"So, what's it like being a commanding officer and all?" said Midnight Blossom.

Cloud skipper was getting pretty annoyed by now, as Midnight Blossom had't stopped bothering him since they had been assigned to guard duty. SHE HAD BEEN TALKING THE WHOLE TIME. It was, what, 1 AM? Maybe later? Cloud Skipper wasn't sure. 

"I follow orders as I'm told."

Midnight Blossom responded with a sly laugh.

"What, you never go solo? Do what ya want? Sounds pretty boring to me!"

"It's not, really..." said Cloud Skipper, a little hurt by this remark.

"I'm just joking with ya, Sipps!"

"My name's Cloud Skipper."

"It's a nickname. Ever heard of 'em? No? Why am I not surprised?" she said, laughing once again.

She then turned to face Cloud Skipper, who was staring off intently into the distance, eyes pealed for any possible threats. But Cloud Skipper knew that nobody was going to attack. He was just trying to ignore Midnight Blossom as much as possible. 

When she couldn't get him to look back, she proceeded to slowly strut around Cloud Skipper, swishing her tail in his face. His face turned bright red, and Midnight Blossom moved her face against his. 

"So, Skipps, perfect night for guard duty, eh?"

He tried to look away, but she kept nuzzling his mane. Cloud Skipper hated to admit it, but he wasn't hating this as much as he should be. But he was getting paranoid all the same. She was getting attention from him, which was exactly what she wanted. 

He suddenly decided it was time. He couldn't take this anymore. Midnight Blossom needed to be taught a lesson about how to properly respect a commanding officer.

He proceeded to go along with her act. 

"A perfect nigh indeed." he said, stroking her mane gently. She moved closer to him, rubbing her head against his golden mane. After about a minute more of this, Cloud Skipper couldn't take I anymore. As much as it pained him to do so, he leaned in to speak gently into her ear.

"Hey, Midnight, would you mind laying down on that mattress over there?"

There was a convenient pile of mattresses stacked on top of one another next to the library's gates. They had been placed there by the lazy janitor pony who had failed to take them to the dump, putting off his duty until the next day. 

"Uh, sure." said Midnight Blossom, confused, but at the same time very weakened in the mind because of their cuddling. She lied down on the mattress, extending her body into a relaxed position. She patted the portion of the mattress next to her, gesturing for Cloud Skipper to lie down with her. He ignored her, though, and grabbed some ropes from a concealed location under the outer layer of his uniform. He slowly approached the edge of the mattress, tensing his muscles, preparing to strike...

When he jumped on top of her, she was completely dumbfounded as to what was going on. He quickly tied the first two ropes from the corners of the mattress to her front hooves. When he turned around, though, she kicked him off with her strong hind legs.

"HEY! What're you doing!?"

She was still taken aback, but she was ready within a few seconds to defend herself. But Cloud Skipper still overcame her and managed to tie her back hooves down with great difficulty. She was now completely restrained, barely able to move at all. 

"Let me go! Cloud Skipper! Untie me now or . . . or else!"

She struggled and struggled, but it was useless. She was unable to move. Cloud Skipper had a somewhat mad look in his eyes, though his form appeared completely calm. 

"I've had just about enough of your bothering me. It's time to teach me a lesson."

"Oh yeah, and just how are you gonna do..."

Before she could finish speaking, Cloud Skipper began to approach her. When he reached the side of the pile of mattresses, he raised his hooves above her soft, jet balck belly. Midnight Blossom immediately realized what he was gonng to do to her. She was filled with repentance instantly. 

"I'M SO SORRY! Just PLEASE don't..."

"It's too late for sorry."

With that, Cloud Skipper began to rub her belly with both hooves softly. Midnight Blossom was immediately overcome by the ticklish sensation. She tried as best she could to hold back laughter. She knew that crying for help would do no good. It was too late at night. Everypony would be asleep. No one would hear her cries for help. Or her shrieks of laughter. 

She tried to hold it back. It was extremely difficult. As she focused on not laughing, she started to have flashbacks of her younger life. Sometimes, when she was in the royal training academy, the other younger male Noctral trainees would tickle her. It was supposed to be a test of endurance, but she knew that loved to do it. They would tickle her everywhere, sometimes up to six at once, for hours non-stop, and all she could do was squeal into the bandana that covered her mouth. 

Now, she was being tickled by her crush. She knew she had something like this coming, as she had been trying to get him to talk to her all night. Before long, she was giggling like a little filly, then she began to howl with uncontrollable laughter.

Hehehehehehehe, AHAHAHAHA, NONOAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHEEEEKKK HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA AAAHAHAHAHAH . . . BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Cloud Skipper began to explore new areas to tickle. Around her ribs, thighs, under her arms, anywhere that  made her laugh, which was just about everywhere. She laughed and laughed nonstop.

Sto-sto-nonoHEHEHE NO STOP AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKK NO PLEASSSEEEE STOOOOP!!

She couldn't stop laughing no matter how hard she'd tried. Cloud Skipper suddenly stopped and took out a large goose feather. He began to approach the back of the mattress. She knew what was coming, and she couldn't bear to think about it. 

He began to lightly stroke the bottoms of her hooves with the feather. She immediately started to giggle and kick her legs around as much as possible. He didn't stop, though, and he stroked and stroked until she finally cracked and started to howl all over again. 

"AHAHAHAHAHEEEEKKKHAHAHAHAHA SKIPS STOP PLEASE IM BEGGIN' YA!! HAAAHAHAHAHAHAHOHNOHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

She didn't know how much more of this she could take. She wanted to reason with Cloud Skipper, tell him she was sorry for bothering him so much. But she knew he was punishing her, and that she deserved it. 

He got on top of her and began to tickle her belly, bacl hooves, and sides at the same time with his tail and his hooves. She squealed, wriggled, begged for mercy, and bounced up and down, but Cloud Skipper had her completely restrained with no way out. 

He tickled her until she could laugh no more. She had never wanted anything more in her life than to be free from the ticklish torture. If it had been anyone else, she would have had them on the floor instantly, but she was so attracted to Cloud Skipper. Even at this moment, she wasn't sure if she was hating all that much. She had gotten over the idea that he was torturing her and, strangely enough, was more enjoying the tickling more than anything. She didn't laugh often, so this was quite the experience for her.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAH CLOUD SKIPPER, ST- AHAHAEHEHEHEHEHEHEEEKKKK STOP BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

When the sub began to rise, after four full hours of tickling, Cloud Skipper suddenly stopped and immediately untied her. It took her a long while to recover, and all the while Cloud Skipper continued to poke at he belly, making her giggle. Once she was strong enough to get up, she immediately took a swing at Cloud Skipper. He dodged it easily and laughed at her discombobulated state. She collapsed in an exhausted heap. She didn't know what to say, really.

"I'll NEVER let this one go by! EVER!" said Midnight Blossom, tiredly yet extremely frustratedly.

"Well," said Cloud Skipper. "Not even if I asked you to go to the gala with me?"

She stopped breathing for a moment. She couldn't believe it. Her heart's desire, and now it was true. She could barely contain herself...

She smiled slyly. 

"I, I think I could make a few exceptions."