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// Gettin' off the Ground 
// Story: Twitanic 
// by AdrianJNovelle 
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	"Attention all passengers, this is your captain speaking," the ominous voice boomed over the intercom throughout all decks. "We are preparing our takeoff. Brace for impact, and do not participate in reckless activity until we are safely in the air. Thank you."
Everypony remained in their quarters (or the quarters of somepony else's, in Spike's situation), as the airship raised the cabin one last time for the last-minute passengers, and then Princess Celestia untied the rope from the small pile of cinder blocks which weighed the large but lightweight airship down to the earth. It effortlessly drifted upwards as the huge propellers the Captain controlled started up, two propellers in a vertical orientation keeping the airship at a steady height about half a mile above Equestria, ready to creep along the midday skies of the beautiful country.
Once the Airborne Express maintained a steady velocity, the Captain turned on the intercom again. "Alright, we are in the air and at a steady flight above Equestria. Thank you for your patience and cooperation. Next stop on our town-to-town tour: Canterlot, home to the Royal Canterlot Sisters Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, as well as the native home to our special guest, Twilight Sparkle if I'm not mistaken."
Twilight blushed, though no one was around to see it happen.
Relieved that takeoff was successful, Twilight wrote her first letter to the Princess right then and there:

Dear Princess Celestia,

We have just taken off. I haven't looked outside yet, but I imagine Equestria is beautiful down below (I've never flown, you know). I can't wait to get started enjoying my vacation in the clouds. Some of us (particularly Spike and Pinkie Pie) are anxious to start the fun. They're already jumping on beds and running around! 

With me as our party's leader, though, there will be no trouble on this trip.

Nothing will go wrong. I promise.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle

There was a knock at Twilight's door as she finished signing her name. She got up and answered it.
"Hey, Twilight," Spike said, even before Twilight could greet him. "We finished our furniture fort in the Cutie Mark Crusaders' suite. You wanna come see it?"
"Um...no, thank you, Spike," Twilight replied.
"Suit yourself."
Twilight followed Spike with her large eyes as he disappeared behind the door to Suite 107. 
She closed her door and started inward through her bedroom when another knock was heard. She answered it, surprised. 
"Hel- oh, hi, Rarity, what's up?"
"After lunch, Fluttershy suggested that we go to her place and take a soak in her Jacuzzi tub together as sort of a party...Well, we used the term 'occasion' until we invited Pinkie Pie, who deemed it a Jacuzzi party. We'll make cocktails to drink, too. You wanna join us?"
"Oh, gee, that sounds like fun, but I didn't bring me my bathing suit."
"Bathing suit?" Rarity gasped. "Darling, you can bring your birthday suit. We're all friends here."
"Well, I can't argue with that logic."
Rarity grinned. "How does three work for you?"
"Three works for me!"
"Great! I'll let everyone know you're coming. It's gonna be a great way to start our vacation!"
"I concur. Hey, did you know that Fancypants is aboard?"
Rarity shrieked with delight. "Really!?"
"Ah-huh! I totally greeted him when he and Fleur de Lis were getting settled in. They're our neighbors."
"Oh my gosh! I better go say hi!"
Rarity hurried off without even saying goodbye to Twilight (or greeting her for that matter).
Twilight gently shook her head in delight as she once again closed her suite door. 

Lunch was quite dull, seeing that Twilight, having not eaten breakfast that morning, was the first to eat lunch, and, thus, ate alone. She was transfixed with the images which ran through her head when Rarity was speaking to her - her motivation for cutting their conversation off and mentioning Fancypants' presence aboard the Airborne Express. 
She had not seen any of her friends' naked bodies...in their human forms, that is. In their pony forms, they were naked nearly every second of every day and night. That she was used to. But as she perceived them now was seeing into a whole new universe with a telescope. She was not prepared for this kind of social convention...err...rather, social unconvention. That's what is was to her. What kind of people just hop into a giant Jacuzzi together and drink fruit cocktails in lieu of alcoholic beverages (since no one present is over twenty-one)? Nutjobs. Well, if that was her answer, she would now be calling her friends nutjobs. 
She could cancel her attendance if she really wanted to, right? Her friends would understand her discomfort, right?
Maybe.
Maybe yes.
Maybe no.
Twilight did not know. Consumed with uncertainty, she felt her obligation was to go. It's not like she'll be traumatized by seeing Rarity's D-cups, and, her, well, you know.
Halfway through her lunch of a hay sandwich (her appetite for pony food remained despite her physical transformation), she began to logically deduct the procedure for the party. In other words, what was she to do at this social gathering?
Okay, well, the first thing to do would be to show up. Yes, that's a good place to start. Then undress. Yes, yes...the undressing...oh, dear Celestia, the undressing! The removing of her clothes in front of her friends: the revelation of her naked body and her friends' naked bodies. Her C-cups versus Rarity's Ds, Pinkie Pie's As, Rainbow's Bs, Fluttershy's Bs, and Applejack's Cs. 
Wait, I'm Applejack's size? she asked herself in her head. That can't be-
She snapped out of it. Back to the matter at hoof hand. 
And, then of course, there's downstairs.  It'll just be for a minute: once she's in the water, everything below the belt and, heck, below the girls would be invisible due to the intense waterflow. 
Could she live with the undressing? Maybe she could request changing in private? No, fool! The party's in the bathroom! So should she change in the bedroom or maybe the living room? Or would that be too weird?
Buck.
Twilight was running circles in her mind.
Her heart began to race from her anxiety. She coaxed herself down.
Okay, okay, step two...what would step two be? Grabbing a cocktail and getting in the tub. Oh, Celestia - the getting in! What if she slipped? She could die! What if she spilled cocktail in the tub? Fluttershy would be furious! Or would she? Would the cocktail be clear and thus unnoticeable? Who knows!
Almost done now. Step three. Conversation. Possibly the easiest step of all. All she would have to do after that would be to look at her friends - straight in their eyes - and converse with them while sipping her cocktail and relaxing in the hot water of the Jacuzzi tub.
But what could she do to ease her mind? She could close her eyes. No, no. That would be rude. It would send the wrong message.
"Hey, friends, I love you all to death, but I don't wanna expose my eyes to your unclothed anatomies."
See? Rude.
And it's not like Twilight was truly repulsed by anypony: they're her friends. Sure, they haven't shared the same breast size since the age of twelve, but that's no excuse.
Oh, sweet Celestia - age twelve. 
It seems like an eternity passed since then.
Everyone developed at the same time.
Then Pinkie Pie stopped before her thirteenth birthday. And, to this day, her body is equal to that of a twelve-year-old girl. If not younger. Twilight and the other four kept growing. Twilight's body finally slowed down. At least, she believed it did because, until the cocktail party, she was convinced her physique was smaller than Applejack's. Hers had to be. She's an egghead. AJ's a farm-girl. The small-breasted brainiac compared to the farm-girl who always wore those shirts which never covered her umbilical and, for some reason, knotted at the bottom. What happened to that: the small-breasted brainiac rule, huh? 
Twilight believed this was her body until the day she dies. And, being just old enough to hold down a job - should she ever be formally employed - this would be who she was for decades. 
Back to the cocktail party.
What else could she do to ease her anxiety? 
A book. She could bring a book.
No. She couldn't do that either. It, too, would send the wrong message.
"Hey, girls! I'll get naked and in the tub with you, and I'm delighted to sip some cocktail with you, but please don't talk to me: I don't wanna talk right now."
Well, guess there is only one way to take it.
Twilight will just have to take a deep breath, and let come what may. 
That's what she could do: keep her head down while she was undressing and getting in the tub. It wouldn't seem rude because, of course, she would be in a slippery bathroom and would need to be vigilant of her hoofing footing as to avoid a deadly emergency. She would just stare at her little size sixes, maybe count her toes even, and just keep her eyes on the floor until she was seated. 
Still quite hungry, she dove into the other half of her hay sandwich, finishing it before a server came by and asked if she had finished eating. He did not comment on how she managed to scarf down half a sandwich in the time it took him to walk from one table across the dining hall to hers. 
Twilight headed back to her suite, Spike still visiting with the Cutie Mark Crusaders (evident in his absence in both the bedroom and the hallway). She headed into the bathroom and veined herself in the mirror, still fully clothed, with no intention of taking anything off just yet. 
She stared at her reflection for several minutes.
"Okay," she said aloud at last. "I'll go. I'll go in, have fun, relax, sip a cocktail or two, and pretend like I'm not nervous about this at all. I just won't mention this to Princess Celestia in my next letter, that's all...Yeah, let's go with that."