Chapters Well, this was it. Dash couldn't put it off any longer. Dash dropped her warm-up towel, exposing her body to the stadium.
And exposing was an understatement. Dash was shaved completely nude. She had seen competitive swimmers that had shaved every hair off their manes trying to shave crucial seconds off of their swim time. And swimmers only move at the speed of a trot- at faster than the speed of sound, the air resistance is atrocious, potentially even deadly if a turn was taken too sharply. So Dash had thought about going nude almost as a joke; she giggled to herself every time the idea came to her for the next couple of days, yeah right, like she would ever do THAT. Then she actually seriously considered doing it; she did like being the center of attention, and there was probably no better way of pulling that off, people would be talking about it for YEARS, way better than mooning people during graduation or something. Finally, she broke down and borrowed some books from Twilight's library, all about air resistance. Dash didn't have go through with her idea, she thought, if the gain wasn't that great; she could always just return the book and tell twilight she just needed something real quick. But the logic checked out, there was no denying it; pegusus fur offered the single most significant source of drag at hypersonic flight. It had to go.
So, finally, she'd done it.
Rainbow Dash's towel hit the astroturf of the stadium. The applause, that had previously beat up to a cacophony, petering away, slowly morphing, into gasps, titters, giggling, whispers, and a few "Oh my gosh"-es.
Rainbow Dash was now standing there bare naked in front of her audience, having shaved herself completely. Nude and hairless, she glanced side to side frantically, with a grimace, to gauge the audience's reaction.
Fluttershy put her hooves to her mouth with a gasp, her face blushing blood red, "Oh. My." Pinkie Pie just laughed; and laughed; and laughed. One would think she would need to inhale at some point, but she did not. Just laughter. Twilight had put two and two together regarding Dash's recently-borrowed books, but had thought herself silly for thinking that. And yet she still wingbonered with an "eep" when she saw Dash in the... flesh. Applejack and Rarity looked at each other to verify that the other was seeing the same thing they were seeing, and then Applejack looked back at the denuded Dash with bemusement; Apparently Applejack found her rather debonair bare.
'This was stupid', Dash thought to herself as entered her starting racing crouch, inevitably showing herself off to someone shouting behind her, "Woo! Take it off!"And as her face turned red, and as her cheeks turned red, and as the tips of her ears turned red in embarrassment, as she heard the wolf whistles in the audience.
Still, it was exciting! and exhilarating! showing off like this. Being the focus of everyone's awareness even more than she usually was. She was actually getting a mild wingboner from all of it, although less pronounced, as she had pulled all her feathers but the primaries; she didn't need that much lift, only speed. The POMF of her wingboner was thus much less pronounced than it usually was. At least the added blood rushing to her wings would help her fly. For once in her life, Dash was glad she wasn't a stallion; her wings' and face's blush was enough. Could the audience see it?
There was still time to go back on this. She didn't have to do it. She had her Wonderbolts uniform still hanging in her locker, nice and clean and ready to go. She could always run out and put it on real quick, and claim this all was some sort of prank, like streaking.... In fact, she would; her Wonderbolts suit was already aerodynamic enough, right? She didn't need to go through with it. It was getting REALLY hot and uncomfortable out here in front of everyone, and it would probably be better to --
BANG, the starting pistol was fired by the ref, still looking intently at the watch in his forehoof, and at nothing else, not knowing or caring what the fuss was about, as his flare shot straight into the air.
ZOOM, based mostly on sheer reflex, Rainbow Dash took off at that, leaving her warm-up towel right there where it fell. In the grass.
Her only covering.
She was going to be completely nude for the rest of her flight.
* * *
"This is radio WKEQ, reporting Wonderbolt Rainbow Dash's attempt to finally beat Wind Rider's world record in the Mustang Marathon. This interview was prerecorded earlier this morning by our correspondent on the field.
"So, Wonderbolt Dash, I see you're holding that towel awfully close. It it a good luck charm of some description?"
"No, I'm just … uh … cold."
"It is, indeed, a very chilly morning here at the arena, but the morning fog is almost lifted. with the heat of Celestia's new day, and soon you will be off to make some history. How do you feel about that?"
"Great! I've been training, like, all the time!"
"Could you tell our fans some of the preparations you've made for today?"
"Uh.. That I … um... That I well, just perfectly normal... training...stuff. Nothing, really."
"What do you normally do to train?"
"Oh. OH! Uh, carbo-loading, energy drinks, things like that. Gotta get those electrolytes! Heh heh."
"Will the grass being sopping wet with dew have any effect on your ability to get off ground?"
"Uh..uh...uh... Uh, no. I plan to go almost straight up for the first...uh part. and hit the upper atmosphere. The light air will give me less wind resistance, so you probably won't be able to … see me. all the way up there. Very well."
"Now, I'm no pegasus, but isn't air resistance a major factor?"
"Oh, you have no idea. I gotta do everything I can to, er... shave off some of that air resistance. Erm … yeah."
"Are you wearing your trademark Wonderbolt uniform, then?"
"Uhm... no? actually."
"Oh what are you wearing then? Something special?"
"You … might say that. Heh."
"Oh, is it going to be a surprise?"
"Oh, it sure is."
Rainbow Dash hadn't even told her friends. Probably because she didn't even believe she was going to do it herself. She had brought the Wonderbolts uniform that day, just in case, and had stared at it the whole time she was shaving and plucking, in case this crazy thing didn't work and she'd have to wear clothes after all, as she just KNEW it wouldn't work. It was a crazy idea, after all. Might as well try it, and then when it doesn't work she can forget this whole thing and do it more modestly. But the shaving had gone off beautifully; Dash was almost disappointed as she stared at her pinkish, nude self in the mirror. Not a stitch of clothing or a single hair on herself, anywhere. Perfectly bare. Perfectly aerodynamic.
Well, fine then. With a mighty buck, Dash slammed the locker door shut, and it gave a mighty CLANG in response. Well... this was... unfortunate. And she was sure she'd screw up the shaving somewhere, have to stop, have to admit it wasn't going to work, something. But it did work.. And now she doesn't have that excuse anymore. Dash had to at least try it, to go for it. And if she actually somehow pulled it off... well there she was, standing there in her birthday suit instead of her Wonderbolts suit.
"I'm cold", she'd said to the empty locker room, crossing her forehooves for warmth. She grabbed a towel off the rack and wrapped it around her like a cocoon. This would be perfect to keep her dignity … for at least a little while longer, relieved at that, as she'd walked out for her interview. At least she didn't have to do THAT in the nude. Even if Dash was only wearing a towel; at least it was something.
* * *
"And under that towel, Rainbow Dash is completely bald!
"Without even a tail to tuck between her legs, she should be glad she is only on the radio. She streaked past the flare on takeoff, pardon the pun, and now she's levelling out, and here comes her trademark Sonic Rainboom, you can hear it now ..."
BOOM Rainbow Dash, now shorn of her towel, flew over tiny ponies resembling ants, and knew that then they could see her back. Did they know her secret? Had the message gotten this far? Surely some of them had binoculars or telescopes and were getting QUITE a view right now. Dash briefly thought of going all the way around the town, instead of over the center of Ponyville, but that would cost her precious minutes, which she did not have. In her training runs, she always missed the record by a hair's breadth. She was counting on her lack of hair to make up the difference. Finally, she realized she had no choice but to just flash the city, and if anyone managed to get a good look at her, well... that would suck, but the reward would be worth any amount of humiliation.
She was startled by the flashbulbs of cameras going off below her. "Oh, Celestia, they have cameras, too?" She prayed they didn't have telephoto lenses. She could live with news-clip photo of her as a speck in the distance, but not something more … saucy. Would newspapers even be allowed to print such a picture? She didn't need that type of exposure.
Still, it was too late now. Nothing to do but to fly forward. It DID give her added incentive to get through the town as fast as possible, putting on a burst of speed and a new sonic rainboom.
* * *
Rainbow Dash had to admit, flying nude did everything she was trying for and more. Not only was she slicing through the air like a blade, but she was lighter, too. It felt like 10% of her body weight had been hair. She knew of ponies trying to sweat off a few pounds of water-weight to make a weight class, but fur weight? It felt as if gravity itself was going easy on her. This rocked.
As long as no one could see her doing it.
But then what was the fun of it if no one was paying attention to her? No cheering crowds? She positively needed to be the bestest and fastest that she was. What fun is breaking records nopony knew about? Maybe she could streak by them only a little bit, or something. Dash would need to think about it.
* * *
There was the target... far below. It was so huge as to be unmistakable, draped across the grass of some stadium in Griffinstone, whose only requirement that it was precisely due East of Ponyville, so Dash could follow the sun all the way in. Dash was aiming for it like a cannonball, flapping frantically to slow herself down, realizing that she did not have as much lift force as she normally did, and was coming in way, way, WAY too fast. "This was so stupid. This was so stupid" she chanted to herself in what was becoming a mantra, as she desperately flapped. "This was so stupid. This was so stupid." She would have to curve down more than usual and hit the target like bowling pins; "this was so stupid. This was so stupid." What she wouldn't give to have some feathers covering her up about now. "This was so stupid. This was so stupid." By Celestia, she was NOT going to die naked. Finally, with an absolute tsunami of air, Rainbow Dash made a perfect touchdown, right in the center of the target. Had she done it? Had she made the record?
"And Dash beats the record by two minutes, thirty-seven seconds!" some griffin announcer somewhere boomed over some loudspeaker somewhere and the stadium full of griffins erupted into applause.
In a sudden attack of modesty, Dash bolted for the goal line, where she saw a tiny stage and podium with a microphone set out for her. Was she expected to make a speech? Like this? In the buff? Dash quickly ducked behind the podium just in time. And … they were taking pictures again. At least Dash had a podium in front of her, which hid the important parts from the photographs.
Unlike in Ponyville, the applause didn't die down. It kept coming. Rainbow Dash finally realized: Most griffins had never seen a pony before. For all they knew, a furless pony was normal!
The idea struck Dash: all she had to do was to own her nudity, and effectively she was no longer naked! Dash could go as bare as she wanted to! As long as no one thought it was weird, she would totally get completely away with it.
"And here to greet her is Honorary Pony … Gabby."
As Gabby walked up to the podium in front of the cheering multitudes, Dash unconsciously crossed her hind legs slightly, in a desperate attempt to maintain her modesty in front of the only one in all of Griffonstone who could possibly know she was, in actual fact, indecent right now.
"… Dash … uh..., " Gabby tilted her head. "Did … did you know you were naked? Wow! Did you really fly that fast?"
"Not exactly," Dash absentmindedly rubbed the back of her neck with a forehoof in embarrassment as she blushed . "It's like a … trick to be more aerodynamic." Man, Dash should have thought of that, flying so fast her fur flew off. That would've been a good story to tell people, if she hadn't been spotted taking off nude from Ponyville. Still, maybe that story could still be salvaged, somehow. Dash put it in the back of her mind to muddle over later. She had to focus right now. What was that the announcer said?
"Dash!"
"Oh, Gilda. Not you, too."
"I couldn't let my favorite dweeb make a new record and not show up. Although I didn't expect you to look so … handsome while doing it." Gilda said with a snerk.
"Har har," Dash's hind legs were definitely crossed now. And her face was definitely blushing. She had to take control of the situation, somehow.
Gabby piped up "Oh, hush Gilda, it's an aerodynamic thing for fliers, nothing to be ashamed of."
"An aerodynamics thing, huh?" Gilda raised one eyebrow and crossed her arms. "I'm skeptical. How come I've never heard of this, before?"
Dash tossed her head back, trying to act nonchalant, "Oh, it's the just the new thing in high-impact sports. Really cuts my flight time. Surprised you haven't heard of it." So all she had to do to pull this off was to show some confidence in her nude body. And if there was anything Rainbow Dash could do, it was confidence!
.
(Dash did hope, however, that none of the photos the crowd was taking made it back to Equestria.)
(And it was still super-mega-awkward autographing naked pictures of herself all afternoon.)
Dash had to be careful to stop self-consciously covering herself with her hooves. If she was too obvious about being naked, the griffins might start getting suspicious. This probably meant she couldn't just mummify herself in another towel.
With a gulp, Dash realized this meant she was going to be on full display for the rest of the festivities until she could get to somewhere private. This made the long, boring speeches that were given afterwards scarier, and also more exciting; They Didn't Know. She was technically flashing all of them and They Didn't Know. It was scary and exciting both. It felt weird and bizarre. She felt both humiliated and proud.
It was still super-mega-awkward autographing naked pictures of herself all afternoon. Being the only one that knew they were naked pictures helped, but didn't make it any less awkward; especially Gilda's. Dash wondered if she was actually planning on using it for blackmail material, later, but then blackmail her with what? Everyone in Equestria already knew what she'd done, and besides, she'd beaten a record; that was something to be proud of; it was a trophy, not something to be ashamed of. Dash should be just as proud of her nudist uniform as she was of her Wonderbolt uniform.
Dash finally realized with a start, her Wonderbolt uniform was still hanging in her locker back in Ponyville. That meant she had to fly back home naked, too.
Unless she wanted to go clothes shopping here, but then she had no money on her, because she had no pockets or saddlebags. And even if she could try to capitalize on her fame, nothing the griffins made would be her size, anyway. And that's not even counting the problem of having to scour the town nude, which would only increase the odds of someone figuring it out. She could ask Gabby or Gilda, but then they were on the razor's edge of realizing it, anyway; if she asked one of them to get her something to cover herself with, they would know why right away.
It wasn't until the speech was over and it was time to take off again that Dash finally realized what she had to do, where she had to go. It was the closest, and also the least likely to get her spotted in her current state, and by the fewest ponies. Downside: It was also the most embarrassing place she could possibly be.
* * *
Spitfire's eyes were watering with the effort of trying, and failing, to hold in her constant snickers. Her hoof on her mouth helped somewhat, but not nearly enough. Her outspread orange wings shook lightly with each chuckle, "Crash, You're naked under all that, aren't you?"
"Yes, ma'am"
"I just needed to hear you say it. Oh, my." Spitfire gestured towards the door with the other hoof, "Could you … give me a minute?"
"It's okay, go ahead and laugh. I know I look ridiculous." Dash had re-cocooned herself with a towel from the showers, and had accidentally flashed Soarin while fetching it. How embarrassing. This was stupid. She should have flown back to Ponyville.
Spitfire wiped the tears out of her eyes, at last able to speak again, "Oh, not half as ridiculous as a certain photograph. I think I'm going to have it framed. Could you autograph if for me?" She pulled out a photo ready at hoof, trying to pretend to be stern. "You do realize that your recent … escapades do not look favorably on the Wonderbolts."
Dash protested "But that wasn't done as a Wonderbolt! I was … out of uniform..." Dash trailed off as Spitfire burst into a new avalanche of table-pounding laughter. Dash just had to bear it for a little longer, then she could send for her uniform, and just wear that for the next two weeks until her fur grew back in. Right?
"But here I'd already thought of the perfect punishment! You see, Maintenance couldn't find any trace of a Wonderbolts uniform in Ponyville. Perhaps someone galloped off with it? And the form-fitting Wonderbolt uniforms can't be churned out on an assembly line, they're made to exacting measurements; they're meant to be skin-tight, and unique to each Wonderbolt. Which means, given that we had no notice that you'd be... losing yours …" Spitfire grinned ear-to-ear, but actually managed not to break out into anymore snickers. "It will be one to two weeks before your new uniform arrives."
"No uniform for one week?!"
"Or two. Or somewhere in between."
"I need to train in the nude for at least a WEEK?!"
"Well, you could wear a cadet uniform if you want. It will at least cover your back, which I admit isn't much help at all. Oh, and if you go off campus, be aware the towels are Wonderbolt property."
"..."
"Oh, you might want to wait on that shower; I think Soarin is in there right now."
"I already know...." Dash deadpanned
"How would you … oh … OH- …. You've got to tell me about that!"
* * *
"Soarin … how long are you gonna be in there?"
"Um .. I've got a little problem. Every time I think of you standing out there all stupid sexy. It's very...um... arousing, if you get my drift."
"Oh.... OH! Well, um. Hmmm."
They were both silent for a minute.
Dash thought of something first, "How about we both close our eyes and not look at the other while we pass by. You can go to your bunk, dry off and get changed, and I can, er... shower."
* * *
Spitfire mused over the photograph in front of her. "Well, I've got to say, if you're you're lookin' half as good under that towel, as you do in this photo, I understand. Wow."
"Oh, come on..."
"I'm serious this time. I think they got your best side." A mild blush came to Spitfire's cheeks this time, betraying her bravado. "Oh, and 'Flash', I did arrange you to have the opposite training schedule to Soarin, if you want, so you're not on at the same time. Let the rest of us enjoy your hot flank."
Dash stopped. She'd been embarrassed this whole time over her exposed body, but here was someone saying she was … attractive? That was silly. Rarity was attractive. Fluttershy was attractive. Dash was just … Dash. Dash was sweaty and short and proportioned for flying, not … beauty.
But it occurred to Rainbow Dash that maybe … maybe not all of that was meant to be sarcastic. Rainbow had never described herself as beautiful before, and here was someone saying she was a beautiful mare? Rainbow would never describe herself as beautiful in a thousand years on the moon.
Rainbow said, "Are you serious? I thought I looked ridiculous."
"Well, you kinda do, but it really accentuates your gorgeous butt. It looks good on ya, Flash."
"Gorgeous?"
"Like a skintight Wonderbolts uniform, but more so; and I've seen enough of those to know. Now I'm waxing poetic. Get your gorgeous butt out of my office before I change my mind on the training schedule."
Rainbow walked out of that office with an entirely new perspective on her body, not as a source of embarrassment, but a source of pride.
Huh.
She threw the towel over one shoulder on her trip to return it to the showers, walking with a certain swagger. Her head was high and her walk returned to her familiar canter from its previous mope.
She, Rainbow Dash, was gorgeous.
Rainbow had meant to stay up all night, but had to settle for waking up with a start early in the morning, "Omigosh; I fell asleep." With a multicolored zoom, she streaked into the before-dawn sky, desperate to get to Rarity's before anyone woke up for the day.
The wind tickled the peach-fuzz of hair that was growing in Rainbow's mane and especially her tail, allowing it to act as a rudder again when it caught the wind, although her fur had yet to follow suit. She had all her control surfaces back, as her feathers were coming back in nicely, as well; those were meant to fall out and be replaced after all, but they were growing in faster than usual. Perhaps they picked up the … colder air on her feathers, like a winter versus a summer coat. Rainbow was glad she hadn't tried this stunt in winter; she would have froze for sure.
Her tail wasn't anywhere near long enough to cover up her private parts, though, and that concerned her for reasons even beyond modesty. She could feel the air flowing over their sensitivity, and this threw off her tracking, among other things. She was going to need some sort of cover-up before she did any further major flying, especially if the wind kept blowing as it was today. And if there was anypony who knew clothes ...
* * *
"Darling, of course! I rather expected to see you after … that ... bit … the day before yesterday. I've even started a whole new ensemble. It's almost finished. I'll have it by this afternoon."
"I don't need an 'ensemble'. I just need something to cover myself with so I can fly straight and, besides, not get any wolf whistles."
"well, yes, yes, but if you're going to wear clothes, why not be gorgeous!?"
There was that word again. Rainbow paused at that, at least seeing where Rarity was coming from. Rainbow did want to be gorgeous, for once; she wanted to turn some heads and be paid attention to, and for all the right reasons instead of the wrong ones.
"Oooohhhhh kaaaaay, how about something to tide me over until then? Do you have some shorts or something?"
"I have a couple of nice skirts. I think this one-"
"Shorts."
"I'm a dressmaker, not a shortsmaker. I really think this pattern would go with your eyes."
"Shorts!"
Rarity sighed. "Fine, I'll grab you a pair of dress trousers. No, don't complain. I know its hot outside. It's the only other thing I have already-made, that would cover your … indecency. If you want anything else, I would have to make it up on the spot and it will just make everything else take longer."
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
" … "
So Rainbow had nothing to do but sit tight for a couple hours in a pair of dress pants.
She couldn't practice flying tricks; the wind was too harsh. They'd already canceled Wonderbolts practice for the day because of it. And it was too hot of a day to do anything athletic, especially in long dress pants. She was glad, once again to have a lot less fur. She could get used to this on hot days. Maybe she could just shave her top or something, in future. Or she could wear a swimsuit.
And that gave Rainbow an idea.. She could wade in the swimming hole.
* * *
Well, this was certainly interesting. No one else here on such a hot day? Then again, it was VERY early in the morning, and on a weekday. There shouldn't have been a surprise there. But then, of no one else was here, that means ...
Rainbow and already taken off her pants before the thought had even finished, and was heading for the water for some skinny-dipping at full speed. Without even slowing down, and with an absolutely cacophonous splash, she impacted the water, and then bobbed back up like a cork. Now THIS was more like it.
The water felt so different on her bare skin. It was cooler, too with less insulation between her and the water. This was perfect for the hot day. Even with the breeze, it was still too hot for comfort, and it wasn't even noon! There must have been a lot of complaints about the cold mornings this week for them to schedule this much heat. But then, at least they added a breeze to make up for it.
In fact, the wind had really picked up. Rainbow Dash looked over to see it was tumbling her pants end-over-end like a tumbleweed. Wow. If the wind picks up much more then it might even …
Suddenly it occurred to her. "No. no. Please, Celestia, no."
But Celestia evidently did not hear her, and they inflated with the wind, and then flew off like a sail before she could do anything else.
"Well... this swim is going to go a lot longer than I thought."
She couldn't fly to her house; as soon as she cleared the treetops everyone would see her body. She was still getting flashbacks from all the nude photos plastered all over Griffonstone. She could wait until nighttime again, when everyone was asleep, but that would take all day, and Rarity might not even be open by then.
Rainbow Dash spent much time feather-dipping through the water, pondering over her problem.
Well, at least she could enjoy her swim in the meantime.
Dash was still pondering when her ears perked up with the familiar voice of... Scootaloo. That's right, school was out wasn't it? She must have wanted to go for a swim. Scootaloo did love swimming.
"Rainbow Dash?!" Scootaloo dropped her towel in shock seeing her hero in such a compromising position.
"Uh... Scoots! Can you do me a huge favor? Go to Rarity and get me a dress as fast as possible. And Scoots-" Dash interrupted the filly midway running away, who turned with start.
"Yeah?"
"Try to make sure it's not too frou-frou."
Scootaloo took off running at full gallop.
* * *
"I'm so sorry, Dash. She said these were the only things she had in right now. "
Rainbow couldn't wear this. She'd be a laughingstock.
The bright pink dress was covered in white lace and spangles. And glitter. And sequins. It was embarrassing just to look at, let alone put on.
But she really had no choice. Her only pants and blown away. The only other clothing she even owned was gala dresses, which she couldn't fly in, and Scootaloo couldn't reach Rainbow Dash's cloud house, anyway, to get them. Maybe this was all an elaborate prank by Rarity.
"Maybe... maybe it wont be so bad once it's on?" Scootaloo said, hopefully.
No. Very no. Rainbow Dash would rather wear nothing at all back to Rarity's than... than.. this monstrosity.
So that's what she did.
* * *
Pinkie Pie jangled the bell signaling her entrance into Carousel Boutique. She wandered over to Dash, sitting morosely in a chair with her head in her hooves, staring down at a particular spot on the ground.
"Dashie, what are you doing here? And why are you going out naked again?"
"I'm getting clothes. Why are you here?"Dash looked up at Pinkie, who seemed somehow a little... pinker than usual, somehow.
"You can't tell?" Pinkie pie turned sideways to show of her flank. She sing-songed, "I think you caaaaan."
Dash wasn't one hundred percent sure, She reached out one hoof tentatively and touched Pinkie Pie's bare flesh. "Whoa. Did you … too?"
"Yeppers"
"And can everyone see your....?"
Pinkie turned again, another ninety degrees to show off her back side, "Well, kind of. I kept my poofy tail, but it doesn't really hide anything."
"Whoa. But … why? You don't fly."
"Well, I wanted to commiserate with you. Also, it is SO HOT! Oh, my Celestia! And it seemed like such a fun idea. And it was! It is SO cooler now. I can feel the breeze. Ahhhh!"
Rainbow laughed. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, if she had a comrade-in-hooves. Rainbow shouted in through the back hallway, "Rarity, I'm going out just like I am."
She was going to the watering hole. To feather-dip.
Rarity came storming out, "What did I hear you say? Going out... THAT way? In front of All the world? Are you a barbarian?"
"Oh, Pinkie, did you remember to put on extra sunblock? There are places you don't want to get sunburned."
"Oooh, good idea. We can pick some up at the store on the way."
Dash wore a blush, a sheepish grin, and nothing else to Wonderbolts practice the next morning. Although Rainbow was training with only female Wonderbolts for the time being, she could still see some of them looking away quickly with a red face whenever she turned her head; even Spitfire. Dash simply grinned back.
"Now we're going to try a formation. Flash, here, will be in the lead. For obvious reasons. This will help you keep your eyes on her at all times. This is vitally important at close quarters! Don't get distracted! With the tweet of the whistle, Flash."
She could feel their gaze on her as if it were a solid thing making contact with her body.
Suddenly, from the rear of the formation, Spitfire's whistle blew . They were off.
Again, acting on instinct, Rainbow took to the sky. She could feel the wind running over her bare skin as she flew faster. She could hear the thump-beats of the other Wonderbolts as they flew in formation behind her. From what Rainbow could tell, during banking and brief glimpses behind herself, this was the tightest, most perfect formation they had ever flown. Not only was she leading the formation, but all eyes were on her; Rainbow was the center of attention. Rainbow was the star.
And she loved every millisecond of it.
Rainbow was 'In The Zone', as if everything was moving in slow motion, exactly as it always was when she was winning a race. She tittered to herself every time another Wonderbolt got bug-eyed upon seeing something they shouldn't, especially when Spitfire got a sheepish grin and Spitfire's own blush both got ever deeper with each bank left or right. Rainbow made sure to kept adding more and more banks and flips to tease her, until they were positively corkscrewing through the air, all in absolute synchrony. It was perfect.
Rainbow was owning this nude flying thing.
They landed. Spitfire was simply dripping with sweat. And it wasn't from any workout, Rainbow knew. Even with her fiery mane, Rainbow could see the blood rush to her face, as Spitfire simply could not meet her eyes; she stared deeply at the ground; the ground was the most interesting object in existence. Because if she didn't, she would instinctively look at the other most interesting object in existence. It was almost as if Spitfire were the one who was naked and Rainbow decent. Spitfire was timid and embarrassed, pawing the ground in a nervous twitch, wings flared as far as they could physically go, almost trembling, eyes straight down. While Rainbow was confident, her usual brash self, making absolutely no attempt to hide her bare plot from anyone's gaze.
Far from being humiliated, Rainbow ... had won.
Which is why it really shouldn't have been as surprising as it was when she showed up for the afternoon training, too.
It was immediately apparent when Soarin's wings splayed out in arousal, that the denuded Rainbow had stepped out of the locker room, wearing only a towel around her neck this time, as she had showered between sessions, while Spitfire had been resetting the field, and doubtlessly was using the time to cool down mentally, as well.
Curious, Thunderlane followed Soarin's gaze and repeated Soarin's manoeuvre. Then, Spitfire did as well.
Spitfire yelled, in her trademark gruff, commando voice, "Flash, what are you doing here? You're off for the rest of the day."
Rainbow sauntered right up to Spitfire, almost nose-to-nose, with the biggest 'I'm getting away with this and I know it' look on her face, "Oh... I thought I needed some... extra training... you know, since I don't have my uniform on and all... the air resistance was all wonky. I was having some trouble with my ... slipstream."
Spitfire grit her teeth, bumped noses with Rainbow, and growled. "There are boys in this exercise! They... Can... See... Your... Genitalia."
"That's fine. I don't mind if they don't. Do you, boys?"
Spitfire also looked over at both of them standing there in slack-jawed open-mouthed amazement, even their wings forgotten at this gift of Celestia in front of them.
Spitfire reminded them, "Well, do you boys?"
"Oh, yes. I mean NO! NO! Of course not!" "You can fly all day with us!" "The more the merrier." "Don't mind at all." "Come with us... I mean... in the air. I mean .... uh ... um ... come fly with us."
Spitfire facehooved. She may have been in a bit of a spot, but she was a captain first. She looked up again. "ATTENTION! THAT IS NOT A PROPER TAKEOFF LINE FOR A FORMATION FLIGHT! YOU WILL FALL IN LINE! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!"
"YES, MA'AM." They were also boys second, Wonderbolts first. They also instinctively moved with their commanding officer's orders.
"Since Flash here apparently enjoys the attention, she will be taking the front again. And I've never seen you boys more focused. Good! This is vitally important at close quarters! You will keep your eyes on her at all times!"
"You don't have to tell us twice."
"IF YOU HAVE THE AIR TO MAKE SNIDE REMARKS, YOU HAVE THE AIR TO TRAIN AN EXTRA TWENTY MINUTES!"
"Yes, ma'am."
"I will stay here, then, and monitor your progress. At the whistle, Flash!"
The boys were only too easy to tease. And Rainbow had thought Spitfire was bad; Soarin and Thunderlane were virtually magnetized onto her. There wasn't a turn, roll, or dive she couldn't perform that didn't have the guys hot on her tail to sneak a look at her tail.
Rainbow got ever more elaborate, certain she could shake off at least one of them, but evidently no. Finally, she put even the morning workout to shame and still they were glued to her flank.
Spitfire was right, she'd never seen the boys more focused. On her. On everything she was doing. Rainbow could see how Rarity liked all the attention. Rainbow enjoyed being gorgeous, having all eyes on her. It was exhilarating having them wrapped around her hoof this way. She could get used to this. Rainbow was attractive. Others were attracted to her. Willing to do anything just for an extra couple seconds near her. Wow.
Spitfire's whistle snapped her out of her reverie. They dived to ground, giving Spitfire a start and another blush as Rainbow landed in front of her, flashing her only accedentally along the way.
Rainbow asked, "What's wrong?"
"Northing’s wrong, Flash. That's two hours and twenty-FIVE minutes. I was wondering when you were coming down."
"Really? I hadn't noticed," Soarin looked at Thunderlane.
"It went by so fast."
"I often have that effect." Rainbow grinned. Although Rainbow hadn't noticed the time either. She was having too much fun.
Spitfire studied her clipboard intently. "And I've got to hand it to you guys, that was the best practice I think I've ever seen. Keep flying like that and we may be able to move the show up a bit. Dismissed."
Rainbow was stretching her back, trying to work some of the kinks out of her wings at the unusually long flying session. She was at it a good thirty-count, before she realized the others weren't moving toward the locker room. She looked behind her and realized that she'd been putting on quite a show. Spitfire was writing on her clipboard, but the two guys were back in stare-into-space mode.
Rainbow wasn't the only one who noticed, Spitfire looked up, too. "I said DISMISSED!"
"Yes, ma'am," they all three ran for the locker room.
* * *
Rainbow went right to the shower head, since she didn't have a uniform to take off. But she noticed the others weren't changing out of their own uniforms.
"Aren't you guys going to take a shower?"
The two male Wonderbolts looked at each other. Soarin spoke first, "We were going to wait until you were done."
"Why?"
"Well, that flight was very ... well.."
"and we can't take off our uniforms because ... well..."
Rainbow noticed their straight-out wings and put two and two together with her knowledge of male anatomy. "Oh ... I see... I... guess I'll shower at home, then. Sorry."
She scampered out, laughing the whole time.
* * *
As soon as she stepped out of the locker room, she came face-to-face with Spitfire.
"Good news, Flash. They found your uniform. Here it is. Put it on. Now." She threw it at Rainbow's face, who held it up in front of herself.
Rainbow was actually disappointed. She'd been looking forward to several more training days exactly like this one. One to two weeks Spitfire had said, maybe even more if she was lucky. Now she had to wear clothes again.
Sighing, Rainbow struggled to put it on.
Somehow... it just... didn't fit.
"Are you sure this is my uniform? I think it's someone else's you're trying to pawn off on me," Rainbow said with a smile.
Spitfire looked genuinely confused. "But it is your uniform. It even says "Crash" on the label. It's a genuine Wonderbolts uniform. I've seen enough of them. I don't get it."
Rainbow's eyes got wide, "I do."
"What?"
Rainbow grimaced, "Well, you know how your fur kinda bunches up inside the suit?"
"Yeah, it's supposed to be more aerodynamic, after all, for those who don't want to go as far as you do, Flash, in getting fur out of the way."
"Well... I don't have any fur to bunch. It's way too loose."
Rainbow put all four hooves together for emphasis, making it obvious she was right. The suit was a good eight sizes too big for her now. The neck hole slid over her shoulders and shoulder blades as if it were a fluid. The suit caught briefly on her wing slits before continuing to peel down both sides of her flank and finally fell to the ground in a puddle.
Leaving Rainbow Dash standing in front of Spitfire naked again. There was no friction. Nothing for the suit to catch on. The same thing that had made Rainbow so aerodynamic also made her immune to her own suit.
Spitfire actually blinked several times at the suit outright rejecting being worn by Rainbow Dash, "Well..." She began again, "Well... I guess you'll be going naked tomorrow, too."
"Fine by me," Rainbow trotted out, leaving the suit puddle where it was on the ground.
Spitfire quietly gathered it up, turned, and called out, "Good! Then you better hope your fur grows back before the next show!"
Well, Rainbow's fur was growing back before the next show. And the tiny, invisible prickles itched well enough, but she'd lost her extra edge during flying which she'd grown quite a bit used to, as well as some.. other perks from the boys.
"FLASH! Look out!" Spitfire yelled "COME ON! You've been training double-time since you got naked; you should be better than this, suit or no suit."
But that was simply the problem, her stubble was getting in the way of the air again. Rainbow was used to sonic acceleration taking no time at all; it had become second nature, like walking, something to play with as she danced around the other (especially the male) Wonderbolts. Spitfire had even incorporated her new flourishes and twirls into the act; at least, she had once Spitfire got the boys to stop staring while they were in flight. That was Rainbow's new rule: stare as goggle-eyed as you want on the ground, but in the air, all eyes up front. They didn't need any more crash landings due to her nudity, or the boys' attraction thereof. Rainbow still caught them sneaking a peak under her tail every once in a while, and, very rarely, caught spitfire looking too, although Spitfire was more professional about it, and never, ever in flight.
But as much as Rainbow enjoyed being the center of attention, she was a flier first and foremost, and she just. kept. misjudging. speed... TWEET, Spitfire's whistle broke her reverie for the third time. That's it, Rainbow was coming back down.
"Not feeling it today, huh, Flash?" Spitfire was furiously scribbling on her clipboard while looking, well, furious. "I was going to start the next show whenever your fur grew in, and I'd thought we'd be ready with time to spare. Something bothering you, Flash?"
"That's just it! My fur is growing back in, and it's slowing me down. I think I'm going to need to shave it again."
Spitfire furrowed her brow, "Then... when would we do the show?"
Well, here was the bombshell.
"I'm going to fly nude."
Rainbow continued "I know you've secretly been waiting to perform until it grows in, and I'm sorry, but there's no way around it, I'm just … better at flying when I'm naked. It's not only the air resistance, but that certainly helps. It's … the confidence. The strut. The swag." Rainbow pawed at the ground with one hoof, looking down and not at Spitfire, her voice got small, "I like being gorgeous."
Spitfire didn't look angry anymore. If anything, she looked to be fighting a laugh. She fought the laugh valiantly, but enough snerks got out, here and there a snerk sound, that she eventually lost the battle and laughed out loud.
"Well, if anyone can fly naked in front of Celestia and everybody, it would be you. I wasn't going to make you to go naked for the show. But if you want to … well, I'm not going to stop you, Flash.
Spitfire started pacing a circle around Rainbow, "Although, something we'll need to think on: Do you know why we even have a Wonderbolts uniform?"
"Air resistance?"
"Discipline! To show we are a team!"
Soarin grinned at Spitfire, "Does that mean you're going to start showing up naked?"
"No!" Spitfire pierced him with a look. "Why? Are you volunteering?"
"No ma'am!" Soarin went back to staring straight ahead, at attention. "Us guys have … other issues."
Thunderlane grinned at him, "Aw, I wouldn't mind doing a nude show, as long as everyone else was, too."
Surprise took the opportunity to trot back onto the field from the locker room, "Are we having a nudist show? Does that mean I can join?"
"No!" Spitfire facehoofed.
Rainbow laughed at the normally stoic Spitfire losing control of the situation, "You did say if we wanted to go naked you wouldn't stop us."
"FINE!" She slammed her clipboard of calendar dates to the ground unusually loudly. "But you will absolutely have to perform in whatever you go through dress rehearsal in! No one gets to backsies-out later! And keep in mind, that *I* am wearing a Wonderbolts uniform. DISMISSED" Spitfire stomped off back to the locker room.
"So when is this dress rehearsal?" Soarin asked Rainbow Dash.
"Oh, we can ask her when she comes back." Surprise responded for her.
"What do you mean?"
"She's going to turn around and come back any second. She forgot her clipboard."
* * *
Rainbow walked out of the shower completely naked, to the pre-starry almost-night of the Wonderbolts Academy balcony, now shorn of her fine 'miniature-golf-grass' of fur, feeling the wind tease her wet, bare skin. At least it would stop itching, now. She wondered who could see her from here. Maybe she could strike a pose for the benefit of anyone watching. She looked over the guardrail to see if she could spot anyone.
Four of the six active Wonderbolts had decided to perform naked. Some to commiserate with Rainbow. Some to show Loyalty to the team. One because she just wanted to, Because It Looked Like Fun. They couldn't have ALL decided to go naked for the show. After all, there were a lot of fans, and even though they liked to show off, some of them were a bit more shy than Rainbow and Surprise. Soarin and Spitfire were the only ones who were in uniforms, presumably with fur on under them.
Thunderlane hung out in the doorway behind her, unwilling to expose himself on the balcony. "Did I do it right?"
Rainbow trotted over, spotting the other Wonderbolts who had collected outside the showers in various states of undress, and Thunderlane's head peeking around the corner, behind a support pillar. He self-consciously rotated with Rainbow, moving in time with her so she couldn't see the rest of him. She leaned way, way over and flagged her tail to one side, "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."
Thunderlane shuffled in place for a while, and finally repeated the same action so Rainbow could see him. They had learned some things from Rainbow's first attempt: Cut the tail hair as short as possible, but not off entirely. Like a kite, the tail a control surface; same with the wing-feathers, primaries full, secondaries trimmed, tertiaries plucked, maximizing the ratio of lift-to-air-resistance.
Soarin was out of uniform, but still in fur. "No way. No how. I'm a boy. They'll see my private parts if my fur isn't covering them. It will be as if I have an erection all the time.
Rainbow repeated her action, exposing herself to Soarin now, generating the familiar POMF of a wingboner. "Bud", Rainbow said, "I think that's going to happen, anyway, if you stare at us long enough."
Soarin clutched between his hind legs, "Can I at least fly at the back of the V?"
Fleetfoot was having her wingfeathers examined by Surprise, saying, "You should ask Spitfire when she gets back. Did she ever go through with it? Where is she, anyway?"
Spitfire lived up to her name in answer; a fiery comet lighting up the night sky, as she streaked towards the balcony. Well, not streaked; she was wearing clothes, as well as, following behind her, a fiery red corona, giving the blue haze of evening a bright red tint.
Ongoing conversations stopped as Spitfire tumble-rolled onto the balcony, yielding velocity as last-minute as possible, "Listen up! Message from the castle: We're going to the Dragonlands for an Emergency situation. As. Fast. As. Possible. I quote Celestia's orders, "It is critically imperative that you reach the dragon lands by dawn. You are ordered to take whatever steps are necessary to do so."
"Is that even possible?" Someone murmured
Rainbow replied with a swagger, "It will be now. Heh, Spitfire will be in last place for once."
Soarin took a half-step forward, "No. She will need to be stripped, too."
Spitfire's pupils shrank to pinpricks, 'What?!"
"You are ordered, by Celestia herself, to do whatever is necessary to get there in time. It isn't possible to do it unless you are stripped. Therefore, it is necessary to do. If we all help, we can do it quickly."
Spitfire closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths.
"Okay"
She opened her eyes again.
"Do it."
* * *
Shorn of her fiery orange fur, naked, buff Spitfire looked much like the other Wonderbolts, now. "Well, at least we all match again," Spitfire mused. "That's one problem solved, at least. Let's take off."
"Now we finally get a chance to see YOUR hot flank," Rainbow laughed.
"Quiet, Flash. This is all your fault, you know."
"DANGIT, Surprise! I keep looking!" Soarin called out to the pony immediately in front of him. "You're going to give me a rudder at this rate!"
"That's the ideaaaa," she sing-songed. "Can you resist the temptation of looking when I shake my plot? Come on, get some blood into those wings. It'll help you fly faster."
It really did help, Rainbow mused; otherwise, Spitfire never would have put up with Surprise's continuous teasing of Soarin. Of course, all Soarin had to do was stare straight ahead as he was supposed to, instead of constantly sneaking a peek, but he kept losing that battle with himself, or rather, Surprise was 'winning' it somehow.
Rainbow was flying the head of the V, being the one most comfortable with flying naked. Spitfire and Soarin were in the back, so none of the other Wonderbolts could directly see their genders; that was the compromise they'd agreed on. The left side of the formation was Spitfire-Thunderlane-Rainbow, in what Rainbow assumed was Spitfire asserting some privilege in getting to see Thunderlane, especially after Thunderlane got a good look at Rainbow Dash. From what Rainbow could tell from occasional quick glances, his face, ears, and wings were more orange than Spitfire's old fur, so she could only imagine what the rest of him looked like. The right side had Fleetfoot behind Dash, who was the most well-behaved so far. She was followed by the constantly-nattering-to-each-other Surprise and Soarin.
"Well then, don't look, silly. I caught you looking when we were still ON THE GROUND almost all the time! You can't wait until we land again?"
Soarin averted his eyes for the umpteenth time, "DANGIT! NO! Apparently I can't!"
"Well, you'll simply have to have stiff wings then!"
"Or other things," Soarin groused. "You're enjoying this way to much."
"Yes I am!"
Rainbow heard Spitfire suppress a giggle. Then, after that, after another call of "DANGIT!", it evolved into a full belly laugh. "Come on, children, play nice. Some of us are a bit shy about having our level of arousal on display."
"I'm not!"
"But Soarin is. Go easy on him, K?"
"OK, tell you what, Soar, if you can avoid looking at my rump the whole way until we get there, I'll give you a picture; you can hang it in your locker to look at whenever you want. How about that?"
Soarin paused for several seconds, "Now I keep thinking about that."
"That's the way!"
Rainbow could hear the sound of Spitfire's facehoof from the front.
* * *
Rainbow and the others were making an attempt to land near Ember, not quite fully pulling off "landing", but definitely pulling off, 'Collapsing to the ground in front of her', not having enough vertical lift for a 'proper' landing.
Ember looked down questioningly, and said to Rainbow, "Aren't you usually blue? I liked blue. Looks like you flew too fast for your own good. Does that happen often to you fur-instead-of-scales ponies?"
"It's a long story", Rainbow replied as she struggled to disentangle herself from her teammates. "We plucked ourselves a bit to enhance our flying ability."
"I am partial to blue. But I'm even more partial to flying ability."
Spitfire managed to de-tumple herself first, and stood at attention on all fours, "Reporting for duty, ma'am; we came literally as fast as we could, as you can see by our current state. What's our mission objective?"
"Well, the dragons need help from the ponies, it's a bit embarrassing."
With the word 'embarrassing' Spitfire's wings started to trail up, and started to regain some of their orange-ish hue, as she remembered she was standing in full view of everyone. 'Oh, you have no idea', she whispered under her breath.
Ember continued, "We were trying to come up with a way to pull more lava from the caldera for the eggs, so we opened the lava mine deeper, but we got Deep Lava, that was too hot."
"Lava can be too hot?" Rainbow asked.
Ember nodded. "The lava we normally get is very warm, but tolerable, even pleasant. This core lava … well, let's just say it's hot enough to melt dragonscale."
"Wow" Rainbow deadpanned, "That's hot."
"That's what she said," Surprise chimed in.
"DANGIT!"
"Relax, we're already on the ground."
"What's going on?" Ember asked, "I'm confused."
"Don't worry about it. It's fine," Spitfire replied to her. "So what can we give you?"
"We need a way to cool it off faster, but no one can get near enough to it. We thought we could get someone with feathery wings, who's really good at flying, to fan it from afar. If we can get some circulation going ..."
Spitfire grinned broadly, "Well, that's us, ma'am. We can take it from here!" and gave a hearty salute, before executing a perfect 180-turn-
right in front of Soarin. A familiar "Pomf" was heard.
Spitfire's grin went away immediately as she gave Soarin a sidelong gaze. "If I catch you looking at me where you shouldn't again, I will not be happy! Do I make myself clear?"
Soarin's mouth was scrunched up, and his eyes were staring VERY straight ahead, at absolute perfect attention, as was the rest of him, including his wings, and... other things. "Sorry, ma'am. Didn't expect that turn, ma'am. Couldn't help it, ma'am."
Spitfire just continued walking, "Hm. See that it doesn't happen again," but gave a small, sly grin, "or ... next time, you will keep standing at attention like that until your wings go back down."
* * *
Surprise narrated for Ember, explaining what the others were finishing up. Surprise was chosen for this task because she reported having the least amount of modesty. On a scale of 1 to 10, her reported score was 'a negative number'.
"See, Ember? It's similar to a pegusus- caused tornado, except: One (1), with lava instead of rainwater, and ( B), it doesn't go everywhere. Because lava going everywhere is bad."
Ember put one hand to her mouth in thought, "A good technique. Requires some nice formation flying to get everything that precise. Do they practice that way of trying to corkscrew around?"
POMF! Surprise looked bug-eyed to where Ember was pointing with her other hand at Rainbow and Spitfire flying some sort of Areal Knot around each other, each continuously teasing the other. Flying right. Flying left. Somersaulting over. Somersaulting under. Coming up on the left. Coming up on the right. All faster than the eye could resolve as a single image. Fly boomberang-ing.
The tornado had had evolved into a fun game of each trying to look at the other one, while trying to avoid being looked at, flying faster than any areal dogfight, acting on instinct, adding more and more power to the tornado, than the rest of the Wonderbolts combined.
It was a thing of beauty
also for other reasons.
"... You must have been overheated by your flying around lava. You're turning red."
"Yeah," Surprise gave a sheepish grin, "Probably? I'm gonna... go... now." Surprise took off positively vertically, while she could still move her wings at all.
Her boss looked absolutely sexy flying that way.
Therefore, it absolutely HAD to go in the show. Surprise had been a performer long enough to know how to show off for an audience. This was it. She had to tell her how good she looked.
* * *
* * *
Spitfire was wearing nothing but a whistle around her neck for the show. She was constantly running her front hooves together in nervousness at this fact.
The show itself looked amazing; they'd practiced it enough times, even the "extra moves" they'd added from the Dragonlands; there was no mere stage fright here, she'd outgrown that long ago. She was confident in her abilities.
The Summer Cool-Off Show "uniform" was the perfect thing to beat the summer heat. And it was certainly in theme. And it certainly had easier upkeep than the last show's uniform. From a practical standpoint, it was the best choice.
And they looked apple-bucking fantastic.
She couldn't shake the feeling, though, even though she knew she had nothing to be nervous about. Now her back legs were crossing too, now. She took a deep breath. That tears it. She was a WONDERBOLT!
She strode confidently onto the field, showing her proper military bearing.
"And the Captain of the Summer Cool-Off Show: Spitfire!" said the announcer from an unseen speaker. Spitfire joined the other nude Wonderbolts on the dais in the center of the field, and looked around at the cheering crowd. Well, they were certainly more polite than they were for Rainbow's first time; but then, they were expecting their nudity this time, with the advertising for the show and and all. She saw several of the spectators going nude as well, and this wasn't only the normal sports body-paint attitude; she'd seen quite a few ponies around Cloudsdale going about their everyday business nude days before the show. Apparently, they'd started something
The announcer continued, "They will be signing autographs after the show in their new uniforms." After all, Wonderbolts uniforms were already popular. Why wouldn't they be? Their nudity didn't even ... stand out. Not here, not even in 'real life', anymore. It even stood out less than the old Wonderbolts uniforms. She'd better get used to the lack of attention before winter made them put them back on for their shows. She would have to appear in public being mobbed all the time again as soon as anyone recognized the uniform.
Also, they could perform much earlier in the summer season this way, in temperatures that would make them overheat if they still had their uniform clothes on. She could feel the breeze on her skin and the wind tussle her wingfeathers. She was getting used to this.
A shower of air. A rustle of hair. It was actually ... pleasant.
Her nakedness now forgotten, Spitfire blew the whistle, and started the show.
