> Tickling is Magic
>  by Player 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Story 1: Stress Relief
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia flutters to her bedside, her wings barely able to even make it there as they radiated with painful burn. "Oof. This day was really exhausting, Lulu." Celestia says as her reeling body finally meets its comfort zone. "And that's saying something when you hold the positions that we do."

"I know." Luna says. "I really was determined, but, uh, yeah."

"We pushed ourselves too far?" Celestia infers.

"Thou be correct." Luna says.

"And I can't stop thinking about tomorrow!" Celestia says. "There's another royal breakfast, then I have a meeting with Ember the Dragon Lord, then a royal dinner, then I'm attending the Wonderbolts show... ugh!" She shoves her pillow into her face.

"I mean, not like those activities aren't fun, they most certainly are, but geez. Being a princess sure can be stressful."

"Thou has said it." Luna responds. "Maybe we could use some help."

Celestia glanced over at her sister. Luna wouldn't typically be the pony to say something like that. While definitely kind-hearted, Luna has always been the more pompous princess compared to Celestia's "Oh, shucks" attitude towards compliments. Such extended to receiving help. Celestia has always acknowledged when even the ruler needs some comfort and loves ponies' offers to help her, whether it be through words, petting, etc.

Luna, she gets rather embarrassed to ask for help, unless it's from Celestia.

"I agree. And what a surprise to hear you say that." Celestia giggled.

Luna rolls her eyes, but can't fully bring her normal attitude back. "Today was different. I feel so tired and so unable to stop torturing my mind about what is to come tomorrow. I feel like I cannot solve this myself."

"Neither can I." Celestia says. "So we should get help."

Luna took a breath. "I think thou right."

"Twilight and Spike are probably sleeping right now." Celestia said. "But tomorrow morning, let's make sure I send out that letter."





The next day, Twilight, Spike, and Starlight are eating breakfast together, digging into Spike's cream-coated pancakes. "It isn't just Pinkie Pie who can do this stuff." Starlight commented.

Spike intended to respond... when he started feeling something coming up through his throat. While used to that, usually knowing what was coming, the timing of events couldn't help but make him wonder if he was choking on his meal. That wasn't the case though, and out came the letter that Twilight then unraveled.

The alicorn's eyes widened out, followed by her sporting a stressed, worried look as she read the letter more carefully. "Uh, something wrong, Twilight?" Starlight asked.

"It says here that the princesses are feeling really stressed out and want somepony to help them relax. 'Our annoying brains just won't stop telling us about everything that we're apparently supposed to be stressed about! I'm starting to actually think we need hypnosis.' Celestia writes here."

Starlight giggled. "Ah, princess life."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Riiight." she sarcastically said. "And then at the bottom, it says... oh! Starlight, they want you to do it!"

The entire room cricketed as Starlight wasn't ready to process what she just heard. "Me?"

"Yes, you!" Twilight beamed. "You can cast a hypnosis spell, can't you? I mean, it's on one of the lowest skill levels of magic. Even ponies who aren't unicorns can induce hypnosis, right?" Twilight gave her pupil an encouraging smile.

"Well, I-I suppose I can, but what exactly am I supposed to do with the hypnosis?" Starlight asked. "Like, if I'm supposed to be relieving their stress, how do I do it?"

"Don't worry." Twilight said. "They'll guide you."

Starlight still felt pretty weird about being the one to do this; it seemed like a really delicate situation that only ponies whom Celestia and Luna could really trust would be allowed to do, such as Twilight.

But they said in the letter that they wanted Starlight. She couldn't exactly argue around it.

I guess I'll just ask them once I get there.





Twilight had made sure the guards of Canterlot Palace were aware of what was about to happen, so Starlight had no trouble entering the building. And thankfully, she wouldn't have to look for the correct room, as the two princesses were already there, standing right in front of her!

"Hello, Starlight." Celestia said gently. "You are probably confused, and that's okay. We shall explain."

Oh. Well then! No need for questions yet. Starlight sure liked that.

Luna carries the explanation itself. "The two of us have gone through some bad mental pain lately. It is due to all the stress of our roles. So many things have been going on for us that we can clearly feel the burnout, yet we feel we must stay on our hooves as we accept any and all invitations."

"What Luna said." Celestia continued. "We cannot truly relax, because the next obligation is always on our minds."

"Eesh. That doesn't sound good." Starlight said. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Well, you will be able to help us! That is what we have called you in for." Celestia said.

And here's when Starlight remembers. "Uh... yeah, about that. Why me, specifically?" she questioned.

"Ah, because thou somepony we have not spent a lot of time with, yet thou is the student of Celestia's student. We wanted to get to know you a bit better." Luna explained.

"Basically that." Celestia continued. "We just had the urge to go the extra mile and try it with somepony different. And like my sister said, with you being the student of my student, you're the one that came to mind."

"Ah, okay." Starlight said simply. "Well, I shall let it be known that I am very happy to help. You two want hypnosis relaxation? I'll do it for you."

"Great! Just follow us, Miss Glimmer."

Starlight blushed at that formality, but not for long as the walk was much shorter than she anticipated. The trio soon entered the room where this special session was to take place. It appeared to be Celestia's bedroom, with a large sun image being visible on the top bed blanket.

"Uh, just out of curiosity, why are we doing in this your bedroom, Your Majesty?"

"Because it's so cozy." Celestia said, rubbing the carpet with her hoof. "Perfect environment for relaxation."

"Well, I can't argue with that." Starlight said as she felt the carpet too. Yeah, it was pretty fluffy. "But anyway, you say you want me to hypnotize you two, is that correct?"

"Yes." Luna said. "I know it is awkward. But my sis and I truly believe it is the only way."

"Mm-hmm." Celestia said. "No matter how hard we try, we just cannot get our minds to stop torturing us with every upcoming responsibility in the book." The princesses sit down on the carpet in front of Starlight. "Alright, are we ready now, sister?"

"I believe we are." Luna said. "Do it, Starlight. Remember, we want this. Just cast a spell the same way you always do. Think of us being hypnotized, and it will work."

Starlight took a deep breath. "Alright. Well, here goes nothing." she said, her body still shivering. She works her horn and mind muscles, shooting out the magic at the two princesses.

...

Starlight's perceived delicacy of this situation prompted her to look away to another side of the room, as she panted in fear. Eventually deciding to brave it and looking back at the ponies she supposedly has mind control over, she notices their complete lack of movement and flat facial expressions that stare directly at her.

She then waved her lavender hoof across Celestia's face, imitating a pendulum. She does the same to Luna; yep, eyes follow perfectly. Starlight is in control.

But how does one relax them, though? Darn it, that was a question she totally forgot to ask. She groaned at the realization. That was the missing piece of the puzzle that never got addressed earlier. Now what?

Well... there looks to be a sign of hope. Looking elsewhere in the room, Starlight happened to notice a feather sitting in an ink jar. A quill, that Celestia must use to write things.

That very moment was when the emotional sun of hope rose and shined brightly.

"Hear me, Your Majesties. I know how to help you two. I shall tickle you!" Starlight said.

"As you wish." Celestia nodded.

"You say it works, I takest thou's word for it." Luna said.

"Alright then. Could you two kindly lay down on your backs?" Starlight requested as she giggled and snorted.

The hypnotized princesses followed that to every word, backing up and lowering their bodies, then unraveling flat.

"Alright. We are waiting!" Celestia said.

"Tickle us, Miss Starlight." Luna said.

"Oh, I already know by now that you two will love it." Starlight announced. Okay, now she loved being in this role. That sure was a quick turnaround!

Here we go. With the princesses laying back-down, eyes-closed, hypnosis confirmed to be active, it was time. Starlight summoned a red feather with her magic and waved it on Celestia's right side. She reacted by swaying her body in the other direction a bit, not to mention the full-on laughing already. Not just giggling.

And she's even more ticklish than I thought. Starlight giggled to herself.

For Luna, she summoned another feather, this one yellow, and tickled her left back hoof, revealing the sound of her deep, royal laughter. She then moved that feather to under Luna's left foreleg, as the side tickling on Celestia continued. Hey, yeah! I can tickle them both at once!

"Alright, now we are getting serious with this." Starlight summoned two larger, faster feathers to tickle Celestia's tummy with, as well as two thick, extra-soft brushes tickling both her back hooves.

"Hahahaha! Hoohooheehee! HAHAHA! That tickles!" the sun princess laughed out loud, her voice taking on a much higher, and frankly adorable, pitch from the formal tone her tickler knew.

Starlight smiled. There was just something oddly satisfying about sending the ruler of Equestria into a squirming mess of laughter. How many ponies will get to do this? And of course she couldn't leave out the other one. She magically sent a four-pack of feathers in pairs towards Luna's two under-forelegs and back hooves, doubling the amount of laughter in the room.

Now I am very glad they asked me to do this. Starlight thought.

"Alright, so that's all for the feathers." She poofs them away. "Hmm, what can I do without my magic?" Starlight announced. "Oh! I know!" She turns her body around, facing her pointy tail towards the alicorns. Celestia jolted and giggled already at the sight, which Starlight noticed.

"Heehee, you're reacting already!" she teased. Starlight tickled her back hooves using her tail, alternating between the two hooves in a few seconds' time, with vigorous, fast stroking.

"Ooh! Hahahahahaha! Ah-haha- you-hu-hure good at this, Starlight! Ahahahaha!"

"Thank you." she says.

She could now feel a new technique coming on. Starlight turned around and blew raspberries on Celestia and Luna's bellies, going one each for a short second.

"Hahaha-- tha-hat was only a little bit, Starlight." Celestia said. "Think you could do more than that?"

Starlight smirked. "My pleasure." Taking a deep breath beforehand, she gave Celestia another raspberry, then even more. Switching from a big, long one, Starlight now moved her head all around the area as she blew half-second raspberries over and over again and again.

"Hahahahaha! Sta-ha-harlight, that really, really tickles! HAHAHAHA!"

"And do you like it?" Starlight asked.

"Hahahahaha- yes! I lo-hove what you did there!"

"Aww! I'm really happy to hear that!" Starlight exclaimed. She blew a few more raspberries.

"HAHAHAHA!"

Starlight herself couldn't help but laugh as well. This was so much fun and so sweet.

An amount of fun that wasn't evenly distributed, though. Starlight looked at the blue princess on the other side, who gazed into her eyes while still laying the common tickle areas visible.

"Oh, yeah. I haven't tickled you much, have I, Luna?"

She hadn't. Calculating the past few minutes, Starlight did come to the realization that she had been focusing on tickling Celestia.

"Well, here I come!" Starlight says. "How about a brush? I've only brushed Celestia."

Luna nodded. "Yes please! Makest the princess laugh!"

So adorable. Starlight, holding it in her hooves this time, brushed up, down, and all over Luna's right side, alternating with the back-and-forth and circular motions as surprise-heavy as she could.

"Hahahaha! Tha-hat is the ticket, Starlight! Hahaha!"

It definitely was about time for Starlight to satisfy Luna's desire. Well, a desire that Starlight hypnotized her into having, but hey. As she continues her pattern on the night princess's right side, she adds the left to the mix, scrubbing vigorously in a small area, to create a different effect.

"Hahahahahaha!" Luna sure couldn't stop laughing.

Starlight could only figure that Luna wanted more tummy tickling, as she had seldom done that on her; only that one little raspberry. Comparing that to the double-feather and raspberry attacks she delivered on Celestia, Starlight moved both brushes inward and swerved them all around Luna's belly in fast circles, as well as various other directional movements. Luna kicked her back hooves out and shook the brushes themselves with her laughter.

"I think some princess is ticklish." Starlight teased.

"HAHAHAHA!" 'Yep' is all Luna could think in her head. It was embarrassing to admit, but she is very ticklish, and best of all, she was enjoying this.

As fun as it was, Starlight now figured the time was right to bring this session to an end. She gradually slows down the tickling until it stops, and reverses her magic to bring the princesses out of hypnosis.

The princesses had a delay in readjusting their minds; Starlight tried to help by saying "It's over." Luna turned her head and asked "You there, sister?"

"Yes. I am. And what I just had there... whew. That was... that was sure something."

Starlight giggled. "It really was. I had tons of fun with it. Did you?"

This question was nothing short of inevitable. So, did they enjoy the tickling?

"Honestly, I did, Starlight. Thank you." Celestia said. Starlight smiled.

"It not be something I expected to like. But I shall not lie." Luna says. "In another kind of sentence, I too find tickling fun. And shall give Ms. Starlight Glimmer here a piece of gratitude."

Starlight nearly blushed. How much sweeter could this get?

She tried to dodge that by going for the other important question. "How about the relaxation? Did I relieve your stress?"

"You did, Starlight. The hypnosis worked." Celestia said. "Paired with the tickling; yeah, I'm unable to feel anything but happy!"

"It sure does release all that tension and put a smile on one's face. I feel happy too." Appropriately, Luna was smiling. Celestia loved to see it; it was a rare sight.

At this point, Starlight couldn't resist. "Come here, you two. It's hug time."

Celestia looked over at her clock. "It is about bedtime now; how about you stay with us tonight and the three of us cuddle?"

Now that was a bombshell if there ever was one. Starlight stood in silence for a few seconds; she definitely never expected to get invited to have a sleepover with the royal princesses. But once she thought past that shock, she'll take it.

"Alright! Let's do it!" Starlight said.

"Excellent, Ms. Glimmer." Luna said, fluttering over to the well-large-enough bed. Celestia laid on the other side, smiling at Starlight.

"Here we go. I'm coming in." she said, giggling.

Looked like the princesses already had a position in mind, which Starlight accepted. She climbed in the center of the bed and shuffles under the blankets, laying on her back, between the two large alicorns, after which they both press their fluffy, warm bodies against her.

"Ahh, yes..." Starlight said.

The princesses settled into their position with Starlight snug in the sandwich... well, one more thing. Luna wanted to give her a goodnight kiss. But rather than delivering it to her cheek like normal, she leaned over and kissed Starlight's belly.

Starlight's eyes snapped open as she felt Luna's lips vibrate on her. "Heeheehee! W-w-h-what was that about?" she laughed.

"I figured you deserved a goodnight kiss." Luna said. "But on the heels of what happened tonight... let's just say I wanted to give you a bit of good old retaliation."

"Hehe. I see." Starlight said.

"Well, we may need to sleep now, but there's always tomorrow. I mean, I tickled you two, so if you're thinking what I'm thinking, I shall accept."

Celestia giggled. "We shall see!"
> Story 2: A Friendly Game
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash slid through the wind and across the grass as she hit the brakes while on the ground. "Whew! Finally back in Ponyville. That was quite the camp at Wonderbolts Headquarters."

She decided to look through the area she just so happened to land in, which was Ponyville Park, to see if any of her friends were around. It was common for them to visit this place on weekends, which today was, so Rainbow felt like she had a good chance at a score.

The pegasus walked close to a right turn on the trail, and that's when she heard a certain drawling voice. Sure enough, Applejack was in the park, along with Rarity, who she was... huh, they're sitting on tree stumps in front of a board with lots of little squares on it. You didn't see that every day.

"Hey Rarity! Hey Applejack! Whatcha doing?" Rainbow Dash said, walking up to them.

"I'm learnin' how to play chess. Granny Smith's been teachin' me." Applejack said. "After how sore my muscles have gotten from that rodeo, I figured I'd try my hoof at a sit-down game. And Rarity's here with me, 'cause we happened to be here at the same time."

"Neat." Rainbow Dash said. "You know, I understand chess fairly well. I bet I could beat you."

Applejack thought about that for a moment. Given the history, Rainbow Dash probably would beat her. But apparently, her rodeo energy still hadn't worn off yet.

"I'd be willing to bet on that." Applejack said as she turned her body, looking straight at Rainbow.

"Oh, really?" Rainbow said, giggling. "What do you bet?"

Her laughin' is cute. Applejack thought to herself. I'd like to hear it more.

And suddenly, there was an idea. The best idea! It just had to be the best! She wanted to hear more of Rainbow's laughter, so... 

"How about if I win, then I get to tickle ya?" Applejack suggested with a smirk. "You'll have to be my ticklin' slave from the end of the game until next mornin'. Oh yeah, and you could join too, Rarity!"

"Tickling Dashie? Oh, that sounds splendid!"

That sounded like a steep bet. "But I'd still get breaks, right?" RD asked.

"Oh, of course." Applejack assured. "Dinner has to be eaten, after all. And you'll need sleep. But outside of those times, Rarity and I would like free range to tickle ya. That's what happens if ya lose the bet. You'll have to just let us do our thing."

While she liked being tickled, Rainbow was unsure of betting on this. It sounded brutal, especially with the length. The slavery would last until tomorrow morning.

But... then she realized it didn't just apply to their side.

"And if I win, I get to do the same to you too. Both of you."

"Of course." Applejack said. "You win the game of chess, and Rarity and I both face the same thing."

Rainbow Dash visualized the potential scene. Free range to tickle both of them? For that amount of time? Yeah, she was willing to take the risk of it happening to her now.

"Let the game begin." Rainbow said.

...

Rainbow Dash moved one space more, and the opposing king was trapped.

"Yeah-heah-heah! I won! I won!" Rainbow Dash beamed, flying in the air. "I'm gonna get to tickle you two!" she pointed at them. "For the rest of today, and a bit of tomorrow! Oh, you'd better be ready!" She couldn't resist giggling herself.

Not like Applejack or Rarity could knock away that tease.

"So, if I may interject, how about we do this at my house?" Rarity suggested. "I happen to have a guest room with two beds."

"Sure!" Rainbow Dash said. "That helps."

"Splendid. Just follow my lead." Rarity was excited for this.





Rarity led her friends to an unrecognized door on the outside her house. They hadn't seen this secondary entrance, much less gone through it, before, so today featured a new discovery! As the area behind was revealed, indeed it was just like Rarity said. There was a wide white room with two double-pony-sized beds, also white and topped off with sparkling, glittering purple blankets, and a shared nightstand between them. Though Applejack had other ideas in that regard.

"Hey Rarity, would you mind movin' over that there nightstand?" Applejack asked. "I'm seeing a way this thing could be improved."

Rarity didn't particularly want anypony to rearrange her room, but hey, it would only be temporary, and she figured AJ must be on to something. So she pushed the nightstand through the space between the beds and towards the other wall.

Applejack, with her mighty muscles, moved the left bed over to where the space between it and the right bed was now a mere mare's width.

"There, Rainbow. Now ya can tickle both of us at the same time if ya want."

"Ha! Great idea, AJ!" Rainbow teased, giving her a high-hoof. "Alright, well, you two ready?"

"I'd say I'm ready." Applejack said. "How 'bout you, Rarity?"

"Sure." Rarity responded. She climbed up onto the right bed and Applejack climbed onto the left bed, after which they both situated themselves on their backs. Rarity was grateful she made the mattresses so high-quality with their softness, as it was going to be where they spent most of their time for a while.

Rainbow Dash, the tickler, was the one who was ready the last. Her eyes caught a certain object (in fact, four of them in double edition) sitting on the brown desk at the other side of the room from the beds. A device one would associate with their activity. "I think we should do this." Rainbow said as she picked up four pairs of pink, fuzzy hoof-cuffs.

"You two comfortable?" Rainbow asked. AJ and Rarity nodded, and so she began to lock Rarity's spread-out front legs under the rings, as the other pair attached to them wrapped around the bed frame's side poles. No way she was going anywhere. Rainbow repeated the process on Rarity's back legs, and then on Applejack.

"This'll make it easier on her." Applejack said to Rarity.

"Oh, certainly." Rarity responded. "We won't be able to squirm and hit her on accident."

"Right." Rainbow said. "Here we go!" Both ponies began to shake, knowing what was coming. RD brought out two pointy feathers and began swaying them across Rarity's back hooves, going back-and-forth, up and down.

"Hahahahaha!" Rarity laughed. "Those ho-hooves are really se-sensitive! Haha!"

"They sure are." Rainbow teased. She lifted the feathers up forward and increased their speed as she began to tickle Rarity's sides, making her jump and squirm in her bonds. "Hahahahaha! Da-ha-ashie! That tickles! Haha!"

"I love your laugh." Getting good results, Rainbow continued at Rarity's sides for a while. Applejack, on the other bed, could hear the posh laughter coming from her left, and as she looked over, they sure seemed to be having fun. Applejack could only lay there exposed... to the air, as she waited for something to come her way.

A few minutes later, Rainbow felt satisfied with the amount of feather tickling done on Rarity's sides and left the fashionista to catch her breath. "Don't worry AJ, I haven't forgotten about you!" she said as she walked over to the end of the other bed. Dash brought out one fresh, clean feather duster and one soft brush, to scrub one of each on AJ's back hooves.

"Hahahaha! Feels good! Hahahaha!"

"Aww, glad to hear you like it!" Rainbow said affectionately. She tickled her farm friend's hooves a bit faster.

Even her laugh sounds country. Rainbow thought to herself. I like it.

AJ clearly had been with a patient desire to be tickled, as she felt a lot better, more fulfilled, when Rainbow left her to go at Rarity again. "Good ticklin', Rainbow! Keep it up!" she called out.

Dash couldn't help but blush. To think that she was tickling her friends as part of a won bet, yet they appreciated what she was doing, just made this whole thing super adorable and wholesome. And in no way was she done yet. Rainbow tickled both of Rarity's under-foreleg pits using the same feathers as before, in addition to a simultaneous raspberry on her belly.

"HAHAHAHA! O-oh my Celestia! HAHAHA!"

Well, she wasn't being asked to stop. So RD kept the feathers fluttering under the forelegs, to the tune of adorably fancy laughter. She also couldn't help but blow an even harder raspberry. Rarity got so loud that... well, it summoned a somebody else who happened to be in the house.

"Hey Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack!" Spike the dragon called out, waving his hand. "What's going on?"

Rainbow paused her activity. "I won a bet against AJ and Rarity and now they have to let me be their tickle slaves until next morning. So I'm tickling them."

Spike pointed an index finger. "Can I join in?"

"Sure!" Rainbow said.

Oh, here it comes. the restrained mares thought to themselves. Now there were two ticklers! There could be one for each pony, so wait times would become minimal to none! Sure enough, as Rainbow stayed with Rarity, using her tail to tickle the back hooves, Spike hopped up to the center-side of Applejack's bed and started tickling her tummy with his fingers.

"HAHAHAHA!" the farm pony laughed hard. "I-I might be most ticklish there! HEEHEEHEE!"

"Well, guess I'll stay here for a while then." Spike said. The dragon could bet he was an effective tickler, given the presence of fingers, which seemed to be true given the laughter volume hitting him. He worked his magic with good speed and made sure to skitter his hands all around her belly, with movement in all directions. Spike's goal was to cover the whole area.

Rainbow Dash, for her part, had a bit of difficulty controlling her tail movement, especially on a small area like the hooves, though she was still able to make Rarity laugh. She finished that up and climbed up onto the bed to start tickling her belly, using a rotation of front hooves, feathers, and brushes as Spike continued to tickle Applejack in the same area.

Laughter was filling up and vibrating the room, that was for sure. Rainbow even thought that it may have been beneficial to put on earmuffs. She also figured the ticklees could use a breath catch now, which she signaled to Spike using an outward front hoof pointed at him, so they stopped for the time being.

The slaves let out some lingering laughs. AJ wanted to rub off sweat; only she couldn't because her hooves were cuffed above her head. "Shoo. Now that tickled."

"Am I good at it?" Spike asked her. "You're really fun to tickle, by the way."

"Aww, thanks. And yep. You really are good. That felt nice. Didn't hurt or anythin'."

"Great to know!" Spike said.

"So... what should we do in the meantime?" Rainbow asked. "I think I'm ready for a break."

"We can take a break." Applejack said. "And, ya know, I am feelin' a little dirty from that game we were playin'. Perhaps I could use a bath." she said as felt Rainbow loosen her restraints.

"Oh! A bath is a great idea! You'll get clean, and I can continue to tickle you in there!" Rainbow said. "Doesn't soap tickle?"

..She was on to something. "Well, we mainly bathe ourselves over at the farm, but back when she was younger, I sure do recall hearin' Applebloom laugh when I rubbed her with soap. Hehe." Applejack said.

"My point exactly!" Rainbow exclaimed. "How about we all take a bath together?"

"But do we have a tub that's big enough for all of us?" Applejack said.

"You do in this house!" Rarity said, skipping over to the door on Applejack's right. "Just follow me." So everyone did. "Bath time!" Spike cheered. Rarity smiled; she knew how much Spike loved his baths.





Rarity opened the door at the end of the hall, which supposedly leads to the room supposedly containing a four-member bathtub. Looking inside, it was big enough. The white area expanded further in its dimensions than any bath the others had ever seen.

Rarity got the faucet flowing and Spike opened the cabinet door to pick up the bottle labeled "bubbles" on it. "Oh, so we're adding those things." Rainbow said.

"Yup." Spike responded. "What's a bath without bubbles?"

Well, Rainbow could sure remember taking many, many baths without bubbles... that is, if showers were to be counted as baths.

"You know, maybe I haven't had a bath without bubbles before." Rainbow said. "I stopped taking baths and switched to showers when I was nine or ten, but my final bath definitely did consist of bubbles."

"Even I still include bubbles whenever I take baths." Applejack noted. "Age ain't nothin' but a number."

"How adorable." Rarity said, making AJ blush. "Anyway, bath is ready!"

The quartet all climbed together into the pool of steaming, bubbly water. "Oh yeah. Feels good." Rainbow said.

Something about what she said there caught her own self off guard. "You know, normally I'd be super embarrassed to do things like this, but something about today is loosening me up a little."

"That'd probably be the ticklin'!" Applejack said, laying back in the water. "It does enable you to be a little cuter."

Rainbow blushed and waved a hoof. "Hehe. Yeah. Anyway, so Spike, I take Rarity and you take Applejack? Just like before?"

"Sure." Spike said. They shuffled over to the opposite sides of where they were in the bath, moving to each designated pony to wash. They both brought out bath cups and took a few dumps of scooped-up water on their friends' heads, getting them ready for shampooing.

"Just let it be known that I may take a while to get back to the tickling after this, because my mane takes forever to return to form." Rarity said.

"That's okay." Rainbow responded. "We'll have tickling here, after we already did that last session, so I feel like there can be a pretty long gap."

"Yeah." Applejack added. "It is gettin' pretty close to dinnertime anyway."

True; it was 4:48 PM and the bath only just started. So dinner would be their next event! For now, though, Rainbow picked up the generic white shampoo and shot a burst of it into her hoof, ready for Rarity. Spike meanwhile, with Applejack, used nothing other than the apple-scented bottle.

The shampooed ponies leaned forward and left their friends to work the magic. Applejack in particular could swear she was at the Day Spa. She thought Spike would make a good employee there. "Oh my, Spike. You've got good fingers!"

"They worked on your back; should work on your mane too!" Spike commented. Applejack giggled at his playfulness. It was true; whether from scratching, bathing, or tickling, she did like having the noble dragon's hands on her. Perhaps it was due to their stark contrast with pony hooves; she didn't get to feel fingers often.

On the other side, Rarity was apprehensive about letting Rainbow Dash be the one to work with her delicate mane, but she figured today was the day to open up a bit. Just like how Rainbow felt. And the result was good so far. Rainbow kept at the going with the mane rubbing to the point Rarity's neck felt uncomfortable and in need of a stretch, and the mane massage seemed to get to every last strand while not being rough.

"This isn't the part that tickles. But I sure did need my mane cleaned." Applejack said.

"We will be getting to the next part soon enough." Spike teased.

...

As Spike said, soon enough the manes were all clean and it was body washing time. A.k.a. the part that tickles.

The dragon picked up a white bar of soap and AJ lifted up her forelegs. He started scrubbing her ticklish left side, though the laughter volume was pretty faint. Guess his fingers worked better.

Meanwhile, Rainbow started on Rarity's back hooves, bringing out the deep laughing and must-hold-her leg squirming as the pink bar moved around. "Hahahaha! I'm very ticklish! Haha!"

On this area, the soap seemed to tickle Rarity more than other techniques. Rainbow couldn't quite get the same hysterics when she tickled her soles with a feather, brush, or tail.

After lathering up Applejack's sides, Spike made sure to get under her forelegs well enough. It was an area prone to getting dirty as fairly difficult to wash with its small, tucked-away space. And as a bonus, it's an area that's sensitive!

"Hahahaha, Spi-ike! That tickles! Heehee!"

"You're adorable." Spike said. "How's it going, Rainbow Dash and Rarity?"

"Just finding out that the back of Rarity's neck is ticklish." Rainbow said, her voice trying to cut through Rarity's laughing.

"Ooh, yeah." Spike said to Applejack. "I should get that spot too. Can you lean forward a bit?"

AJ did so and she too wondered if her neck was ticklish. Based on her experiences, it wasn't a commonly targeted area, though she did love to be scratched there.

She started giggling at a fair volume. "Heehee, yup. I'd say I'm ticklish there."

"Cool!" Spike said. "And I got that one done fast. Now how about the belly?"

Applejack leaned her body back against the tub's end and placed her back hooves on a platform to keep herself above the water. Spike smiled and stroked her belly with the soap bar.

"HAHAHA! Yu-hup, ticklish there alright! HAHA!"

"Anyone else here thinking AJ has a tickle spot?" Spike asked everyone. "I always thought she had it equally balanced, but today is showing something different."

"Well, as our friend Player 4 has said, there are a lot of variables." Rainbow Dash said. "Maybe her tummy is most ticklish with soap, but it could be different with say, a feather. I actually have always found AJ to be more sensitive on her hooves and under her forelegs than on her midsection when I'm using my wings."

"Interesting." Spike said. "Also interesting how Player 4 knows so much about tickling when he never participates in it himself."

Rainbow rolled her eyes a bit. "That's Player 4 for you. He's kinda just like that with those weird behaviors. Anyway, Rarity is fully washed! All rinsed up now."

"Thank you, Rainbow. You're wonderful." Rarity said, giving her a watery, bubbly hug.

Rainbow blushed again. "Oh, stop." Then she changed the subject as Rarity left the tub and went to go dry off. "How's it going with Applejack?"

"Well, I'm about to do something a bit different than what you did. See how AJ is still all soaped up? Well, I figured I could get her even cleaner by using this scrub brush after I finished applying the soap. The brush is said to help with ponies' coats better than a bar alone, and Applejack's fur felt a little rough when I tickled her earlier."

"Right, because the brush will dig in further and straighten out all the strands. It's got those kinds of bristles." AJ said. "And here, I'm thinkin' of a way you can brush all of me without any change of positions." She sat down on top of the blue platform; dang, was that thing sturdy. It didn't sink even when the pony with the bulkiest muscles sat right on top of it.

The lathered-up Applejack lifted her forelegs high in the air. "Ready for the brushin'."

Spike smiled and walked over, scrubbing his farm friend all over her sides, belly, and back; results feature both satisfyingly cute laughing and extra bubbling of the soap. As Spike also periodically felt her fur with his hands, he could notice it getting more and more fresh and smooth.

"It's going well, Applejack!" Spike said. "Just a little bit longer." He lifted her back hooves out from under the water to get at them too, as well as walking over to the other side to brush her neck. After giving her soft hand stroking on every area to check if all was good, and after Rainbow and Spike just barely remembered to wash themselves too, the drain's plug was pulled.

"I really liked that, Spike. You and I should do this together again someday." Applejack said, wrapping a towel on.

"Totally for it!" Spike responded. "Now where are the other two?"

"Rarity has air driers, so they're probably in... - she had to remember the layout of Rarity's house - ...that room."

With being both blown at by their friends and laying under a mane chair, the quartet restored their bodies to normal and then made their way to the kitchen for dinner.





"Oh man, I am loving this day!" Rainbow Dash beamed.

"It sure is wonderful." Applejack said.

"Many ponies despise being tickled. I'm glad I'm not one of them." Rarity said. "It's so easily usable for having fun with friends."

"And siblings too!" Applejack added. "Ya know, it has been a long time since Applebloom and I tickled each other. I am feelin' like we should get back to that."

"I can't even remember the last time I tickled Twilight." Spike said. "It was several years ago at the earliest."

Applejack giggled. "I am feelin' some stuff comin' along."

The others giggled along with her.

...

After dinner was over, the same idea for the next event was on everypony's minds; another dry tickle session in the same location as the first one. But they felt like some things needed to be changed, in order for the stay to not get repetitive.

"Hey Spike, how about you and I swap ponies this time around? As in, you go with Rarity and I tickle Applejack."

"Good idea." Spike said. "We have been doing it the same this whole time."

Applejack jumped in. "I must note, Spike, it was a mighty upgrade havin' you join in here, because at the beginnin', Dash only tickled me once."

"...Yeah, I was pretty focused on Rarity, hehe. But hey, Spike and I are swapping, so now you're my complete focus." Rainbow said as she circled and locked the cuffs around Applejack's limbs, just like before.

"We all ready?" Applejack asked. Rarity nodded, and the ticklers flashed their front palms. Rainbow started by tickling AJ's sides with them.

"Heeheeheehee!"

Spike had something interesting going on. He sat on top of Rarity and tickled her belly from above, using his trusty fingers.

"HAHAHA, Spikey! It tickles! HAHA!"

"That's the entire point." he teased.

Rainbow decided to double her attack, continuing to dig into Applejack's left side with her hoof as she also tickled under her right foreleg with a feather.

"HAHAHAHA!" she laughed.

It had only been a few seconds after Spike switched to Rarity's sides that he noticed AJ and Rainbow having fun over there. There was clearly more powerful laughing than what he was getting; maybe Spike needed to beef things up a little. He took a deep breath and blew his hardest possible raspberry on Rarity's belly, combined with tickling under her forelegs with his fingers. There was the equally-balanced sound room!

Spike repeated the breathe-and-blow process many times while keeping his fingers working, while Rainbow experimented with feather-tickling both of Applejack's under-forelegs simultaneously, and waving her wings on both of her sides, as well as both of her back hooves.

"I have a ticklish friend." Rainbow said.

Spike was getting puffed out from blowing all those raspberries, and as he let Rarity have a break... something just felt a little off about this session.

"Hey Rainbow, now I loved tickling Rarity and it was good for us to try something different, but, you know, I just feel like our old stations were so perfect. Something about me on Applejack and you on Rarity has a certain charm to it."

"That is true." Rainbow said. "And hey, I'll have time to tickle them by myself the next morning, since you'll be back at Twilight's house. Should we reverse the swap?"

"Sure." Applejack said. "I'll take Spike again."

"Oh, I loved being tickled by Spikey Wikey." Rarity said. "But sure, I can go back to Dashie."

"Cool!" Dash said. They returned to where they were before and Spike reached over into the back to tickle Applejack's neck, something he discovered was viable back in the bathtub.

"Heeheehee Spike!" she laughed.

Spike then decided to try something new, using his other hand to tickle Applejack under her chin. Though it didn't seem to do much, as the increase in laughing was minimal or even negligible.

Rainbow decided to use her wings on Rarity for the first time, stroking those bushes of feathers all over her white body at rapid speed. She barely had any time to catch where she was being tickled before Rainbow moved the sensation elsewhere; it was all so, so fast.

Spike liked what he was seeing over there. So he gave AJ another neck stroke, then moved to her belly only to tickle it for  just a mere second, then hopping off the bed to go for her hooves. ...Though he couldn't progress as fast as Rainbow was; those orange soles kept hanging above his upward arms.

"Hey, uh, does this room have a step-stool anywhere? I can't reach AJ's hooves." Spike said.

Rainbow Dash didn't see a stool, but she did see another way. "I'll help you out." Rainbow said as she swooped under Spike and let him sit on her back. Now he was on the right level!

"Thanks, Rainbow!" Spike said. He began to tickle Applejack's hooves relentlessly with as fast as he could skitter his fingers. Then later using a brush on one of the hooves, mixed with the finger tickling on the other.

"HAHAHAHEEHEE!" she burst out. Spike was sure loving this. So was Rainbow. They winked at each other before the pegasus flew off.

Spike, back on the bed itself, had now become lost as to what was next.

"Hey Applejack, what's another way I could tickle you?"

"Raspberry?" she suggested. "I haven't had one of those yet."

"Good point." Spike said. He had regained enough breath power and blew on Applejack's belly as hard as he could, causing AJ to squirm underneath his lips. Spike could sure feel it.

"HAHAHA! Haha... ha..." Applejack's laughter drained out as Spike began to switch from tickling to rubbing. He just couldn't resist. "I really did help your coat, AJ. It's so smooth now."

"The coat does feel good." she said. "As does that belly rubbin'. But can ya blow another raspberry?"

Aww, so cute. "With pleasure!" Spike said. His vibrating mouth attacked again. Noises from the cuffs being pulled at could be heard.

Meanwhile, Rarity was enjoying the long-lasting wing assault as it faded away and both ticklers stopped, thinking everypony's had enough.

"Well, this has been fun, but I'd better get back to Twilight's house now." Spike said, looking at his watch.

"Did you enjoy tickling them?" Rainbow asked.

"Did I? This one of the most fun days I've had in a while!" Spike exclaimed.

"It would be up there for me too. Which is odd to say given that I'm a Wonderbolt. I didn't think tickling ponies would be so exhilarating." Rainbow Dash said.

"Learn somethin' new every day." Applejack said as she sat up from the unlocked restraints. "And to be fair with y'all, I'm feelin' pretty tickled out. Might be time to call it a night here."

Rarity looked out the window to see the sky's light blue turning dark. "I feel the same way. And... hey, Applejack, since we'll still be under Rainbow Dash's slavery until tomorrow morning, how about a sleepover?"

"You betcha!" AJ said, pumping her hoof.

"You know what, I think I'll sleep here too. After all, there's no guarantee that I won't sneak up and hoof-cuff you two while you're sleeping so that I can surprise you when you awake..." Rainbow said, holding her hooves behind her back.

They just giggled. "Well, if that does happen, I'm prepared for it." Applejack said.

"And Rainbow, how about you take my bed tonight? I actually plan on sleeping here, 'cause this room feels like home right now!"

"Uh... okay." Rainbow Dash said.

A quick get-ready-for-bed later, the sky was now near its jet-black phase and Rainbow had disappeared into Rarity's room.

The tickled AJ and Rarity looked at each other and happened to mutually feel something they could do together, which Applejack was the one to vocalize. "Should we cuddle?" she said.

Rarity remained silent for a few seconds, hopped off her bed towards the other, and simply replied "Yes."

Applejack smiled. She held up the blankets for Rarity to come under, and as soon as she did, Applejack felt Rarity wrap her forelegs over and under her sides. The warmth and love couldn't do much else but make her extra happy and reciprocate Rarity's action, wrapping the pair in a double-hug.

"You know, Applejack, this is much of an upgrade compared to the early days." Rarity said. "Look at us! We no longer fight over the blankets and such!"

Applejack nodded. "And I'm sure Player 4 appreciates that." They both closed their eyes for the final time that day.





Rarity's eyes fluttered open as she remained relaxed by Applejack holding her, as well as her stomach being rested on by her head.

"Hello, sunshine." Rarity said, looking out the window. She felt that her front legs were raised above her head... but as she checked, they were still mobile. Rainbow Dash hadn't captured them during the night.

Rarity then looked in front of her again. "I guess I'll stay here until this little one wakes up." She said in reference to the still-snoring Applejack.

...

"So... are you two sure you're up for this? I mean, you were tickled a lot yesterday; I can let you go now if you want."

Rarity laid her head back and maintained her body position. "One more, please."

"Yup." Applejack added. "I could use a bit more, and I did want to give this a finale."

"Alright!" Rainbow said. "Just hold still while I put these on."

A few clicks later, the cuffs were on. "Here comes the encore." Rainbow said. Standing in between the two beds, she unraveled her wings and tickled both Rarity and AJ's tummies at the same time, one pony for each wing. One feather was effective; pointy bushes of feathers were hysteric-inducing.

"HEEHEEHEE! HAHAHA!" Rainbow heard in two distinct voices mixing together.

She then turned her body to the side and started hovering a bit, as she spread out and tickled Rarity's sides and tummy using her hooves, while stroking her tail on Applejack's left side.

"HAHAHA--we are so ticklish!" Applejack noted.

If that wasn't ever true. Rainbow moved her tail from AJ's side to under her foreleg, then back again and again, while giving Rarity a raspberry. She had gotten a lot of those.

The laughing absolutely vibrated the room, like Rainbow intended. It was beautiful.
...

Not long thereafter, Rainbow could feel this amazing experience coming to an end. She just figured "It's time." The tickling eased off and she removed the cuffs from their limbs.

"Proud to say that you two are hereby released from my tickling jail." Rainbow pushed the door open and more sunlight came through. "Though, should I be proud?" Rainbow questioned. "You two seemed to really enjoy that."

Rainbow's "victims" smiled at her and delivered what they all were thinking. "Well, we did." Applejack said. "This here 'jail' was nothin' but a pleasure."

"It was." Rarity added. "Especially with Spikey joining in! A welcome surprise!"

"Heh, yeah." Rainbow said. "I forgot he was even in the house, and then it turned into me wanting to name him, from now on, my tickling sidekick."

Applejack giggled. "Well, there will always be more opportunities for you and him!"

"Yeah." Rainbow said with a smile. It was still tough to believe she could look forward to the next time tickling would appear in her life, but she could.

"Well, I'll see you two off!" Rainbow said after they were now outside and she flew to return to her cloud home. "Thanks for the great experience!" her voice yelled out from the sky distance.

Applejack and Rarity knew the perfect way to end this was with a hug. Only... maybe one more word could be said.

"Cute!" a male voice called out from behind. That random stallion who happened to notice the affection may not know what just went on, but either way, his speech perfectly described what Applejack and Rarity were thinking in reference to their session.

"Cute."
> Story 3: Tickle for Your Talent (Dark Magic Defeated)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy woke up to Celestia's yellow sun glow shining through her window. The first activity of the day to enter her mind, as always, was the morning feeding of her beloved pets. Appearing from the stairway, she softly called out to them, "Time for breakfast, my little ones!"

The first of the pets to come into her view were the pair of ferrets. They were ones to like variety with their breakfasts, and Fluttershy remembered to ask them "So, what do you want?" The ferrets let out a string of squeaks... but Fluttershy couldn't make any of it out. The squeaks did not translate into words for her. "Sorry, can you repeat that?" she said. The same squeak pattern came out, but again, she didn't understand it at all.

Fluttershy gulped. How could this be? She always understood animal language. Being able to communicate with them was one of her specialties. Something that made her life different from other ponies'. Why can she not do it, all of the sudden?

Well, regardless, the ferrets needed to be fed, so she gambled on a random choice with chicken, which they seemed to begrudgingly accept. That must have not been what they wanted, and Fluttershy chalked up their behavior to them not wanting to deal with the communication problem and just go eat.

The pegasus tried to go around the house and talk to her other pets; same result. Unlike yesterday, the noises made no sense. She did not detect anything to understand out of them.

At this point, Fluttershy started to hyperventilate. "What am I going to do without this?!"





"It's buckin' time!" Applejack said to herself as she exited the family barn and stepped out onto the apple fields. Having gotten a good night's rest and good morning's breakfast, she was all pumped up to get some work done today. She laid down her two baskets under a tree and gave that bark a swift kick from the back hooves... only to not feel any sort of satisfying power or workout rushing through her body.

Not only did a total of zero apples fall down, but she suddenly felt time-teleported to the days of her beginning practice as a tree-bucker, albeit still in her adult body. Her legs sure acted like it. And on the third attempt, she twisted and fell back-down to the ground, holding her leg in pain. "What in tarnation is goin' on here?"





Sparkling Medley, a.k.a Sparkler, while waiting for her roommate Autumn Apple to emerge from their hotel room shower (they live in Appleloosa but were currently vacationing in Ponyville), magically summoned her blue acoustic guitar out of her suitcase for a bit of practice, as always. She had the music in her veins and pumped up for a big strum... except that all the notes didn't seem to ring out, there was a lot of new fret buzz, and she felt... uncomfortable.

Suddenly, these open chords that she had mastered over a decade ago and acquired as second-nature got her to shake her hoof in pain relief, as if her muscles knew nothing about making these shapes. Her fretting hoof kept muting strings that should have been heard, the strumming was jerky and off-rhythm, and overall, Sparkler just couldn't play to the best of the abilities she knew she had.

"What the frax is happening?!" Sparkler said to herself. "I have years of experience here!"





Something was clearly not right in Ponyville. It was way more than just those three who were experiencing a sudden, inexplicable draining of their talents and abilities. The things the ponies' cutie marks symbolize and that they had years, even decades of experience in mastery of it, were just... not there. They all felt like newbies again, making rookie mistakes. The Wonderbolts, during practice, kept making misjudged turns and slamming into obstacles, again and again. Rarity found herself ruining works in progress with the sowing machine.

A sizable amount of the population opened the front doors of their homes to report the mess to other ponies, who were echoing the same thing. Some reported their talents were still with them, though their numbers dwindled as time progressed. More and more outliers began to experience the same thing as the crowd.

"We'd better talk to Princess Twilight about this." one mare said. Everypony around her agreed and they journeyed together to the Castle of Friendship.





Meanwhile, a young marine biologist, dolphin-loving mare known as Sea Swirl, saw today as the right time to shake the boat a bit and make a cupcake for breakfast. She came out of bed with a sudden urge to try it again, after her previous attempts all burned in failure. From there, Sea Swirl always claimed she just wasn't cut out to bake things. She also works at a theme park, so she often ate at the restaurants there anyway.

But living alone and really, really wanting a cupcake today, she took the plunge again.

As the oven dinged and she opened the door, that thing looked... exquisite. Whereas her previous cupcake attempts didn't even look like cupcakes, more like charred sludge, she did not find a single thing wrong with this one as far as the eyes could see.

Taking a bite of the cupcake after she finished icing and sprinkling it (the icing was also homemade by her), it was like her taste buds had just entered dream land. From a food made by somepony who once said "Every time I've tried to bake or cook, it's been a bust."

"Did I just become Pinkie Pie all of the sudden?" Sea Swirl joked to herself.





"Okay everypony. Hold up. I'm on the case." Princess Twilight Sparkle announced to the crowd outside her castle. She seemed to succeed at calming them down, and she rushed straight for her library.

"What's going on again?" Spike asked. He had been mopping the kitchen floor and was a little out of the loop.

"Ponies are saying that they can't use their cutie mark talents!" Twilight responded in a panic. "Suddenly, Fluttershy can't communicate with her animals anymore. Applejack can't buck apples off trees. And it seems that everypony is having this happen to them! Ooh, I hope I can still research! What if I lose my talent as well? Then I can't research and help anypony!" Twilight hyperventilated and began to show tears in her eyes.

"Twilight." Spike said, walking over to her. "Equestria experiences unexplained, strange things all the time! And you've always been the one to solve it! Remember the time that ponies' cutie marks got swapped and you became an Alicorn after solving that? That's what this whole thing reminds me of."

"Yeah, but I was unaffected! I was the only one who still kept my proper cutie mark, thus I was able to help! There's no guarantee I'll be unaffected this time!"

"Some ponies have said they still have their talents, and some previously reported that they did, but then lost them." a bystander said, leaning through the window into the castle. "Check to see if you can still research, and if you can, take advantage of it while you have the chance."

Twilight sighed. "You're right. I guess I am only wasting precious time by panicking. Now, does this book have anything? It is all about dark magic and stuff, after all."





As the morning went on and transitioned into the afternoon, things did not look good for the town of Ponyville. It only really occurred to the residents today the extent of how ponies' unique cutie mark talents keep day-to-day operations afloat. The cafe was held up in a long line after the chef kept botching the meals, Miss Cheerilee forgot much of the material she had been repeating many times over the years, and what was the weather going to do?

"Am I sure I'm awake? I would be so relieved to wake up and find this was all a dream." one mare said.

"Well, if you're dreaming, then I am too, since I'm communicating with you." another mare responded. Not to mention I already slapped my own hoof, so nope, not dreaming."

"Man... I really hope somepony can find an answer soon. If not Twilight, well, are other cities affected too, or is it just Ponyville?"

"You have a point. We should go check some other cities out."

"Who knows if maybe it started in Ponyville but is spreading elsewhere..."

"If it hasn't spread elsewhere, then I'm daggum unlucky, because I live in Appleloosa, but on this here day, I just so happen to be in Ponyville." Sparkler said.

"Oh, shoot. Yeah."





Meanwhile over in the outskirts of Ponyville, at a hybrid aquarium-theme park called Big Blue, a certain mare with a double-dolphin cutie mark was on the stage of a theater, delivering an educational presentation about dolphins to an audience of kids and parents; probably the most prevalent activity in her career.

"In conclusion, dolphins..." she was just about to wrap the show up, when suddenly, a distant siren was heard in the background. Clearly, Sea Swirl wasn't the only one to notice it, as the entire audience turned their heads, with some of the kids jumping into their parents' laps.

Not much later, a stallion wearing a puffy white hat, whom the dolphin mare recognized as one of her coworkers, charged right through the door looking like a living pepper. Boy, was he red and sweaty. What was wrong?

"Sea Swirl! Please help! I made a grave mistake and a fire is starting in the kitchen of my restaurant! You were the nearest worker to me and I know this isn't your job but we don't have much time and the firefighters suddenly lost all their talent!" he panted out.

"On it." Sea Swirl assured. She jumped off the stage and scurried her legs over there as fast as possible, with a whole heap of confidence about this task inside her, she noticed. Upon entry, her coworker was right. Running into the kitchen, there was a fire on one of the stoves. It was small, but could only grow. The patrons were evacuating out the emergency door as the alarm blared across the building.

Sea Swirl found herself remembering the entire cabinet layout, inside and out. She knew where the remedy for this situation was stored. Sea Swirl got up on her hind legs with that fire extinguisher and pulled on the lever with a bullseye view. That blaze was killed dead right at her hooves, with all the orange glow disappearing and the entire restaurant giving her a thundering cheer.

"Sea Swirl! You saved us!" her coworker from before said, hugging around her neck. "My, how did you handle it all so well? You looked like a pro firefighter, running right towards us and all!"

Perfect opportunity for Sea Swirl's mind to spring up. "You know, I'm finding myself suddenly being skilled at a lot of things today. Things that I couldn't normally do before. This morning, I baked myself a breakfast cupcake to the quality of gourmet wedding cupcakes, when every time I tried to do it before, it ended up burnt-black and de-shaped."

"I also sprinted from my home to work in the matter of a few minutes, as if I was a gold-medal marathon runner. Last time I ran a marathon, I came in 43rd out of 50th." Sea Swirl said.

"Wait a minute." a stallion said, trotting over to the conversation. "I-is this the product of what's been happening in Ponyville today? Like, could it be? Are ponies losing their cutie mark talents because they're getting transferred to another pony? Sea Swirl being that pony?"

The restaurant filled up with a slew of "Oh", "Yeah, maybe", and the like.

"It sounds plausible." Sea Swirl said. "The pattern is right there. Should we all go to Twilight?"

"We should. But we're really far away from there."

Sea Swirl's mind perked up. "No need to worry." She lit her horn and poofed the entire restaurant crowd over to the Castle of Friendship in the matter of a split-second. While a unicorn, Sea Swirl had never been very skilled at magic, and had never learned to do the teleportation spell. But guess what was something else she acquired today?

"Wow. This infection actually turned out to be useful for once." somepony said.

"Yeah. It did. You there, Twilight?" Sea Swirl called out through the open window.

Twilight turned her head around from her research. "Yeah, I'm here, what's going on?" she said, walking towards the window.

"I think those of us over at Big Blue just uncovered something." Sea Swirl announced. "While most of the population is seeing their cutie mark talent drained away from them, I seem to be acquiring those talents in the process. Today, I baked like Pinkie Pie. I ran at the speed of an Equestria Games runner. I put out a fire like a pro firefighter. I think that is what's happening."

Her words clicked with Twilight. She saw a glimmer of hope for getting out of this mess. "Oh! Thank you, Sea Swirl! Yes, that would line up! Now, let's just see if I can finally find an entry about this in this hugely massive book before I see my research talent go down. Ooh, I can already feel it fading..."

Here came the suspense of hearing Twilight turn the pages, hoping and praying to Celestia that she would find at least some form of info. Even Sea Swirl, who likely now understood magic to a Twilight-like degree thanks to this, did not have the slightest clue what could be the cause.

But the suspense was interrupted by a noise. Fast clopping of hooves could be heard coming from the other direction, those hooves being from a pony (or actually, not a pony) with black and white stripes.

"Twilight! Twilight! I think I have found the light!"

"Zecora! It's you! Hi!" Twilight said, smiling. "Did you find the answer?!" Her heart was pounding out of her chest.

Zecora nodded. "Just take a look in this book."

Twilight read the description, and Zecora was right. She had indeed found the light. "Yes! That's it!" Twilight yelped. She smacked open the front door to announce the news."Everypony, look what Zecora found out! This is indeed a case of an entire population of ponies losing their cutie mark talents in favor of them packing together into one pony! And I think we all know who is that one! We've got Sea Swirl right here!"

"Is there a cure?" a member of the crowd shouted out from the back. Probably why he shouted.

"Ah, yes! Let's look under 'cure!' Twilight's eyes darted straight to that section of the page, but rather than a "eureka!" followed by cheers, the entire landscape slowed down. "Whaaat?" she drawed out.

"Uh, what?" a crowd member said.

"Uh... it says the only cure, to get the selected pony to lose the transferred talents and get them back to all of you, is to... tickle them. Uh, okay." Twilight said.

Now there would be crickets chirping if it weren't daytime. Thoughts were running through everypony's head, about how strange that was, about what would happen if the selected pony hated being tickled... they all looked stressed out, that is, except for Sea Swirl, who did nothing but smile.

"Heehee! All of you are in luck today, because guess what? I love being tickled!" she announced. "Really, I do! Might be my favorite activity not related to dolphins or the sea!"

"So do it, everypony! Tickle me silly! Get your talents back!"

Her enthusiasm seemed to work; a sea of smiles popped up in the crowd, and they took no time to start the discussions. "So, where do we go? Do we tie her up? How many ticklers can there be?"

"We shouldn't have to designate just a few of you as 'the ticklers' so long as you peacefully take turns and don't bump and squeeze through each other." Sea Swirl said. "And you can tie me up if you please, though I'm not sure where I'll be laying."

"Just the grass should work." Twilight said. "I do kind of want my abilities back as soon as possible, hehe."

Sea Swirl walked out into the open greenery and laid on her back. "Then let's get this started!"

She could hear the giggling getting closer to her. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash spread their feathery wings and started stroking them on Sea Swirl's lilac hooves, their wing tips each taking one hoof and moving in all directions.

"Ooh, this is a fun way to get my communication with animals back!" Fluttershy giggled.

As the yellow and blue wings struck, yep, Sea Swirl was ticklish alright. The laughing didn't even take time to build up and increase in volume. She just burst it right out. Sparkler then came onto the scene and started tickling her sides with her two front hooves, followed by blowing a raspberry.

"How will we know if the magic is reversing?" Fluttershy asked.

"The book says you should be able to look." Zecora said. "The word is marked that the magic is dark, and so the hack will show up black."

"Then let's tickle, everypony! Make her laugh until we see an aura of black magic coming out of her and into you!" Twilight said.

The pegasus-wing tickling on her hooves continued while Sparkler turned around and brushed her fluffy, pointy tail all over Sea Swirl's sides and tummy, going at max speed for her tail muscles, while a single feather could be felt tickling the under-foreleg pits as well. Looking upward, Sea Swirl saw that Applejack had joined.

"HAHAHAHA! So much fun! HAHA!" she laughed.

Shortly, a pound on the ground was heard, and the source turned out to be a certain pair of two royals. "We heard what was happening." Princess Luna said. "And we would like to join in on the action." Luna and her sister both flashed their deluxe-sized alicorn wings.

"Holy seacow. I can say I've never been tickled by those before." Sea Swirl said.

"Not until today, at least." Luna said as all four large alicorn wings started stroking her tummy, which just so happened to be her most ticklish spot.

"HAHAHAHA! That ti-hi-ickles! Sea Swirl was laughing her lungs out, and that seemed to be the golden key, as the elusive dark magic began to illuminate her horn and visibly enter the air.

"Keep going, everypony!" Twilight said. While Celestia and Luna seemed to have everything perfectly on track right then and there, they wanted to keep up the fun for everyone, so they lifted their wings off and allowed other ponies in on the tickling, with the bystanders cheering them on. Sea Swirl felt her sensitive tummy still getting the treatment, with one pony blowing buzzing raspberries all over it, as both her sides were tickled too with soft brush bristles, then the large princesses moved their wings to her back hooves.

The tickling was so super intense that she couldn't do a single thing to stop the deep, muscle-working laughter, which was clearly a good thing here, as the dark magic was in her view, the cloud getting larger and her horn feeling sweaty and hot. While uncomfortable, it was long-established that a horn fever is what unicorns should look for when trying to rid themselves of dark magic.

As the tickle assault rightfully continued, eventually it reached the point where the ever-familiar sound of shooting magic was heard and Sea Swirl's entire body lit up in white. Having no horn fever anymore, she had succeeded at releasing the dark magic, and with no host to go to, the black cloud faded away.

The entire front yard roared with cheers and claps, as Sea Swirl stood on her hooves from the finished tickling. "Whew! This is a day I'll always remember!" she said.

"Good tickling, everypony! I loved every second of it." she continued, giving out hoof-bumps. "Sure is good to have everything back to normal. I must admit, though, it was kinda nice having all those various skills. Like, since we acted so fast, I ended up not using a whole lot of them. I do wonder what it would be like to understand animals. That's one I didn't get to experience.

That's when Fluttershy came into her view. "You know, if you ever wanted to come over to my house, understanding animals is something you can learn. I've also, uh, never met you before, so, hi. I'm Fluttershy." she giggled.

"Sea Swirl. Pleased to meet you." she said, shaking Fluttershy's hoof. "Yeah, who knows? Maybe someday I will stop by at your place."

"Yeah! And I'm also somepony who has barely talked to you at all." Twilight said to Sea Swirl. "Though I didn't tickle, I feel like I got to know you a bit."

Sea Swirl smiled. She liked the sound of that.

"I don't think I've really seen ya before either." Applejack said. "So I started it with ticklin'. Hehe."

Sea Swirl giggled in response, plain-and-simply happy. Did she really have an opportunity to make new friends, after that chaos was just erased, so quickly and smoothly? Wow. Tickling was magic.
> Story 4: You're Not So Bad After All (Ponies and Dragons)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike hopped off the train at a destination he did not in any way call home. His goal today was not to return home to Ponyville right away, but rather, take a little trip to Appleloosa. At some random time on the ride, he figured paying a visit to a town he doesn't often go to could help him unwind and lighten his mood. Applejack was also in Appleloosa at the moment and Spike hoped to see her. He just had that urge.

Spike did enjoy the country-western sights all around him. The fiddle music at the train station was pretty good, there was 
a line of ponies delivering cartloads of apples to the grocery store, and you'd be darned to find somepony without a Stetson. But... Spike couldn't drive what happened earlier today out of his head. It was powerful. Really powerful.

While Spike had no courage to ask any of these strangers around him for help, he kind of did hope that one of them would notice his glum face and reach out, you know? That would be nice.

Meanwhile, a certain brown-coated mare who had just completed her work day was on a similar (lack of) rush to get home. A lifelong Appleloosa resident who could never get enough of the city's environment, buildings, music, and residents, she chose to relax on a bench for a little while. The town made her smile, as it also did to everypony else in her vicinity.

Well, almost everypony else, that is. This mare, while nonchalantly looking to her left side, noticed a little dragon, colored green and purple (who she suspected to have met before), kicking rocks as he walked forward, hands behind his back, and just looking really sad.

He wasn't even bothering to try and hide it! For as much as this dragon may be scared if I do a surprise reach-out, I can't leave this situation alone. the mare thought.

"Hey."

The dragon looked in every direction possible, including towards the pony. She used that opportunity to speak more.

"You, uh, you don't look good there. Forgive me, I know I'm kind of a stranger to you and this probably feels weird, but I couldn't bear to leave you like this. Is something wrong?

The first thing on Spike's mind wasn't the question at the end. "Uh, what do you mean 'kind of a stranger? Have we met before?"

"Well, you look familiar to me." the mare said. I'm one of Applejack's cousins and I do remember seeing a green and purple dragon at that apple festival in Ponyville."

Spike put the pieces together. Applejack's cousin, apple festival... "Oh! You're Autumn!"

"Yep!" Autumn said. "Yeah, we've met before. Even if only a bit."

"Yeah, yeah, right." Spike said. "I do know you. Now as for what you were asking, uh, well, yeah, I'm really stressed out right now, Autumn." Spike paced back and forth. "The thing is, the dragon you're looking at right now, who has been called the 'noble dragon'; let's just say that other dragons aren't so noble. A couple years ago, I found out the hard way that the vast majority of dragons are bullies. Straight-up bullies."

"And for some reason, I decided to check up on them today! Had they changed? Oh no. Not a bit."

Autumn was clearly paying attention. How many times did she even blink?

"I knew that I had definitely made a mistake by choosing to join them on their migration that one time. Ponyville, and my pony friends, are the right choice for me." Spike said, continuing to pace. "But there's just something unsettling about knowing that your own species is full of jerk-faces! I, like, I want dragons to have a good reputation!"

Autumn nodded. "I do get where you're coming from, Spike. It would be nice if dragons were, well, nice."

"Exactly!" Spike said, holding out his arms. "And today, I feel so strongly about it that I almost feel like I have to resort to some kind of convoluted measure! It's almost like those dumb 'dragons' will have to be tricked into doing something nice for a pony! Cause their hatred is just so strong that..."

"Hey, hold on, Spike." Autumn interjected, standing up off the bench. "Tricked into doing something nice for a pony? Now that sounds like a great idea!"

Spike paused. "Really? You think so?"

"Sure I do!" Autumn said. "And I, for one, happen to know of a totally perfect thing to trick them with!"

"And what's that?" Spike sat down on the bench next to Autumn. Perfect thing to trick them with? What was he about to hear?!

Autumn tapped her chin. "I feel like playing a guessing game with you. What's something that happens in the world that often gets the word 'torture' attached to it, but that I really, really enjoy?"

Spike's mind wasn't clicking anything together. Attached? Torture, but not?

"Uh, more hints?"

"What's that thing the CMCs did to you that time you tried to block the train door? That time you were chasing a disobedient bunny?"

Spike, declining to inquire how Autumn knew about that day, muttered under his breath. "Oh! Oh, yeah, you mean tickling!" Spike said. Autumn nodded.

"Yeah, now I remember." Spike said. "I may not know you that well, but I have heard you love to be tickled. So, what's your plan?"

Autumn's voice took on its rare confident tone. Here was a moment for her. "We go to dragon land, with me undisguised. The dragons will be able to see that there's a pony in their land. But I pretend to be on their side, and offer them to tickle torture me."

"'Cause, like, , since I love being tickled, I won't experience it as torture, but the dragons will think I am. We'll be giving them exactly what I bet my hundred bits they've always wanted to do! Bully a pony. Make them miserable."

"It won't be until the end that I'll reveal my love for being tickled and tell them what they did was fun. They'll have had fun as well, so... you see what I mean?"

Spike pumped a fist in the air and saw the shining golden light of opportunity. "Autumn, you may go down in history."

There was a blush. There totally was.





The never-seen-before pair of Autumn and Spike continued talking about their plan as they walked around Appleloosa together. Spike could swear this day may become one of his best now, because Autumn's plan was just perfect! How would the dragons find anything to argue around?! With Autumn being who she is, what could be more useful in this strategy than tickling?

Maybe more tickling?

"Hey Autumn, do you think I could join in on tickling you?" Spike asked. "Let it be known that I would like to do it to you." he said, pointing an index finger.

"Sure you can! That'd be great!" Autumn said, high-hoofing Spike. "The thing, though, is that you'll have to avoid blowing your cover. Make sure to pretend that you agree with the mean dragons. Like, when tickling me, say crude, fiery things. On the lines of them."

Spike paused and sighed. "That's gonna be really hard to do."

Autumn rubbed Spike's shoulder. "I know. You don't want to say things like that to me. It will hurt."

"I would advise to think of it as acting. Try to have the mindset that you are not yourself, but rather an evil clone. Stage actors do play characters that are evil, when the actor themselves is most likely nice, right?"

Spike looked up at Autumn's warm smile. She was right; it was called pretending for a reason, and while pretending to hate someone could still hurt their feelings, for sure, Autumn was very much in on this. After all, she was the one who suggested it in the first place.

"I'll try." Spike said. "And, uh, could we also practice?"

"Sure!" Autumn said. "Where to?"

"How about back to Twilight's castle. Lots of space there."

"To the train station, then the Castle of Friendship!" Autumn decreed, pointing a hoof forward.

This afternoon was also getting interesting by virtue of the fact that these two barely knew each other. Autumn Apple was a name Spike only recognized by virtue of ponies talking about her every once in a while. She's related to Applejack, so that helps, but what else had Spike known about this mare besides her name, family connections, and love of tickling? Not really anything, to be honest.

...

The duo arrived at the sparkling castle. "Twilight's not home right now. Attending some royal event in Canterlot, apparently." Spike announced. "Good thing she gave me this spare key."

As the gold front door opened up, this was a brand new experience for Autumn that came out of nowhere. All because she happened to notice Spike's sad face and he elected to talk to her. Wow. What an unexpectedly memorable day this was turning out to be.

"I've never been here before, Spike. Thanks for inviting me." Autumn looked around and admired her royal surroundings.

"My pleasure." Spike said. They entered the entry room... without a plan.

"Uh, where exactly should we go for this practice?" Spike questioned. "There are just so many rooms in this castle."

"It is big." Autumn said, observing the area more. "But I have an idea. Perhaps in addition to the fake insults, you should practice tickling me too? How much experience or skill have you got with it?"

"Quite a lot, actually. I am kind of into tickling, if I'm being honest." Spike said, his cheeks turning pink. "I've used it to have fun with Twilight and her friends, and in fact, just a little while ago, I happened to come across Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack having a tickling party, and I joined in."

"Oh yeah, Applejack told me about that!" Autumn said. "She did say you were a good tickler. So now I'm thinking you don't need practice. Unless you want to do it, hehe. But otherwise, let's go and do the insults." Autumn began to walk forward.

"Wait, wait." Spike said. "I've still never tickled you, Autumn, so like, where are you most sensitive? What tickles you the hardest?"

Autumn had to giggle. These questions were fun for her. "I would say my belly is the sweetest spot, regardless of technique, but you can go even more powerful by blowing raspberries on it. Hehe. Though, the margin is fairly insignificant; tickling my sides, neck, back hooves, and under-foreleg pits also gets me laughing. A lot."

"Good to know! I'll try to tickle you everywhere." Spike said. "Now how about specific tools? Which ones do you like?"

"Brushes, feathers, tails, raspberries; I'd say I like them all equally except raspberries, 'cause that one's my favorite. Heehee! Now as for you, well, you have fingers. Those should be effective."

"Yeah! You're right." Spike said, looking at those digits of his.

Autumn giggled. "So, do you still want to practice, or are we good to go?"

"I'd say we save the tickling for the actual event now." Spike responded. "For now, let's focus on the insults. If we must."

"Let's do it." Autumn said.

...

"...I just don't know how I'm going to do this." Spike said.

"Well, I actually have an idea now." Autumn responded. "I feel like you could make standard comments and it would suffice. Like, you don't have to call me names or anything, just point out that I deserve the 'torture.' Or congratulate the dragons when my laughing gets really loud. I doubt they'd get suspicious with that."

"Also, if the situation calls for you to take it further, look at it this way: we're in a more controlled environment with this practice. Once we actually put this plan into action, it shouldn't feel so unnatural, 'cause it's being used as intended. I experience this with my musical performances; I might think my playing is subpar during practice, but then I nail it during the actual show."

"Let's hope." Spike said.

Autumn sat down. "Now go ahead. Say something along the lines of what I was talking about."

"Uh... hmm... let's see... you can't get away, Autumn! This tickling is under our control and you. deserve. the brutality!" Spike shouted as he walked closer and pointed at her with the accentuated ending line.

Autumn smiled and clapped her hooves. "Good job! That sounded fierce and right on par with the plan, buddy. That shout was just like how you sound when you really are feeling it! You'll do great!" She rubbed Spike on the head.

After exiting the room, they boarded the Friendship Express once again and embarked on a fairly long ride, as the dragon land wasn't exactly close to Ponyville. The length did give these two time for getting to know each other better. Exploring different topics such as favorite desserts, the train conversations were much more casual compared to the strategy planning, which they saw as a much-needed break.





Here they were in Spike's nightmare land, hopefully to change that status. Hiding behind a tall, pointed rock before making their appearance, Spike and Autumn could see a busy area of a dragon town right then and there. It was time for their big moment. Would they succeed or would they fail at this sneaky idea? How many possible outcomes were there? Spike's heartbeat wouldn't calm down.

"Don't worry too much, Spike. I'll carry the dialogue." Autumn softly assured. "I already have in mind what I want to say; you can add comments in between if you want, but you don't have to."

"Thanks, Autumn." Spike whispered. He was still nervous; what if the bad dragons found out about their trick before any tickling took place? That could increase the bad blood's temperature even more, creating a bigger nightmare for Spike.

But they had to do it. High risk, high reward, and Autumn's warm demeanor helped Spike get out there and do it.

The pair stepped out right into the open, where a large and diverse set of dragons were congregating. This appeared to be some sort of downtown, with there being rows of business buildings.

From here, they just wait. And they didn't have to wait long.

"What the-- a pony?" a female blue dragon called out, looking directly at the pair.

"What in the dragon lord's name are you doing here?" an orange and purple dragon said, crossing her arms. "We don't like ponies!"

"Oh, I see what you mean." the mare began her trickery with. "I'm Autumn, and the reason I am here is to join your side. I want to get away from the pony life and integrate with yours."

The dragons didn't even make a sound. What? Was this pony really on their side?

"It's true. After Spike here sat down with me and made some good, reasonable points, I have come to dislike my own species." Autumn fake-said to the dragons. "You're right; we are namby-pambies. So I'm here to learn how to be like a dragon, and I figured the best start was for me was to be tortured, by my worst fear."

"Since you dragons were so right and wise all along, I figured it'd only be fair if y'all got to unleash your dragon wrath on me as the first act."

Autumn had to try hard to suppress the giggles; these things she was saying were across the moon from reality.

The two dragons looked at each other confused, but eventually pumped and bumped fists. Finally, a pony had agreed with them and joined their side! And they get to take out their hatred! Satisfaction incoming!

Ember began walking forward. "Just follow us to Smolder's dungeon, Miss Autumn. Oh yeah, that's her name, by the way. And I'm Ember."

A short group walk later, the entrance to said dungeon turned out to be right at their hoof level. Autumn and Spike were led down a gray, twisted staircase winding into the underground, lined with a brick pattern and torches of orange fire on the walls. Autumn had to admire the dragon-like decor and eerie compatibility with this being the way to a torture dungeon.

A solid few circles of stair walking later, Smolder opened a brown, wooden door sparkled with gold at the handles, to a rather snug brown room with plain wood walls, as well as, of course, a platform to lay down on.

"This is my chamber." Smolder proudly said with a smug look on her face.

Things would continue to be difficult for Autumn. She really loves to be tickled, a lot, so her natural reaction was to smile and say "Let's do this!" while laying on the platform without any request to do so. But no way, no how could she give herself away. The dragons wouldn't find it believable if they didn't give commands.

"Alright, Autumn. We're gonna need you to lay down on your back. On this platform right here." Smolder said.

She nodded and obliged. For being in a torture chamber, the platform was actually pretty comfortable. A thick layer of cushion under the leather coat could be felt beneath her.

Autumn got her body situated with her back legs stretched out to the end of the platform and her forelegs hanging above her head at the other end, as she laid back-down.

"Oh, we are going to go all in on you." Smolder said. "Ready, everyone?"

Ember lined up in Autumn's upward view while Spike called out from behind, "Can I join in with you guys too?"

"Well, you seem to have come to your senses as well, so, sure." Smolder said. "Let's bring in the triple tickle attack!"

"Oh no." Autumn said, continuing to fake it.

"What are we waiting for?" Smolder said.

"Uh, we probably should cuff her first." Ember answered.

"Ah, yes. Right." Smolder flipped over the platform's attached silver metal restraints across Autumn's four limbs and pressed them in place. Good thing Ember sent out that reminder; the dragons couldn't leave her able to resist!

Now Smolder and her orange fingers, coming from the right, got to shoot right in and tickle Autumn's right side.

"Heeheeheehee!"

Ember joined the action and placed her hands on Autumn's soft tummy. Her blue fingers skittered from left to right, up and down, making Autumn trigger noises at the cuff area. She knew this was her sweetest spot.

As if that wasn't enough, Smolder joined in on that sweetest spot. A quartet of hands did vigorous dances all over her helplessly exposed tummy, handing the dragons their long-awaited thrill.

"HAHAHAHA! Tha-that tickles! HAHAHA--y-you two are powerful! HAHAHA!"

"We most certainly are powerful." Smolder proudly said. "Come on in, Spike! Get her good!"

Autumn's laughter was literally shaking some of the decorations hanging from the ceiling; Spike wanted to be careful not to tickle her too much, but shoot. The other dragons had him pinned. He couldn't blow his cover. So he reached in and wriggled his fingers into the mare's under-foreleg pits, as Smolder and Ember's hands stayed on their brown dance floor.

"HAHAHAHA! O-oh my! HAHAHA!" Autumn laughed out.

"We sure are getting her good." Smolder said.

"We are. And it's just what she deserves." Spike said, playing along.

Ember nodded and walked south. Smolder followed suit and they both used their hands on Autumn's hind hooves, one dragon for each hoof, adding to the laughter as Spike continued to tickle under her forelegs.

"Heeheeheehee! Hahaha!" Now Spike had to try and avoid cracking a wide smile, as he thought Autumn's laughter was cute.

The dragons ramped up the hoof-tickling speed while Spike walked over to Autumn's midsection, using his hands to tickle her right side for a few seconds, before blowing multiple raspberries on her belly. That, combined with the two dragons waving and swerving a pair of large, pointy, fluffy feathers on her hind hooves, Autumn laughed silly. She couldn't do anything except laugh. Good thing this was the natural response to tickling regardless of whether you like or not, because Autumn was sure enjoying this. She hoped they'd continue for a while.

That they did, at least for now, as Ember moved back up forward and started tickling all over Autumn's belly. Using her hands to go left, right, and left again, Autumn's eyes got a bit teary from the intense laughing as Smolder and Spike attacked each of her sides with two soft brushes.

Autumn was in absolute hysterics, and she saw that as accomplishing their cause. The more evil the dragons felt they were dishing out, the more effective this all would be.

Ember and Smolder tested new waters, in that they both took deep breaths and gave Autumn big raspberries, simultaneously. Spike tried to keep up the cover by skittering his fingers all over her right side as well. Despite the intensity, Autumn felt she could take quite a bit more. It's always been quite difficult to get her to request that the tickling stop; her tolerance level was up in the clouds.

However, she felt that she probably should pretend to beg for it to stop. Help out the strategy more. She hadn't been doing that earlier, because, well, she wasn't used to it. But as her sides, tummy, and hooves continued to feel the treatment, with one dragon now in each of those three areas, she started. "HAHAHAHA! Ple-he-hease stop! HAHAHA!"

"Oh, we ain't stopping 'til we feel like it." Smolder said. Good. That was the response Autumn was looking for.

"And you're restrained!" Spike said. "What are you going to do about it?"

As Smolder handed Spike a pair of feathers and he stroked across Autumn's right side and under her foreleg, Spike still was concerned about getting too rough on her. Autumn told him prior to this event that she had a high tolerance, but what if it came to a point where she really did need a break? Surely the other two wouldn't give her one upon request.

Or, wait...

"Hey, uh, guys, I'm going to let you two handle this for a bit. My arms are getting tired." Spike said.

"No problem." Ember said.

Well, Spike had lied, his arms were perfectly fine, but that was the only way for him to bail out. From the sidelines, he watched as the other dragons started up a feather attack, waving those soft points all over Autumn's body, bouncing from one area to another in just a few seconds.

As that happened, the laughter volume did change, even if it was subtle. Both feathers moved from Autumn's sides over to her belly, after which Smolder noted "I think we've found her tickle spot."

"You did. Congratulations." Spike said sarcastically.

"Sweet. And is there any sort of technique that makes it extra ticklish for her?"

"That would be raspberries." Autumn herself said. "That's my biggest weakness."

Anyone could guess what was happening next. The dragons leaned in and blew with their lips together as hard as they could, again and again, while also moving their heads around to cover the entire area. Autumn, without any way to protect, could feel the endless attack of buzzers, and she reacted accordingly.

"HAHAHA! That tickles! HAHAHA--I-I ca-han't take it no more! HAHAHAHA!

"Really now?" Ember said evilly. They continued to blow.

They did so for a solid minute, followed by using a mix of fingers and feathers, then bringing back the brushes, all still on Autumn's tummy. The dragons wanted at her most ticklish spot, and truth be told, Autumn still wasn't tired of it. One could only imagine how much tickling would need to be done on her before there would be actual pleading for it to stop. I could use more, she kept thinking to herself.

As Autumn expected, the only thing that eventually ended the tickling was the dragons themselves getting tired. "Whew! Okay, my hands are really sore now. I think we can call it off here."

"Sure thing." Smolder replied.

They only used their hands a little bit more, for the purpose of freeing the captive mare. Autumn sat up, stretched, and began speaking. Here came the moment she and Spike were waiting for.

I really this was worth it! Spike thought internally.

"Heehee! Good job, you two! That was really fun!" Autumn said to Ember and Smolder.

The room fell dead silent after that. Autumn and Spike knew. They knew what the dragons had to be thinking, and knew that yes, it was worth it.

...

"B-b-but that was torture!" Ember shouted.

"Not torture to me. Really. I enjoyed that a whole lot." Autumn said. "Being tickled is one of my favorite things in the world and I had lots of fun with you two doing it!"

Smolder and Ember were pinned. They really were pinned. Just as Spike and Autumn had intended. Because, like, they had fun. It was an enjoyable experience to dish out that tickling. And now, since that feeling was reciprocated, had they really just, like...?

Ember felt like there was a blood vessel in her head that needed to burst. She desperately wanted to cling on to the nasty dragon view of Autumn's species, but she. just. could not. agree with any perspective besides the one that was given to her and Smolder. They had fun with a pony. They played together. With a happy pony in the room as the aftermath, thanking them for what they'd done.

In some time, Ember let out a sigh and hung her head down. "Alright. I guess you're not so bad after all."

"What can I say?" Smolder added. "She let us do this, and from there, gave out compliments. She's given out many of them, in fact. Remember her admiration of the decor down here?"

"So thanks, Autumn. You're a... you're a cool pony."

"Aww. Thanks, Smolder. And you're a cool dragon."

Smolder couldn't help but smile. This really did give her a different perspective on things. What else would it do? She couldn't deny that ponies and dragons can get along with each other, because here she was, getting along with one! At this point, Smolder could only like Autumn. She even envisioned a situation of other dragons trying to harass this pony, and Smolder defending her! That is genuinely what she was thinking in the moment.

Ember finally talked more. "On behalf of everypony in Ponyville, we owe you an apology. It was never right to judge and insult your species like that, just because you're different from us."

Smolder nodded. "I really can see now that us dragons have been caught up in a toxic superiority complex. And I feel... I feel gross for being a part of that." she said, rubbing her shoulder.

"And are you ready to change that?" Autumn said.

The two dragons were both thinking the same thing, and it came out that way. "Yes." they said simultaneously.