Twilight gave a contented sigh, eyes shut as she smiled happily, letting the warm water of the shower beat down upon her head, neck, and back. Today was promising to be a very good day, and it had just barely started!
Rarity had come by early in the day to ask about borrowing Spike to assist in a gem gathering excursion, as there had been no feasible way of her easily gaining access to them on her own. Spike had been all too willing and ready to assist in the outing, and she didn't see any reason to deny him the opportunity. There was nothing pressing at the moment that she felt warranted keeping him at the castle, so why deny him the chance at the outing?
In addition to having the palace to herself, a rare occurrence had taken place on this day; Twilight's schedule actually had a sizable period of time during which she had nothing that needed to be done. There were no meetings scheduled, nowhere that needed to be visited, no royal duties that hand to be tended to -not that she had many of those to begin with- nothing that was in need of her attention, no reorganization that was begging to be done... for the next several hours, she quite literally had the palace all to herself, and nothing to do with her time. Nothing at all, except for whatever she wanted to do for herself. The hours were hers to spend however she pleased, and she planned to dive right into one of her newest books, and just enjoy the silence.
Or maybe she'd write Sunset Shimmer first, just to see if everything was going alright in the other world. It couldn't hurt to keep in touch.
Or maybe she'd just pop through the portal for a short bit, and see what was going on for herself. Ever since the last time she'd gone through to help defeat the Dazzlings, she would occasionally make short trips through the mirror when her schedule allowed, either to spend a little time with the others, or just learn more about the world around her.
The chance to just relax with her friends for a few hours, with no emergencies to get in the way... it certainly sounded very appealing right now. She could even be back by the time Spike got back, and nopony would be the wiser.
The other world... the parallel human world. Just thinking about it filled her with so many questions, and sensations. So many different -and yet similar- things to experience, not just with the society, and technological achievements, but also with her own basic physical form! She could spend so many hours of study mapping out the differences and similarities that she had in each world.
But the time she had available would be too short for her to do much more than just scratch the surface. Being without her magic was always a hindrance when it came to taking notes, and the shape of her mouth in human form made it very difficult to write in the traditional manner. There were her hands, but she had so little skill with them, any notes she took would be completely illegible, until she mastered the skill of manual penmanship.
Pens. Another reason to consider going through. She was fairly confident that, with enough physical specimens to examine, it would be entirely possible to reverse engineer their construction, and make them widespread in no more than one -or maybe two- year's time. Although the quill and inkwell industry would likely never forgive her if she did that.
Twilight sighed again, more out of defeat than contentment this time around. What she wanted to do, she really couldn't do, as there weren't enough hours in the day available to her.
Maybe she'd just settle for sending a message to Sunset Shimmer, ask a few questions in preparation for the next time she could visit, and then just lounge about with a good book, and do absolutely nothing.
And then, as she thought about that, an idea came to her, as to how she could go about spending her free time. It was an idea that actually made her grin as she contemplated it. It was something she hadn't had the opportunity to do for a good long time now, and now that she'd actually stopped to consider it as a possibility, it struck her as very appealing.
"No better time than the present I guess," she said to herself, mentally committing to the decision to go ahead with her plans for the day.
She closed her eyes again and stuck her head directly under the shower, her horn glowing as she worked her magic on a particular spell to achieve what she wanted to do since the opportunity was hers for the taking.
Her skin tingled as the spell went to work. And soon she started feeling the water beating against her skin, rather than through her fur and feathers.
Rarity hummed to herself as she walked through Ponyville, quite content with the results of today's gem gathering excursion. She honestly didn't know what she'd do if she couldn't count on Spike's assistance with the outings. He could easily tear through hard, tightly compacted dirt, root, and even rock with great ease, and effortlessly reduce what would've previous been a day's worth of hard work, to just a few scant hours of tussle and bustle.
Tussle and bustle. She really needed to work on her rhyming skills. Perhaps a visit to Zecora was warranted...
Back on the topic of Spike. He was such a diligent little worker; to the point he'd managed to wear himself right out, and was desperately in need of a nap by the time they got back to the boutique. She certainly couldn't deny him his rest, and had chosen to let him snooze away on her fainting couch. And while he slept, she made her way to Twilight's castle to drop off a basket of what she considered Spike's share of today's haul. They were small, irregularly shaped gems that had been uncovered, totally unusable for her own applications without extensive efforts at cutting them to a more desirable form.
That said, however, it didn't change the fact that they were still high quality gemstones; still succulent by dragon standards if she had to guess. Leaving them for Spike to discover when he returned home was the least she could do for the poor dear after all the hard work she'd put him through. Plus she trusted Twilight to ensure that he was given them in a responsible manner, so he didn't wind up making himself sick by gorging on them all at once.
Concluding both her hum, and her walk, Rarity stopped at the doors to Twilight's palace, and knocked at the door to announce her presence. Barging right in would just be utterly rude for her to do.
The feel of upholstery against bare skin wasn't something Twilight was unfamiliar with, just very inexperienced with. But it was that inexperience that had a certain appeal about it, as it was always a new sensation to encounter when she actually did it. Or when she had to adjust her position, and felt the fabric rubbing against her. Sometimes it got her giggling, and sometimes it had her needlessly repeating the same movement because it had proven to be a pleasurable sensation to encounter; it felt unbelievably good against her back when she would roll over, and proceed to furiously rub her back against the sofa to scratch an itch that had been bugging her.
Of course that was to say nothing of the feeling of her own skin rubbing against more of her own skin. That was something else entirely. It felt so smooth, and slick, and even ticklish! Even without her book, she was having a great deal of fun.
That wasn't to say that she was actually without a book, however. She'd simply devoted time to something a little more physical than simply reading this whole time. And now that she'd done such, she was ready to just lay back, and enjoy the tome as it was meant to be.
And then there was a knock coming from the front door -the alert being brought to her by the door chime charms in place- interrupting her good mood.
Twilight sighed again, and gently laid the book down on the coffee table next to the sofa, before rolling off onto her hooves. She knew that she couldn't answer the door in her current state, but she was prepared for that. With a little bit of magical flexing, she was draped in an illusion spell, making her look like nothing was out of the ordinary as she made her way to the castle foyer. The only problem was that she needed to actively maintain the spell, and couldn't divert her magic for other uses. So long as she didn't need to do that, she would be fine.
"Yes? Who is it?" she asked as she made her way to the front door at hearing it being knocked on a second time.
"It's just me, darling."
That was Rarity's voice. Twilight gave a puzzled frown in response, having not expected her to be back so soon. Or... maybe her perception of time had been skewed. She sort of got a late start when it came to enjoying her skin, so maybe she just hadn't factored everything correctly.
Whatever the reasoning was, however, it didn't make much difference. Rarity was here now, and wanting to be let in. She'd just have to let her in, and hope for the best.
"Come in, Rarity," she replied back, before moving to manually grip the door knob, and pull it open for her. "I really wasn't expecting you to be back so soon. Did everything go alright?"
"Quite alright, darling. Today's haul was a lot deeper than we were expecting. But the results were well worth the extra effort needed to get to them. We walked away with far more than we anticipated," Rarity explained as she stepped inside. "Despite the reward, however, the work was still quite hard. Poor Spike was in desperate need of a nap by the time we made it back to town. I didn't have the heart to keep him up any longer, so I just left him to sleep at the boutique while I brought these by," she explained as she levitated the basket of gems in front of her.
Twilight couldn't help but whistle at the number of gems she was being presented with. That was more than even Spike could devour in one sitting. Or at least she hoped that was the case.
"I'll be sure that he gets them when he comes home. A little at a time," she replied as she reached out to take the basket. But she stopped just short of actually taking hold of it telekinetically. To do that she'd have to drop her illusion spell and... yeah. Awkward. "Um... just set them down anywhere and I'll get to them..."
Rarity blinked at Twilight's words and gestures. They were far too strange to be anything other than unusual.
"Well if you insist, darling," she replied and eased the basket down onto the floor. Perhaps it was time for a little intelligence gathering. "Are you feeling alright? You seem a bit flustered," she pointed out.
"Oh, I'm alright, really. I just, er..." Twilight paused, trying to think of something to say that wouldn't come off as being alarming. "I just can't use my magic at the moment. Spell practice and all that, you know?"
"Hmm... yes I suppose that makes sense. Practicing too much can certainly be strenuous to engage in," Rarity replied and nodded. Not that she practiced anything near like what Twilight herself did. But she was still familiar with the concept she was talking about. "Just one thing."
"Yes?" Twilight asked.
"Please don't take offense Twilight, but speaking frankly, darling, one unicorn to a... former unicorn... you're lying through your teeth," Rarity stated as she narrowed her eyes at her friend. "I can tell that you're using your magic right now. I can feel it. So I feel inclined to ask just what it is that you're doing..."
Twilight flinched. But she knew that there wasn't much she could do. She could try and lie her way out of it, but she doubted that she could pull it off convincingly. And she really didn't want to lie to her friends; especially not right to their faces. There was really little that she could do, other than fess up to what had been going on.
"Alright," she replied slowly, before shutting the door, and locking the latch. "I admit it. You caught me. I'm currently using an illusion spell, and if I try and split my focus, it's going to cancel out on me."
"An illusion spell? Whatever for?" Rarity asked, intrigued by this mystery. Twilight was neat and orderly, among many other things. But concerned about her appearance was rarely ever one of them.
"Well... it's complicated. It would probably be easier to just show you. Just... just don't freak out, alright?" Twilight asked uneasily as she allowed the spell to cancel out.
Rarity blinked as the spell ceased. And then she blinked again, uncertain of what exactly she was looking at. She knew that it was Twilight standing on front of her, as those gorgeous purple eyes were unmistakable. The same went for the lavender of her horn and hooves. But everything else in between that made Twilight so easily identifiable was completely absent. There wasn't a trace of fur or feathers anywhere on her entire body; utterly nothing than just bare, pale, slightly mottled skin.
The phrase "plucked chicken" immediately came to the forefront of her mind.
"Darling... you're bald..." she stated slowly, finding the very notion incredibly hard to believe; bordering on impossible really.
"I know," Twilight replied and nodded.
"But... why? Your fur was there only a few hours ago. How did this happen? No, never mind that, I'm quite sure I know the how of this. This is Discord's work, right? He's up to no good again, just as when he ruined this year's gala," Rarity stated, mentally shuddering at what had happened; especially to herself! She was starting to sense a pattern here.
"Actually..." Twilight began, pronouncing the word hesitantly, "Discord's not behind this at all. He's innocent in all of this, believe it or not..."
"No?" Rarity asked, surprised that the spirit of chaos wasn't responsible for something going wrong for a change. "Then how did this happen? You're not the mangy type of pony, Twilight, you always take good care of yourself. Did... oh dear. Did one of your spells wind up getting out of hoof? One of your experiments run awry and you got caught in the middle of it?" she asked.
Twilight steeled her nerves as she weighed her options on how to reply. She could take the easy way out, and lie about how this happened... or she could admit to what she was doing, and deal with the awkwardness that would ensue. All the while hoping that Rarity would be understanding.
It wasn't the easiest of decisions for her to make. But in the end she knew what she had to do.
"Actually," she repeated, this time without stretching it out, "I made the decision to go like this on my own."
There was an awkward silence that followed Twilight's admission, primarily because Rarity had been caught so off guard by it, she didn't have a clue what to say. At first.
"I'm sorry, darling, could you please repeat that? I don't think I heard you right. It sounded like you actually said you made the decision to go bald. But that's just-"
"The truth," Twilight interrupted.
"But... but why? Why would you ever want to go... want to go..." Rarity asked, unable to bring herself to actually finish the question.
"Nude," Twilight added.
Now Rarity blinked at the mention of the word. "Nude?" she asked.
Twilight giggled in response. "It sounds really cute how you pronounce the word," she stated.
"Now you're just being deliberate in trying to distract from the issue," Rarity stated accusingly as she frowned. "Twilight, as your friend, I believe I'm-"
She had been about to say that she felt she was entitled to an explanation as to what was going on around here. But she stopped short of actually saying such, having engaged her mind before her mouth. And she was thankful she had, as the whole thing sounded incredibly egotistical even to her.
"Twilight," she repeated, her tone far softer than before. "You know I'm your friend, darling. Might I impose on you for an explanation as to what exactly is going on?"
All Twilight could do was sigh and nod in response. "I think I can do that. Although I think it's only fair to warn you, it's a fairly long explanation."
"I doubt either of us has anywhere to be going right now," Rarity replied. She certainly doubted that Twilight would be going outside in her current condition.
"Alright," Twilight replied and sat down on her haunches. Immediately she leaped back to her hooves with an excited yip. "Okay, bad idea. Crystal flooring is cold against bare skin," she stated. "Let's move to somewhere a little more comfortable, and textile ready, shall we?"
"I couldn't agree more," Rarity replied. Something like this demanded being comfortable.
Unfortunately comfort wasn't what she was on the receiving end of as Twilight turned to lead them to another portion of the palace. Immediately she let out a squeak of surprise. Without Twilight's fur present, absolutely everything was visible to her.
Being a fashionista, and tasked with making as many outfits as she had over the years, with all of the measurements she had to take for custom fittings, some degree of observing equine anatomy was unavoidable. It had all been completely professional on her part, to the point she'd become desensitized to seeing such in the line of work, be it with either strangers or her closest friends. But there was just something about seeing the same presented as bare skin that seemed so... scandalous, so indecent.
Without bothering to speak up and voice the facts of her sudden discomfort, she instead hastened her pace to walk evenly with her down the hall.
Whatever Twilight had to say, Rarity hoped that it provided some clarity to what was going on here.