//------------------------------// // Winning Streak // Story: Always In Style // by Homeshine //------------------------------// 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.)