Despite her reservations, Twilight helps Rainbow Dash achieve a secret, long-held dream--soaring the skies as a pony-turned-blimp. And perhaps Twilight might realize that her reservations were nothing to worry about after all!

A cute and non-explicit transformation story for today's theme: "Blimp TF". Please enjoy!

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“Are you really sure about this?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash replied. “It’s always been a sort of fascinating idea of mine, and I bet that it would feel neat and good too. I’ve always wanted to be a good flier, and what’s more natural at flying than a blimp?”

A bird, perhaps, Twilight thought but didn’t say. Her pegasus friend was bouncing giddily in place. “Alright. The process should be painless and it is reversible, so… we can do it.”

“Wahoo!” Rainbow Dash threw her hooves in the air happily. “Oh, and one last thing, Twi. You remember that I want it done with tubing and stuff, not just from magic, right?”

“Well, some magic is going to have to be involved,” the lavender pony said with amusement. “But yes, I understand.” She levitated over a pump of the sort used to inflate large balloons. “When you’re ready?”

“Oh, I am so ready,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. She flipped over once in midair, her wings flapping happily.

Shaking her head with a rueful grin, Twilight affixed the end of the pump to Rainbow Dash’s bellybutton. With a little touch of magic, RD’s navel changed into a simple intake valve of the sort used for balloons.

“Whoa, feels funny,” Rainbow Dash said, poking at her newly metallic navel with one hoof. “But also good! Okay, switch it on, Twi!”

Reaching over, Twilight did just that.

The pump whirred and whined, and it began pushing air into Rainbow Dash. The pegasus’s eyes immediately bugged out from her head and she looked down at her body. “Holy guacamole! I can feel it changing! The helium is settling in me!”

Indeed, even though Twilight had put the pump on its lowest setting, she too could see it applying its changes to her feathered friend. Rainbow Dash’s lean, athletic body began to swell—not just in her body, but all of the rest of her as well. As the seconds passed, she looked more like an elongated balloon than anything.

Twilight’s horn glowed as she applied a soft bit of magic to RD’s form. The spellcraft helped Rainbow Dash’s body accept its new inflatable yield without issue, and also gently began shaping her flesh to something both sturdier and more pliant, the best to be a blimp.

“Whoa…” Rainbow Dash said. Amazingly enough her voice didn’t sound any higher from the helium, but she did have a tinny, echoing quality to her words. “I can feel it stretching meeeeee… it feels so good!”

By now, Rainbow’s body was definitely more blimp-shaped than pony-shaped, with her form looking like an elongated football. Her face had melded into the rest of her, her nose merging with the tip of the blimp and her eyes situated on either side, blinking happily. She still kept her ears; they looked amusingly small atop her round, blimpy form, and flapped on occasion. Her mane crested the top like a series of pennants or banners, and her tail sprang from the tip on back. As the pump kept whirring, Twilight could hear Rainbow’s body stretching to accommodate the air; it sounded similar to the noise made when a balloon reached its limit, a deep creaking sound.

“A-Are you okay, Rainbow?” Twilight asked, worried.

“Oh yeah!” Rainbow’s voice sounded even tinnier now, but her mouth—hidden beneath her nose, but still prevalent if you knew what to look for—grinned widely. “The stretch feels incredible, like massaging a sore muscle after a long workout! Plus your magic is doing its job—I’m not in any danger at all! This is amazing, Twi!”

Twilight was glad—and she found Rainbow Dash’s enthusiasm infectious. She’d never really considered getting turned into a blimp of all things to be enjoyable, but Rainbow made it seem amazingly appealing!

By now, Rainbow Dash’s body was definitely more blimp than pony. It kept her original blue hue, though, and her cutie mark was plastered on the side like a logo. She was almost double her original size and had begun to drift off the ground, tethered by the still-whirring pump. Her legs and hooves—which looked cutely undersized next to the big new her—dangled happily underneath.

“Okay, I think I’m ready!” Rainbow Dash declared. “Put on the basket!”

Twilight wasn’t sure her magic could’ve manifested a basket out of nothing, so instead she and Rainbow had decided to strap one on when she’d gotten big enough. Carefully, Twilight looped the basket—sized enough for one extra-large pony; Big Mac could’ve comfortably fit inside it—over Rainbow’s blimpy new top and snapped the clasps in place. “Does it feel good?”

“Yeah—it feels like wearing a comfy saddle. But even better than that,” Rainbow said cheerily. “It feels like… like something natural! It feels like the basket belongs here!”

Twilight was glad. Rainbow was now somewhere between three and four times her original size, so Twilight thought it was time to shut off the pump. She switched off the machine and Rainbow pouted, but didn’t protest. As Twilight unhooked the pump and quickly used magic to switch off the intake valve, Rainbow sighed with relaxation and relief. She looked as content as Twilight had ever seen her. When Twilight was done, her newly blimpified friend hovered in place, held by the ballast attached to the basket.

“Twi, hop on in,” Rainbow said. Her cute little hooves waggled happily. “I won’t be a real blimp until I take someone for a ride.”

Twilight was taken aback—her, use her friend to go for a ride? Like she was an object? She had never really considered doing that before. But on seeing Rainbow’s eager look, Twilight realized that Rainbow Dash certainly didn’t mind—and therefore, neither did Twilight herself.

“Alright, let’s go,” Twilight said. She levitated herself into Rainbow’s basket and loosed one of the ballast bags. Slowly, the two of them drifted up.

The higher they got, the cooler and fresher the breeze felt against Twilight’s coat. Rainbow was content to let the winds carry them as they drifted along in the wind, sighing happily as little wisps of cloud powdered themselves against her elongated face. Twilight found the experience subversively serene; like she could just drift for hours, securely fastened to her friend.

“This is… amazing,” Rainbow said after a while. They were drifting over a tall hill with a few earth ponies waving up at them. They hadn’t spoken in almost half an hour.

“Yeah,” Twilight replied, surprised to find herself agreeing. “It really is.”

“Thanks for doing this, Twi.”

“Sure thing. What are friends for?”

“Mm.” After a moment, Rainbow spoke again, her voice laced with uncharacteristic meekness: “It’s not… weird, that I like this?”

“I mean, I sure wasn’t expecting it,” Twilight admitted. “But given your love of flying and the sky, it makes sense.”

“I’ve always wanted to be a balloon or a blimp. Not to ride in one, but actually be one. And it feels better than I ever imagined.” Her voice rang with quiet euphoria. “Would it be weird if I asked to stay like this for a while when we get back to Ponyville? Maybe even, like, for a couple of days? A week?”

Before Twilight even had time to consider it, her voice rang out: “Of course, Rainbow. If it makes you happy!”

As Rainbow Dash squeed with glee, Twilight appended: “But we’ll have to make sure you’re safe, you hear? I’d hate to wake up and hear you were carried off by the wind.”

“Oh please, Twilight.” Some of Rainbow Dash’s characteristic bravado crept back into her voice. “If there’s anyone you don’t have to worry about flying, it’s me.”

Twilight smiled and leaned against the basket, watching the landscape underneath roll by. Somehow, she didn’t doubt it.