//------------------------------// // So You Are Ticklish // Story: Cuddling // by cooopercrisp //------------------------------// Chapter 4: So You Are Ticklish Rainbow Dash awoke the next morning feeling rejuvenated. She was still holding onto Fluttershy, as she had been since before she had fallen asleep. Hoping not to wake her, Rainbow Dash slowly inched away from Fluttershy. Fluttershy moaned and pulled Rainbow Dash towards her, holding her tightly against her. Rainbow Dash chuckled to herself and tried to extricate herself, but Fluttershy refused to let her budge. Convinced that Fluttershy was no longer asleep and doing this on purpose, Rainbow Dash decided to speak to her directly. “Okay, Fluttershy, I’ve got to get up and take a shower,” she said. Fluttershy mumbled something incoherent, but refused to let Rainbow Dash go. “This has to end eventually,” Rainbow Dash said. “But I don’t want it to end,” Fluttershy muttered. “We’re not joined at the hip, Fluttershy, now come on.” Fluttershy mumbled something that sounded argumentative, but she let Rainbow Dash free. Rainbow Dash floated above the bed, stretching her wings as she was wont to do every morning. “You know where the bathroom is,” Fluttershy mumbled. Rainbow Dash flew in the direction of the bathroom and opened the door before floating inside. She landed on the cold tile and walked over to Fluttershy’s bathtub, which had a shower head above it installed in the wall. She turned on the water and waited for it to get piping hot, just the way she liked it. While she waited, she checked out what Fluttershy used for shampoo. It was plain and modest, with just a hint of lavender. It would suffice. Now that the water was hot enough to burn her hoof, Rainbow Dash stepped into the tub beneath the running water and let the heat warm her body. She let the hot water soak her mane before opening the shampoo bottle and pouring some shampoo into her hooves. Lathering it up, she scrubbed it into her mane, making sure to get the undersides of her mane where most of the dirt was. Satisfied, she rinsed off her mane and picked up the bar of soap and Fluttershy’s loofa. Hoping that Fluttershy wouldn’t mind her borrowing her loofa, she rubbed the soap into it and then started to scrub her body with it. Once she had attacked her entire body with soap, she rinsed it off and finally turned off the shower head. Dripping wet and clean, Rainbow Dash scooped up one of Fluttershy’s towels and dried herself off. Now that she had taken care of her hygiene, Rainbow Dash returned to the bedroom to see Fluttershy still snoozing on her bed. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes; surely the yellow pegasus didn’t need that much sleep. “Fluttershy, don’t you have some animals to feed or something?” Rainbow Dash asked. She had made the comment offhand, expecting Fluttershy to ignore her. Instead, the pegasus shot out of bed frantically, fretting over the poor hungry animals. “Relax, I didn’t mean have a heart attack,” Rainbow Dash said. “Oh, I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash, but you alarmed me when you said that. You’re right, by the way. I’ve got to take care of my animals. Come on.” Fluttershy went downstairs to the kitchen and fished out the animal feed from the cabinet. “Aren’t you going to take a shower?” Rainbow Dash asked, unfamiliar with Fluttershy’s morning routine. “Oh, I will, but I always do this first thing in the morning,” Fluttershy said. “Nothing’s more important than feeding the animals.” “Whatever you say, Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash said, wondering if she would ever truly understand her friend’s passion for wildlife. Satisfied that all the animals had been fed, Fluttershy seemed to relax. “I’m going to go clean up now. Why don’t you help yourself to some breakfast? I have cereal and bread so you can make some toast.” “Sounds great, I’m starving,” Rainbow Dash said. The energetic pony always had a healthy appetite. “Okay, I’ll see you in a few minutes,” Fluttershy said. Rainbow Dash poured herself some cereal and popped two slices of bread into the toaster. She went into the fridge and poured milk into the cereal, wondering which of the local cows had contributed to the beverage. She sat down and began to eat her cereal, noting that it wasn’t as sugary as the stuff she kept at home. Shrugging it off, she grabbed the toast once it had popped out of the toaster and spread some margarine on it. Rainbow Dash wished it was real butter, but apparently Fluttershy was some kind of health nut. She was chewing on her toast when Fluttershy returned to the kitchen. “I hope you don’t mind the healthy cereal,” Fluttershy said. “I know you’ve always said you like the sugary cereals, but that’s the only kind of cereal I’ll keep in the house.” “It’s fine, Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash said through a mouthful of toast. Fluttershy chuckled before pouring herself some cereal and sitting down to eat. The two of them ate in silence, and once they had both finished, they wandered into the living room and sat down. “Well, I should probably get going,” Rainbow Dash said. “It’s a beautiful day and I can’t miss out on this great flying weather.” “I understand,” Fluttershy said. “Um, you wouldn’t want to do this again sometime, would you? I mean, I don’t know how you felt about it, but I thought it was, well, nice…” “Huh? Oh, yeah, we should totally do this again. That sounds great.” “Really? Good. I thought for a minute I was the only one who enjoyed it, but I guess I was worried for nothing.” Rainbow Dash stared at Fluttershy strangely, and she blushed. Rainbow Dash smiled. “Don’t worry about it, Fluttershy, I had fun,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’ll see you around sometime.” “Okay, sounds good. Goodbye, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said before Rainbow Dash left the cottage and took off into the sky. As Rainbow Dash flew, the wind whipping through her mane as she traveled amongst the clouds, she thought of her three friends she had yet to cuddle with: Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity. Of the three, she figured Pinkie Pie would be the safest pony to confide in next. Applejack was still far too tough for cuddling and, well, things had been so awkward with Rarity of late that Rainbow Dash wasn’t ready to discuss anything touchy with her. As Rainbow Dash was thinking about her, she heard a voice calling her name from below. Rainbow Dash dove towards the ground, recognizing the voice as Rarity’s, and she landed next to the white unicorn. “Impressive as always, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said, blushing. “Funny,” Rainbow Dash said, “I was just thinking about you.” You were? Rarity thought. Oh, how wonderful! But I can’t betray my delight just yet. “Then it’s a good thing I called you,” Rarity said, trying to sound nonchalant, but she was still blushing, which ruined the effect. “Why did you call me, anyway? Your throat must be dying from screaming so loud,” Rainbow Dash said. “Oh, Rainbow Dash, don’t be absurd. I used magic to amplify my voice. How else did you think I could call you from all the way down here?” Rarity hoped she wasn’t implying that Rainbow Dash was stupid. “So…you called me because…” Rainbow Dash said. “Oh, right,” Rarity said, clearing her throat nervously. “I, well…I just wanted to catch up with you, see what you were up to. I mean, I didn’t mean to interrupt your flying, and I know that’s very important to you, but I guess what I’m trying to say is…I don’t know. I’m sorry; I usually don’t get all flustered like this. I’m usually very eloquent, I…” Rarity laughed and kicked her hoof out nervously. She cursed her cheeks for staying red; she could feel the heat in them. Rainbow Dash stared at her, dumbfounded, but then a bouncing pink pony suddenly appeared between them. “Hi Rainbow Dash! Hi Rarity! Wow, it’s super exciting to see you two at the same time! With me, that’s like three times the fun. So what’s up?” Pinkie Pie asked, looking between them. Rarity stared at the ground awkwardly, and Rainbow Dash snapped herself out of her befuddlement. “We weren’t doing much, Pinkie Pie,” she said. “Hey, I just remembered that I needed to take care of something at Sugarcube Corner.” “Really?” Pinkie Pie said. “That’s exactly where I’m going!” “Well, what do you know?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Rarity, it was nice to see you, but I’ve really got to get this errand done. We’ll catch up soon, though, okay?” “Okay I guess…” Rarity mumbled, feeling very small. She saw Pinkie Pie bounce alongside Rainbow Dash as they left her in the middle of the road. She started cursing herself for behaving so foolishly, and admonished herself as she returned to her boutique. Rainbow Dash now found the perfect opportunity to ask Pinkie Pie what she had been meaning to ask her, so she wasted no time in getting down to it. The positive reactions from Twilight and Fluttershy made her more confident. “So, Pinkie Pie, have you ever wanted to, you know…cuddle with your friends?” Pinkie Pie stopped bouncing and her eyes lit up as she cracked a huge smile, as if she had never considered it before. “Rainbow Dash, that’s a fantastic idea! What made you think of it?” she asked. “Well, I was just curious…” Rainbow Dash said. “I tried it with Twilight and Fluttershy and they both seemed to like it, so I thought it would be a good idea to—” “—try it with me! Oh, Rainbow Dash, it sounds perfect!” Pinkie Pie said. “I have to help the Cakes at the bakery, but this afternoon I’m free. Why don’t you stop by around one o’clock? Oh, but you need to take care of your errand first!” “Oh, that?” Rainbow Dash said. “It can wait until later, I mean, I wasn’t in a real hurry…” “So why’d you ditch Rarity?” Pinkie Pie asked. “She seemed really happy to see you, and then she got all sad when you said you had to leave. But maybe now you can go back to see her and make her happy again!” “Let’s just say things between Rarity and me are…complicated,” Rainbow Dash said. Pinkie Pie looked as if she didn’t get it, but she shrugged it off. “Okay, you silly filly. I guess I’ll see you later then,” Pinkie Pie said. She bounced on her merry way back to Sugarcube Corner, and Rainbow Dash eagerly returned to the skies. *** When one o’clock rolled around, Rainbow Dash soared down from the sky and entered the bakery. Pinkie Pie was waiting for her just inside the door, and she led her up to her bedroom on the second floor of the building. Pinkie Pie’s room was full of party decorations, mainly balloons and streamers, and the bed had a bright pink comforter and pink sheets on it. “Are you ready to get started?” Pinkie Pie asked. “I guess so,” Rainbow Dash said, not sure what Pinkie Pie had in mind. “Okay!” Pinkie Pie said before leaping onto the bed and inviting Rainbow Dash to join her. Rainbow Dash climbed slowly onto the bed, and Pinkie Pie gave her a bone-crushing hug from behind. “That’s great, Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow Dash said, “but not so hard, please? I can’t breathe.” “Oh, sorry!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, loosening her hold on Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash sighed and closed her eyes, but suddenly she felt the hooves around her move to her stomach and start tickling her. Rainbow Dash burst into a fit of giggles, trying to wrench herself free from the perpetrator. “Oh, so you are ticklish…” Pinkie Pie said before tickling Rainbow Dash even harder. Rainbow Dash finally wrenched herself free, but in doing so she fell off of the bed onto the floor, landing on her back. “Are you okay?” Pinkie Pie asked through a fit of laughter. “You’re going to get it,” Rainbow Dash whispered. “What was that?” Pinkie Pie asked, but then Rainbow Dash leapt on top of her and started to tickle her stomach. Pinkie Pie started laughing uncontrollably, her laughter punctuated by the occasional snort escaping her nostrils. “Uncle, uncle!” Pinkie Pie called, and Rainbow Dash, recognizing the plea to stop, stopped tickling Pinkie Pie. “Can we just hold each other without getting into antics?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Okay,” Pinkie Pie said, and the two of them lay back down on the bed, with Pinkie Pie wrapping her hooves around Rainbow Dash. The two of them lay like that until they both fell asleep.