Pharynx silently leaned against the stone wall, keeping his arms folded as he glanced around the area to check if any changelings were still nearby.
It hadn’t been that long since he had recently transformed. ‘Bout a year or two, Pharynx guessed, but since then, even though he changed physically, there were many, many things that hadn’t changed about him. One of those things was his style of attire; he currently wore a shiny black leather jacket, which was almost always zipped up all the way, along with purple jeans. The most significant things he wore that clashed with the hive’s now-peaceful atmosphere were his frequently polished, spiked black boots, which Pharynx found surprisingly useful for battle combat. No matter what the other changelings said about them, he always seemed to favor these boots the most.
Another thing that remained constant about him was his endless attempts at kicking holes in the hive walls. Every hole he succeeded to create, however, he was called out for it by either his brother Thorax, or simply the other changelings, but most of the time it was the former of the two options.
Well, neither of those events were going to happen this time; Pharynx was not going to let any bystanders witness or even get a glimpse of the action he was about to commit. What was about to happen was not suitable for either trypophobics, or those who had strongly preferred to have their walls completely free of holes. Or both for that matter.
After deciding the coast was clear, Pharynx then turned to face the wall he had been leaning against. He adjusted his sleeves and made sure his boots were tight enough on his feet. Once that process was done, he took a breath and shut his eyes, then raised his leg and aimed it at a random spot on the wall. As his leg quickly shot out towards that wall, he immediately prepared himself for the collision that would eventually result in the perfectly round hole—
“Pharynx!”
...Well, that was anticlimactic.
Pharynx opened his eyes to check his progress; his leg wasn’t even halfway to its current destination, much to the changeling’s chagrin. He turned to see Thorax, who, of course, had on those dorky orange and green sandals, as well as a dark magenta jacket, a dark green T-shirt, and blue jeans. If those weren’t enough, he also had a few golden rings on some of his fingers and toes. Despite the fact that he was the younger sibling of the two, Thorax seemed to tower over his own older brother—this time, however, he did it with a scowl on his face.
“What did I tell you about kicking holes?” Thorax asked his brother sternly.
“Let me guess... ‘Rocks are nature?’” Pharynx replied, rolling his eyes and putting his foot down...well, more literally than figuratively.
“Don’t you at least know how dangerous it is to have... those things bursting through our hive walls now and then?!” Thorax pointed to his brother’s spiky boots.
“What? These?” Pharynx asked with a smirk. He then brought his leg up to display the dark red, rubbery outsole of his boot, wiggling his foot in a teasing, almost flirtatious manner. Thorax, however, only flinched away from the silver, lustrous spikes.
“Come on, this is serious!” Thorax insisted, carefully pushing his brother’s foot out of his view, while trying to avoid touching the gleaming spikes.
“Okay, fine,” Pharynx grumbled as he withdrew his leg. He slightly wiggled his toes inside his boots, feeling the somewhat soft, somewhat pleasurable material of the insoles. It was a sensation he wouldn’t be able enjoy as much if he were wearing his socks right now.
“That’s more like it!” Thorax chirped, his tone sounding more cheerful as if nothing had ever happened. He had somehow snuck behind his brother to playfully squeeze his sides, making Pharynx jump and glare back at the taller changeling.
Thorax only grinned back. “Well, I’m gonna be at the feelings forum if you wanna—“
His offer was immediately cut off by a firm “No.” from Pharynx.
“Er...Right. Well, see ya later big bro!” Thorax waved and smiled, before catching up with the other changelings to gather in the room where the feelings forum was usually held.
Pharynx let out a huffy breath at the scene taking place. He, of course, was never a fan of the feelings forum or the saccharine sappiness it had in store for anycreature, especially visitors from either Equestria or just about any faraway land.
The dark cyan changeling quietly watched the other changelings coalesce as they sat down and patiently waited for the forum to begin, a smirk forming on his chitinous face. He then made his way towards a certain spot near the rocky exterior of the feelings forum chamber. After rubbing his palms together and adjusting his sleeves in anticipation, Pharynx shut his eyes and lifted his left leg up, aiming the outsole of his boot at the the stone wall.
That’s when his leg shot out and the rough collision occurred...
As soon as he heard the screams, yelps, and shouts of surprise from the changelings that were settled on the other side of that wall, Pharynx’s eyes fluttered open. The dark cyan changeling glanced at his process, and nearly lost his breath at what he had did. Not only did he create a visible hole in the wall, but this time, he had kicked his leg all the way through the stone wall—and his foot was still sitting in the hole he had created, with the stone wall holding his ankle in its firm position.
Pharynx struggled to keep himself from erupting into a fit of laughter... and failed miserably, of course. It wasn’t because the hole itself amused him in any sort of way, (though it kind of did) since he had kicked plenty of holes in walls before, but it was the reactions of the changelings that did.
If only he had seen the looks on their faces when it happened. If only.
“Pharynx! That wasn’t funny! You could’ve hurt someone!” Thorax scolded his brother from the other side of the wall.
“Haha! Oh man,” Pharynx said between gasps of breath after his moment of amusement. “Wish I had seen your faces! I heard you scream, that’s for sure!”
“Can’t you see what you did to the wall?! Don’t you know how much it’ll take to repair that thing?!”
“I can see everything from here, Thorax!” Pharynx folded his arms with a smirk. “You may not even know it, but I have a perfect view where I am—“
Pharynx heard the surprisingly audible smack of Thorax facepalming. “Please, just get your leg out of the wall...”
“Whatever you say, brother.” Not even caring about the many possible consequences, Pharynx easily dislodged his foot from the hole in the wall...
Okay, he tried to dislodge his foot from the wall, but it didn’t seem to budge. At all.
Even after a few kicks, leg jerks, and grunts, nothing seemed to cooperate with his wants. Especially not his own leg.
“What’s taking so long?!” a changeling on the other side whined.
“Uh, Thorax...” Beads of sweat were rolling down Pharynx’s chitinous face, where a wildfire of embarrassment took seed within his cheeks. “I think I’m stuck.”
“Stuck?” Thorax questioned. “What do you mean, you’re stuck? You never got stuck before.”
“Don’t you think I know that?!” Pharynx snapped as he frantically wiggled his foot, still visibly struggling.
“We used to have holes in our legs when we were evil,” a random changeling whispered audibly.
“But now his leg is in the hole!” Another changeling chirped out. Then came the sounds of the other changelings chuckling heartily at the somewhat ironic comparison.
“T-This is serious! J-Just get me out of here, will you?!” Pharynx stuttered out, his foot writhing and twisting. Thank Celestia they weren’t able to see how embarrassed he actually was at this moment. He could only imagine what this looked like in their eyes; a black boot sticking out from the wall, just wriggling there trying to escape.
“Okay, okay, calm down,” Thorax’s voice tried to reassure the frustrated changeling. “Sorry guys, but we’re going to have to cancel today’s Feelings Forum. At least, until we get Pharynx out of the wall...” Pharynx then heard the aggravated and disappointed groans of the many changelings as they departed from the room. Once the chamber was cleared, Pharynx heard Thorax cracking his finger joints. “Okay, let’s get this over with.”
The dark cyan changeling felt his brother’s fingers, which were more cautious than ever, coil tightly around his black boot. “On a count of three.”
“Thorax, this isn’t gonna work—“
“One...” Thorax’s fingers tightened as he spoke.
“Don’t even think about—“
“Two...”
“You’re not gonna bother listening to me, are you?”
“Three!” Thorax grunted as he struggled to pull Pharynx’s foot free from the wall. Pharynx merely tried to pull in the opposite direction, squeezing his eyes shut as he did so.
“Thorax, it’s not going to work—“ Pharynx repeated as he wheezed.
“Wait, Pharynx! I think you’re almost free...” Thorax wheezed out. After a moment, however, Pharynx heard Thorax crying out in surprise, followed by the sound of him grunting as he fell to the floor.
For a moment there, Pharynx thought that Thorax had actually pulled his foot off. But once he opened his eyes and uncurled his toes, he felt the cool, chilling atmosphere caress his now exposed sole.
“Heh... Whoops.” Thorax chuckled sheepishly as soon as it occurred to Pharynx that his brother had accidentally yanked his boot off.
“Thorax! What did you do?!” Pharynx’s bare toes quickly recoiled. “Give me my boot back!”
“Sorry, sorry! I didn’t meant to—“ Thorax paused abruptly. “...Gee, Pharynx,” he said after a moment of silence. “It never occurred to me how tiny your feet are. Heck, they’re even kind of cute.”
Pharynx’s cheeks burned. He was usually, indeed, self-consciously aware of his own foot size. Although his feet weren’t as small as the average pony’s, let alone the average changeling’s, since he was taller than the other reformed changelings, yet shorter than his own younger brother. “They’re not tiny! And they’re especially not cute!” he firmly stated, wiggling his little toes.
“They are if you compare them to mine, really,” Thorax replied, gently tossing one of his flip flops to the stone floor. Pharynx shuddered as he felt Thorax’s bare foot gently press against his. “I mean, my feet aren’t that small, right?”
As for Thorax’s foot size, it was indeed slightly larger than Pharynx’s, though his soles weren’t nearly as large as, let’s say, Princess Celestia’s or even Princess Luna’s for that matter.
“Quit it, you dork!” Pharynx’s foot tried twisting away. “Give me my boot back right now!” he yelled. When his demand was met with silence, however, the changeling started to ease up a bit on his brother, wondering if he went too verbally hard on him. “Thorax? You still there?”
No response. Pharynx let out a heavy sigh, trying to relax a bit. Thank Celestia he was able to sort of sit down on the stone ground, albeit just barely.
Every once in a while, he wiggled and curled his toes, wondering if his brother was still on the other side watching every movement his trapped foot made. Pharynx decided to call out to his brother again.
“ThoraaAAHAHAHA!” His foot flinched upward once he felt a finger make direct contact with his sole. The abrupt sensation had elicited a few giggles from the changeling prince. “What the—?! Gheheheheheh!”
Thorax gasped. “Awwww! Pharynx, that was so cute!” his voice teased. “I’m surprised you actually felt that,” he said, continuing to run his finger down the changeling’s foot.
“What were you expecting?” Pharynx grumbled aloud. “You really thought I’d— AARGH!” Now that Thorax was constantly poking and prodding at the many parts of his foot, Pharynx couldn’t even finish his sentences without stopping to grit his teeth whenever he tried to stifle his giggles.
“Can you feel this? Or this? What about this?! Ooh! This’ll drive you crazy!” Thorax was either gleefully stroking Pharynx’s sole, deviously skittering his fingers across the top of his foot, or curiously playing with his toes. Whatever he did, he surely didn’t let Pharynx’s foot escape the ticklish torment.
“St-Stahahaha—S-Stohohop!”
“Why? Is my big bro... ticklish?” Thorax’s fingers began directly attacking the wiggling toes.
“Nohohohohohohoho!”
“No? Okay! Tickle, tickle, tickle...” Thorax just resumed tickling the wiggling digits.
“NO! I SAHAID NOHOHOHAHAHAHAHA!”
After a minute or two, Pharynx was finally given some time to breathe. Keyword: some.
“Hang on a sec...” Thorax peeked around the corner of the stone wall, grinning from ear to ear at Pharynx, before vanishing as soon as he appeared.
Pharynx only heard the whooshing sound of possibly his brother transforming. After that, he briefly heard an audible twing! Then, he listened to one more whooshing transformation.
“Let’s see how long you can last this time, Pharynx.” Thorax teased from the other side of the wall.
Pharynx braced himself for more relentless tickling fingers attacking his foot. After a moment of feeling no sensations, however, he dropped his guard.
Too soon.
Pharynx once again found himself gritting his teeth when he felt something soft touch his defenseless foot. His entire leg shuddered as the soft object traveled up and down his bare sole and all over his toes, which wiggled as his dark cyan skin hummed with sensitivity.
“Gak!” Pharynx clamped his jaws shut. “Mmm...Mhmhmhmhm!”
“Awww... does it tickle?” Thorax cooed in a baby voice as Pharynx started kicking against the sensations.
“MMMGH... NGH..” Sweat was now trailing down Pharynx’s chitinous face. He felt Thorax grasp his ankle, continuing to trace the soft object against his foot. The object was even slender enough to slide right in between his toes, which either splayed out or curled inward.
“...Heheh.” Pharynx was really giggling now. “Heheh...Heheheheheh! Heheheheh!”
“Gee, Pharynx,” Thorax spoke again. “I thought you could see everything from there. Well, too bad you can’t see what’s tickling your cute little feetsies, can you?”
“Grrr... stahahap ihihihit...” Pharynx only growled between giggles in response.
And just like that...
“NaaAAAHAHAHAHA!” Pharynx finally exploded into fits of overwhelming laughter, his entire body convulsing and thrashing about as his trapped foot started writhing about. “T-Thorax, you doHOHOHARK!”
“Coochie coochie cooooo! Coochie coo!” Thorax used one of his hands to scratch Pharynx’s sole, while still using the soft object against his toes.
“Not the toes, not the toes—GAHAHAHAAARGH!” Pharynx’s fits of laughter ascended to outright roars of hysteria every time his defenseless toes were tormented by either unfamiliarly soft barbs or his brother’s devilish fingers. “AHAHAHAHAHA! I-I’ll kihihihihill yohohou for this! I will! I wihihihill!”
If only Pharynx knew what that soft object was.
Soon enough, he was once again given some time to rearrange, so he took the time to take in gulps of fresh air at last.
Pharynx then noticed Thorax eagerly rushing to the same side of the wall to sit next to him, showing the lime green feather he had been using to tickle his sensitive foot.
Pharynx adjusted his seating, annoyedly raising an eyebrow at Thorax. “Where did you get that?”
“Simple.” Thorax gave him another goofy grin. “I shape-shifted into a pegasus.” He, as well, adjusted his seating to look at his brother in the eye. “So, how are you feeling, now?”
Pharynx averted his gaze, wiping the sweat off his face, which was elicited due to either his overwhelming fits of laughter, or the increasing heat. “Horrible. Hot. Horribly hot.”
“Why not take your jacket off?”
Pharynx gave him another glare. “Nice try, but I’m not falling for that one.”
“Aw, come on, Phar.” Thorax scooted a bit closer. “I’ve seen you in that jacket for at least three days now.”
Pharynx looked at Thorax and sighed; he knew if he kept refusing, he’d probably give him the sad puppy-dog eyes, which he always dreaded seeing. “Fine,” he groaned, “but just for a minute or two.”
He hesitantly began to unzip his slick, black leather jacket, revealing his dark purple T-shirt that he had been wearing underneath.
“Feeling better?” Thorax offered.
“Barely.” Pharynx laid backwards and averted his gaze, too annoyed to say anything else to his brother. That was when he felt a hand pass over his shirt, causing him to shift his head a bit in discomfort. I should’ve known, he thought to himself as he saw Thorax’s wiggling fingers hovering just inches above his stomach. “Thorax,” he growled threateningly, while still showing no surprise at the matter. “No.”
Thorax, of course, didn’t listen. Slowly, he lifted Pharynx’s shirt up until his belly was fully exposed, his mischievous grin growing wider every second.
Pharynx silently sucked in his stomach to no avail. “Thorax—“
Too late. Thorax’s finger already dove right into his belly button. “Boop!”
Pharynx’s face twinged, and he struggled to maintain a steady expression, but his smile only grew wider as Thorax continued to gently scrape the areas of his navel. He tried swatting his brother’s hand away, but his other hand came spidering across his midriff. After he smacked that hand away, he noticed the other one returning to dig into his ribs. Soon enough, Pharynx felt like he was swatting away giant flies that were eagerly attacking his muscular body.
“Nohohoho fahahair! C-Cut it ouuut!”
“Can’t cut out your belly, silly!” Thorax teased, scribbling his fingers into Pharynx’s midriff, which kept trying to dart away from the devilish fingertips. “You like that? Huh? Huh?
“Nonono stop!” Within his overwhelming fits of laughter, Pharynx tossed and turned on the stone floor of the hive, but his actions were rather limited, since one of his feet had remained stuck in the wall. “Nahahaha! Hahahahaha! Gahahahaha!”
“Heh. I’m gonna getcha, Pharynx! I’m gonna getcha!” Thorax then started swiftly gliding both of his index fingers across the smooth surface of his brother’s exposed tummy.
“W-Why, you little—AARGHAHAHAHAHA!” Pharynx kept trying to yank his trapped foot out of the wall, but his unbearable fits of laughter kept on getting the best of him
His other foot, however, was kicking and thrashing around wildly. Fortunately, he made sure it was nowhere near Thorax’s direction, since the last thing he wanted to do was kick his brother in the face.
Too bad he didn’t make sure it wasn’t aimed at the wall, because his free foot had inadvertently shot straight into it.
The two brothers jumped as soon as they heard the crumbling of stone, and they glanced at the spot in the wall where Pharynx’s other foot had struck.
Thorax grinned once again, before climbing to his feet. “Don’t go anywhere,” he said, before eagerly running off.
Pharynx swallowed heavily, not bothering to comment about Thorax’s somewhat ironic sentence. Now that both of his feet were trapped in that wall, just what was Thorax going to use on his poor soles this time?
A few minutes passed, and soon enough, Thorax came running back again. He was carrying something, Pharynx knew. He just couldn’t even get a good enough glimpse of it, since Thorax had already disappeared behind the wall that his feet were trapped in.
Pharynx then felt his second boot part ways with his right foot...
A moment later, a cluster of soft bristles were trailing up and down his right sole.
“Nononono—OH GOOHOOHOOD GRIHIHIEF!” Pharynx didn’t even try to hold in his laughter this time; it wouldn’t do him any good. His ankles twisted and writhed against the solid stone, but that didn’t seem to do anything either.
“Heh. Good thing these paintbrushes were donated to us for some good-quality craft time, huh Pharynx?” Thorax asked, brushing the bristles of the brush against his brother’s arch, while holding the toes in place.
“NOOOOOHOHOHOAHAHAHA!”
“Well, I, for one, think it’s much better than just dipping a silly old twig in a pot of paint, because those things break easily. Plus, this thing is much more effective, judging by your reactions.”
“YOU CRAZY DOHOHOHOHORK!” Pharynx tried to either curl his soles, wiggle his toes, or do both of those things at the same time, but nothing seemed to help him fend off the bristles that were dusting against his arches, neither did they affect Thorax’s fingers, which would scurry up and down his soles every now and then. “AHAHAHAHAAAAHAHA!”
“Sorry, Pharynx. This is what happens when you break holes in the walls.”
“Stop...” Pharynx breathed between giggles as soon as Thorax slowed down in pace. “S-Stohohop...”
As soon as Pharynx thought he was going to pass out from the torture, he heard Thorax casually toss the paintbrush to the stone floor.
“H-How—how long has it been?” Pharynx asked between heavy breaths.
“Two hours.”
“What?!”
“Just kidding! Twenty minutes. I think...”
“You think?!” Pharynx banged a fist on the wall. Fortunately, his bare hands weren’t able to break holes in walls like his spiked boots were. “Twenty minutes and I’m still trapped in this dang thing!”
There was a pause, and then there was a sigh from Thorax. “I’m sorry, Pharynx,” he mumbled loudly enough for him to hear. “I really shouldn’t have—“
“You know, why can’t he just shape-shift out?” a random voice cut him off.
Pharynx looked to see a yellow changeling, along with a group of others that had been watching the pair, scratching his head as he gazed down at the dark cyan changeling.
Pharynx facepalmed. Hard. Why didn’t he think of that?
“Well, whatever you say,” Pharynx mumbled as he prepared to shape-shift into a creature big enough to break his way out.
“Pharynx, NO!—“
BAM!
Pharynx rubbed his temple upon shapeshifting back from his giant spider form. The next sound he had heard was the steady crumbling of stone remains.
Once Pharynx sat up and lifted his legs, he realized that there was no longer a barrier or wall locking his ankles in place.
In fact, he saw that there was hardly a wall there anymore. There was too big of a hole gaping in that wall he had been stuck in!
Thorax pushed his way out from under the rocky debris, uninjured. Well, he probably had a few scratches or so.
“Heh... Whoops.” Pharynx tried and failed to prevent himself from grinning. He wanted give Thorax at least some karma for tickling him nonstop when he was trapped in that wall, but he didn’t really plan on creating a hole this big.
Okay, he kind of did plan it actually, given that kicking a hole in the wall was what gotten him into this whole mess to begin with. Still, he hadn’t wanted to nearly crush his brother to death by breaking that wall.
“Pharynx!” Thorax coughed, fanning the dust-filled air while glancing at the damaged wall.
“I know, right?! I mean, just look at this thing!” Pharynx gazed at his greatest creation.
“Do you know how much time it’ll take for us to repair this?!” Thorax continued scolding his brother.
“I dunno,” Pharynx said as he uncovered his boots from the pile of broken stone, seeing that they were also undamaged from the destruction of the Feelings Forum exterior, and then slipped them back on. “About a week or so.”
“...We’re only keeping the hole for a week then,” Thorax sighed heavily. “So don’t get too excited.”
Author's Note
T or M rating? What do you guys think?
Also, there just aren’t enough stories of any bugbros being tickled on here. Or anywhere.
