire noticed, she paid it no mind, simply nodding to Soarin and stepping back so he could take her place at the podium.

“Thank you Head Commander. As mentioned, I’ll be one of your Advanced Senior Commanders; Rainbow Blitz and I will each be taking four of this year’s top cadets, each personally put together by both of us. Now, I’ll be in charge of Squad Delta, so I’ll be handing out the plaques to each member of my new squad. So, let’s begin; first up, Graceful Breeze.”

Despite the round of applause and congratulations that rang out, it was clear the air was a bit tense in the room now. Still, a young pegasus mare got up from her seat, approaching the stage and stepping up to approach the podium… while giving a bit of distance to the pair of stocks that had been left up there, clearly off-put by them. She had a thistle-colored coat with a sandy-brown mane and tail, both cut into a short, streamlined style that undoubtedly was to help reduce the drag from her hair. She was also surprisingly tall for a pegasus mare, and a bit broader than most. She stepped up, giving her thanks while shaking hands with Soarin and Spitfire as she accepted her plaque, and was back off to her seat seconds later.

“Next up is Swift Trail,” Soarin said into the mic, and this time it was a stallion who got up and started his way over. However, he was actually quite short, about a head smaller than the average pegasus height, and yet a full-sized pair of wings rested on his back. His coat was an emerald green, and he had a short, fuzzy-looking dark-blonde mane and tail. Still, he didn’t let any of the stares deter him, and didn’t even flinch as he passed to technologic bonds on stage. He gave his thanks, shaking hands and taking the plaque off with him.

“Sand Dune.” The next one to rise got everypony’s attention at once, mainly because the largest pegasus in the room had just gotten to his feet. A stark contrast to Swift, Sand was pretty much a giant among ponies in general, with a size that rivaled even that of earth ponies! Copper was almost certain that this guy had some horse in his blood; there was no way he was a pegasus and also that big based on pony genetics alone. True to his name, his coat was a pale, sandy brown, and his rough-styled mane and tail were the same shade of green one might find on palm leaves. Like Swift, he didn’t seem at all bothered by the stocks as he stepped onto the stage, making the surface shake with every step. His handshake clearly had some strength behind it too, Copper able to see Soarin and Spitfire both flinch a bit from his grip.

“And now, Squad Delta’s Cadet Commander; Gleaming Streak.” This round of applause seemed a bit stronger than the others, most of it from other cadets in the crowd as young mare got to her feet. Her coat was a vivid, almost shiny shade of icy blue with a white-grey mane and tail, the former currently done up in a pixie cut. She also looked like she was the peak of level of fitness a pegasus her age could be at, lithe with finely-developed muscle. She approached the stage, looking quite proud of herself as she stepped up… but there was no denying that, even if her expression didn’t change, she tried to keep away from the stocks as well…

After she had accepted her plaque and shaken hands, Soarin stepped away from the podium. Now it was Blitz’s turn, and he already had a grin on his face as he began to speak, “Hey there folks; congrats to Soarin’s team of rookies, but unfortunately you guys missed out on the better teacher for this year! You’re looking at the Advance Senior Captain of Squad Echo everypony, now let’s get my newbies up here. First up, we got Winter Gale.”

Another pegasus mare stood up from her seat among more claps and cheers, this one with a snow white coat, her curly mane and tail a triage of blues in light, normal, and dark. She looked a bit thin, but otherwise looked to be in fit shape, approaching the stage quickly. As she got up however, Copper could have sworn she looked at the stocks not with nervousness but… curiosity? He didn’t really have time to be certain; she took her plaque like the others, and was off as soon as she’d come up.

“Next up is Dusty Trails!” Yet another one of the larger stallions in the crowd got to his feet, though he was at least a head shorter than Sand if not more so. His coat was an earthy brown, with a dirty-blond mane and tail which were both cut short rather simply. Though that wasn’t much of a surprise as the guy gave off a strong country-man aura. And he didn’t bother to mask his excitement at his new rank, approaching the stage and seemingly ignoring the stocks as he vigorously shook hands with Blitz and Spitfire, the former not seeming as rattled as the latter.

“Now we got Horizon Line!” Another stallion, this one actually of normal pegasus size and stature, got up. He actually seemed to be a bit gangly, his coat a rather foggy gray with a straight, dark-red mane and tail, the former fringed and actually covering his right eye. He didn’t seem to even try and hide his nerves as he got up on stage and gave the stocks a wide distance, enough to get some soft chuckles from the crowd. He kept his thanks short and simple, barely saying more than “thank you” before he was heading back to his seat.

“And last but definitely not least, Squad Echo’s Cadet Commander, Brave Star!” Of everyone up to this point, this name got the least applause of anypony, with a few scattered claps around the crowd. Not that it seemed to phase the pegasus in question, a rather fit-looking stallion with a golden-yellow coat, black mane tail short but looking like they were naturally spiked. He approached with a rather professional air about him, but there was no hiding the twitch on his face as he passed the stocks to get his plaque, shaking hands and offering his thanks complete with addressing them by their ranks, before heading down and back to his seat.

One he was seated again, Blitz stood back as Spitfire took the podium once more, this time pulling out a stack of what looked to be picture frames. “Congratulations again to this year’s advanced cadet squads; we’ll be holding you to our highest standards, so make sure you all keep at the top of your game. We will now move on to the rest of this year’s graduates; when you hear your name, please come up to accept your diploma.”

One by one, each remaining cadet was called up to the stage to receive the framed documents marking their completion of Wonderbolt basic training. And just like the others, they had to pass by the stocks while crossing the stage. Copper decided to simply continue taking in the reactions they had, if any, as they passed his invention.

Most were hesitant, like they were almost worried the device was going to eat them; some didn't like the look of them whatsoever; some seemed passive, and a couple others looked rather interested. Some clearly saw it as a means of punishment, something to fearfully hang over their heads as motivation to work their best just so they didn’t end up in them. Others seemed to see them as a challenge, a new means of developing their physical and mental strength to new heights. Then there were those who seemed unsure of just how to react to these things, or the announcement overall, and who would just have to try and adjust as they experienced it over time.

Copper had to give this class one thing; if they were anything, they were definitely varied. Not just by their appearances, but their actions as well. He also knew that, as the year went on, he would be learning a lot about them as well. While he hadn’t explicitly said it on stage, another part of his job was going to be working with the Senior Commanders this year as they worked with his devices and sought his help with them as needed. He also know for a fact that he’d be working particularly closely with the two advanced squads; they would be getting a special regiment all their own, personally designed to push their minds, bodies, and spirits. But that would be coming later, after he had the necessary data from all of them to start working on tweaking the machines he’d been hard at work building.

Eventually, the last cadet passed across the stage, leaving the ceremony complete as they stepped back down. With one last congratulations and a mention that their newest members would be given the upcoming weekend off to move into their new barracks and get situated, Spitfire ended the ceremony. Copper didn’t stick around long after that; he knew better than to give anyone in the crowd a chance to approach him at this moment. Instead, he gave a quick farewell to Soarin and slipped out one of the hall’s back doors.

A little while later, he was back at his workshop’s front entrance, and already he began to loosen his tie with a small sigh of relief. However, a quick glance at the door showed not everything was as he’d left it; something had been wedged between the wall and doorknob. He wasted no time in snatching it up, seeing it was a stack of string folders held together by a rubber band. As he walked inside, Copper set the band aside, opening the folder on top and lifting the contents inside up just a bit.

He was quickly met with a profile paper, with “Name: Brave Star” typed out at the top left, a photo on the right showing a portrait photograph of the stallion in question. Copper allowed himself a smile; seemed he’d gotten the profiles he’d requested already. Well, that just made things easier on his end. He just hoped that the advanced squads took this weekend to relax; he wouldn’t have such a luxury.

He had research to do.

Author's Note

Woohoo, new chapter up already, and not that long after the first one! Though it helps that this one was indeed clean and actually fairly easy to to get finished. And with all of this now established, along with a proper cast of characters, the REAL fun can begin, starting in the next chapter. :raritywink:

Speaking of the next chapter, expect it to be up by the end of this weekend if everything manages to go smoothly for me. And I can assure you, THAT will be where things start to pick up.

Again, all feedback and writing advice is welcome, and I do hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, despite the lack of any real action. I'll see you all next time!

Chapter 2: Getting a feel for things (M/M tickle torture)

Copper had to admit; much as he hated having to get up early in the morning, it was actually worth it to be able to watch the sunrise from right on the edge of Canterlot. Especially when you got to watch it from the roof of your home complete with breakfast. Still, maybe it was a good thing that he wasn’t actually a recruit here. After all, it had taken some willpower to drag himself out of bed this early, and he knew that the rookies for this year were not only up already as well but already well into morning exercises. After all, he had been watching them from the top of the maintenance building all morning, taking them in along with the rest of the compound.

The weekend seemed to pass by rather quickly, or at least it did for Copper. Of course, he had spent a good chunk of it making sure that everything was prepared for today’s work he’d be doing with the advanced squads. Now it was finally Monday morning though, and that meant Wonderbolt training season was officially in full swing. It was easy to tell, too; as he had stepped out into the late morning sun, Copper found the compound abuzz with activity.

He could see pegasi flying overhead in several different directions; most in staff uniforms and carrying training gear off across the grounds, though here also seemed to be others out on security patrols. Then of course there were the groups out to take advantage of the great weather and get in their morning exercises to warm up for the rest of their days. Various sounds of chatter were audible around him as he slung a backpack he’d brought along over his shoulder and glided down to the ground, setting off for his next destination; the main training facility. He was on a schedule after all, and he didn’t intend to keep anypony waiting.

Stepping inside, he found himself greeted by a large, open lobby colored in bright, rich blue and golden yellow. However, he paid the surroundings little mind for now as he headed for his destination. Thankfully, it was far less complicated for him to find his way around this building than it had been the administration one.This building was actually sane enough to have maps and signs around it! So it was far easier for him to find the room he was looking for, stepping inside and heading for the front.

Normally, the room in question was used for routine meetings that involved two or more squads working together for large routines, hence the larger size. At this moment however, all the tables and chairs that were normally set up had been moved up against the walls, making room for the two squads of four that stood at attention. There was also a wall divider at the front of the room, currently closed with two more of the room’s current occupants standing in front of it.

One was Soarin, who gave Copper his usual warm smile when he entered. He looked quite relaxed compared to the pegasi in front of him, who were all standing rapt at attention while clearly trying not to so much as twitch. The other, of course, was Rainbow Blitz, who looked like he was trying to hold back a grin as he saw Copper coming into the room. No doubt because he knew just what was coming and was imagining the reaction of the currently naive pegasi before him. Both of them were dressed in identical workout gear at the moment as well; light grey shirts with the Wonderbolts logo on the chest, blue shorts, and pairs of white running shoes.

Speaking of, he turned his focus to the two advanced cadet squads; all of them were keeping tall and still as they waited for further instruction, something that had been drilled into their heads back at the academy. They were each in a straight line of four, a small gap between them with their Commanders situated on Copper’s far left. They also seemed to be wearing their own personal items of exercise clothing this morning, a bit unusual but most likely something they allowed for their more simple workouts. Whether they were expecting the engineer to come in or not, they didn’t let it show, but he knew there was a good chance that neither squad had been informed he would be joining them for their first morning of training.

Once the brown pegasus had situated himself beside the duo at the front, Soarin began to speak, "A pleasure for you to join us today, Copper; now that you’ve arrived, we can begin with today’s test.” He looked across both squads, looking for any signs of confusion; much like Copper’s arrival, there had been no mention of a ‘test’ of any sort. Though if any of them were confused, they hid it well for the time being. “As you all know, you're going to be involved in the new training regime and this is the best way for Copper to judge and create special workout programs for you all. Now I know this probably still seems rather crazy, and trust me it is at least a bit, but this is a prime way for us to gauge your endurance in stressful situations, and how you might handle yourself in those situations, as well."

Blitz suddenly spoke up as well, managing to look at least a bit more serious than he had a minute ago, "We aren't all glamour and awesome tricks around here, after all; we gotta do major work around here, too. And sometimes that means doing stuff we don't like. Trust me, I hate this stuff myself!" Of course that wasn’t really to big of a surprise; most pegasi had an aversion to this, but it seemed he was trying to at least trying to show them they weren’t the only ones with an aversion to this stuff. He sighed a bit, his gaze actually wandering off to the side as he continued, "I won't lie about it, though… the results speak for themselves."

Copper knew what he was talking about; according to Soarin, whenever one of his projects was finished and sent out, apparently there would be random ‘stress tests’ put on some of his restraints. They wanted to test apparently to make sure that Copper’s work had been staying consistent while he was almost constantly busy with his work. Though when it came to testers, it seemed that the group who had even proposed the idea in the first place were the primary testers. Apparently, every time it was Blitz’s turn, the chromatic pegasus would be quickly reduced to a loud, shrieking, blubbery mess. This, of course, was always after he would try and think of some way to get out of it, but would apparently have to lie in the bed he’d made for himself. Even if it was one filled with feathers, brushes, and wandering fingers. It seemed the memories of the last few months were going through his head, and even his usual well-known cocky exterior had vanished for a moment.

However, it was back just a few seconds later, a grin on his muzzle as he looked back forward at the two squads, “But hey, words are only gonna convince you so much. Which is why we’re gonna go ahead and show you right here and now just how things are gonna go down this year for all of you. So I think that Copper can take it from here and fill you in on just what’s gonna go down.”

“Because you don’t even understand how half of it works, I'd wager.”

“Oh buck off, Soarin.”

Copper just smiled a bit and rolled his eyes; again, while he didn’t know Blitz, he figured there was a good chance he really didn’t know how Copper’s newest machine worked. Oh well; he, and everypony else, would learn soon enough. He took a step forward, trying to keep his voice professional as he spoke, "Well, good morning to all of you; as you know from last night, my name is Copper Buckle, but really you can all just call me Copper. I know you're all probably nervous about what's coming this year but don't worry; my job isn't just to make different ways of tormenting you. It's also to make sure you're all safe as well as you work to improve yourselves. So please, don't see me as your enemy in all of this; I was brought in to help you all be better than those who same before, and I'm certain you can do it with these two guiding you."

Soarin looked over to Copper and gave him a nod, "We trust you with our teams, Copper. But don't get to comfortable with what you see today; we plan on whipping these pegasi into way better shape, after all.”

"You bet we do!" Blitz smirked a bit, "And my team's gonna be the one to show what it takes to be an awesome Wonderbolt!"

Soarin glanced over at him once more, “This from the guy who’s only training rookies for the second year in a row? I’ve been teaching new recruits longer than you’ve even been a ‘bolt.”

“Maybe, but this year were both on more equal footing, you know. I can guarantee I’ll whip my team into better shape than yours!”

“Really? You confident enough to bet on that?” Soarin locked eyes with Blitz, giving him a smirk of his own that seemed to actually get past his friend’s confidence. That or Blitz more likely knew what kind of ‘bet’ Soarin was referring to…

“Well, maybe after we actually gauge these guys personally.” Yup, definitely the latter.

Copper chuckled a bit at their exchange; the banter was friendly, the kind you’d expect to see between close yet competitive friends. At least he knew he was among good senior staff here. Still, he had the chance to continue and took it before either could interrupt again, "I'm sure both your teams will do great; they wouldn’t be in here today if they couldn’t. But yes, today's the day you all start to get adjusted to this year’s training regiment." He looked back at the two teams, smiling once for more, "As you all know, my machines are going to be a big part of that. But these two here don't just want me to give you guys a 'one size fits all' approach like the other two normal cadet squads are gonna get. No... seems they're a bit more malicious than that." He looked back at the duo, shaking his head in amusement at the grins they both gave him; seemed they were running with his little quip. "No, they want me to work out some machines that can be fine-tuned to each one of you specifically. But for that to happen… well, we're gonna have to some up close and personal data collection."

Even as they still stood tall and try to keep calm, there was no denying a new bit of unnerve amongst the cadets now; a few faces with worry showing amongst them, or wings that gave a few gentle, yet nervous ruffles. Really though, it would have been odder if there wasn’t any. After all, this was something completely unexpected and something which a lot of pegasi simply couldn’t stand for the most part. Pegasus sensitivity, while not widely known to the other two pony races (Though for how much longer was anypony’s guess) was well-known among their own race, though not to the new extents that had recently come to light. So really, they had every reason to be anxious about this. Not that their commanders would allow that mentality for too long.

"So the question here is," Soarin began, rubbing his chin and looking at the teams, "Who'll volunteer to step up first? Unless Copper has any suggestions or requests?" He turned back to his friend, an eyebrow raised.

He shook his head, "I don't mind what order they come up in frankly." He turned around, walking over to the right corner of the wall behind him, Soarin, and Blitz. With the flick of a switch, the wall was now being drawn back to show the second half of the large room… and revealing what was waiting for them inside it. "After all, they're all going in the same place by the end of this."

Resting in the newly-revealed space before them was not just one, but TWO of what looked like something straight out of a nightmare! Or at least a nightmare for a pegasus. Really though, the most accurate way to describe them would be bondage chairs; two black, high-backed chairs with adjustable head rests were sitting there waiting for somepony to occupy them each. However, there were slots on the chairs and even the headrests where retractable straps were nestled in wait, ready to come out at any time like cruel seat belts to strap in their occupants. But that wasn't all of course; both chairs also head long, padded bars sticking out from the right and left shoulders in a V position, more retractable straps visible going along each one from one end to the other, clearly capable of leaving the occupant's arms helplessly trapped in the air and out of the way. Each chair back also had two slots in them, clearly meant for the occupant’s wings so that they would be safely tucked away. However, the real nightmare here was clearly the stocks; each chair had a pair attached to them via long, adjustable metal limbs that stuck straight out from either side of the end of each chair. While they lacked touch-screens like the ones shown off last night, there were ten mechanical rings attached near the top of each set, five above each hole and all perfectly capable of holding the biggest and strongest of toes.

It was only now, upon finally seeing their fate for the day, that the cadets physically reacted. Many allowed their eyes to go wide in surprise as they eyed the cruel-looking restraints, and there were definitely some flinches and trembling limbs among them. If it wasn’t clear before, it was now; they were getting tossed right into the deep end, and it would be sink or swim.

Of course, two things were always inevitable with young age, no matter their upbringing or teachings; inexperience, and arrogance. Or sometimes, just being plain foolish.

"All this talk about it bein’ that darned bad is a load ‘o horseapples!" a new voice, ringing with southern tones, suddenly cried out; it was Dusty Trails, stepping in front of his squad and commander, folding his strong arm and giving his big wings a few good flexes. Like the others, he was dressed for exercise; specifically a black muscle shirt with dark green shorts and red running shoes. He fixed the three standing in front of him with a determined glare, "Ah can handle somethin’ simple as this! After all, a stallion's gotta be strong and a li’l tickle ain't nothin'! So ya know what, ah say bring it on!"

At that point, another voice suddenly spoke up; Brave Star, currently dressed in a white shirt, long black shorts, and a pair of blue sneakers. "What?! Dusty, I was going to go first!” He stepped up beside the taller pegasus, fixing his gaze up at him as he went on, “As the Squad Commander I-MMPH!" However, he didn’t get a chance to finish, instead flailing at the hand covering his muzzle, his wings poofing out indignantly.

"With all due respect, put an apple in it Brave, Ah'll go first!" He let go of his Commander’s muzzle, pumping a fist into his open palm, "It’s just like wranglin' a wild bull! The first time's always the most intense, and every time after that it keeps gettin’ easier!" He put on a proud, cocky smirk, and Brave said nothing more after that; his squad mate had clearly made up his mind. Copper and the two Senior Commanders just looked up at him in mild surprise, however. But before they could say anything else, yet another voice spoke up.

"Surely this is just some kind of intimidation tactic, merely an attempt to catch us off our guard," Sand Dune suddenly said; his voice was a bit softer than expected from such a tall stallion, and he had a noticeable accent as he spoke, which Copper soon realized was Arabian. Well, that explained the size; of course he’d have horse in him if he was originally from Saddle Arabia. He was currently wearing a somewhat tight grey vest, black athletic shorts, and a large pair of black sneakers. "However, I will not be deterred by such a foalish tactic!” he continued, snorting somewhat as he fixed his own gaze on the trio of stallions before them. “If you’re looking for volunteers, then very well; I’ll take the second chair. I will show that this foolishness is nothing for a truly strong flyer."

Soarin glanced up at the large pegasus for a moment, before his gaze moved down and locked with Gleaming's own. So far she had been silent, seemingly more interested in keeping her gaze off the contraptions in front of them. Like the others she was still dressed for training, currently wearing a light pink athletic top, purple shorts, and a pair of high-end dark grey running shoes.

He raised an eyebrow, clearly having expected for her to speak up. However, she merely shrugged and shook her head, a clear "if he wants to then he can" gesture. It made him frown a bit, but he said nothing; clearly there was some serious work to be done with some these rookies...

But that would have to come later. For now, it was Copper’s time to continue taking lead of things. "Well, this is a bit surprising, I’ll admit. Still, nice to have some willing volunteers!" The engineering pegasus smiled, stepping over to the stocks at each chair and undoing the magnetic locks on both, tilting the top halves open. "In that case, both of you can go on and take your seats.”

The two did as asked, sliding themselves into the chairs and nestling in to try and get as comfortable as they could. As they did so, Dusty looked over and gave Dune a challenging look, "West vs East, eh!? The rough trails against the white sands! Tell me, ya ready to be shown some real stallion strength there, big guy?"

Winter sighed as she folded her arms; so far she’d just been silent about her teammate’s choice, but finally saw it fit to speak up it seemed. She herself had a blue shirt with the Wonderbolts logo on the chest, along with a pair of black pants and pink sneakers. "Well, ya gotta love the guy’s positive attitude… but he's gotta be a complete meathead to be doing this..." Her teammates slowly nodded in agreement, looking up at their still-grinning comrade.

Sand, however, just gave him a rather straight face, "I’m not doing this for competition's sake. I’m doing this only because it’s required of me, and so that I may show this is will be useless against someone who can control such primal instincts."

"Spoken like a pegasus who's never learned better," Breeze said, shaking her head a bit. He was gonna get wrecked, no question about it. Now it was her team’s turn to nod in agreement, the thistle-colored mare looking over at her teammate as he shifted around a bit in his seat. At the moment she wore a light green shirt, grey sweatpants, and and brown sneakers, though she did let her wings drift down her sides a bit as she found herself really taking in the chairs in front of them.

Copper, for his own part, didn’t make much of a comment; he figured they were all going to hate him enough after he explained everything, so might as well not make it worse for himself. He continued on once the two stallions had gotten themselves seated, “Now, I personally won't be touching either of you for this. Or any of you, for that matter." He stepped forward a bit more, sliding off his backpack and reaching inside. He soon pulled out a grey electronic tablet out, turning it around and holding the screen out for others to see it was loading up some kind of program, as evidenced by the slowly-creeping bar on the screen. "See, these restraints in particular are special; they're fitted with numerous sensors that, once you’re strapped in, will let me track your vital signs along with helping me map out the most sensitive areas of your bodies. But of course, I need to to be able to properly record and store all of that data, so while I'm doing that, Blitz and Soarin are going to be..." he cleared his throat a bit, "helping me out with data collection."

Blitz raised an eyebrow looking over to Copper, "Helping? what do you mean?"

Soarin just chuckled a bit as he looked over at his friend, "Come on, isn't it obvious? He's saying we gotta do the tickling so he can get the data." He allowed himself a grin now, loving the look of slow realization on Blitz's face as he went on; seemed that while he knew what the cadets would be going through, he hadn't counted on getting to be the one to dish it out. "So hey… guess we might as well, right? After all, we're probably the two in this room who got the most experience in this particular field, so it makes sense."

He suddenly turned himself around, looking back at Sand and Dusty, "Alright now boys, we're gonna make this easier for everyone; I want you to ditch the shirts. That should help make things go a lot smoother." His gaze shifted over his shoulder, locked on the other cadets, "And that goes for all of you, too; when you get up here, shirts off."

It seemed that this was enough to make Gleaming finally speak up. "Ummm... EXCUSE me?!" she cried out, raising her own eyebrow now at Soarin this time, "I'm sorry, did you HONESTLY just tell us all to go shirtless for this?! Sorry, but that is not happening, at least not on my account!" She crossed her arms firmly, turning her head up and away with a small snort.

Dusty, on the other hand, didn’t seem all that thrown off by Soarin’s request. He practically tore his shirt off, revealing a torso toned with strong, developed muscles one would expect from years of consistent physical labor including a sculpted chest and a set of defined abs. The muscles on his torso began to flex a bit as well as he slid his wings into the chair’s back slots, grinning a bit as he silently showed off his form to the room's occupants.

Sand didn't even say anything, either; instead, he just pulled off his own vest, setting it aside for now. His own body was something to be admired as well, a full six-pack visible on his stomach with a broad, powerful-looking chest. He carefully inserted his wings into the pair of slots on the back of his chair, leaning back with his arms crossed for now.

Winter looked to Soarin, taking the chance to get his attention with a raised hand, "With all due respect sir, doesn’t she have a bit of a point? I mean, shirtless mares in a room of stallions is a little… creepy, isn’t it?”

Gleaming gave a small sigh of relief, “Thank you! See, there’s actually another voice of reason around here.”

“I mean, if it was a female commander I wouldn’t mind but still," she went on, making the Cadet Commander’s face manage to get paler than it already was.

“Why the buck did you have to go and say that…?” she groaned, facepalming in annoyance as Winter merely shrugged at her.

“If they think this is what’s best, I won’t resist.”

“Hmph, kiss-ass…”

“Hey now, watch that mouth of yours.” Blitz had spoken up rather abruptly, glaring over at Gleaming, “She’s not even on your team, and she just found a way around the problem you brought up. You’re a Commander, so at least have some restraint, okay?” The icy blue pegasus stepped back a bit, surprised by his sudden outburst. She looked back at Soarin, but if she was expecting any support than she would be disappointed.

He locked eyes with her, his tone more serious now as he spoke, “He’s right; first and most importantly, you shouldn’t be mouthing off at your fellow cadets. Especially considering I made you a commander because I decided you had the skills to fit that role.” She flinched a bit at that, but Soarin kept going, “However, if that’s how you’re going to act towards somepony who saw a way around the dilemma you brought up, I may reconsider.” He kept his stern glare going as she looked back to him, “Now, do you have anything more to say? Or will you let us continue?”

Gleaming wisely took the latter route and said nothing more for now.

Blitz gave a small nod, looking at the three mares in the room, "Okay, yeah, we get it; it’ll be uncomfortable and more than little awkward for everypony here at first. I mean hay, I have a marefriend and she'd kick my rainbows out if she knew I was ogling other mares. But this is all professional, right Soarin?"

His fellow Senior Commander nodded, his smile returning, "Still, don't worry ladies; I completely understand your feelings. And while I can’t guarantee that in the future we’ll always have the option to bring in a mare from the higher ups to help, we do at this moment. After all, I know somepony just perfect for this."

He reached into his pocket, sliding out his cell phone; a few taps of the screen and he had it to his head, face lighting up a bit as he clearly got an answer. "Ahhh, hey there Fleetfoot! Yeah, I know I'm supposed to be, but that's part of why I'm calling. See, I kinda need your help over here with something. Think you could... hello?" He pulled his phone down, looking at the screen to see the call had been ended. He sighed bit, gazing over at the far door. "Five, four, three, two..."

Blasting through the doors like a silver blue, Fleetfoot herself slide into the room on her knees like a rock star, currently in her own workout gear. "What's up bitches?!" she cried while jumping to her feet and looking around the room, "I'm ready to see newbies CRY!"

There was a long, silent pause as everypony else in the room gazed at her. In fact, it would have been rather fitting for a tumbleweed to bounce by at that moment.

Instead, Blitz just looked at Soarin with a flat expression and broke the silence; "What the hell, man?"

He gave a simple shrug, pocketing his phone, "She's the first pony I could think of who'd actually be willing to do this without feeling all that awkward about it. Well, except Surprise but she’s actually busy right now." Clearly he was used to his teammate's antics by now, as he simply walked up to Fleetfoot and looked down at her, "Still subtle as ever, I see..." He looked back at Gleaming and Breeze, both of whom were looking fairly surprised and more than little nervous as Fleetfoot's words now. "Look, we just need you to help with some data gathering; specifically, we need you to give our female cadets here a work over when they come up for their turns. Think you can be responsible enough to least do that with SOME amount of professionalism?"

"Responsible enough to collecting data? Yes! Professional? As if! Lemme live in the moment Soarin!" She comically hopped up onto his back, legs around his waist as she began pulling the collar of his shirt, "Let me be the newbie teaser we both know I was born to play!" She grinned, her other hand coming up and poking at his cheek as well. Yet Soarin didn’t seem to be moved by her antics, simply allowing her to continue as he spoke.

“Blitz. Go ahead.”

During all her goofing around with her teammate, Fleetfoot had unwisely let her guard down. The result was a smirking Blitz sneaking up behind her, his fingers poking into her sides. He quickly earned a loud squeal for his actions, the silver-maned mare releasing Soarin and shooting up to the ceiling, clinging to one of the light fixtures like a cat in a cartoon.

She quickly calmed down however, huffing a bit and looking down at Blitz with a glare, "That's it! I'm telling Applejack ya bastard!"

Horizon sighed from his position among his squadmates, rubbing the bridge of his snout between his fingers, "Can we move on to getting this started, please? This comedy act is getting rather stale." He wore a more baggy olive green vest with longer grey shorts and silver sneakers, one of which he was tapping against the room’s carpeted floor. This time, Soarin actually gave a response, nodding at the room.

"We do need to get this back on track; no point putting it off any longer." Reaching up, he found Fleetfoot’s tail dangling lazily in the air and gave it a gentle tug, causing her to let out a squeak of surprise and fall to the ground rather comically, landing on her back with her legs still sticking up. "Fleet, please at least try and be an adult for a little bit, would you?" he asked, watching as she hopped to her feet, arms crossed as she pouted a bit.

“Ohhhh, fine, ya killjoy.” Suddenly, Soarin had her finger waving in his face, “But I make no promises to hold back when it’s my turn up there.” Her gaze turned to the other mares in the room, giving a comedically evil grin. Yet despite how overblown it was, it was clearly unnerving the three just as she wanted, as they all stared back wearily.

Meanwhile, Soarin’s gaze moved over to Blitz, "Now then... how about we spice things up a bit?” A grin sprouted over his muzzle, “I say we give each other's team their work-overs, at least with the stallions. Why not see who can break the others’ newbies the fastest. Besides, they aren’t gonna get much time around us when we split after today, so might as well give ‘em something to compare their own Senior Commander’s work to in the future." He winked at him, knowing Blitz was bound to play along thanks to his competitive side.

Then sure enough, just like clockwork... "You're on Soar'! On the field or in here, I'm gonna show you who's better!"

"I'm sorry, but WHO's the senior member here in terms of experience?" he asked playfully, winking at Blitz as he began to walk over to Dusty's chair, "We may have both gotten in on the proposal to do this, but we BOTH know who the better one between the two of us is." Blitz gave him a glare, but there was no hiding the pink tinge he’d gotten on his cheeks. Soarin just chuckled a bit, sauntering up to Dust and eyeing him up and down, "Howdy there, Stranger."

Dusty gazed down, a smirked of determination on his face as he locked eyes with Soarin, "Howdy there, Commander! Bring it on!"

At the same time, Blitz managed to cast his blush off quickly, grinning now as he walked over to Sand's chair, "Well you're getting old, and we need newer guys like yours truly to step in and take the reins! Besides, you haven’t exactly gotten the chance to see the stuff I've done from the sidelines." He looked up, smirking a bit at the large pegasus, "What's up big boy? You think you're ready for this?"

Sand gave him a firm nod, speaking in the same serious tone he'd had so far, "I am quite ready, yes. I do hope you aren't disappointed by the end of this, however."

The words just made Blitz smirk even more however, “Heh, you really don’t know what you’re getting yourself into you, do you…?”

With that said, he and Soarin got to work on securing the straps in the chairs, each strap sliding into its respective slot with an audible click. Their torsos were first, each strap looking a bit thick and rather sturdy as they were secured right below their chests and at their waists, one even securing their thighs to the bottom of the seat. However, both of their head straps were left undone for now to give at least some additional movement. Then came their arms, both willingly setting them against the padded rests and allowing for more straps around their upper and lower arms ,as well as at their wrists. Finally came the stocks, each stallion slowly setting their ankles into the padded rests before the tops were shut and sealed tight.

While all of this was going on, Copper had been busy getting himself set up as well; he’d taken the liberty of moving one of the tables and chairs tables and chairs over, from off to the side, setting it up behind the group of fliers. Here he at least had a good view of both seats as he set the tablet out in front of himself. It had finished loading by now, and he’d opened a program that had the screen had split lengthwise, and the top and bottom, each labeled ‘left’ and ‘right’ up in the corner respectively, each showed two similar layouts with the left side of the screens showing what looked to be vital stats such as pulse rate, body temperature, breathing rate and even blood pressure. On the right side was what looked to be a three-dimensional figure of each of them, set in a digital model of the restraints and each currently colored grey from head to foot.

At least he knew that his tablet had linked up with both chairs properly. Now it would pick up transmissions from the sensors in each chair and allow Copper to store it away in files for his own personal use. Much more streamlined than trying to monitor everything and write it down by hand. He looked up to the Senior Commanders and gave them a nod, "Alright guys, I'm ready whenever you are."

“Right,” Soarin gave a nod, once more looking at the other cadets, “Squad Delta, at ease; you can can take a seat, but I want you to actually watch what’s about to happen here. After all, there’s not going to be any avoiding it so you might as well take it all in.”

“Same goes for you, Echo; pull up a seat and enjoy the show, before it’s your turn at least,” Blitz added with a snicker.

Both squads did as asked, relaxing themselves and pulling over the nearest chairs set against the walls. As they made themselves comfortable however, Horizon leaned over to Winter and spoke softly, "Bet you ten bits Dusty there screams like a filly."

The mare looked over to him silently, and with a small smile and nod the deal was made.

Sitting near the pair, Swift couldn't help but overhear the other team's hushed wagers. He rolled his eyes, straightening out his simple black shirt accompanied by white shorts and dark orange sneakers. "Remarkable; can you believe they're actually betting on this insanity?" he asked, looking over at Breeze as he leaned back.

"Twenty bits that Sand completely breaks in less than 5 minutes," was her only response, making her shorter teammate rub his snout and groan.

“Come on now; stop talking like that,” Soarin scolded, “There’s no reason to be making wagers here; this is part of your training. If you wanna bet, do it during your off time.” He chuckled a bit, reaching behind the headrest and hitting a button on the back; with a gentle whirring, the straps holding Dusty in place suddenly tightened up snugly, leaving him with little wiggle room. Blitz followed suit with Sand’s own bonds, and the pair were finally set. Thankfully for now, their footwear had remained in place, but the stocks left each pair easily removable.

"Alright, make sure to be thorough as you can for me, and try not to tire them out TOO much," Copper said, snickering a bit as he nestled in to watch, the remaining cadets having quieted down by this point as their Senior Commanders began to ready themselves.

Before they could start though, Fleetfoot suddenly slide in between the two chairs, "Ya know, if you two are making this a friendly little competition, why don’t I be the ref? Need something to do before it’s time for the ladies, after all.” With a quick shrug from the two stallions standing on either side of her, she grinned and held out a hand, “Okay then; ticklers, are you ready?!" She did a quick back and forth glance, getting nods from both of them. "Alrighty; let’s make these newbies cry!" she shouted happily, pumping her fist as the signal to begin.

Blitz, never one to take things slow, wasted no time as he moved behind the chair and dug his nails into Sand's ribcage. While he was tall and muscled, his torso also had a slender look to it, and Blitz was eager to test out the grounds, so to speak. That an the thrill of breaking him without even going for his feet seemed too fun to NOT try right now!

While Sand had never said it out loud, it was clear to just about everyone else in the room that he'd never been tickled properly before in his life. A rare thing for a pegasus his age, but not unheard of, especially if he’d grown up overseas. This was obvious to them because otherwise, he wouldn't have gone up acting so damned cocky and confident about being able to resist it.

Now though? Now it was showing as Blitz's fingers dug in nice and deep between his ribs, pressing into the soft, barely-touched skin between the bones. His eyes went out a, and he a gave sharp exhale as just about every muscle in his body jolted from the new, foreign sensation. Blitz clearly wasn't holding back at all, and Sand's body was sending his brain one message; get away, NOW! He tried, too; oh did he try, his torso immediately trying to twist and jerk away from Blitz's hands, but the straps left him no real wiggle room with how tight they were! But even if they did, he'd have just moved from one hand into the other, unable to escape the cruel fingers.

Of course, Soarin wasn't being any nicer; he moved behind Dusty’s own seat, allowing himself a small smirk as he cracked his knuckles. Fingers flexing, he moved them into Dusty's exposed underarms, nails pressing into each one and starting to rake them up and down at a quick pace.

Unlike Sand, it seemed Dusty had at least experienced this stuff before, if not all that much in his young adult life. His eyes widened as his muscles tugged hard against the bonds while a big grin plastered itself on his face, the stallion clearly trying to hold it in. While Soarin's methods weren't as ruthless as Blitz's, it was still a shock to his system!

While Sand was managing to keep quiet for now as well, Blitz wasn’t making it that easy at all. He smirked at the large pegasus’s reaction and leaned in by his right ear, "Aww, what’s wrong Sand?" He spoke in a teasing tone of voice, like one might talk to a baby or a beloved pet, "Can't handle a little tickle?" His fingers dig into the ribs, stroking and scritching about as they slowly headed to his underarms.

Sand didn't give him any response aside from a short grunt, his lips trembling madly; he knew he had set himself up far too much to break so easily. But... why was it so damned hard to keep himself under control?! It was a challenge just to stop himself from breaking out into a grin like the one Dusty had. Plus Blitz's taunting sure as Tartarus wasn't helping him one bit! Then his struggling stopped when he felt the cyan stallion's fingers starting to slide their way up, heading for his underarms. Instead, his body went stiff as his nerves were grazed, and he took the chance to bite down on his lower lip, hoping it would help him keep silent. After all, he had no idea how sensitive the rest of his body was! This was serving as a rather rude wake-up call as to just why they were adapting this new program, and if their goal was to avert him from ending up in spots like this, they were doing a damn good job.

Blitz smirked down at Sand as his nails dug into the skin; his method was a hard and fast approach, unlike Soarin's more slow and steady one. He was determined to see this overly-confident, inexperienced colt of a stallion break! But from the way his upper lip was trembling and how much he was already starting to sweat, it didn’t look like he’d have to try much harder than he was now.

Meanwhile, Soarin was enjoying Dusty's own, smaller reactions. He had a grin on his muzzle now as he began to speed up the pace of his fingers. Not only that, but he began to start twitching them up and down at random, different fingers scratching over random areas every few seconds so that he wouldn't be able to predict the sensations. Blitz may have been more harsh when it came to this stuff, but Soarin was far more clever.

Dusty strained against his bonds while the sounds of an internal struggle pass his lip. Grunts and even a few gasps came through through his tightly-clenched teeth as his wide eyes and trembling torso felt the fingers of Soarin work their cruel torment. He really didn’t feel like he wanted start laughing until Sand did. Mostly because he was a stubborn stallion, and yet a ticklish one as well! Sweat formed in his brown as he felt the fingers dig in further, a small whinny of desperation finally escaping his lips as the fingers dragged over his pits, making him flinch and jerk in the chair with little more than a few creaks from the straps.

The other cadets stayed quiet as they watched on, some with a bit more interest than others. This had seemingly become a battle of wills, and one would have to break soon. They felt the suspension of it too, gazes flashing back and forth between the two restrained stallions, curious to see which one of them would be the first over the edge. Though really, as the minutes ticked by it didn’t become much of a question of who, so much as when...

But the answer to that question was apparently ‘not very long’; much to his utter humiliation, Sand was the one to break down first. Blitz was showing his proper skill now, and apparently Sand's underarms were particularly sensitive. Once his nails hit them, raking up and down as they zig-zagged back and forth across his pits, Sand’s eyes shot wide open, the pupils shrinking as all resistance was forgotten. His mouth split wide open, and the large pegasus suddenly let out one of the loudest shrieks of laughter any of them had ever heard, his powerful vocal cords making the walls rattle with ease. After that, he didn't seem capable of regaining his composure, torso rocking back and forth the best it could. The slots on his and Dusty's wings had sealed as well, leaving them unable to flap their wings around either, so he was basically stuck in place as he was exposed to a whole new world of sensations that his mind told him to escape while his body simply couldn’t

As he watched from the back, Copper took a moment to gaze down at the tablet on the table in front of him. So far his machines all seemed to be working rather well; the data he was getting was spot on, showing that both of their vitals were on the rise as the two were tormented by each other’s Senior Commanders. Of course, that was to be expected, but the signs were a way to help him see which spots got to each stallion the most both physically and mentally. As for the 3D models, they both hand orange hazes at their underarms, showing him where pressure was being applied at this moment and lining itself up with the other stats he was getting. It was all being saved in real time too, backed up in files he’d set up for each member of the two squad. However, Sand’s rather abrupt, unexpected scream brought his attention back to the front once more

Soarin flinched a bit at the loud explosion of laughter to his side, but he didn't let it deter him. After all, Dusty was clearly on his own edge as well, and needed a good toppling himself. So, Soarin did the first thing that came to mind which he figured could bust his muzzle open.

Without any warning, his hands shot downward, nails pressing into his six-pack abs and starting to knead into them like they were heavy dough, his fingers dragging firmly across his stomach.

With that, like a stained glass window shattering to pieces, Dusty's will was broken. Loud, deep bellows of laughter came from his muzzle, his torso trembling and straining against his bonds now as his rather strong stomach became the next target. His firm muscles barely moved against the fingers, but the nerves underneath were all Soarin wanted to manipulate. He seemed to be doing a fine job too, as Dusty’s own laughter went unabated now alongside Sand’s, the two’s laughter in plain contrast of each other and definitely something to behold as their teams each took the sight in.

Soarin wasn’t done just yet however; that was simply the start of Dusty’s REAL torment. Leading off his own pretty boy's explosion of laughter, his hands moving down to Dusty's slightly-defined hips, pressing into their soft grooves as he dragged his nails back and forth rapidly. "Heh, I guess you country boys aren't as tough as I've heard you are," he taunted, voice soft and cooing like Blitz's had been earlier.

Dusty seemed to at least be trying to keep his laughter in check but failed each time as he tries to close his muzzle, giving off the odd shriek as his hips were teased and touched, making his cheeks slowly go red as he shakes his head around frantically. He knew was tough! He knew he was strong! He knew he could endure… but damnit, this was hard! Any counter-remarks he tried to throw back were all but lost among his handsome belly laughter.

It was only getting more intense as time went on, too; while Soarin kept one hand at Dusty's lower belly, a single finger starting to prod around inside of his belly button and resulting in a loud shout of boyish laughter that made his cheeks flush pink. Meanwhile, the other hand moved upwards to give his chest a run-over, fingers raking and scrabbling over his impressive pecs. They even grazed across his nipples a few times, each motion over them causing his heart to jump a bit in his chest. All of this while his voice rang in Dusty’s ears; "What, nothing to say to that cowboy? Come on; surely you can at least talk through this? You were acting pretty damn confident about this ten minutes ago, after all.~"

While that was happening, Blitz moved his own hands around to Sand’s chest and stomach, one hand in each area. His nails got to work without hesitating, dragging around his pecs and spidering themselves over and between his abs. As he watched Sand struggle and laugh, Blitz was starting to get that familiar tickler’s rush; his heart was beating faster than normal, as if he was taking a brisk job, and he was getting a warm, happy feeling inside of his chest! He didn’t want to let up now, especially since it was obvious Sand was utterly freaking out!

His laughter, if possible, only seemed to have gotten stronger as Blitz's fingers played over his torso; he was clearly trying to suck in his muscular stomach, but even if he could it would have been futile as Blitz's fingers pressed into it, making him yelp as one passed near his navel and causing his cheeks to go a bit pink. Clearly all his confidence from earlier was out the window, his laughter so strong he was actually beyond words! His body was shaking around and thrashing the best it could, but even as his muscles flexed it was clear the straps weren’t about to give anytime soon.

Blitz was smirking quite broadly now, his fingers working their way to the hips and sides in spider-like motions across his sensitive flesh. He was enjoying the studly pegasus getting wrecked so easily, and by his own hand no less! There was no other way to describe the feeling other than amazing. Once he saw just how bad his struggled were getting, he took his chance and went with it, cooing into his ear, "Go on, just try and get out Sandy. I bet you caaaaan't!~"

The taunting was well earned too, as Sand seemed to legitimately be trying to do so! But Copper's quality showed as, despite his strong pulls and thrashing, but bonds didn't even groan from the strain. He couldn't even arch is back like his body wanted to as his sides and hips were assaulted, resulting in another loud shriek. His cheeks had long since gone red from embarrassment, and tears were actually starting to form in the corners of his eyes. Sure, he wasn't exactly used to this, but it was clear even by pegasus standards he was a sensitive fellow; they weren't even at his feet yet after all, and already he looked like he wanted to pass out!

As the rest of the cadets continued to watch, that shifted around in their seats. It was clear they all felt rather...uneasy. This was about to happen to them soon enough, and they knew it… plus, these were each team’s more brave faced, strong-looking stallions, and they had already been broken in such a short time. Soarin and Blitz really weren’t playing around here; they meant business, and it showed as both stallion’s began to sweat from the sheer exertion of laughing so much.

Fleetfoot, on the other hand, couldn’t have grinned more if she tried. But still, this was all a pre-show to her, and she wanted to move on to the main event. She stepped up between her chairs and held up a hand, "Alright boys, that’s enough foreplay. Let’s go to the REAL gold mine here! What do you say Copper?"

He looked up from his screen, having been silent as he was focused on recording as much of the data as he could... and so far, he was getting a gold mine with these two! Thanks to the speed of the technology he had to work with, he had been able to map out the sensitivity of their upper bodies quite thoroughly already. So, he gave them a nod, "I have just about everything I can get from their upper bodies; I think it's time for the feet, myself.”

"Heh, was hoping that you would say that," Soarin said happily, hands quickly pulling off of Dusty's torso. He allowed the cowboy a brief breather as he walked down to his feet, wasting little time in unlacing his sneakers and tugging them off, tossing them into Dusty's lap.

Blitz moved in too, tugging Sand’s shoelaces loose with a few good pulls before tossing the sneakers to the ground beside him, "Dont need these anymore! I’d get used to this part if I were you guys! After all, no place is better than the feet, especially on a pegasus."

The country pegasus was taking this brief moment to lean back, panting hard as he looked up at the ceiling. His thick white socks were out in the open, a bit damp from sweat; his toes curled up inside of them, body shivering a bit as he tried to collect himself. Once he managed to his voice, he finally spoke up, "Sw-sweet maker, t-this is… just mind breakin'! I...I..." He looked up slowly, and to everypony’s surprise, began to smile, "I-I think ah like it! Ah mean, talk about a hellova rush!"

"A… A-are you mad!?" Sand managed to choke out between his deep panting, looking over at Dusty like he'd just talked about the joys of bathing angry cats. He had been swallowing down air like it was water, but managed to find enough strength now to talk, "This is... T-this is maddening! I don't understand why we're so sensitive, but this is practically inequine! Are... A-Are we really going to have this as the norm now!?" He sounded legitimately worried now, in stark contrast to how he'd been treating things earlier. His own sock-clad feet curled tightly, hoping that it would at least ensure the last line of defense he had stayed put. He couldn't even begin to comprehend how sensitive they must be, and he definitely didn’t want to find out now...

Soarin looked over at his cadet, speaking directly to him, "Sorry there Sand, but this is gonna become a big part of your daily routine. Not just for you, but for everypony else in here.” He looked back at the other cadets, all of whom were looking on wearily by this point, “Also, Blitz has a point; you guys are gonna wanna get used to going barefoot a good chunk of time. After all, footwear really is only gonna be a hindrance more than protection. Like these socks; they’re really just useless decoration, because we’re not gonna let you keep them on." He reached down, pulling off Dusty's socks with no trouble and taking a moment to inspect his bared soles.

Dusty sported a pair of size 15 feet, broad and wide like an earth pony’s, but with the high arches and soft toes pegasi were well known for. Said toes curled up as he gave a shaky smirk, confident yet nervous in contrast on his face, he sees the challenge! "Go on Commander! teach mah feet a lesson!" he was trembling! he knew this was a bad idea but it was an addiction to him at this point.

Well, at least the guy was embracing his new norms fairly quickly, Soarin thought to himself,. He chuckled a bit at Dusty's goading, looking up at him with a small grin, "Ya know, I'm almost sad I didn't get you on my team, cowboy; I can tell you'd have definitely made things more interesting." He looked down at the impressive feet, taking them in as he grabbed at one of the rings near the top, pulling it down to show it was connected to a retracting cable. He began to secure it and the other rings on the base of each toe, one by one, until each one was being pulled back, leaving both soles nice and taut while unable to curl or jerk around.

Still, he tried to move his toes and feet, only to find himself unable to to even twitch the latter while the former only managed to curl slightly, leaving Dusty with no real protection. He took a few deep, like he was trying to focus himself, and balled up his fists, braced himself for it what was to come. Part of him was scared, knowing it would feel insane, but another part was… actually looking forward to this! He swallowed gently, looking back at Soarin, "Ah can do this, ah know an can do this! Ahmma make my Pa proud’o me! So wreck me all ya want, Commander!! Ah’ll take it all!"

"Proud of you Dusty! showing true spirit!" Blitz said proudly, looking over at his charge and giving him a genuine smile.

Still, it turned back into a smirk as his gaze moved back to Sand "Oh, now whats with that face?~" He could see the worry in his eyes, the slight tremble of his head as he was trying to keep from saying or doing anything that would make him feel more helpless than he did already. Instead, he curled his toes even tighter… only to watch as Blitz swiftly hooked a finger into each sock, sliding them up the sides of his feet and sweeping each garment off ease, turning them inside out before yanking them out of his curled toes.

“Take that as a lesson; even if you try to keep ‘em on, we’re just gonna get ‘em off anyway,” Blitz explained in as he removed Sand's socks with ease, despite the his light-coated captive’s attempts to hold them in place. He looked up at Sand, eyes locking as his taunting continued, "Aww, is something wrong there, Sandy? Scared you can't take a good tickling to the feet now that you get what’s happening around here? If so, then I can’t WAIT for this to get going!"

Sand couldn't stop himself as he saw the socks come off without any effort; he actually let out a small whimper! He didn't want anymore of this! He just wanted for it to end already! His own feet were a size 17, no doubt giving him the biggest foot size of the group. But they were also longer and more slender Dusty's own, with higher arches and slightly shorter toes that curled firmly once more in a feeble attempt at protection.. He tried to cover one foot with the other as well, but they were spread too far apart for the motions to have any real effect.

Blitz knew it too, and he just gave a teasing snicker while was setting the rings around Sand’s toes to make them useless, only chilling the cadet’s blood even more as he found his feet immobile. He couldn’t recall a time he had ever felt so truly, utterly helpless, and being forced to take what, to him, was quite a bit of intense torment hadn’t helped all that much.

However, even as his toes were bound, Sand he seemed to be doing his best to get back his original, neutral expression. But even as he did so, there was still worry clearly etched over his face. Yet he tried to steady himself as he finally found his voice; he was nervous, yes. But what reason was there to give into this after coming so far?! He looked down at Blaze, voice louder than before as he spoke up, "I... I-I will endure this! I will NOT have all my effort be for naught over something so foalish! D-Do what you will, I’m going to see this through!"

"Heh, I like your spirit, Sand!" his own Senior Commander said, pride behind his voice while looking over at him with a grin. True, Soarin could tell the guy was terrified, but was also willing to work through it. He had the spirit to be here, even if he had been rather arrogant at the start.

His gaze wandered back to Dusty for now though, specifically to his feet, "As for you, I guess I'll take your words to heart. Now let's see what we're working with here.~" He grinned a bit, fingers pressing their pads against his wide arches and taking a long, grand sweep down, going right over his heels as well!

Dusty held nothing in this time as he bellowed in laughter again, this time even louder than before! His large feet and toes trembled in their bonds on the natural impulse to escape, but they still stayed put. His feet were warm from the shoes but luckily not sweaty, and there was no harsh odor either. Sure they were a bit hard in places, but otherwise his feet looked pretty damn good!

At the same time Soarin got to work, Blitz dug his own nails into Sand’s toes, sliding a nail in between each toe and scratching at the skin firmly, "Alright, let’s not fall behind, now!"

Poor Sand didn't have any chance; Blitz seemed to have struck gold on his first jump into those soft soles. He arched his head up against the headrest, screeching in such a high pitch most would think only mares could give off such a noise. But there he was, eyes wide open with pupils far smaller than normal. His toes immediately began to tremble in their bonds as well, the rings and cable holding strong as the digits struggled in vain. Thankfully his own feet weren't that sweaty either, but they were still rather warm between the toes, and Blitz could tell each gap was perfectly smooth, even though there was some obvious hard spots around his own soles.

"Heh, looks like we’ll need to take you guys down to the health center at some point today to get these feet of yours fixed up. Can't have you going around with dry skin and callouses, after all," Soarin said, speaking up over the pair’s combined laughter as his fingers flexed their way to the balls of Dusty's own feet, curling the nails up and down as he worked them side to side over the tender flesh.

Dusty's cheeks started to go red now, body trying to buck and struggle as much as it could; his big peds were trembling and tugging as his feet were so easily tormented, the fingers gliding over them with astounding ease. Soarin was moving each digit with smooth, trained grace around his feet, and the wide sweeps over his arches were getting fresh waves of loud, boisterous laughter from him. More sweat dripped down from his brow as his laughter came out in endless streams, body finally starting to tire out from all of his struggling.

Blitz turned his head back to the others as he moved his fingers outward, digging into the toes properly as he dragged in nails over the stems, up to the pads and right back down as well. "Everyone should go today actually, we're gonna be holding weekly foot care inspections, along with monthly evaluations too! We're being dead serious guys."

Even as he was talking rather casually about their expectations, it was clear Blitz was still giving his all to the stocked feet in front of him He was finally at his soles now, fingers kneading and grazing across the balls of his feet. It wasn’t as bad as when he’d gone for his toes, but he seemed to purposely be letting his nails gaze against small patches of the skin at random times, leaving his laughter to spike up out of the blue.

Poor Sand wasn't taking it well at all, either; his chest was heaving from laughter now, both it and his brow shining from a thin layer of sweat. Not only that, but once again found himself laughing too hard for words, even just the balls of his feet sending electric sensations through his soles and up to his brain. It only made him shake about in his bonds even more, tears finally starting to trickle down his cheeks from the hellish torment.

Of course, while this was happening the rest of the cadets were listening to their Senior Commanders. Not only that, but one finally decided to speak up, voice raised to be heard over the laughter.

"Sorry, but just how can you be serious when you're tickling someone?" Horizon huffed, visible eye rolling towards the ceiling. While the others were sitting up straight, he’d taken to leaning back in his chair, arms crossed as he looked to the tickling duo.

Soarin took the chance to answer, looking back and giving Horizon a grin and wink, “That’s simple, cadet; you learn over time. But Blitz isn’t joking; we're gonna be taking foot care serious around here, and the health center's got new staff who specialize in pedicures and give them for no cost on your end. So really you don't have any excuses as to why your feet aren’t in top condition after today," he told them, his fingers only just reaching the stems of Dusty's toes, nails stiff as they raked up and down each stem rapidly to get loud, squealing laughter from the country stallion. While they didn’t seem to be as bad as his soles, he was clearly starting to get tired now, his laughter sounded more winded as his torso had a glow of sweat to it now.

He wasn’t the only one who was starting to finally wear out though; Sand's laughter seemed to be dying down as Blitz began to explore his arches, now sounding a lot more tired and shaky. His mind couldn't focus on that right now though; really, it couldn’t focus on anything but the devious sensation coursing over his feet anymore, and how he just wanted it to STOP! His own body glistened with sweat, but Blitz didn’t seem to show any signs of slowing down. Neither did Soarin, for that matter, both going at it full force still even as their targets were nearing their limit.

Amazingly, it ended up being Fleetfoot who became their salvation; she had been watching the two restrained stallions for the whole time, and while she would happily admit it had been quite the fun time, she could see they were low on energy. An unconscious or utterly tired cadet was no good at all, so she decided to finally speak up, looking back at Copper, whose head was still turned down to observe the data, "Hey smarty pants, we all good with these two yet?”

Caught slightly off guard, the pegasus engineer looked up at Fleetfoot, who was giving him an expectant look. He held the tablet up, taking a final look at the screen in front of him; from what he could tell, the data for both sets of feet had been fully mapped out. To none of his surprise, they put pretty much any spot on their torsos to shame! He set the device back down, giving her an ‘okay’ gesture.

The was all she needed to see, walking up to the ticklers and patting their shoulders, "Alright boys, time’s up! Gotta let these two keep their brains, at least for the time being."

Blitz slowly came to a stop, fingers pulled back from the now-pink soles in front of him. Still, it actually took Sand a few moments to realize that he was, in fact, no longer being tickled. At which point his laughter finally came to an end and he allowed his body to slump in the seat, panting heavily as sweat and tears soaked his body. ."Already? That’s a damn shame,” Blitz said, a bit of genuine disappointment audible in his voice. “Still, that was a hell of a work out, wouldn’t you say so Soar’?"

Soarin had stopped at around the same time Blitz did, chuckling a bit as he rubbed his fingers together. Dusty more or less stopped laughing the moment the fingers left him, though he still chuckled softly at the after tingles, body limp against the chair as he panted and drank in oxygen, a nice big grin left on his face. "Eeeehh, don't worry Blitz; we still got a few others waiting in line, after all." He winked to his friend, looking back at the other rookies with a teasing grin on his face.
The remaining three stallions in particular all either looked away or swallowed nervously, clearly not looking forward to their own trips up here now.

As Sand and Dusty were allowed to rest for a moment, Winter took the chance to speak now that things seemed to be calming down, if just for a moment. "Umm, Commander Soarin, were you being serious about those pedicures?” she asked gently. Upon getting a nod from him, her eyes suddenly lit up. “We're allowed to get pedicures whenever, and for totally free?! Oooh, now that is what I call a real perk to this!!"

Gleaming just sighed however, rolling her eyes at Winter's words, "You DO realize it's so that they can make things even WORSE on us, right?” She looked aside, mumbling under her breath, “Feels like this place is turning into a collection of foot pervs if you ask me..."

Fleetfoot looked over to Gleaming and smiled, strolling up and walking behind her chair, hands resting against the back. "Well, not all of us, only those two-” she motioned back to Soarin and Blitz, both of who shot gentle glares at the back of her head, “-but they are professionals, I promise you that." It was at that moment she reached up with a hand, finger extended... and booped Gleaming's nose! "Besides, you know how the old saying goes: ‘Don’t knock it till you try it’, honey."

Gleaming looked up and gave Fleetfoot the iciest glare she could muster...yet said nothing more and just turned her head away after a few seconds. Much as she wanted to make a retort, she knew better than to mouth off to a senior officer. Chances were it would land her in those... things longer than needed to. With this teasing, overly-peppy and playful mare as her tormentor and just knowing she’d have to deal with her regardless made a shiver go down her spine.

"Welp!" The rainbow-named Commander grinned, dusting his hands, "That was still fun while it lasted!” He finally took a glance over to their engineer himself, “So how's the info Copper? You get something good by any chance?"

The brown stallion chuckled a bit, looking over at them with a grin of his own, "I did actually; I've got everything I'll need about these two for the future." Even as they were sitting there in the haze of post-tickle torture recovery, both rookies heard him loud and clear. But while Sand held a chill go down his back at the prospect of having something custom-made for him, Dusty wasn’t all the phased. In fact, Copper could have sworn he saw a flash of excitement behind his eyes...

"Heh, good to hear it!" Soarin said happily, getting to his feet as he worked on undoing the restraints. Once both stallions were freed, they were helped up by their Senior Commanders and escorted over to their teammates, chairs pulled out for each of them. They gladly sat back down, still looking exhausted from everything they’d gone through. They didn’t even seem to hear Soarin’s next words.

Good thing too, since they made the others look up at him and Blitz in mild fear. Soarin had turned his gaze to a nearby wall clock, smiling as he read it, "Gotta say Copper, those machines of yours got some decent processing speed since it's only been about 30 minutes. At this rate, we should be able to finish with all of you just before lunch hour!" His gaze came back down, scanning over at the remaining group, "So... who's next?"

Author's Note

Well, I only just barely kept my promise (It's a quarter to 11 at night on Sunday as I'm writing this) but here it is, the next chapter in all it's pervy, expository glory!

And DAAAAMN did it end up longer than I was expecting! Seriously, I didn't even realize this chapter had hit nearly 12,000 words until I actually finished it!

Seriously though, I'm proud of this chapter at least, as I've finally gotten to write some longer, fleshed-out tickle torture, which was why this even came about in the first place! So I do hope you all enjoyed it. I just wish I could have included the others as well, but then this would have ran WAY to damned long. Next chapter is gonna be a short time skip too, but I'll be filling in the blanks so to speak when that comes around. Still, if I can find some time to do it, maybe I'll write out the others' experiences as a bonus chapter.

Anyhow, next chapter is gonna be a fair bit shorter than this one, thankfully. But that's mainly because it's part one of a two-parter, and will mainly be expanding on the members of Delta and Echo and giving some proper character interaction, and that part should be out by next weekend. But the second part is going to feature another one of their group getting a proper session in-story, so while I can't give a good date on when that'll be out, keep your eyes peeled for it. :raritywink:

As usual, any and all feedback is welcome from you guys. Hope you're all enjoying so far and I'll see you next chapter!

Chapter 3: A Learning Experience [Part 1] (Clean)

It wasn’t until past noon that Squads Delta and Echo finally got to the mess hall, stepping inside with all their recruits looking rather defeated in their own ways.

While they had been allowed to go back to their barracks and shower up after their rather strenuous ‘testing’, there was no hiding the rather tired, broken-looking expressions they wore. Nor could they hide the slight slumps in their posture as they were all clearly still getting over the physical and mental strain it had caused them.

The remaining tests after Dusty and Sand had been just as taxing on everyone else as it had been on them, if not more so. Despite the two being their respective teams’ physically strongest members, and both had fallen so easily! But that was just a testament to the odd skills their captains wielded.

As such, it wasn't really THAT surprising that the rest had a good bit of trouble taking what their commanders had dished out. Or in the case of their female members what Fleetfoot had gone and dished out on them...

Finally though, they had put the grueling morning behind them, and their captains had decided it was a good idea to simply allow some recovery time after they’d clean up, and so it was decided a group meal in the mess hall was next on the schedule Still, as the groups walked inside the large dining area, among their group however was an unexpected face; Copper.

Once their testing had been wrapped up, and the data he’d gained was collected and stored away safely, Soarin actually offered for him to join the teams for lunch. An offer he graciously accepted; it would be nice to have a proper meal amongst other ponies for a change, rather than being cooped up in his shop. It also meant he could have something other than a simple meal tossed in the microwave or boiled on his stove, a nice change of pace meal-wise.

Fleetfoot, on the other hand, had come along without any invite. She seemed only too happy to tag along with her fellow higher ups and their friend, and had followed them all the way there under the excuse of needing her own lunch and opting to join them. Soarin and Blitz knew better than to try and stop her, though; she’d made up her mind, and there’d be no changing it.

He followed the group inside, as quiet as the cadets in front of him as he grabbed what seemed appetizing to him, joining the group at a long rectangular table, ending up sat between Soarin and Blitz.

The others were all there as well, now in more casual clothing. Thankfully their Senior Commanders weren’t so cruel as to have anything physical planned for the rest of the day; they all looked drained enough after such a grueling morning.

Brave Star was managing a strong look, even though his eyes still saw the horrors of what happened, while Gleaming Streak’s eye was twitching every few minutes as she recalled her own experience, looking ready to snap at whoever so much as looked at her wrong.

Winter wore a heavy hoodie in order to feel like she had some kind of protection on her, and Graceful was keeping her wings firmly lowered over her sides, hips, and part of her stomach.

Horizon and Swift were both trying to make it look like they weren't bothered by what happened while they clearly were.

Dusty had his head on the table, seemingly thinking back on his life up to now as Sand just sat there silently, head focused on his tray as he ate.

The others, on the other hand, were all looking rather upbeat and relaxed as they dug into their own meals. Soarin finally decided to break the silence though, putting down his bottled water, "C'mon on now, chin up ponies! It's not that bad or humiliating, you all lasted a great amount of time!"

Blitz snorted as he gave Soarin a look "Speak for yourself! You're some freak stallion who actually likes it!"

"Yeah, but that's because he's always been the oddball out of all of us, even before we learned that interesting little fact,” Fleetfoot added, a rather large grin on her face as she took her seat among the group. She snickered a bit, leaning across the table towards Soarin, "I think that's part of why you even GOT this idea, if you ask me.~"

However, he just gave his teammate a wink and grin, "You will never know the truth to that Fleet. I can guarantee you that." He smirked as he took a bite out of his meal, contently enjoying himself while the mare playfully stuck her tongue out at him in response.

Blitz in the meantime was looking over to the newbies, all of whom looked rather uninterested in conversation at the moment, and snorted, "Pfft, don’t look so down guys; this is nothing compared to actual touring shows or anything. If anything, times like today are the best case scenario"

It was at that moment Soarin cleared his throat, getting everyone else’s attention, "I think we need to know about each other a little more. After all, we’re going to be working together a lot more in the upcoming years, even after you guys become full-fledged ‘bolts. So how about you tell us why you decided to join and stick this out?"

The group looked around at each other, clearly running over the options silently in their heads; Soarin DID make a good point. They hardly knew each other properly at this moment, and after... THAT, there was really no point in hiding much about themselves. Still, it seemed like they were a bit hesitant to be the first ones to speak up and get the ball rolling, until…

"Well, I nominate him to go first" Gleaming said, her gaze suddenly fixed on Copper as she pointed her finger over at the surprised brown pegasus.

"Me?"

"Yeah, you,” she repeated, jabbing the finger in his direction, “You know; the guy who's making all this stuff that's gonna put us through Tartarus."

"He IS from Tartarus!" Dusty chipped in, "Who else but some sorta agent o' Sombra or Tirek to unleash something that hellish on other pegasi?!"

"Why do you think he focuses only on pegasi?" Horizon asked, raising an eyebrow at his teammate.

"'Cause pegasi are amazin', duh!" Dusty felt that was a solid enough argument it seemed, giving a confident nod to his statement.

"Gee, thanks for making me feel so welcome," Copper said with a roll of his eyes, "But heck, I guess you guys at least deserve to know a little about me." He leaned forward in his chair, looking around as he spread his wings, "Take a good look; pretty clear I got wings that won't get me far. I'm not grounded, but I can't fly for too long or else they start to hurt. Mom didn't drink or smoke or anything while she was having me, either; I just got unlucky and stuck with stunted wings that stopped growing when I was a teen. Not that it mattered to me all that much in the end; my special talent ended up being mechanical engineering. I'm a lot more at home in my workshop than doing laps in the sky."

Brave raised his hand, catching Copper’s attention as he asked, "So how did you get to where you are now? I mean, such devices are rather… outlandish for a pegasus, don’t you think?"

He looked aside, cheeks a bit pink, "Well, let's just say this has always been a... personal interest of mine. I know, it's far from usual; a pegasus so fascinated with restraints that leave them open to their greatest weakness. It's only by luck and college connections I even learned they were looking for somepony to make these, though! And who was I to pass up a dream job like this? I mean I work for the Wonderbolts and do what I love daily."

"So… what you're saying is that you're being paid to be a professional pervert?" Winter thought out loud, the bluntness of her words like an arrow to the chest that made Copper wince.

He sighed, but nodded, "Yes, that's the crude way to put it, I guess. But I took the job because they all had a part in creating it in the first place." He abruptly pointed to Soarin, Blitz, and Fleetfoot, "So yeah, I may be the professional pervert, but it's because of these three there's even such a position. Heck, Soarin's the one who picked me out of their applicant pool."

The newbies all stared at Soarin now, faces displaying looks all clearly screaming "It was him!", to which Soarin merely smiled and waved casually, elbow on the table with his hand propping up his head.

"I am not sorry in the least; I enjoyed myself finding a pony who could live up to the task, and I don’t have much doubt in my mind that I picked the right one.” He grinned over at Copper, who gave him a smile back, cheeks pink once again…

Before Soarin could notice though, Fleetfoot took a moment and spoke up, “Well, not that’s out of the way...” her gaze shot over to Gale, “Since you decided to volunteer somepony else, I think I’ll play along and volunteer you to go next, missy.”

The icy-blue mare groaned a bit, looking over at soarin who just gave her a quick nod, "Okay, fine." She looked over at the three higher ups, "Look, I bet these three already know, but I got family here; Rapid Fire's my uncle, and I'm the only new blood in our family so I kinda got saddled with the 'future wonderbolt' label when he got in and I was showing that I was good at training up my body. I didn't ask for the handouts I got, but I took 'em to work myself into peak shape. That’s why I'm here; not because my uncle pulled any strings. I'm here because I want to be more than just 'Rapid Fire's niece' and make my OWN name for myself."

She looked to the other rookies as finished her explanation; thankfully, there didn’t seem to be many odd looks thrown her way. Gleaming had more than proved herself during their days in the academy though, so they knew it wasn’t a lie. After all, sh’d been among the fastest of their group, only outmatched by Swift in that field, and she’d shown quite a bit of endurance as well.

"It'll be hard to do, it's hard to separate blood in a place like this," Blitz told her. "I mean yeah, a good few other ‘bolts know, and so do we, but don’t be shocked if you're still labeled as bad as him before the others get to know you. And you may need to work on that image for a while. After all, we all know he's not gonna be retiring anytime soon, mostly because he wants to beat Soarin at least once."

Said pegasus sighed a bit, shaking his head, "He's still trying too, I’ll give him that! But still, these rivalries tend to get old over time. Don’t exactly have the time for it now, either."

Gleaming sighed, looking back at the table, "You’ll have to tell him that; trying to beat you is all he talks about half the damned time… but no, I'm doing this for myself, nopony else. Gods know the folks have put enough pressure on me already to 'become a legacy', but buck that noise. This is all for me to make a real name for myself in the end."

“Huh… well Gleaming, all can I can really tell you to that is ‘good luck’ because you’ll need it,” Soarin told her, looking over at the other rookies, “So, who wants to keep this ball moving?”

"Well, I guess I could go next," Breeze said gently, clearing her throat a bit, "We already have names down, so guess I'll skip that. Anyhow, I'm not from any big-time Pegasus city like Cloudsdale or anything; I come from Manhattan. My folks are both earth ponies running a flower shop there. Apparently we had some pegasus on my dad's side; great-grandma was one and the genes picked up in me."

"I can relate to that," Blitz said as he put down his water bottle, "A friend of mine works at a bakery owned by two earth ponies. They got twins, but one’s a pegasus and the other unicorn. They tried to explain it, but I honestly couldn’t keep track of what they were saying. Pony genetics are super weird..."

Soarin nodded, smiling over at Breeze, "So what made you want to be a Wonderbolt?"

"Well, kids can be mean, and a lot of ponies in school made fun of me since I'm bigger than most pegasus mares, even if it was from my Earth Pony side.” She looked up as she spoke, memories playing through her head, “For a while, I kinda did feel like a freak. But then my school went on a field trip, and I saw the Wonderbolts for the first time. More specifically, I got to see Valkyrie and I was inspired; she was a pegasus built like an earth pony too, and she was one of the best fliers around! After that I told myself that I'd do everything I could get there and show mixed races are nothing to be ashamed about."

Her Senior Commander chuckled a bit, "Valkyrie inspired you huh? Well you may see her around now and again, she comes back to work out and fight regularly. She may be retired but she never stops for very long.”

Breeze’s eyes lit up a bit at hearing that, clearly excited at the idea of possibly meeting her idol. It also seemed that the table was starting to relax a bit, as another voice spoke up just seconds later without any egging on.

"Alright, I’ll go," Winter perked up a bit, "I'm actually from Cloudsdale myself; I'm the oldest of four and we're all named after seasons because my parents seem to think they're clever. My dad's a Buckball player who thinks he's cool but he's really the biggest dork you can think of. Mom's a supervisor at the weather factory herself, specializes in lightning control. As for why I’m here, well I became a Wonderbolt so my siblings have someone to look up to in their lives. And also to see how I can improve myself, as well; flying’s always been a big passion of mine and I love it a lot, but I’ve always known there’s room for me improve."

It was Fleetfoot’s turn to speak up again, giving a happy chuckle, "Heh, being an inspiration huh? Well I get it, gotta make an example when you're leading your siblings. Don’t worry kid; we’re here to make ya into something you and your folks can be proud of." Then, without any warning, her head suddenly turned to look over at Swift, "Now, what about you, huh buddy?"

The small pegasus jumped a bit, clearly not having expected to be put in the spotlight so suddenly, looking around as all eyes were on him now. He coughed a bit and striaghtened up, "Oh, well... I came here from Cloudsdale, too. I've got an older brother myself, and you can imagine the sibling teasing that occurred there. I know I'm fairly short, but I've never really seen it as a handicap. In fact, it gave me an advantage since I have normal-sized wings, allowing me to be faster than my peers, hence why I was always placing so high in the speed tests at the academy. I've joined to try and be an inspiration myself. I know there are plenty of others out there who are put down for things they can't help about themselves, so I want to show them you can be the best of the best if regardless, so long as you work for it."

Blitz gave him a thumbs up and grinned, "Hey, I can get behind that! Don't let your size pull you down, Swift; as a fellow speeder, we should be making these guys eat our dust and well, I'm shorter than my marefriend so it’s alright."

Apparently, that was enough to make Dusty do a spit take, thankfully not hitting anypony. He looked over at Blitz, eyes wide, "You sayin’ that you gotta special somepony?! But… But how in the hay does a candy-maned daredevil like you getta mare?!"

Blitz smirked, puffing out his chest, "Duuuh, by being awesome! That, and countless deadly adventures along the way!" He then smirked to Dusty, "What’s wrong big guy? Can't land a mare?"

The southern stallion's cheeks lit up "N-no! It's just ah got lots a' work to do! A-Ah ain’t had time fer datin’ it all!"

There were a few snickers around the table, and Fleet struck on the opportunity she now saw, "Awww, don't tease him now Blitz; maybe he doesn't want a mare, per say?~"

Dusty looked like he was about to explode with how red his face was getting, and he was about to speak up before Horizon cut in, "Enough about questioning Dusty's sexuality, let him deal with his homo-erotic feelings and gestures later."

"HEY!" He snorted a bit, shaking his head to try and get the blush to leave, "Welp, if you’re gonna go on and talk about me, at least lemme tell ya about mahself.” He coughed a bit, clearing his throat, “Ah'm doin’ this fer self pride, mahself." His arms began to flex as he went on, "Ah'm the best aerial lifter in Appleoosa, but it got awful borin’ awful fast carryin’ stuff around the town for folks. Ah wanted adventure, thrills and kick ass trainin', so ah signed up as fast as ah could! You just watch out Soarin, cause ahmma take yer title as strongest Wonderbolt!"

Soarin smirked at that, leaning towards him with a small smirk, "Sure, once you sort out if you rather stare at Sand's plot or Winter’s."

"Dang it, ah ain’t a coltcoddler! Ah like mares!" he cried out, snorting from his nose as another round of snickering rose from the table. Fleetfoot's remark seemed to have stuck, sadly.

"Don't worry big guy; we're just playing," she assured, giving him a knock on the shoulder with her fist, "Besides, it'd be fun to see Soarin's face if a rookie knocks down his records!"

"As I said to Gleaming, good luck" Soarin kept grinning "but It's not a bad thing to be here for yourself, to prove you're more than just a one trick pony, overconfidence can be the route to a fast downfall."

As if on cue, everyone turned to Blitz, who was halfway through eating his pudding when he noticed everypony staring at him "...What?"

"Nothing," Soarin chuckled, "Just proving a point."

That got another round of snickers from the table while Blitz just looked on as he realized he was clearly out of the joke.

Surprisingly, Horizon was the one to keep things going, "I suppose I’ll get my story out of the way. I'm the "lesser" son in my family, my older brother is the athletic wonder child, and me? I’m just the scrawny theatre kid." He tossed the food on his plate around gently with a fork, "I honestly don't know what specifically provoked me to be here. Maybe it was lack of respect from my parents and brother, or just some self-drive to show them I'm not useless? I don't know but now that I'm here and actually got a chance to be something big, I want to keep going. But more for me than them right now; never pictured myself getting past the academy, but since I’m did there’s no way I’m backing out of this."

"Well, the 'bolts could always use a theatrical eye; goodness knows we gotta bring some new stuff to make sure we keep on wowing the crowds. Still, I'm really happy I'm not in charge of PR," Fleetfoot said rather casually, taking a bite from her own meal and snickering a bit.

"This coming from the mare who's probably been in more athletic magazines than flying magazines?" Gleaming asked, raising an eyebrow, "Call me crazy, but aren't you, like, the public face of the Wonderbolts?"

"Well duh hun, that should be obvious. I never said I wasn't," she said, giving her a wink and grin, "And I wouldn't trade it for anything; I like keeping busy, and those extra gigs let me do that all while connect with my adoring public. The extra bits don't hurt, either.” She snickered a bit, “What I meant was that I'm happy I'm not gonna be the ones trying to explain this new program to the public."

Soarin suddenly snickered a bit himself, "We played rock paper scissors to see who'd get to do it. You’d think Spitfire would own us at something so simple, but noooooope; she sucks at it and loses more than either of us put together. So she’s stuck in charge of the next press conference.”

"Huh... Guess you learn something new everyday" Winter said thoughtfully to herself.

"Just don't abuse that little fact," Soarin continued, "Otherwise we could have anarchy and Fleetfoot would get that slide she's always wanted."

"A slide from the third floor to the ground would be awesome and you know it!" Fleetfoot quickly hot back, trying to defend herself. Before Soarin could press her on it, she quickly put the topic back on track, "So, we're narrowing the field down here... So horse boy, it’s your turn," Fleetfoot said while looking over at Sand, who had so far kept quiet since they sat down. It didn’t even seem like he’d looked up, his mind lost in thought as he gently nibbled at his food. “Ohh, don’t just stare down like that; come on, you gotta tell us what brought you here!”

"Honestly, I think his spirit’s kinda crushed since he was the first one to break," Winter casually said as she ate, though she was also looking at him as she did so.

"So Sand...why the long face pardner?" Dusty asked with a small smirk, snickering at his own bad pun as the others around him rolled their eyes.

For a few more moments, Sand stayed silent. But finally he spoke, lifting his head and looking over to Blitz and Soarin, "I... I want to apologize for my arrogance earlier, first of all. I clearly overestimated my ability and disrespected your training methods in the process. I... I deserved my humiliation..."

That was a definite surprise for everyone at the table. This was a definite change from what the silent, stoic, and rather arrogant stallion they’d seen earlier, and through much of their academy training.

However, Soarin smiled as he watched his student, "I think it’s safe to say that it's all under the bridge right now, we've all seen each other at their worst" He reached out, patting him on the shoulder, “I understand your feelings to the training at first, but I'm glad to see you're willing to improve."

"Holy crap, i broke him" Blitz whispered to Fleetfoot while the two watched their conversation.

She nodded, "I'll say ya did; dude fell right off his high horse..."

Sand gave a gentle nod, "That’s actually part of why I came here; to improve myself. Saddle Arabia has not been kind to me over the years... I never knew my parents, and for much of my life I was involved with street gangs in my home city. From a young age I learned to keep up a strong appearance and to never show when things get to you. I suppose you could say I was lucky in the end though; a few years ago I ended up arrested, but was given a chance at freedom through a rehab program program for first-time offenders that gave us the basic means to pursue real careers. It's because of that that I'm here today, having focused myself on working past criminal activities while doing what I could to better myself. I got accepted through the Wonderbolt's foreign outreach program while they were looking for talent overseas, and was offered a spot in the academy because of my physical prowess and wing power. I plan to work through this new obstacle though; I want to show I can better myself and go home as something greater than I was when I left."

"Well, you have yourself a team who will be at your side when you need help," Soarin told him, "We'll pick you up when you're down and more. Isn't that right Delta?" He looked out to his team for that extra little support, and they all looked back at Sand.

Breeze was the first to respond, reaching out and putting a hand on his shoulder, "Soarin’s right; if you need help with anything, we’ll give it. We're all in the same boat at this point, after all."

"She's right; this was thrust on all of us, but it would be foolish to back out of this opportunity now, especially if this program was made to try and improve upon previous methods," Swift added.

“Yeah; much as I’m not that big a fan of this new training, we should get used it soon enough,” Gleam added, her voice not as hard as it had been. Of course, she didn’t notice the silently-snickering faces of Blitz and Fleetfoot off to the side...

Blitz smiled to them all, before looking over at one particular stallion, "And now, we’re down to one more. He's been really quiet too, so it’s time to speak up Brave!"

Brave Star perked up, "O-oh! Well, I was just listening to everypony else." He blushed as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "I'm… I'm not that interesting to talk about really."

"Oooohh no, you're not getting out of it that easy, buddy," Fleetfoot reached over, poking his snout with a finger and grinning at him, "Everyone else spilled the beans, and now it's your turn; this is opening-up time, so let's hear it."

"Yeah!" Dusty put an arm around his Commander’s shoulders, "We all spilled our guts, and so are you too, buddy!"

Brave sighed softly with a chuckle, "Okay, okay. Well...I'm from Canterlot, so I kinda have the home turf advantage here and well... I was abandoned at six years old."

That left the table quiet, all eyes on Brave as he drew in another breath.

"My parents dropped me off at what I didn’t even realize was the orphanage with a promise to return by the end of the day… Well that day became days, then weeks, months and years. To this day, I don't know why they left." He looked down at his empty plate, frowning now, "I wasn't a troublemaker or anything. I just wanted to be… To be something like a superhero for my parents. They never seemed to smile and when they left me there, it felt like I never would and my dream just crashed." He slowly looked back up, giving a small smile, "But then during an outing with the orphanage, we saw a Wonderbolt show and I fell in love with it." His eyes looked upwards, a flame in them now, "So if I couldn't be something for my parents, then I'll be something for foals like me who don't know why their lives are bad. To be a hero...that's why I'm here."

For a few seconds there was a silence at the table, until…

"That's a good goal, you know."

It was Copper, who had been silent himself for much of their meal as he listened to the group's stories. The file's he'd gotten had only been about their body stats and athletic backgrounds, so this was all brand new information for him. Every one of them so far had shown they had their own personal reasons for being here, and really he found their goals to be admirable for the most part.

Brave blushed, quickly realising he’d went on for a good bit, "S-sorry...I got a little carried away."

"Sorry?! Ya ain’t got nuthin' to be sorry about" Dusty said happily as he ruffled his mane "That there's some true passion if ah ever saw it!"

Winter's eyes sparkled as she looked at him "You are so cool! Here I thought I was doing something inspiring, but now I gotta keep up with you!"

Horizon even gave a small smirk, "Admirable to say the least but still quite challenging. I wish you all the best and if you need help, I'm happy to lend it to you"

Blitz smiled as he watched, pride flowing through him as he watched his team surround Brave with pats on the back, mane ruffles and hugs. Brave was even laughing with them now as he blushed a bit, feeling like he’d found a home.

Likewise, Sand found himself surrounded by his own teammates who seemed to be all too happy to offer their support and encouragement to him. Their teamwork was already starting to appear, and Copper couldn't help but think Soarin knew this might be how things went...

Still, they couldn’t spend all day around here, and Soarin knew it. He got to his feet with blitz, catching the attention of their squads, “Now then, we have theory class this afternoon, so let’s get cleaned up here and get the boring stuff out of the way."

Blitz snickered a bit as he saw the unimpressed looks they were getting, "Sorry guys, but we gotta do it, boring as it is. Trust me, I’d rather do the practical stuff myself. Frankly I hate classed, being student or teacher!"

Copper just smiled a bit as he stood up as well, "Actually, I’ve got to get back to my own proper job as well and get this data sorted out. I've also got plans to finish and prototypes to test." He suddenly gave a playful smirk, looking around the table, "And hey, if anypony wants to volunteer as a test subject, I'm sure your commanders will let you play hooky for a day if it’s to help the cause of improving your training."

The newbies all flinched at those words as Blitz snickered.

"Ya know, that isn’t a bad idea. In fact, extra credit to whoever helps Copper with testing. But better make it fast ‘cause Soarin's gonna be first in line." He smirked over at his friend, but the older pegasus just grinned over at him.

"Oh I dunno Blitz, what if we just have you do it? We could send pictures of it to a certain mare..." he let his voice trail off in a hum, winking to the chromatic stallion.

"Oh yeah!" Fleetfoot clapped her hands together, sporting a grin of her own now, "We’d have to send ‘em to Jackie! Heck, I'll even do it personally!"

Everything was silent for a moment as the two locked eyes with Blitz… Then in a burst of speed, Soarin and Fleetfoot took off with their red-faced friend behind them.

"DON'T YOU BUCKING DARE YOU CHEEKY FEATHERBRAINS! I'LL SKIN YOU BOTH ALIVE AND I SWEAR IT!"

Copper and the others simply watched as the trio ran outside of the mess hall, leaving them all behind; where they were off to and what this would mean for the afternoon, none of them really knew. After a few more moments though, he spoke up again as he gazed back at the cadets, "I was serious, by the way. I'll take any of you as testers. Who knows, could help you build up some extra endurance outside of your normal lessons. But I really do need to get back to work." He started towards the doors himself, "Last chance if anypony wants to come with me."

They all looked at each other for a moment, as if waiting to see if anyone of them were really brave or foolish enough to take the offer. Then Brave stood up.

"I'll go with you. I want to give it another try after this morning, and I think everyone is still hesitant as well. So I’ll let them know what it was like."

He smiled a bit and nodded; seemed that Brave wanted to properly prove what he'd said earlier. "Well then, let's get going; I'm in the basement of the maintenance building." He looked over at the others as Brave joined him, "So you know, my door is always open to you guys if you wanna come down; if I'm not around the base, I'm probably in there. Now, we’re off." With that, he started out once more, Brave Star in tow right behind him as the others watched on in silence.

Author's Note

Whew, well this got out in a decent amount of time; didn't have much worry about getting this one done, since it was much less of a handful than the last one. Plus it's only the first part of a two, since I wanted to break up the actual kinky fun in the next part from the slower, more mundane character backstories in this one.

Sadly, I'm not exactly sure when I'l be able to get out the second part, though. :twilightsheepish: College life is speeding up and I have an evening job most nights on top of that; Friday and Saturday nights are quickly turning into the only times I can get any real writing done. Not only that, but I'm starting to sort out some other ideas I have that I'd love to get up on here. Sadly there's not going to be a stable upload schedule now, but just keep an eye out and hopefully I'll have the second part out this month, along with another story I have planned. :raritywink:

That should be all for about now; feedback is still appreciated, and I'll see you all next time, whenever that may be. Until then, hope you're all well and are enjoying yourselves so far!