Bonus chapter - That unpleasant moment when it's too hot to sleep
For the second time in less than 24 hours, Twilight found herself under the shower, completely soaking wet.
Unlike the last time, however, this wasn't for her own relaxation. There were absolutely no contented sighs coming from her as she allowed the water to beat down on her. Nor were there any smiles to be had. Instead the only thing that escaped her lips was a discontented groan.
Despite the late hour of the night, sleep was proving to be unacceptably elusive to her right now. Like some other nights so far, this one was proving to be unforgivingly unpleasant in terms of both the heat, and the humidity.
The only thing she wanted to do right now was sleep. But she'd gone through enough of these nights to know that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. And she'd spent enough time sweating her sheets, and basting in her own juices, to know that things weren't going to get any better by just laying there miserably. That was what had brought her to the bathroom for the purpose of a nice, cool shower. If being wet and miserable wasn't avoidable, then she might as well see about being clean in the process. Nopony said she had to stink of sweat just because she was damp.
Once the scrubbing was done, and she no longer stank like Rainbow Dash after a workout, all there was to do, was just sit back, let the cold water beat down on her, and wait for the heat to stop being so merciless.
Of course there was another option available. The human world had the wonderful invention of air conditioning. She could always go there for a few hours. But if it was night here in Equestria, it would be night there too. And she really didn't feel like getting Sunset Shimmer out of bed just because she couldn't sleep; it was neither proper, nor friendly to do such things. Plus there was the fact that she couldn't run off to the human world whenever it got uncomfortable here. Princesses had responsibilities that they had to tend to, in all kinds of weather.
And then came a knock at the bathroom door.
"Twilight? Are you in there?"
Followed by Spike's voice as the door was slowly opened.
"Spike? What're you doing up?" she asked as she turned, seeing the blurry image of her assistant on the other side of the curtain.
"Couldn't sleep. It's too hot for me," Spike replied and shrugged.
"... But I thought you could swim in lava without it bothering you," she pointed out, not seeing how this weather, unpleasant as it was, could be too hot for him.
"Alright, it's too humid," Spike corrected, not in the mood for a discussion about the proper terminology. "I got up to get a cold drink, and then I heard the water running and came to check and see if it was left on," he explained.
"Oh," Twilight replied, "well it's just me, sitting in here, and soaking my head. Like you said, it's way too hot and humid to sleep, and I'm tired of being all sweaty."
"Yeah..." Spike replied. "Is the water cold?"
"Not yet. I'm saving that for when it gets really hot. But it's certainly nice and cool," she explained. It was easily a good 20 degrees cooler than the ambient temperature, but it was more of a perspective thing in terms of comfort.
"Oh," Spike replied. After a pause, he continued. "Could I come in too?"
Again, Twilight looked in Spike's direction through the curtain, caught off guard by the request.
"Hmm," she mumbled as she rubbed her chin with a hoof. That was the first time in years that Spike had asked to share a bath with her. Growing up it had been a fairly common occurrence for them to bathe together. Why it had fallen out of favor, she honestly didn't know. But hearing him mention it now brought a sense of nostalgia with it. "Sure. Hop on in," she replied.
Spike didn't have to be told twice. The moment he got the OK, he pulled back the curtain and climbed into the tub, before scooting over to stand next to her, letting the water beat down on him.
Twilight smiled at seeing Spike relax under the cool water, leaning against her for support like a silly little dragon. As serious, and competent as he was, he nonetheless possessed an occasional flare for the dramatic that could rival Rarity. Although most of the time when he did it, it just came off as being funny.
And then her earlier conversation with Rarity came right back to the forefront of her mind, the suggestion that she inform Spike about everything practically ringing in her ears.
There were a lot of reasons that to not do such, since it might have an undesired effect on him. But at the exact same time, there were good reasons to tell him. Thinking on it, she supposed it couldn't hurt to test the waters.
"You know, Spike, you're really lucky, being a dragon and all," she commented as he propped himself up against her leg.
"Yeah? How do you figure?" Spike asked as he looked up at her.
"You're not stuck with fur. You don't have to put up with shedding, and you don't have a coat to trap the heat in on hot nights like this," she explained. Best to go slow, as there was no need to rush. "I wish I had that same luck. I feel like I'm roasting at times."
"Yeah that makes sense," Spike replied as he nodded. "So why don't you? You still have that transformation spell from when you dealt with the breezies, right? Why not just turn yourself into a dragon?" he suggested.
"... Huh," Twilight replied. She hadn't thought of that being a possibility. Now she felt silly. "You know, that's not a bad idea. Although I'm not sure now's the right time. I might wind up developing a craving for your gemstones. Or worse, I might get the hiccups and start putting out jets of fire that I can't control," she explained.
"Okay, that's a good point," Spike replied and nodded in understanding. Neither one of those developments would be all that good. Not that he wasn't willing to share his gems, but he couldn't help but wonder what might become of them when she transformed back. "I guess that means you're out of luck, huh?" he asked.
"Well..." Twilight paused in thought, trying to decide what to say next. Beating around the bush could only get you so far. And eventually she'd have to either approach, or pull back. And pulling back would get her nowhere. "Not necessarily. Do you remember our friends back in the human world, and why they have to wear clothing?" she asked.
"Of course. It was kinda hard to forget that conversation," Spike replied, remembering just how uncomfortable everything had gotten near the start of the sleepover. Sometimes culture clashes could be ugly. "Why? Are you gonna try and turn yourself into a human?"
"Not exactly. Not having a base model to work with, I'm afraid it would be very difficult to do that," Twilight stated. Not that it wasn't an interesting idea. It might be worth attempting... but not right now. "But I do have something similar in mind."
"Like what?" Spike asked, curious at what Twilight could be getting at. If she wasn't thinking about turning human, then what did she have in mind that was similar?
"Well... I was actually thinking about... going furless," she admitted, not seeing any other way to say what she had to say.
"Uh... say what now?" Spike asked as he blinked, not sure of what to think about what Twilight had just said.
"Going without my fur," Twilight repeated to ensure that he understood what she was saying. She considered explaining how it was the pony equivalent of a human going nude. But he'd been there for that part of the discussion, so she really had no reason to mention it to him.
"Oh," Spike replied slowly, uncertain of what to say in response. "So... why tell me about that, instead of just going ahead and doing it?" he asked.
"Well for starters, I wanted to be considerate, Spike. I didn't feel like doing something like that without explanation. If I just went without my fur, and you had no idea why, that might prove to be a bit startling," she explained.
"Oh. Yeah that does make sense," Spike replied and nodded.
So far, so good, Twilight noted to herself.
"There's also the fact that I don't want you to either feel uncomfortable around me, or that you need to avoid me. If it stays this hot, then I intend to stay without my fur for the rest of the night. That's a pretty long time," she continued.
"Wait, I'm confused. Are you saying that you... want me to see you... like that?" Spike asked uncertainly. That's what it sounded like to him, but maybe he was tired, and not hearing her right.
"What I want, is for you to not feel uncomfortable, should I decide to go nude around the palace when it's hot," Twilight replied as she reached up with her hoof to stroke his head, much as she'd seen Rarity do on occasion. "There's nothing scandalous at play here, Spike, I promise. Right now it's just way too hot for all this fur and feathers. It's not like I'm parading around in front of all of Ponyville," she explained.
"Oh. A-alright then," Spike replied, not knowing what else to say. What could he really say anyway?
He wasn't quite sure what he'd expected after that. Maybe more discussion, maybe more explanation. Whatever it was that he'd expected, he was pretty sure it wasn't Twilight working her magic without another word, and getting right to work. Nor was he expecting to see what he saw. He thought she was simply going to be without her fur in a flash of light. Instead it looked like she was melting as the water poured down over her, washing away every trace of fur and feathers like it was nothing more than some purple mud she'd gotten covered in.
By the time the last of the purple stained water had flowed down the tub drain, Spike barely recognized the pony that was sitting in front of him. He wanted to keep his eyes on her face, but youthful curiosity eventually won out, and he began looking over her whole body.
By the time he realized just what he was doing, he quickly looked away, cheeks burning with embarrassment.
Twilight merely rubbed his head again in response, running her hoof along his spines.
"It's alright to look, Spike, there's nothing wrong with it," she reassured him, not wanting him to feel embarrassed over being curious. After all this was -more or less- her idea, so he shouldn't be the one uncomfortable with its implementation.
Slowly Spike turned his head to face forward again, looking back at her, before turning his attention back to her face. The fact that she was smiling warmly was comforting, but it still wasn't enough to stop this whole situation from feeling... really odd.
"So... that's actually comfortable?" he asked her.
"More comfortable than wearing damp, sweaty fur all night," Twilight replied.
Spike really couldn't argue with that reasoning. Nor did he really want to try and argue with it. He'd just go with it for the time being.
Still. The idea that Twilight intended to stay like that all night. He really didn't know what to think about that. He needed more information before he knew just what to think.
"Hey Twilight? Do we have anything important scheduled for tomorrow?" he asked.
"Hmm. Nothing that's coming to mind. At least not in the morning anyway. Why?" Twilight asked.
"Well... I've got a lot of questions. And if we're going to be up anyway, maybe we could discuss them over a bowl of ice cream?" he asked hopefully. He might as well see just where this might go.
"That sounds like a good idea," Twilight replied. Granted she'd already had ice cream with Rarity earlier in the day, but she doubted a third bowl was going to hurt her, as most everything had already burnt off during the regrowing process.
Spike, however, she'd have to watch out for.
"So... how long have you been doing this?" Spike asked before downing another spoonful of ice cream.
The conversation with Spike, shared over a bowl of ice cream in the kitchen, had gone a great deal easier than it had with Rarity earlier in the day. Twilight didn't have a clue as to why it was, all she knew was the fact that it was. But she wasn't about to question it, she was just going to be happy about it.
So far he'd taken it really well, learning that this wasn't the first time she'd gone without her fur.
"Well that's kind of difficult to say for certain. I haven't really done it all that often, just when I've had the opportunity," she explained, mentally going over the times in which she'd gone nude. "Although I didn't do anything until well after I properly researched the spells, and learned the limits of what they could do. Which turned out to be a good decision, because the regrowth spell didn't say how long it takes to complete growing in a pony's fur. It's not instantaneous, and if I'd just rushed into it, that could've lead to some real embarrassment," she continued.
"Yeah, I could see that," Spike replied. Almost immediately after, he regretted his choice of words. "Er, what I mean is-"
"It's alright, Spike, really," Twilight reassured him. The conversation with Spike might be going easier than it had with Rarity. But there were still some rough spots that needed to be addressed. "I know what you meant."
"Oh. Good then," Spike replied, before going for another spoonful of ice cream. "And... you do this whole nude thing because it's fun?"
"More relaxing than fun. I guess it's sort of like the difference between you having fun with Apple Bloom and the others, and just lounging around to read your comics. Both of them are enjoyable standards, but for different reasons," she explained.
Spike thought on the explanation, before simply nodding in response. That actually made sense to him. He certainly enjoyed whenever he got the chance to hang out with the Cutie Mark Crusaders -when they weren't getting into trouble, that was- but he still liked being able to read his comics in peace.
"And you're doing this privately, right?" he asked.
"Of course," Twilight stated. She wanted to give Spike an extensive list of reasons as to why. But she doubted that he felt the need to know all of them. As best she could tell, he was simply wanting to make sure that she was alright, and not doing anything that could get her hurt. She could certainly appreciate such thoughtfulness.
Again, Spike thought over the explanation he'd been given. He'd had a lot of questions about this whole nudity thing as Twilight preferred to call it, and she'd been very forthcoming with what answers she had. And going by what she'd said, as best he could tell... he really couldn't see anything wrong with what she was doing.
Sure, it was kind of awkward to be seeing Twilight, who alternated between sister and mother figure to him, walking around in what most would consider an obscene manner. But awkward situations had the tendency to be the norm anymore, so there really wasn't much to do about it, but try and take it in stride, or lose your mind to it like the Flower Sisters tended to do.
"Then I guess I don't need to worry," he finally replied, before grabbing another spoon of ice cream. "So do the other girls know about this?"
"Well... Sunset Shimmer does. We've been writing back and forth about it," Twilight replied, waiting for Spike to finish his current bite of ice cream before she continued, to avoid the risk of him choking in surprise over what would come next. "Rarity also knows."
"Rarity? Really?" Spike asked in surprise.
Twilight nodded in response. "I didn't plan on that, however, it just sort of... happened. She came over after you two got back from hunting for gems, realized I was wearing an illusion spell when I wasn't using my magic for other stuff, and I... decided to be honest with her. All things considered, I think it went rather well, her finding out and all," she explained.
"Oh," Spike replied, "so... does she..."
Twilight simply shook her head. "She's supportive since it's something I enjoy, but she's not into the aspect of participation."
"Oh," Spike replied, uncertain of whether such news should leave him feeling disappointed, or relieved. "So what about the others? Are you going to tell them too?" he asked.
"In time, once I figure out how to go about doing it. This isn't the sort of thing you just spring on everypony without warning. But we'll get it figured out," Twilight explained as she popping another spoonful of ice cream in her mouth.
"Yeah that makes sense. With Pinkie, I could see a surprise like that going badly," Spike commented. And that line of thought brought a new thought to mind. "What about the others? Do you think any of them will be participating in this?"
"That's really hard to say for certain, Spike. They might want to, but then again they might not. But whatever decision they make, I'll respect it," Twilight stated. Regardless of whatever happened when the others were read in on this, she was going to respect whatever their decisions might be. There was going to be no criticism on her part, nor hostility, nor even attempts at swaying them from their decisions. That was simply how things were going to be. "Any other questions?"
"Well..." Spike paused as he thought, running over everything. Twilight had answered a lot of questions he'd had, even before they sat down to the ice cream. Whatever question he had brought up during this late night discussion, she'd done her best to answer it. And he'd asked quite a few, about a lot of different things. "Just one at the moment. I should probably keep this quiet, right? No telling anyone else about it?" he eventually asked.
"I'd appreciate it if you could," Twilight replied and nodded.
"Yeah I can do that. I wouldn't even know what to say if it was ever brought up," Spike stated. Twilight's secret was going to be safe with him; primarily because he really didn't want to be the one to break it. Although he might discuss it with Rarity, since she was in the know.
For a while the kitchen remained silent, the two simply eating away at their ice cream, having no real need to talk at that point. Eventually they reached the point where there was no more ice cream to be had, leaving them alone with just their thoughts.
"Well Spike, this has certainly been a better evening than it looked like it was going to be. But I think I'm going to brush my teeth, and turn in," Twilight stated as she levitated the dirty dishes over to the sink and ran some water over them.
"Yeah?" Spike asked as he climbed down from the table. "So... you're really going to sleep nude like that?"
"I'm going to try it out anyway," Twilight replied, "why? Is there a reason that I shouldn't?"
"Well... what if Pinkie decides to pop in, and wake you up early for some reason? Or what if Rainbow Dash crashes through your bedroom window again?" Spike suggested. Those were fairly common occurrences back at the Golden Oaks library, and as best he could tell, they weren't any less likely to happen in the palace.
"Then we'll just cross that bridge when we come to it," Twilight explained. She knew that such things were possibilities, but she wasn't going to let such things prove to be a debilitating fear for her. If one of her friends rudely entered what was her home without warning... well they'd get to that later.
"Oh," Spike replied. And then another thought came to him. "Um... what if I have a nightmare and..."
It took Twilight all of three seconds to understand what Spike was getting at. As best she could tell, he didn't have nightmares often. But the ones she could recall him having, he'd always sought comfort from her. Back in the library it was simple since they shared a room. But now that he had his own room in the palace, it often meant coming to her room in the middle of the night.
It was all quite easy to figure out what he was getting at.
"Come over here, Spike," she replied as she sat down, again noting at the crystal flooring was uncomfortable against her bare rump. But she'd put up with it for now.
Spike approached as instructed, unsure of exactly what Twilight wanted. Maybe he'd asked the wrong sort of question, and she was going to lecture him?
"Hug me," she instructed.
"Hug you?" Spike asked.
"Hug me," she repeated.
Spike really wasn't sure what she was getting at. But what could he really do? So for the sake of figuring it out, he hugged her, wrapping his arms around her barrel, as she wrapped her forelegs around him in return.
He immediately became aware of the fact that the feel of bare skin was worlds apart from familiar fur. And not in a bad way either. She was smooth, soft, and even comfortably warm too. It was all... kind of nice actually.
"I don't want you to get the idea that things have to be different, just because I enjoy going nude. If you have a nightmare, you know my bedroom door is always open for you, and this doesn't change that one bit," she explained as she hugged him. "In fact. Why don't you sleep in my room tonight? That way you can see that it's really not a big deal," she suggested.
"Really?" Spike asked. Twilight simply nodded in response. "Well. I guess that'd be alright. Once we get the sheets changed, that is," he replied, remembering what she'd said earlier in the evening.
"That'll be easy enough to do. Come on," Twilight replied as she let Spike go, and stood up again.
On the outside, Twilight was perfectly calm, with nothing seeming out of place. But on the inside, she would admit there was a hint of excitement. Or perhaps it was contentment. Whatever it was, she knew it was because of how well things had gone with Spike. With her only real experience being that with Rarity, she assumed that reading the others in on this would be more uphill than it had just been. But Spike's easygoing acceptance of everything, had served to leave her wondering if that would truly be the case. Maybe things really wouldn't be so bad after all.
Maybe, just maybe, everything really would work out for the best.
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You might have included a mention that once Twilight finishes the regrowth spell, she'd get REALLY hungry, after all, I doubt she can conjure keratin out of nothing, and it would REALLY drain her protein (and other nutrients) reserves of her body in order to grow back a pound or two of fur and feathers.
6319052
Actually I did mention it back in the third chapter, when Twilight was explaining to Rarity why she didn't simply use the counter spell before answering the door.
6319095
Heh, forgot about that, sorry.
Personally, I expected Spike to simply laugh his ass off, then say "I always knew you were weird Twilight, nothing new."
Laugh some more, then say, "Whatever. Hey, what's for dinner?"
I suspect Twilight's nudity is definitely offensive to whoever is going to be regularly fishing out a whole ponies-worth of hair and feathers from the drain pipes.
6652075
It would be, if the spell used didn't break down the molecular bond of the growth, reducing it to a very fine powder that gets washed away.
6698990 Good to know. Reading that now, as a matter of fact.
7236902 Already at Chapter 6!
7269270 Are you doing the writing directly in the fimfiction site's chapter entry page? (I wouldn't have expected anyone to do that when better editors like even just google docs are available, but then again, there's a lot of things people do for good reasons that I wouldn't have expected). Having a backup is good practice though, I have to agree with that!
7269902
Made more sense to me to do it that way, as there's less copying, pasting, and keeping track of files that way.
This may be as close to the fetish of fur shaving as I'm gonna get on this site ^o^'
Nope. I hit the words "other world" and "portal" and I was done. I </3 EGs...
This was a nice read, I really do enjoy these stories that help to normalize things that we demonize within our modern cultures. Who knew horse stories had so much insight into the human mindset?