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."