It's just Baldness

by Charlie_K

Twenty Two

"Come on, Pinkie, you know you can do this. You've done this before. You just have to go for it. The longer you put this off, the more difficult it's going to feel, until you wind up talking yourself out of it."

That was, give or take a few details, the best summary of Pinkie's thought process as she uneasily paced in front of steps leading up to Twilight's palace. And it was a thought process she wasn't happy about. But then again she wasn't happy about how said palace, the home of one of her best friends in Equestria, just seemed so intimidating and off-putting in the vibes it gave off to her in recent time.

"You're being ridiculous. And stupid," she mumbled as she scolded herself while turning for another pass. "It's the same palace as it was when it first popped out of the ground. It hasn't been taken over by evil. It's the exact same as it was before all this mess started. You know that as well as anypony," she continued.

It was so unfunnily funny just how radically outlooks and perspectives could shift and change over a single, otherwise petty detail.

She knew the palace wasn't going to hurt her. She knew its resident and her friend wasn't going to do anything nefarious to her. And yet, setting hoof up those stairs still felt so imposing, and made her want to just turn around and leave.

"But if you leave, you'll never get any better," she continued berating herself as she spun around for yet another pass. "If you do that, you might as well just tell Twilight to her face that you don't appreciate all her efforts in helping you. It'd be far kinder than leaving her in suspense under the delusion of the false notion that you are right now."

She honestly didn't want to do that. She didn't want to hurt Twilight's feelings, or any other part of her friend. It wasn't her fault she'd stumbled upon something from her past that made her uncomfortable.

"She was willing to give up what she enjoys for your sake. And you didn't even have to ask her to do that. Only a true, true friend would ever do that for another," she pointed out to herself.

It was stupid. This wasn't even the first time she'd done this. It was the... maybe the fourth time she'd been over for what Twilight called therapy? None of the sessions had been particularly bad once they'd gotten started. Some of them had actually been downright fun. So why was it so hard to actually go up to the door and knock?

"Because when you see her bald, you immediately flash back to your time on the farm with your family, and you're afraid it's going to happen all over again, that's why. No matter how friendly and supportive Twilight is, no matter how much she tries to make you feel at ease around her, you automatically remember those years you spent as a foal under the razor blade. That's what you always think about first, even if you don't want to admit it," she told herself.

A huff of frustration followed as she spun on her hooves again for another pass of pacing uneasily. The fact the assessment was based so heavily in truth and fact made it so difficult to legitimately deny. She honestly, truly appreciated and loved Twilight -in a purely non-romantic way- and all of the effort she was putting in to helping her conquer that unfortunate part of her life. But some mountains weren't so easily conquered.

"Especially not when you're making every effort not to climb them," she mumbled to herself as she paced along and sighed. "Come on, Pinkie Pie, please do this. Do this for yourself. Do this for Twilight. You march you pink-furred fanny into the palace, face your friend eye-to-eye, and you either go along with whatever she believes will help you get over this. Or... you turn tail and run away from this because you're honestly too uncomfortable with it all, and be scared for the rest of the life, because you're too weak to do this. Some Bearer you are."

Even she knew her thoughts were jumbled and a bit incoherent right now. She was starting to not even make sense to herself.

"It's just spending time with one of your friends. Something you've done thousands of times before with so many other friends in Ponyville. This is no different. This is no different. This is no different!"

"Uh... Pinkie?"

"WHAT?!"

She hadn't meant to yell like she had. But her thoughts had left her distracted, and the unexpected voice from behind her and left her easily spooked. Not exactly the proudest moment of her life, but that was neither here nor there right now, as she turned around and saw Spike standing there, looking both confused and uneasy, as if she'd frightened him with her outburst.

"Are you okay?" Spike asked in a stilted, uncertain tone. "You've been pacing out here for a while. Twilight's starting to get worried. I actually had to stop her from coming out here to check on you herself."

Pinkie paused and blinked as she tried to make sense of Spike's words, and reconcile them with what she'd been experiencing from her end.

She could've said a lot of things, but ultimately decided to forego the majority of them, and simply give one of her warm -if a bit weak- smiles.

"I'll be alright, Spike, I just need to sort some stuff out," she assured him. "I didn't mean to make you and Twilight worry about me. I'm sorry about that."

"Eh, it's alright," Spike replied and shrugged. "Come on in out of this mess. It's too hot and humid to be thinking out here anyway."

If only it were as easy as Spike was making it out to be. If it really was, then she wouldn't currently be pacing out here, trying to muster enough nerve to step inside.

But... if she were to interpret the extended invitation like it was an instruction she had to follow, then that was a different matter entirely. Maybe she couldn't muster the nerve to approach of her own volition, but if it was something like an order, that was more easily done.

Alright, maybe that wasn't really the case, but she needed something to tell herself as she turned and stiffly followed after Spike up to stairs, through the front doors, and into the palace foyer.

It'd been a small thing done, coming in out of the heat, but it'd felt monumental to her. That fact in itself was pitiful enough, but she'd take what she could get.

And what she got as she entered the foyer, was greeted by a fan blowing not-quite-as-hot air in her direction, as Twilight presented her a bottle of cold, delicious water. Something that she eagerly accepted as the front doors closed, and proceeded to down it with a sense of urgency that surprised even her. Maybe she'd been out there longer than even she'd expected?

She knew the odds were 50/50, or maybe even 70/30, that the lavender of Twilight's coat was just the illusion spell at play, but right now she didn't really care, as she was far too busy enjoying the brief respite from the heat outside.

With the bottle over halfway drained, she finally stopped to come up for air.

"I needed that," she stated. She then tilted her head upward, and proceeded to pour to remainder of water directly on her face, soaking her fur and subjecting herself to the brief, blissful chill that followed as it soaked through to her skin.

She gave a soft sigh that resembled something along the lines of contentment, and turned so her face was directly in the path of the fan. That felt so much better.

"Would you like to come and relax in the library, Pinkie?" Twilight asked. "We have a cooler full of frozen water bottles for the air conditioner."

At hearing that sentence, and those magical words, Pinkie couldn't help but nod in an enthusiastic manner. She loved Twilight's invention, and the serene comfort it provided during times like this when it was otherwise unavailable. The Cakes had also loved it when she'd told them about it, and Sugarcube Corner now had their own air conditioner; a proverbial lifesaver on these hot days when they had baking to do that couldn't simply be relegated to the early morning or evening.

Just the thought of it was enough to make her forget -even temporarily- about her own tensions and discomfort.

"By any chance is that with the wet towels and spray bottles?" she asked hopefully.

"As if I'd ever deny my friends the deluxe treatment," Twilight replied and smiled. "Come on."

---

Cozy wasn't the word to describe the experience Pinkie was privy to right now. But it would have to do until she had the time to come up with something she felt was more appropriate and fitting. Time when she wasn't currently being besieged by cold air washing over her body, and loving every minute of it. Right now she was simply far too busy enjoying herself to care about such trivial things.

"So good..." she sighed, a dopey grin on her face as she looked through half-lidded eyes.

Twilight said nothing as she laid down next to Pinkie on the simple cotton sheet spread out on the floor, a wet towel draped over her own neck. But she could tell from her friend's expression that she didn't really need to say anything right now. Instead she simply focused on easing off her necklace, and the illusion right along with it.

Pinkie didn't so much as even blink in response, despite having been in her line of sight the entire time. Not that Twilight could see anyway. Hopefully that was a good thing.

Barring an objection, she decided to push the issue a little more and lay down on the sheet as well, so they could both enjoy the stream of cooled air being blown in their direction.

Pinkie continued to appear utterly oblivious to her surroundings, seemingly paying no attention to the bald pony beside her. She'd anticipated at least a flinch, but there'd been nothing.

She really didn't want to be too presumptuous, but maybe, just maybe, their efforts at therapy were actually doing some good?

"Twilight?"

Much to her surprise, it was her turn to squeak in response, caught off guard by Pinkie being the one to break the silence.

"You said my therapy can be in whatever form I want it, right?"

"As long as it's within the confines of the palace," she confirmed and nodded.

"Does that mean I can just lay here and do nothing for a while? I don't really feel like doing anything right now; it's too nice right here."

Pinkie didn't want to do anything but lay around? Now that was one she certainly couldn't see coming. Looking over, even Spike seemed a bit surprised to hear that. But...

"I think that's alright, as long as we're both together," she replied. As far as she was concerned, so long as they were together and she was in her bald state, whatever they did together would still constitute a therapy session. And honestly, she wasn't opposed to not being involved in some wacky adventure this time around.

"I can go for that," Spike stated, "I'm gonna go grab a snack from the kitchen. Anypony want anything while I'm up?"

"I'm good," Pinkie replied.

"No thank you, Spike, but I'd appreciate it if you could bring me my research notes. I can do work and therapy at the same time that way," Twilight stated.

"What kind of research notes?" Pinkie asked as Spike scurried his way out of the room.

"Ah, well... I'm trying to figure out how to better apply the spells I've been using for fur removal and regrowth," Twilight replied, figuring it was best to go the honest route. "Specifically I'm trying to figure out a way to let other ponies use it if they want, without first having to learn the spells themselves. Especially if it's a non-unicorn who wants to experience it for themselves."

"You think they'd actually want to?" Pinkie asked.

"Well..." Twilight paused, weighing how to proceed. Ever since all of this started, she'd made a conscious effort to try and not talk with her friends about what one did or didn't do when it came to this topic. But, perhaps the truth would actually help in this matter. "Applejack expressed an interest in trying it out again this Saturday night. If I can figure out how to make it work, she won't need me to wait in the bathroom with her while she showers."

"Again?" Pinkie asked, now motivated to pick her head up and better look Twilight in the eyes. "You mean she did this before? As in she not only did it, but found something to motivate her to give it another try later on?"

Twilight nodded in response.

"Wow. That's... that's something else," Pinkie concluded, uncertain of what else to say.

"I guess it is," Twilight agreed and shrugged. "I may have to try less ice bottles next time. She was complaining that she was too cold last time."

If Pinkie had lowered her head back to the floor, it would've been picked right back up at that sentence.

"Too cold? In this heat? That's actually possible?"

"Apparently. The combination of the air conditioner, wet towel, ice cream, and no fur was apparently a bit much for her, whereas Spike and Apple Bloom showed no such signs," Twilight explained. "Er, Apple Bloom had her fur on at the time. She was just there to observe," she quickly clarified.

"Huh," Pinkie replied as she chewed at her bottom lip. "I... kind of want to ask what happened. But at the same time I'm kinda scared of what the answer is," she admitted.

"Well it was about as uneventful a night as one could expect in a place like Ponyville. We had dinner, we spent the evening playing board games until we were too tired to focus, and then we went to sleep," Twilight recalled. "According to Applejack, it was a lot like a night spent with her family."

"A night with her family... while you happened to be... bald as bowling balls," Pinkie surmised in a questioning tone, even if it wasn't being presented as a question itself.

"Basically," Twilight replied and nodded, "we were pretty focused on 'Hazard' until almost midnight. You could've set off your party cannon next to us and I don't think we would've even noticed."

Pinkie shook her head. "Nah, that's not any fun. What good is using a party cannon if nopony notices it going off?"

Twilight couldn't help but laugh. And acknowledge that it was a good point. And if Pinkie was actually up to making jokes, she took it as being a good sign.

"Can we ever get there, Twilight?" Pinkie asked. "Is there any hope of me actually being like that? Being able to look at you or one of our friends bald, and not even being fazed by it?"

The question was an unusually heavy one to come from Pinkie, leaving Twilight uncertain of just how to respond.

Maybe one heavy question being asked, deserved another in turn?

"Is that what you want, Pinkie? Or is that what you think I want?"

"... I want to say "both" but I know that's not right," Pinkie sighed and hung her head. "It's what you need, Twilight, you just don't realize it yet. Or you did and you're simply too polite to say it. This is something that's important to you, Twilight, something that you enjoy doing, and it may be something that the rest of our friends will enjoy too. If I even thought that I was keeping more than one of my friends from doing something they might really enjoy, then I'd hate myself and never be able to forgive myself for it. I want my friends to be able to do what they like, without having to stop and ask themselves if it's going to make me uncomfortable. That's... that's what I want, more than anything, Twilight. I want my friends to be happy, and I want to be happy right alongside them. And if it means being in the middle of a collection of bowling balls, then so be it."

Twilight listened as Pinkie explained things, uncertain of how exactly to respond. Honestly, the explanation was proving to be somewhat confusing to hear, leaving her uncertain if she should feel touched by the sentiment, or concerned that the outlook was wrong.

"Beyond that, this is something that just plain needs to be done," Pinkie continued as she laid back down, and rolled over onto her back to look up at the ceiling. "I didn't get to be Ponyville's Premier Party Pony by having a narrow zone of comfort that I didn't stray from. I'm friends with a lot of ponies in town, and believe me they've all got a wide range of eclectic tastes that they enjoy; tastes that even I'll agree aren't for everypony."

"Well, it's said variety is the spice of life," Twilight offered up.

"Yeah, that's totally the case," Pinkie agreed and nodded. "Especially at the bi-monthly sex parties. You'll find a lot of spice of life going on there."

She'd heard Twilight starting to speak, starting to say something that sounded like she was agreeing with her. But it was quickly interrupted by some sort of commotion. Looking up she saw Twilight sitting there, wide-eyed with her face as red as a tomato, her lips pulled tightly into a narrow line as she did her best impression of a tea kettle that'd reached a rolling boil, but unable to properly get the noise from the steam out because of how tightly shut her mouth was.

"WHAT!?" she finally managed to yell in shock and surprise. "Bi-monthly sex parties!? What exactly is going on in this town!?"

Pinkie immediately lost what little composure she'd been holding onto, collapsing back on the ground and wrapped her forelegs around her barrel, completely consumed by laughter. More laughter than she'd experienced even during the time Twilight had worn the chef's hat and apron during their first official therapy session.

"I'm sorry!" she choked out in between bouts of spasming laughter that left her unable to do much of anything except continue laying on her back. "It was too funny not to!" she squeaked. "You should've seen the look on your face!"

Slowly, very slowly, Twilight was beginning to grasp the fact that Pinkie had been joking. And in her naive nature, she'd fallen for it without so much as even a second thought as to what'd been said until it was too late.

She honestly wanted to frown in response. Doing such would probably be warranted, even justified by the circumstances, but in the end she ultimately opted not to follow through with it. In Pinkie felt the need to make jokes as a way of coping with whatever degree of stress she was going through, there was no reason to just add to that stress with her own responses. She'd just settle for being the bigger mare and shrug it off.

Along with telekinetically lifting up the spray bottle Spike had left behind, surreptitiously switching the nozzle setting from mist to jet, and proceed straight to vigorously unloading on Pinkie while she was in the middle of her laughter.

Pinkie squawked at the sudden onslaught and immediately rolled over, diving for the bottle in an effort to get it away from Twilight's control, only to have it yanked out of her reach.

This quickly turned out to be a bad idea on Twilight's part, as without the bottle being in front of her to focus on, Pinkie instead set her path of travel directly for her. Before she even had the chance to respond she was tackled to the ground, in a mess of tangled limbs as the two scrambled, squirming and giggling at the impromptu wrestling match as each tried to pin or otherwise tickle the other into submission.

Again, this proved to be Twilight's undoing, as her exposed skin left her considerably more vulnerable to the sensation of hooves and fur delicately dancing across the surface at a rapid race, reducing her to a bundle of helpless giggling, laid out on her back as Pinkie sat atop her barrel, looking down triumphantly.

"Do you surrender?" she asked.

"Never!" Twilight declared defiantly.

"Oh," Pinkie replied a bit sadly. "I'm really sorry you feel that way, Twilight. I honestly didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice..."

The tone in Pinkie's voice had such a dark turn, it honestly left Twilight uncertain of what to think. Uneasy, perhaps? Whatever the feeling was, it only grew stronger as her friend slowly slid further down her body.

"P-Pinkie, whatever you're doing, we don't have to do this," she protested quickly. "Please, I'm sure that whatever the problem is, we can sort this out like mature, civilized p-"

Twilight attempts at protesting were quickly ended by squeals of hysterical laughter as Pinkie blew a raspberry against her exposed belly, leaving her unable to do anything but laugh helplessly in response, as she tried to squirm away from her pink assailant. But being pinned down, she couldn't do that. She couldn't even use her magic to help, as she couldn't focus enough for it to do anything besides spark and flicker uselessly.

"Do you surrender?" Pinkie asked, bringing a brief respite to the torture.

"Yes!" Twilight screamed quickly during the brief second she actually had the ability to speak, in between laughing as the aftershocks quaked through her body, and her desperate struggles for air. "No more! Please no more!"

"Are you sure?" Pinkie asked in a teasing tone, her lips practically hovering above their target, and able to make another attack before any sort of intervention could be attempted. "You don't wish to go best two out of three and see if things might be different?"

"N-no! I surrender," Twilight quickly stated and vigorously shook her head.

"A wise decision on your part, my bald little baked potato," Pinkie practically purred as she climbed off of Twilight.

Twilight immediately climbed back up, scooting back to put some distance between herself and Pinkie. The nickname had been strange and confusing, but right now her immediate concern was avoiding anymore tickling. It was bad enough when it was just Spike was doing it by himself, she didn't need Pinkie getting involved too. And if those two decided to gang up on her at the same time... well then she couldn't be held responsible for what she might do to them in response.

Pinkie, for her part, merely readjusted the towel draped across her neck, and laid back down on the sheet like nothing had happened.

"... Pinkie?" Twilight eventually asked.

"What's up?" Pinkie asked in turn.

"... Baked potato?"

"Baked potato," Pinkie confirmed.

"Why baked potato?" Twilight asked. Out of all the questions she could think to ask, right now that was the one that seemed most pressing, what with the term seeming to come out of nowhere.

"I'll tell you about it later," Pinkie replied, "when you're older."

"... But we're the same age," Twilight pointed out.

"When you're older," Pinkie repeated.

The entire exchange had been so random, and so confusing, there was a part of Twilight's mind that almost demanded her to seek out answers from her guest. But she knew attempting to do so would be a very bad idea; both for what it might do to Pinkie if she tried, and for what Pinkie might to do her if she tried.

"Um... okay then..."

Maybe it was best to simply accept her non-answer for what it was, and be content with it.

Comments

[BirdsBooksBrownies]

Glad to see that Pinkie is making progress on the road to recovery.

Baked potato...😐😐🤔

[Neece]

Haven't begun reading yet but I've got too ask, what's with the exchanged features in the art? Does it happen in the story?

[Charlie_K]

10875733
Nope. Just a random piece of art I found on the 'booru. It was close enough for suitable cover art so I went with it. Honestly I felt it helps convey the overall tone of the story, even if the details aren't entirely accurate.