"Autumn, dear, are you home? I brought you a nice house warming gift!"
Rarity gently creaked the door open, taking care to announce her presence as much as possible. The lights were off, and without thinking she flipped on a desk lamp, as much of a subconscious mental choice as scratching someone else's itch.
In anyone else's house, a burnt couch, floor littered in belongings, and lack of rhyme or reason to everything within sight would be a cause for concern, but Rarity was well aware of her Kirin friend's infuriating cleanliness standards. Empty pizza and Chinese food boxes were stuffed into every possible location, the large wobbly stack of empty DVD cases seemed to imply a spree of modern media consumption after a lifelong starvation of such (The DVD player was open, revealing a Magnum P.I. disc upside down and displaying enough smudges to corrupt it several times over), and a Game Boy sat on the couch with the screen incomprehensible through the sea of cracks covering it. Rarity sighed, laying down her gift bag on top of a nearby table and turning to leave.
*Crunch*
Rarity stiffened, turning slowly to the source of the noise. Something was lying draped on the wood, previously unseen. A lifeless eye was the only part of it the dingy lamp reached, staring beyond her despite facing directly towards each other. The seamstress shakily moved the lamp telekinetically, illuminating the rest of the face; a cream Kirin with a shaggy, disheveled mane, a small smile, and a bare hornless forehead. A ladylike scream filled the apartment, likely waking up neighboring tenants.
"Sorry! I had to leave for a bit!"
A cream unicorn announced its presence in the room by colliding into Rarity as she backed up. She screamed louder.
"It's me! This is my house you're in! Please stop screaming!"
Rarity's panic throes petered out slowly as she took in the figure; upon closer inspection, it was more than just a unicorn. The horn still had the telltale crook of a Kirin, the mane was just as disheveled, with a flame shaped crest of scales adorning her head behind it. Her tail seemed more equine-like and fluffier, and the shell seemed to have spread it's texture along her entire barrel. Most jarring was the presence of a tri-leaf Cutie Mark on her hip, standing out against her pelt surrealy.
"What... Did you do?"
"You like it?" She blushed, casually tossing a poofy tuft of mane hair as she spoke. "I figured I'd try a more equine look. Try and blend in. Except the scales, I kept those, because they're cool! Don't you think they look good on me? A nice vest of protection for my belly?"
"They're... Lovely."
Autumn helpfully turned to the side, sticking out a hindleg and foreleg to show off. Rarity's stunned gaze seemed to translate to inquiry for her, and she tried out a few more poses, dropping to lie on her back, rolling onto her stomach and propping her head up with her hooves. Her friend finally came to as she began experimenting with sultriness, stuttering her first question.
"What's... That?"
Autumn winced at her friend's gesture towards the body lying on her table, lowering her tail and turning back to face her.
"Yeeaah... Sorry you had to see that. It creeps me out a little too, I try to get rid of the old skin as fast as possible normally. I just went out to get a quick shave, but all the nearby businesses are closed for some reason. Hey, is that for me?"
The newly minted Kirin happily bounced towards the gift bag, shoving her hollow body to the floor. The skin crunched horribly, splitting a seam at the face. Rarity quickly averted her eyes.
"Yes, actually. I just thought it might interest-"
"Wow! I have no idea what this is."
Autumn levitated out a small SanDisk MP3 player, turning it over and experimenting with the buttons.
"It's from a friend of mine. She heard you were trying to learn modern culture, and gave me a music player, packed with songs from the last eight decades."
The telltale synthesizing of Toxic played, and Autumn shrunk away, before regarding it with excited curiosity. Rarity eyed the limp suit of fur cautiously.
"Good to see you're doing well! If there's nothing else you need, I think I can-"
"Cut! A cut! I could really use a haircut, actually. If you wouldn't mind...?"
Autumn puppy-eyed flawlessly.
---*---
"It's been a while since I grabbed a new skin! Late Qing at least! I feel really great!"
Rarity hummed happily as her friend rambled, expertly shipping her mane to a more reasonable cut. The shock had long since faded, and at this point the Kirin could very well tell her anything about their natural biology. She silently thanked the stars above Twilight hadn't been sent in her place as Autumn began casually discussing the crawling under her skin as her own body was used as a cocoon.
"How do you think you look, Autumn dearie?"
She turned the chair back to the bathroom mirror, flicking off the shaving cream that had amassed in spades over it with her horn. The new haircut maintained the now famous poofiness at the ends, but straightened further up to a more reasonable yet still curly Quiff at the top.
"Looks great!"
"Glad I could help."
"You did! Now I can look my best next time I need to be an omen for ushering in the next age of a new ruler. I wasn't alive for the Yellow Emperor, see." Autumn casually exposited, blowing a stray lock out of her face and accidentally incinerating it in the process.
"Of course darling." Rarity replied, as if she understood what her friend was talking about in the slightest.