Gaze into my ... Everythingby HomeshineChapters1 Sleep2 Wake up!3 Awoken4 Dream come false1 SleepAuthor's Note Note: this is a commissioned story; much different vibe than my other stories. 1 Sleep This was it! Perfect! Diamond Tiara grinned to herself, more engulfed with the book than any she'd ever read before, although she wasn't exactly reading it, but was half-daydreaming and planning what she was going to do with it. The book was on changing personality through hypnosis. Diamond had absolutely lusted for a way to "return the favor" to her mother for all her abuse, and this was finally it! Each page had more material describing how to get deeper and deeper into the psyche. It had been written as a way to change one's own behaviour, maybe to lose weight or stop smoking. Or even, as Diamond Tiara had hoped, change her mother's whole personality. Diamond hadn't exactly checked out the book; she wasn't entirely sure the New Ponyville Library would have lent it to her. This was probably technically stealing, but the library exists to lend books anyway, so what was the harm? She'd found it wedged in some dusty comer of the reference section, and had only caught her eye by way of the cover image. According to the card in the back, it hadn't been checked out in decades. They'd probably forgotten about it. The book had said a good subliminal cue was embarrassment; for example, every time a guy smoked, he would feel an urge to put on a bright neon-pink hat. The twinge of embarrassment would be remembered and associated with the act of smoking. Whenever he thought of smoking, he would instead think of wearing pink, and would be able to decide not to do it. If that didn't work, a deeper emotion might be used, for example wearing a dress, which would create a greater effect. Diamond Tiara was going to go straight to the final lesson, which she'd partially just made up herself. Diamond Tiara decided to test it on herself first, to make one hundred percent sure it was going to work as she thought it would. This is why she was standing in front of the mirror, the book in one hand, looking at her reflection. As far as she could tell, the mirror image looked absolutely normal. She was wearing her classic pinkish-purple top and a white skirt. She glanced sideways at her bed where the same purple top and white skirt lay, along with her training bra and panties, right where she'd taken them off moments before. She knew she must be naked right now. She could remember taking off all of her clothes and going to the mirror absolutely naked, and seeing her naked body in the mirror. But the second she finished, clothes had seemingly appeared on her from out of nowhere. She know that what she was seeing in front of her was all in her head, that she couldn't really be feeling the weave of the fabric between her fingers, or counting all three buttons on the top of her blouse. (Were there three buttons or two? She didn't even remember.) She knew she couldn't really hear the fabric rustle as she walked back to her bed to check. Apparently, there were three buttons. She pulled the same top and looked at it, a splitting image of the same one she was wearing, well..., she wasn't really wearing, because here it was in on her bed where she discarded it, so she can't really have it on. Although, she certainly had no way of knowing that other than her memory. For all she could tell, she was actually wearing clothes, and wasn't actually naked right now, as she knew, intellectually, that she must be. Finally convinced, Diamond Tiara walked over to the mirror and stared at her own reflection again. "Wake up", she said, in a commanding voice. Suddenly, her clothes vanished. She was standing in front of the mirror completely nude again, the clothes on the bed the only copy, once again. Suddenly, Diamond Tiara heard a thumping up the stairs to her room. Someone was mad. Before she had time to react, her mother opened the door with such force, it SLAMMED into the far wall, "Didn't you hear me calling you?" "MOM! I'm naked!" Diamond Tiara covered her crotch with one hand and her boobs with another. "Can't you knock first?" "I've seen you naked, before. You're not getting out of trouble that easily. I've been calling you for FIVE minutes! You had to have heard at least something." "No, I didn't" She said truthfully. "You little liar. I've given you plenty of time to finish whatever you are doing up here, which you took advantage of to embarrass me, instead." "Embarrass YOU?!" "You can't take off your clothes when you hear me coming, and expect that to shame me into leaving once again. When I say come down for supper now, I mean now. So get down there." "Let me get my clothes on, first." "No. Now. Walk out that door." "But I'm indecent!" "Let that be a lesson to you for next time. You're lucky your father isn't home to see you. You can get dressed again after supper. Now march." Diamond Tiara dutifully walked out the door, and looked back at all of her clothes waiting for her on the bed, and continued down the stairs, still covering herself with her hands. * Her mother looked very pleased with herself, gazing down at the denuded Diamond Tiara, who was covering her breast buds with her left arm and eating with her right. A linen napkin between her legs was her only contribution to modesty. "At least I don't need to remind you to keep your elbows off the table. I should make you eat every meal in the nude. It would do wonders for your manners. Every time you would put your elbows on the table, you will stop and think of these moments." That was essentially what the hypnosis book said about using embarrassment to affect behaviour "Now, your father will be away on business all week, so I'll be in charge here. Don't forget that. If you keep seeing this as an opportunity to act up, I won't hesitate to punish you. And, judging by how red you're turning, it seems to be quite effective as a punishment." Diamond Tiara could actually feel herself turning red from the heat in her face. Again, though, exactly what the hypnosis book said. Hmm. Diamond paused in her eating for an undetected moment while the thoughts turned in her head. Her mother grinned, "Careful, I can see a bit of nipple slip, there." "Eep." Diamond Tiara somehow turned even redder, as she struggled to cover the remaining part. She was getting too distracted, but her plan was there. Diamond Tiara was going to use this for defense. Diamond murmured to herself under her breath, "Go to sleep," and clothes materialized around herself once again, as if nothing had happened. She knew that her clothes were only an illusion, and only she could see them, and her mother was still seeing her naked, but the effect made her feel much better. She, at least, didn't feel naked, and that was the important thing. She just had to remember to put her real clothes on afterwards. And the best defense was a good offense. A devilish thought had also come to Diamond Tiara: there was nothing preventing her from using nudity on her mother as often as she wanted, or even continuously, all the time; and so The Scheme was born. * * * Her mother was half-asleep in her read-leather chair, her empty glass of wine on the Occasional Table beside her, her eyes at half-mast, fighting to stay awake on that narrow balance beam between consciousness and unconsciousness. Now was her chance! "Mother?" "Hmm? Don't talk to me right now, Tiara. I'm tired. Your father isn't here, so I've got to do all the …" she yawned, "things." "Are you feeling tired? Sleepy? Like your eyes weigh a hundred pounds?" "Mmm, yes," Spoiled Rich smiled at that, giving off a heavy sigh, her eyes closing all the way. "Maybe I'll fall asleep here." "Yes," Diamond Tiara responded. "Sleep. Go to sleep." "I think I will." Diamond's voice dropped, "you feel like you are on an escalator, going down." "Down." Diamond's voice dropped again. She said so very softly, "Deeper and deeper." "Deeper and deeper." Diamond was whispering into her mother's ears, "Until you reach the very bottom". "The very bottom." Did it work? Or didn't it? Well, there was one way to find out. One simply had to bite the bullet and try. "You shouldn't sleep in your clothes. Why don't you take them off?" And, to Diamond Tiara's great surprise, her mother did just that; pulling off her dress, and panties, and bra with military precision, until they were laying in a heap in front of her. Diamond Tiara scooped them up, continuing as she did, now speaking in a regular voice. "You won't remember this tomorrow. You won't remember being naked, either. You will think you are still wearing your clothes all day, as you go on about your business, not realizing your nudity at all." "Not realizing at all," her mother intoned. "Now go to sleep." And with that, Diamond Tiara bundled up all her mother's clothes and walked off with them towards the hamper, leaving her mother naked and asleep in her red leather chair. 2 Wake up!Wake up! Spoiled Rich woke up in the red leather chair. As she got up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she noticed in the mirror above the mantelpiece that not only was her hair an absolute mess, she was still wearing her fancy red dress from yesterday. "That's what I get for falling asleep in that stupid chair." She also noticed it was a very cold morning for summer. But surely the day would heat up over time. It was supposed to be an absolute scorcher later. The red leather chair stuck to her skin more than she remembered, too. She hated that chair. She hated everything right now. She needed something delicious for breakfast. She returned to the kitchen to find the butler was not there. That's right, Filthy Rich had taken him with him as a personal servant. Well, Spoiled Rich had not made a proper hot breakfast breakfast in ages, but how hard could it be? She eventually came to remember why she also hated cooking. Even a simple slice of toast proved too much as the stupid thing never popped up until she could smell it burning, leaving a stink throughout the house. She hated the stink. She hated the toaster. She hated breakfast as an abstract concept. Diamond Tiara seemed much more giddy than usual. She positively skipped downstairs, despite the lingering black smoke she was running through, wafting from from the now-dilapidated toaster. "What do you have to be so happy about? Can't you see I'm mad? "How dare she rub in this horrible morning by the way she is acting happy, pretending everything was great just to get on her nerves? Diamond Tiara stopped dead, eyes wide. Good, it was about time that little thing had some fear of her. "I.... I wouldn't have known." "I'm not in the mood. I'm really just not in the mood. I'm going out to buy breakfast. Are you coming with, or not?" Diamond Tiara smiled wide, "Oh, I'm defiantly coming with." * The girl seemed preoccupied about something; her mind definitely wasn't on getting breakfast. It was as is she were waiting for the perfect time to strike. Spoiled Rich knew that gleam in her daughter's eye. It was too similar to the gleam in her own. Perhaps she taught her daughter too well... Her attention was broken at Quills and Sofas (what a ridiculous concept for a store) by Davenport unlocking the store, or at least attempting to. He kept looking over at them for some reason, fumbling the keys multiple times. Finally, as they got closer, Diamond Tiara stooped down to pick them up on his most recent attempt, and unlocked the door for him. "Thanks," he blushed, and seemed overly chagrined at the situation. "Have a bit of trouble at home?" Whatever did he mean by that? But Diamond Tiara recovered faster than she did, almost as if she were expecting the bizarre question, "Dad's out of town for a week, and we're still adjusting to a new routine. Just... don't mention it." Diamond smiled brightly, "Well, we have to go. Bye." She ran on ahead, causing Spoiled to have to almost jog to keep up. What was with that girl today? What was with everybody? She blew right past Snips and Snails, some of Diamond Tiara's school compatriots. They hollered after her, but she didn't stop. Finally, Snails spoke up to Spiled Rich as she passed at a more leisurely walk. "Hey, do you know something?" "Don't talk to me. I'm having a terrible day." "Okay." Finally arriving at Sugarcube Corner, they were apparently the only customers bright and early on a Saturday. everyone else must still be asleep. She pulled on the door handle, and was surprised to find it locked. She looked at the sign. They were supposed to open at 8, and here it was 8 on the dot. They should be open. How dare they? She banged on the door more loudly, "I have places to be!" she shouted through the door. "You should be ready by the time customers arrive. I haven't even had breakfast yet, and--" the door opened. "Sorry about that dearie; I'm almost ready. Ah, right on time." Mrs. Cake smiled and did a double-take as she looked over Spoiled Rich, Diamond Tiara, and then back at Spoiled Rich. "I'd heard it was going to be a scorcher today. Good thing we have air conditioning." She smiled even wider if that were possible. Why was everyone so smiley today? Couldn't they see she was in a bad mood? Did they think it would help somehow? Mister Davenport was all smiling and flustered when they passed him on the street. What was with everyone today? Of course, Pinkie Pie was the smileyest of all; but then, she's always that way, so that was no different. "Is there a reason you're going out naked?" Spoiled Rich looked over at Diamond Tiara, while Diamond wasn't dressed as conservatively as her own floor-length red dress, it wasn't anything too provocative. Perhaps Pinkie meant their lack of makeup, or simply being her usual imbecilic self, "Stop being stupid. We're ready to order." They ordered a full breakfast, and sat down to eat it, Spoiled Rich fumbling with her purse the entire while. Why wouldn't this thing stay put? The good news, though, was that it appeared as if her daughter were regretting this silly facade she was putting on simply to bring down Spoiled Rich's mood. She wasn't eating very much. Now was the time to strike. Diamond started out, "Mom, there's something I have to tell you..." Spoiled interrupted, and said half-jokingly, "You know, your elbows are on the table again. Looks like you'll be eating tonight's meal in the nude again." "Don't joke about that! It's embarrassing just to think about. I mean, imagine how you'd feel if it happened to you. I'm not sure it's worth it …" she trailed off. "Well, it has done wonders for your manners, having you afraid of me again. It's important to always show proper etiquette, not to mention showing me the proper respect. Those are both important lessons to learn. And don't forget it was your own fault." Diamond Tiara stood up in place, indignant, "How was it MY fault?" "You made me angry. I must respond." Diamond Tiara simply stood there, open-mouthed, sputtering. Spoiled Rich continued, "In fact, if you're going to be that way, you obviously haven't learned anything at all. You'll be repeating your lesson tonight." Diamond Tiara stomped the ground with rage. She screamed, "Fine, then!" before running off with a final, "Why don't you just WAKE UP!?" Now what on Earth could she mean by that? "My word." Mrs. Cake returned, looking over at Spoiled Rich's table, "What was all that about?" Spoiled didn't know. What a strange choice of phrasing. And she never get get to hear what Diamond was going to tell her. She said to Mrs. Cake, "Well, if she's going to behave that way, I suppose it is not that important, after all." 3 AwokenGoing outside, Spoiled Rich shivered at the cool breeze, arms to her bare shoulders. Her dress lacks shoulders, but why was the breeze so cold? It isn't that - When she looked down, she had her answer. She had to be dreaming. This couldn't be happening. She was naked. She couldn't be naked; she was in the middle of Ponyville! What is going on? Could other people see her this way? She had to do something. Where to hide? She ducked behind a corner, which at least gave her partial cover, in hiding her from one side. She could get some clothes from Rarity's Boutique, but that would mean having to present herself to Rarity, the only person in Ponyville more high-society than herself... So that was right out. Of course, at this rate, Rarity might wind up seeing her, anyway her boutique was right over there. So no time to think about that now, she had to move, quickly, before someone saw her. Somewhere more secure; somewhere indoors, but the only place that close that would do was... "Welcome to Sugarcube- oh, did you forget something?" Pinkie Pie asked. Spoiled Rich just glared at her on her way through the door. Well, her clothes weren't here. She didn't really expect them to be. But at least no one could see her right now except Pinkie Pie, and she didn't count. Pinkie was The Help. Help never counts. They're machines or robots or something. Something stupid, something- "What are you doing, stupid?" "You forgot your leftovers, silly." Pinkie Pie handed her a container. "Do I look like I eat leftovers?" "That's why they're left over, duh." She took the box more to make her go away than anything. Why was everyone so happy today? Can't they see ... oh that's why. She must have been without clothes all the way through town. But how? Did someone steal them? So masterfully? It must have been that Snips fellow. He was a hoodlum. He is going to pay for all this! And give her back her clothes! Looking left and right, and then left again, Spoiled Rich finally worked up the courage to go out the door, running quickly around the building. There weren't as many people back here, away from the main drag, but there would be some occasionally, she knew. She took a few deep breaths and then took off running. She had to move fast. She booked at as fast as she could. She ran for all she was worth. Had to make as much time as possible; before someone saw her. Until she couldn't breath anymore, and she collapsed in the grass behind some bushes. This would have to do for now. This is where those hoodlums were hiding before. They must be near here somewhere. Well, one hoodlum now. Just Snails. She could hear him talking to himself somewhere nearby. Good. That was the one she suspected, no, was sure of it now. Why else would he be here? This must all be his fault! "Oh hello again." No! She was seen! How mortifying! She couldn't be caught when she was so close! But no matter, he will pay for this, too. Vengeance will be - "Man, I feel like I'm going to go to sleep just standing here," said Snails. Spoiled Rich looked down. Her clothes had reappeared. Had she found them? She didn't remember putting them on. What the heck? Was she imagining this? Was is because it was so cold this morning? Snails obliviously continued his own internal monologue, now made external. "Man, How long does it take to go to the bathroom, Snips? Come out of the house, already." He idly bounced a ball on the ground. It was getting on her nerves. Spoiled rich decided that whatever had happened, she must have won. She always wins. that was just the facts of it. That job done, she resolved to go home, with her... box. It wouldn't do to leave it here; one of THEM might eat it, can't have that. Davenport was still being extra smiley again. But why? She obviously wasn't naked. She was never naked, she decided. This was probably some kind of trick by somebody. Maybe her daughter. She's always pulling tricks like that, no matter how often she was punished. When was this war going to end? Well, obviously when she was the victor, but besides that? She walked by the excessively-happy Davenport, who waved. She waved back; maybe it would get him to stop waving. Or smiling. He said, "You are having a bad day? You certainly look grumpy enough." "You have no idea. Maybe this is all a dream. Maybe I just need to wake up." And, with that, her clothes vanished again. Of course they did. Well, she wasn't giving Davenport a free show. He can have the stupid box of breakfast. Leaving it behind would make her run faster. "Hey, you forgot your... hey!" he called after her retreating run. * Well, the most recent run was completed; the mansion was only a hundred yards away at most. if she got there, she would be home free. She could see it from her hiding position behind some garbage cans. "If" was the key word here, though. The streets were absolutely filled with other ponies. She had two choices: she could either wait for night time, 12 hours from now, and wait it out, or she could bite the bullet and run for it. She wanted her revenge NOW, not twelve hours from now. Well, that certainly makes that decision easy. She started her sprint from cover, which proved a mistake since the metal garbage cans fell with a horrible clatterbang, drawing everyone's attention to her nude form right away. Too late to back down now, she decided to just run for it. She could actually feel everyone's eyes staring at her. They will pay later for this. They will all pay somehow. The world at large will pay. The- Whoops! Too occupied with her mind's eye, she stumbled and splayed out on the grass on her hands and knees. No, this wasn't fair! Now people will see her! When she was so close! "Here, I brought you a blanket" Spoiled rich looked up. Diamond Tiara was there holding up a cloth. She actually had the nerve to look sorry for her! Well, she wasn't going to accept charity from that brat, she waved it away, "I'm fine. Go back in the house. I'm fine. I'm fine." She repeated it more for her own benefit than Tiara's. "Ooooooohay, if you're sure." Diamond turned and started to walk back into the house. Leaving her naked there. Hey now, just because she turned it down didn't mean she didn't want it. But she wanted it on her own terms. How dare she? This was somehow her fault, too. "Oh here, just give it, if you're going to be that way." Spoiled snatched it from her daughter's hands and wrapped it around herself. There. she was decent at last. Five feet from her front door. "Well!" she shouted. She stomped though the door, anyway. * * * Spoiled Rich, drying her hair, stepped out of the shower. She felt a lot better, now. It was her next intention to put on as many clothes as possible. In fast, she had a magnificent robe somewhere in the back of the linen closet, somewhere back here. She needed to rummage though here someday and throw out the-. where did ... hello. What is this? Tucked under the pile of robes and other accoutrements that she had bought, and long since forgotten about, was a book. Was this that smutty book Diamond Tiara was reading last night? Oh, this is going to be so embarrassing for her. Lots of revenge fun! (The best kind) Spoiled flipped through the pages of the book idly, more planning a suitable revenge than reading, and only stopped as she got towards the end. The last page. Nudity hypnosis? Is that what happened to her today? So it was her daughter's doing. Oh, this revenge will be fun. 4 Dream come falseThe first words Diamond Tiara greeted Silver Spoon with when Diamond opened her front door were, "Do you know where my swimsuit is?" Silver Spoon stopped. "No." "Darn. I was hoping you took it home by accident the last time you were over to use the pool. We can't find it anywhere." Silver Spoon was already wearing her suit. They were going to meet the CMC at the community pool later, mostly just to get out of the house, away from Diamond Tiara's mother. Diamond wanted to be around as many of her friends as possible; it helped her feel more secure. With that admission, a distant "found it!" was heard, and Diamond raced off. When she got to the top of the stairs she saw her mother there, and felt... dizzy. Something was... Her mother interrupted that train of thought. "I found your suit. It's on this hanger. The butler must have hung it up with the tuxedo suits for some reason." Her mother held out the hanger for inspection. Sure enough, the two shoulder straps of her one-piece suit were hung on the hanger, as if it were a tux suit coat. "Oh. That's good. I'll just get changed, then." Had her mother gotten over her little snit already? Wow, that naked run must have affected her more then she thought. The book was working! After changing into the swimsuit, Diamond Tiara came back down to the door, "Let's get going before Mom changes her mind." Silver spoon asked, sounding surprised, "What happened to your suit?" Her mother answered, "Oh, we both spent a long time looking for it." Diamond Tiara agreed, "For ages. Let's just go." "ohhhhh .... Kaaaaay. Wow, you're ... really eager." "Bye, mother!" Diamond herded Silver Spoon out the door, "C'mon. Let's get going. I think she's up to something, and I don't want to be here when it goes off." "Oh. I guess that makes sense..." Silver Spoon chuckled. "I remember that one night we went skinny-dipping in your pool." "Yeah, but this is the community pool. I kinda wanted to find my suit for that." "Oh, well." * * * "And then what happened?" Sweety Belle asked. "And then I stopped having second thoughts. She was on her own getting home. I told my mother to just WAKE UP!, and ran off, but it seems to have worked. She was much nicer today. She even helped me ... find ... my ... " Applebloom replied, "That really sounds cruel, though. I don't know if I would have done that, no matter how mad I was, and I've been plenty mad." "I don't know. I might have done it to Rarity the time she lost my ... what's wrong, DT?" Diamond Tiara was still looking down in shock. Her swimsuit had simply vanished when she'd said 'wake up' and imagined bringing her mother out of her induction. No. It couldn't be. But it be. "Yeah, are you okay?" "Having second thoughts now, ain't ya?" Tiara was naked. How long had she been naked? When her mother 'found' her swimsuit? That meant ... she'd ... walked ... all the way here... all the way through Ponyville naked. Oh, Celestia, that explained her friends' reactions when she stepped out of the locker room after putting her towel and things in the locker. Silver Spoon was there talking to the CMC, saying "Yeah, she had a lot of trouble finding her swimsuit," and her friends had tittered a bit, but she didn't think anything of it at the time. She must have been explaining it, her nudity. And- "Earth to Diamond Tiara. You didn't hypnotize yourself did you? Wake up." Silver Spoon snapped her fingers a couple times. "Ohhhh, that's how she had the courage to go skinny-dipping!" Scootaloo said. "And now you've ruined it, Spoony." Silver Spoon's eyes got big, "Oh, my gosh. I'm so sorry. You must be feeling so terrible right now. Can you re-do it?" Diamond Tiara stopped. They weren't even laughing at her. They were calling her courageous. "I ... I ..." Silver Spoon started climbing out of the pool over the side, "I'll go get you a towel. I'm so so so sorry." "No, I... I think so. No, it's okay. I think I can...." Silver was already wrapping a soggy towel around her nude midsection, emblazoned with Silver Spoon’s cutie mark; this was her towel. "There you go. Feeling better? I must have left you feeling *humiliated*. I can't tell you how sorry I am." "No it's... it's okay... really." clutching the towel tightly around herself, Diamond ran for the locker room. * She started at herself alternately nude in the full-body mirror. "Go to sleep. Wake. Up. Go to sleep. Wake up." Her swimsuit flashed off and on, vanishing and reappearing, the swimsuit her mother had given her. There was no other explanation. She didn't even have any clothes to change into. But the strange thing was, no one cared. No one made fun of her; if anything Silver Spoon was feeling bad for her, and Diamond Tiara felt bad for making Silver Spoon feel bad. Silver Spoon had thought it was her fault. Tiara couldn't let her go on feeling that way. She wrapped Spoony's towel tightly around herself and stepped out into the sun, wearing only that. * * * They were all hanging around the locker room doors, exchanging whispers, "I still say we go in." "No, she needs some time to herself." Silver Spoon spoke up, "Thanks, I'm fine." She whispered to herself "go to sleep" and the suit reappeared, wrapping itself around her. She at least felt decent again, even though she knew intellectually it was only an illusion. "Here. You can have this back, now." She unwrapped the towel and handed it to Silver, looking her straight in the eyes with a smile, wearing only her insubstantial swimsuit. "If we lay it out in the sun, it should be dry when it comes time to stop swimming." "You mean, you're still gonna skinny-... swim with us?" Scootaloo asked. "Sure. I mean, we were together for like, fifteen minutes while I was naked, and that went well. Let's finish the story." "In that case... it's just the five of us, right? There's no one else here?" Scootaloo was looking around like a scared chicken, before finally untying her bikini top and bottom, and skinned out of her suit entirely. "There." "Let's get back in the water." * * * "So you weren't planning on skinny-dipping today?" "No, I ... oh no. Speak of the devil." Scootaloo startled and pressed herself against the side of the pool to hide her nakedness with the pool wall, "Maybe this was a bad idea." If Spoiled Rich noticed Scootaloo at all, she gave no indication of it, walking out of the locker room straight for where Diamond Tiara was talking. "You know, it's just not as much fun when you don't notice, so I'm going to do the same to you what you did to me. Wake." She paused for emphasis, "Up." Her "swimsuit" vanished again, but then, it really didn't matter, did it? It was all in her head, anyway. "You're being very mean." Silver Spoon yelled back to Spoiled Rich on 'shore'. "You're just asking for her to do it back to you again!" "No...It's okay. It's fine." Diamond Tiara smiled, and started climbing the pool ladder, still naked, not even bothering to imagine a new suit around her. "And do you know why?" She stood her nude self face-to-chest with her mother. "I paused too long. Wake up. Wake...UP! Wakeup Wakeup wake-" Diamond cut her off, "because these are my friends. I'm among friends, so I'm not vulnerable." She crossed her arms in front of her, just below her breasts, "So who cares? They don't. They're supportive of me." Spoiled Rich apparently didn't have anything to say to this. She simply turned and walked out. * Epilogue: "So I'm wearing a real swimsuit this time... I think. I'm wearing clothes, right?" "Yes," Silver Spoon laughed. "But we're in your pool this time. You could still skinny-dip like Scootaloo is." "Yeah, but my Dad is coming home, so I kinda don't want his first sight of me to be naked." "Oh, crud!" Scootaloo yelled, "I didn't bring a swimsuit at all." She self-consciously covered herself with her hands under the water. Her timing was perfect, as Filthy Rich took that moment to come out the back door. "Well hey there, honey." "Daddy!" she clambered out of the pool, arms outstretched for a hug. "We'll have to make this a short hug; you're gettin' my clothes all wet." Rich laughed with true mirth as he hugged her anyway and kissed her on the forehead. How about I join you in an hour or so after I get everything wound up." "Okay." With that, he left. "Do you think he noticed I was..." Scootaloo started, but stopped, looking down in embarrassment, still covering herself with her hands. "Naked? Don't know. Maybe he didn't notice. Maybe he did and didn't say anything." Diamond Tiara responded. "He's very shrewd that way. Very diplomatic." Sweetie Belle had a better answer, "It's like quantum. No one can ever tell whether he did or not, so does it really matter?" Evidently, Scootaloo decided that it didn't, because she kept skinny-dipping with them until the hour was up.
1 SleepAuthor's Note Note: this is a commissioned story; much different vibe than my other stories. 1 Sleep This was it! Perfect! Diamond Tiara grinned to herself, more engulfed with the book than any she'd ever read before, although she wasn't exactly reading it, but was half-daydreaming and planning what she was going to do with it. The book was on changing personality through hypnosis. Diamond had absolutely lusted for a way to "return the favor" to her mother for all her abuse, and this was finally it! Each page had more material describing how to get deeper and deeper into the psyche. It had been written as a way to change one's own behaviour, maybe to lose weight or stop smoking. Or even, as Diamond Tiara had hoped, change her mother's whole personality. Diamond hadn't exactly checked out the book; she wasn't entirely sure the New Ponyville Library would have lent it to her. This was probably technically stealing, but the library exists to lend books anyway, so what was the harm? She'd found it wedged in some dusty comer of the reference section, and had only caught her eye by way of the cover image. According to the card in the back, it hadn't been checked out in decades. They'd probably forgotten about it. The book had said a good subliminal cue was embarrassment; for example, every time a guy smoked, he would feel an urge to put on a bright neon-pink hat. The twinge of embarrassment would be remembered and associated with the act of smoking. Whenever he thought of smoking, he would instead think of wearing pink, and would be able to decide not to do it. If that didn't work, a deeper emotion might be used, for example wearing a dress, which would create a greater effect. Diamond Tiara was going to go straight to the final lesson, which she'd partially just made up herself. Diamond Tiara decided to test it on herself first, to make one hundred percent sure it was going to work as she thought it would. This is why she was standing in front of the mirror, the book in one hand, looking at her reflection. As far as she could tell, the mirror image looked absolutely normal. She was wearing her classic pinkish-purple top and a white skirt. She glanced sideways at her bed where the same purple top and white skirt lay, along with her training bra and panties, right where she'd taken them off moments before. She knew she must be naked right now. She could remember taking off all of her clothes and going to the mirror absolutely naked, and seeing her naked body in the mirror. But the second she finished, clothes had seemingly appeared on her from out of nowhere. She know that what she was seeing in front of her was all in her head, that she couldn't really be feeling the weave of the fabric between her fingers, or counting all three buttons on the top of her blouse. (Were there three buttons or two? She didn't even remember.) She knew she couldn't really hear the fabric rustle as she walked back to her bed to check. Apparently, there were three buttons. She pulled the same top and looked at it, a splitting image of the same one she was wearing, well..., she wasn't really wearing, because here it was in on her bed where she discarded it, so she can't really have it on. Although, she certainly had no way of knowing that other than her memory. For all she could tell, she was actually wearing clothes, and wasn't actually naked right now, as she knew, intellectually, that she must be. Finally convinced, Diamond Tiara walked over to the mirror and stared at her own reflection again. "Wake up", she said, in a commanding voice. Suddenly, her clothes vanished. She was standing in front of the mirror completely nude again, the clothes on the bed the only copy, once again. Suddenly, Diamond Tiara heard a thumping up the stairs to her room. Someone was mad. Before she had time to react, her mother opened the door with such force, it SLAMMED into the far wall, "Didn't you hear me calling you?" "MOM! I'm naked!" Diamond Tiara covered her crotch with one hand and her boobs with another. "Can't you knock first?" "I've seen you naked, before. You're not getting out of trouble that easily. I've been calling you for FIVE minutes! You had to have heard at least something." "No, I didn't" She said truthfully. "You little liar. I've given you plenty of time to finish whatever you are doing up here, which you took advantage of to embarrass me, instead." "Embarrass YOU?!" "You can't take off your clothes when you hear me coming, and expect that to shame me into leaving once again. When I say come down for supper now, I mean now. So get down there." "Let me get my clothes on, first." "No. Now. Walk out that door." "But I'm indecent!" "Let that be a lesson to you for next time. You're lucky your father isn't home to see you. You can get dressed again after supper. Now march." Diamond Tiara dutifully walked out the door, and looked back at all of her clothes waiting for her on the bed, and continued down the stairs, still covering herself with her hands. * Her mother looked very pleased with herself, gazing down at the denuded Diamond Tiara, who was covering her breast buds with her left arm and eating with her right. A linen napkin between her legs was her only contribution to modesty. "At least I don't need to remind you to keep your elbows off the table. I should make you eat every meal in the nude. It would do wonders for your manners. Every time you would put your elbows on the table, you will stop and think of these moments." That was essentially what the hypnosis book said about using embarrassment to affect behaviour "Now, your father will be away on business all week, so I'll be in charge here. Don't forget that. If you keep seeing this as an opportunity to act up, I won't hesitate to punish you. And, judging by how red you're turning, it seems to be quite effective as a punishment." Diamond Tiara could actually feel herself turning red from the heat in her face. Again, though, exactly what the hypnosis book said. Hmm. Diamond paused in her eating for an undetected moment while the thoughts turned in her head. Her mother grinned, "Careful, I can see a bit of nipple slip, there." "Eep." Diamond Tiara somehow turned even redder, as she struggled to cover the remaining part. She was getting too distracted, but her plan was there. Diamond Tiara was going to use this for defense. Diamond murmured to herself under her breath, "Go to sleep," and clothes materialized around herself once again, as if nothing had happened. She knew that her clothes were only an illusion, and only she could see them, and her mother was still seeing her naked, but the effect made her feel much better. She, at least, didn't feel naked, and that was the important thing. She just had to remember to put her real clothes on afterwards. And the best defense was a good offense. A devilish thought had also come to Diamond Tiara: there was nothing preventing her from using nudity on her mother as often as she wanted, or even continuously, all the time; and so The Scheme was born. * * * Her mother was half-asleep in her read-leather chair, her empty glass of wine on the Occasional Table beside her, her eyes at half-mast, fighting to stay awake on that narrow balance beam between consciousness and unconsciousness. Now was her chance! "Mother?" "Hmm? Don't talk to me right now, Tiara. I'm tired. Your father isn't here, so I've got to do all the …" she yawned, "things." "Are you feeling tired? Sleepy? Like your eyes weigh a hundred pounds?" "Mmm, yes," Spoiled Rich smiled at that, giving off a heavy sigh, her eyes closing all the way. "Maybe I'll fall asleep here." "Yes," Diamond Tiara responded. "Sleep. Go to sleep." "I think I will." Diamond's voice dropped, "you feel like you are on an escalator, going down." "Down." Diamond's voice dropped again. She said so very softly, "Deeper and deeper." "Deeper and deeper." Diamond was whispering into her mother's ears, "Until you reach the very bottom". "The very bottom." Did it work? Or didn't it? Well, there was one way to find out. One simply had to bite the bullet and try. "You shouldn't sleep in your clothes. Why don't you take them off?" And, to Diamond Tiara's great surprise, her mother did just that; pulling off her dress, and panties, and bra with military precision, until they were laying in a heap in front of her. Diamond Tiara scooped them up, continuing as she did, now speaking in a regular voice. "You won't remember this tomorrow. You won't remember being naked, either. You will think you are still wearing your clothes all day, as you go on about your business, not realizing your nudity at all." "Not realizing at all," her mother intoned. "Now go to sleep." And with that, Diamond Tiara bundled up all her mother's clothes and walked off with them towards the hamper, leaving her mother naked and asleep in her red leather chair.
2 Wake up!Wake up! Spoiled Rich woke up in the red leather chair. As she got up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she noticed in the mirror above the mantelpiece that not only was her hair an absolute mess, she was still wearing her fancy red dress from yesterday. "That's what I get for falling asleep in that stupid chair." She also noticed it was a very cold morning for summer. But surely the day would heat up over time. It was supposed to be an absolute scorcher later. The red leather chair stuck to her skin more than she remembered, too. She hated that chair. She hated everything right now. She needed something delicious for breakfast. She returned to the kitchen to find the butler was not there. That's right, Filthy Rich had taken him with him as a personal servant. Well, Spoiled Rich had not made a proper hot breakfast breakfast in ages, but how hard could it be? She eventually came to remember why she also hated cooking. Even a simple slice of toast proved too much as the stupid thing never popped up until she could smell it burning, leaving a stink throughout the house. She hated the stink. She hated the toaster. She hated breakfast as an abstract concept. Diamond Tiara seemed much more giddy than usual. She positively skipped downstairs, despite the lingering black smoke she was running through, wafting from from the now-dilapidated toaster. "What do you have to be so happy about? Can't you see I'm mad? "How dare she rub in this horrible morning by the way she is acting happy, pretending everything was great just to get on her nerves? Diamond Tiara stopped dead, eyes wide. Good, it was about time that little thing had some fear of her. "I.... I wouldn't have known." "I'm not in the mood. I'm really just not in the mood. I'm going out to buy breakfast. Are you coming with, or not?" Diamond Tiara smiled wide, "Oh, I'm defiantly coming with." * The girl seemed preoccupied about something; her mind definitely wasn't on getting breakfast. It was as is she were waiting for the perfect time to strike. Spoiled Rich knew that gleam in her daughter's eye. It was too similar to the gleam in her own. Perhaps she taught her daughter too well... Her attention was broken at Quills and Sofas (what a ridiculous concept for a store) by Davenport unlocking the store, or at least attempting to. He kept looking over at them for some reason, fumbling the keys multiple times. Finally, as they got closer, Diamond Tiara stooped down to pick them up on his most recent attempt, and unlocked the door for him. "Thanks," he blushed, and seemed overly chagrined at the situation. "Have a bit of trouble at home?" Whatever did he mean by that? But Diamond Tiara recovered faster than she did, almost as if she were expecting the bizarre question, "Dad's out of town for a week, and we're still adjusting to a new routine. Just... don't mention it." Diamond smiled brightly, "Well, we have to go. Bye." She ran on ahead, causing Spoiled to have to almost jog to keep up. What was with that girl today? What was with everybody? She blew right past Snips and Snails, some of Diamond Tiara's school compatriots. They hollered after her, but she didn't stop. Finally, Snails spoke up to Spiled Rich as she passed at a more leisurely walk. "Hey, do you know something?" "Don't talk to me. I'm having a terrible day." "Okay." Finally arriving at Sugarcube Corner, they were apparently the only customers bright and early on a Saturday. everyone else must still be asleep. She pulled on the door handle, and was surprised to find it locked. She looked at the sign. They were supposed to open at 8, and here it was 8 on the dot. They should be open. How dare they? She banged on the door more loudly, "I have places to be!" she shouted through the door. "You should be ready by the time customers arrive. I haven't even had breakfast yet, and--" the door opened. "Sorry about that dearie; I'm almost ready. Ah, right on time." Mrs. Cake smiled and did a double-take as she looked over Spoiled Rich, Diamond Tiara, and then back at Spoiled Rich. "I'd heard it was going to be a scorcher today. Good thing we have air conditioning." She smiled even wider if that were possible. Why was everyone so smiley today? Couldn't they see she was in a bad mood? Did they think it would help somehow? Mister Davenport was all smiling and flustered when they passed him on the street. What was with everyone today? Of course, Pinkie Pie was the smileyest of all; but then, she's always that way, so that was no different. "Is there a reason you're going out naked?" Spoiled Rich looked over at Diamond Tiara, while Diamond wasn't dressed as conservatively as her own floor-length red dress, it wasn't anything too provocative. Perhaps Pinkie meant their lack of makeup, or simply being her usual imbecilic self, "Stop being stupid. We're ready to order." They ordered a full breakfast, and sat down to eat it, Spoiled Rich fumbling with her purse the entire while. Why wouldn't this thing stay put? The good news, though, was that it appeared as if her daughter were regretting this silly facade she was putting on simply to bring down Spoiled Rich's mood. She wasn't eating very much. Now was the time to strike. Diamond started out, "Mom, there's something I have to tell you..." Spoiled interrupted, and said half-jokingly, "You know, your elbows are on the table again. Looks like you'll be eating tonight's meal in the nude again." "Don't joke about that! It's embarrassing just to think about. I mean, imagine how you'd feel if it happened to you. I'm not sure it's worth it …" she trailed off. "Well, it has done wonders for your manners, having you afraid of me again. It's important to always show proper etiquette, not to mention showing me the proper respect. Those are both important lessons to learn. And don't forget it was your own fault." Diamond Tiara stood up in place, indignant, "How was it MY fault?" "You made me angry. I must respond." Diamond Tiara simply stood there, open-mouthed, sputtering. Spoiled Rich continued, "In fact, if you're going to be that way, you obviously haven't learned anything at all. You'll be repeating your lesson tonight." Diamond Tiara stomped the ground with rage. She screamed, "Fine, then!" before running off with a final, "Why don't you just WAKE UP!?" Now what on Earth could she mean by that? "My word." Mrs. Cake returned, looking over at Spoiled Rich's table, "What was all that about?" Spoiled didn't know. What a strange choice of phrasing. And she never get get to hear what Diamond was going to tell her. She said to Mrs. Cake, "Well, if she's going to behave that way, I suppose it is not that important, after all."
3 AwokenGoing outside, Spoiled Rich shivered at the cool breeze, arms to her bare shoulders. Her dress lacks shoulders, but why was the breeze so cold? It isn't that - When she looked down, she had her answer. She had to be dreaming. This couldn't be happening. She was naked. She couldn't be naked; she was in the middle of Ponyville! What is going on? Could other people see her this way? She had to do something. Where to hide? She ducked behind a corner, which at least gave her partial cover, in hiding her from one side. She could get some clothes from Rarity's Boutique, but that would mean having to present herself to Rarity, the only person in Ponyville more high-society than herself... So that was right out. Of course, at this rate, Rarity might wind up seeing her, anyway her boutique was right over there. So no time to think about that now, she had to move, quickly, before someone saw her. Somewhere more secure; somewhere indoors, but the only place that close that would do was... "Welcome to Sugarcube- oh, did you forget something?" Pinkie Pie asked. Spoiled Rich just glared at her on her way through the door. Well, her clothes weren't here. She didn't really expect them to be. But at least no one could see her right now except Pinkie Pie, and she didn't count. Pinkie was The Help. Help never counts. They're machines or robots or something. Something stupid, something- "What are you doing, stupid?" "You forgot your leftovers, silly." Pinkie Pie handed her a container. "Do I look like I eat leftovers?" "That's why they're left over, duh." She took the box more to make her go away than anything. Why was everyone so happy today? Can't they see ... oh that's why. She must have been without clothes all the way through town. But how? Did someone steal them? So masterfully? It must have been that Snips fellow. He was a hoodlum. He is going to pay for all this! And give her back her clothes! Looking left and right, and then left again, Spoiled Rich finally worked up the courage to go out the door, running quickly around the building. There weren't as many people back here, away from the main drag, but there would be some occasionally, she knew. She took a few deep breaths and then took off running. She had to move fast. She booked at as fast as she could. She ran for all she was worth. Had to make as much time as possible; before someone saw her. Until she couldn't breath anymore, and she collapsed in the grass behind some bushes. This would have to do for now. This is where those hoodlums were hiding before. They must be near here somewhere. Well, one hoodlum now. Just Snails. She could hear him talking to himself somewhere nearby. Good. That was the one she suspected, no, was sure of it now. Why else would he be here? This must all be his fault! "Oh hello again." No! She was seen! How mortifying! She couldn't be caught when she was so close! But no matter, he will pay for this, too. Vengeance will be - "Man, I feel like I'm going to go to sleep just standing here," said Snails. Spoiled Rich looked down. Her clothes had reappeared. Had she found them? She didn't remember putting them on. What the heck? Was she imagining this? Was is because it was so cold this morning? Snails obliviously continued his own internal monologue, now made external. "Man, How long does it take to go to the bathroom, Snips? Come out of the house, already." He idly bounced a ball on the ground. It was getting on her nerves. Spoiled rich decided that whatever had happened, she must have won. She always wins. that was just the facts of it. That job done, she resolved to go home, with her... box. It wouldn't do to leave it here; one of THEM might eat it, can't have that. Davenport was still being extra smiley again. But why? She obviously wasn't naked. She was never naked, she decided. This was probably some kind of trick by somebody. Maybe her daughter. She's always pulling tricks like that, no matter how often she was punished. When was this war going to end? Well, obviously when she was the victor, but besides that? She walked by the excessively-happy Davenport, who waved. She waved back; maybe it would get him to stop waving. Or smiling. He said, "You are having a bad day? You certainly look grumpy enough." "You have no idea. Maybe this is all a dream. Maybe I just need to wake up." And, with that, her clothes vanished again. Of course they did. Well, she wasn't giving Davenport a free show. He can have the stupid box of breakfast. Leaving it behind would make her run faster. "Hey, you forgot your... hey!" he called after her retreating run. * Well, the most recent run was completed; the mansion was only a hundred yards away at most. if she got there, she would be home free. She could see it from her hiding position behind some garbage cans. "If" was the key word here, though. The streets were absolutely filled with other ponies. She had two choices: she could either wait for night time, 12 hours from now, and wait it out, or she could bite the bullet and run for it. She wanted her revenge NOW, not twelve hours from now. Well, that certainly makes that decision easy. She started her sprint from cover, which proved a mistake since the metal garbage cans fell with a horrible clatterbang, drawing everyone's attention to her nude form right away. Too late to back down now, she decided to just run for it. She could actually feel everyone's eyes staring at her. They will pay later for this. They will all pay somehow. The world at large will pay. The- Whoops! Too occupied with her mind's eye, she stumbled and splayed out on the grass on her hands and knees. No, this wasn't fair! Now people will see her! When she was so close! "Here, I brought you a blanket" Spoiled rich looked up. Diamond Tiara was there holding up a cloth. She actually had the nerve to look sorry for her! Well, she wasn't going to accept charity from that brat, she waved it away, "I'm fine. Go back in the house. I'm fine. I'm fine." She repeated it more for her own benefit than Tiara's. "Ooooooohay, if you're sure." Diamond turned and started to walk back into the house. Leaving her naked there. Hey now, just because she turned it down didn't mean she didn't want it. But she wanted it on her own terms. How dare she? This was somehow her fault, too. "Oh here, just give it, if you're going to be that way." Spoiled snatched it from her daughter's hands and wrapped it around herself. There. she was decent at last. Five feet from her front door. "Well!" she shouted. She stomped though the door, anyway. * * * Spoiled Rich, drying her hair, stepped out of the shower. She felt a lot better, now. It was her next intention to put on as many clothes as possible. In fast, she had a magnificent robe somewhere in the back of the linen closet, somewhere back here. She needed to rummage though here someday and throw out the-. where did ... hello. What is this? Tucked under the pile of robes and other accoutrements that she had bought, and long since forgotten about, was a book. Was this that smutty book Diamond Tiara was reading last night? Oh, this is going to be so embarrassing for her. Lots of revenge fun! (The best kind) Spoiled flipped through the pages of the book idly, more planning a suitable revenge than reading, and only stopped as she got towards the end. The last page. Nudity hypnosis? Is that what happened to her today? So it was her daughter's doing. Oh, this revenge will be fun.
4 Dream come falseThe first words Diamond Tiara greeted Silver Spoon with when Diamond opened her front door were, "Do you know where my swimsuit is?" Silver Spoon stopped. "No." "Darn. I was hoping you took it home by accident the last time you were over to use the pool. We can't find it anywhere." Silver Spoon was already wearing her suit. They were going to meet the CMC at the community pool later, mostly just to get out of the house, away from Diamond Tiara's mother. Diamond wanted to be around as many of her friends as possible; it helped her feel more secure. With that admission, a distant "found it!" was heard, and Diamond raced off. When she got to the top of the stairs she saw her mother there, and felt... dizzy. Something was... Her mother interrupted that train of thought. "I found your suit. It's on this hanger. The butler must have hung it up with the tuxedo suits for some reason." Her mother held out the hanger for inspection. Sure enough, the two shoulder straps of her one-piece suit were hung on the hanger, as if it were a tux suit coat. "Oh. That's good. I'll just get changed, then." Had her mother gotten over her little snit already? Wow, that naked run must have affected her more then she thought. The book was working! After changing into the swimsuit, Diamond Tiara came back down to the door, "Let's get going before Mom changes her mind." Silver spoon asked, sounding surprised, "What happened to your suit?" Her mother answered, "Oh, we both spent a long time looking for it." Diamond Tiara agreed, "For ages. Let's just go." "ohhhhh .... Kaaaaay. Wow, you're ... really eager." "Bye, mother!" Diamond herded Silver Spoon out the door, "C'mon. Let's get going. I think she's up to something, and I don't want to be here when it goes off." "Oh. I guess that makes sense..." Silver Spoon chuckled. "I remember that one night we went skinny-dipping in your pool." "Yeah, but this is the community pool. I kinda wanted to find my suit for that." "Oh, well." * * * "And then what happened?" Sweety Belle asked. "And then I stopped having second thoughts. She was on her own getting home. I told my mother to just WAKE UP!, and ran off, but it seems to have worked. She was much nicer today. She even helped me ... find ... my ... " Applebloom replied, "That really sounds cruel, though. I don't know if I would have done that, no matter how mad I was, and I've been plenty mad." "I don't know. I might have done it to Rarity the time she lost my ... what's wrong, DT?" Diamond Tiara was still looking down in shock. Her swimsuit had simply vanished when she'd said 'wake up' and imagined bringing her mother out of her induction. No. It couldn't be. But it be. "Yeah, are you okay?" "Having second thoughts now, ain't ya?" Tiara was naked. How long had she been naked? When her mother 'found' her swimsuit? That meant ... she'd ... walked ... all the way here... all the way through Ponyville naked. Oh, Celestia, that explained her friends' reactions when she stepped out of the locker room after putting her towel and things in the locker. Silver Spoon was there talking to the CMC, saying "Yeah, she had a lot of trouble finding her swimsuit," and her friends had tittered a bit, but she didn't think anything of it at the time. She must have been explaining it, her nudity. And- "Earth to Diamond Tiara. You didn't hypnotize yourself did you? Wake up." Silver Spoon snapped her fingers a couple times. "Ohhhh, that's how she had the courage to go skinny-dipping!" Scootaloo said. "And now you've ruined it, Spoony." Silver Spoon's eyes got big, "Oh, my gosh. I'm so sorry. You must be feeling so terrible right now. Can you re-do it?" Diamond Tiara stopped. They weren't even laughing at her. They were calling her courageous. "I ... I ..." Silver Spoon started climbing out of the pool over the side, "I'll go get you a towel. I'm so so so sorry." "No, I... I think so. No, it's okay. I think I can...." Silver was already wrapping a soggy towel around her nude midsection, emblazoned with Silver Spoon’s cutie mark; this was her towel. "There you go. Feeling better? I must have left you feeling *humiliated*. I can't tell you how sorry I am." "No it's... it's okay... really." clutching the towel tightly around herself, Diamond ran for the locker room. * She started at herself alternately nude in the full-body mirror. "Go to sleep. Wake. Up. Go to sleep. Wake up." Her swimsuit flashed off and on, vanishing and reappearing, the swimsuit her mother had given her. There was no other explanation. She didn't even have any clothes to change into. But the strange thing was, no one cared. No one made fun of her; if anything Silver Spoon was feeling bad for her, and Diamond Tiara felt bad for making Silver Spoon feel bad. Silver Spoon had thought it was her fault. Tiara couldn't let her go on feeling that way. She wrapped Spoony's towel tightly around herself and stepped out into the sun, wearing only that. * * * They were all hanging around the locker room doors, exchanging whispers, "I still say we go in." "No, she needs some time to herself." Silver Spoon spoke up, "Thanks, I'm fine." She whispered to herself "go to sleep" and the suit reappeared, wrapping itself around her. She at least felt decent again, even though she knew intellectually it was only an illusion. "Here. You can have this back, now." She unwrapped the towel and handed it to Silver, looking her straight in the eyes with a smile, wearing only her insubstantial swimsuit. "If we lay it out in the sun, it should be dry when it comes time to stop swimming." "You mean, you're still gonna skinny-... swim with us?" Scootaloo asked. "Sure. I mean, we were together for like, fifteen minutes while I was naked, and that went well. Let's finish the story." "In that case... it's just the five of us, right? There's no one else here?" Scootaloo was looking around like a scared chicken, before finally untying her bikini top and bottom, and skinned out of her suit entirely. "There." "Let's get back in the water." * * * "So you weren't planning on skinny-dipping today?" "No, I ... oh no. Speak of the devil." Scootaloo startled and pressed herself against the side of the pool to hide her nakedness with the pool wall, "Maybe this was a bad idea." If Spoiled Rich noticed Scootaloo at all, she gave no indication of it, walking out of the locker room straight for where Diamond Tiara was talking. "You know, it's just not as much fun when you don't notice, so I'm going to do the same to you what you did to me. Wake." She paused for emphasis, "Up." Her "swimsuit" vanished again, but then, it really didn't matter, did it? It was all in her head, anyway. "You're being very mean." Silver Spoon yelled back to Spoiled Rich on 'shore'. "You're just asking for her to do it back to you again!" "No...It's okay. It's fine." Diamond Tiara smiled, and started climbing the pool ladder, still naked, not even bothering to imagine a new suit around her. "And do you know why?" She stood her nude self face-to-chest with her mother. "I paused too long. Wake up. Wake...UP! Wakeup Wakeup wake-" Diamond cut her off, "because these are my friends. I'm among friends, so I'm not vulnerable." She crossed her arms in front of her, just below her breasts, "So who cares? They don't. They're supportive of me." Spoiled Rich apparently didn't have anything to say to this. She simply turned and walked out. * Epilogue: "So I'm wearing a real swimsuit this time... I think. I'm wearing clothes, right?" "Yes," Silver Spoon laughed. "But we're in your pool this time. You could still skinny-dip like Scootaloo is." "Yeah, but my Dad is coming home, so I kinda don't want his first sight of me to be naked." "Oh, crud!" Scootaloo yelled, "I didn't bring a swimsuit at all." She self-consciously covered herself with her hands under the water. Her timing was perfect, as Filthy Rich took that moment to come out the back door. "Well hey there, honey." "Daddy!" she clambered out of the pool, arms outstretched for a hug. "We'll have to make this a short hug; you're gettin' my clothes all wet." Rich laughed with true mirth as he hugged her anyway and kissed her on the forehead. How about I join you in an hour or so after I get everything wound up." "Okay." With that, he left. "Do you think he noticed I was..." Scootaloo started, but stopped, looking down in embarrassment, still covering herself with her hands. "Naked? Don't know. Maybe he didn't notice. Maybe he did and didn't say anything." Diamond Tiara responded. "He's very shrewd that way. Very diplomatic." Sweetie Belle had a better answer, "It's like quantum. No one can ever tell whether he did or not, so does it really matter?" Evidently, Scootaloo decided that it didn't, because she kept skinny-dipping with them until the hour was up.
