One Shot Alley

by Grey Faerie

The lengths of Charity

"...is all nice and dandy but I think purple just isn't the right color for a bucket." Rarity said. The girls were all on the fields west of the lake for a picnic. Rarity looked into a mirror running a hoof over her hair. "Oh to think it'll be gone soon." She said with a bit of mourning.

"What does that mean?" Pinkie asked. She pulled her head out of the bowl for the potato salad.

"I'm going to be getting it cut."

Pinkie smacked her lips. "Mmm, but why would that make you sad?" The bowl was empty but Fluttershy pushed the leftovers of her plate to Pinkie. She beamed and gobbled it down.

"On Wednesday is the annual Charity Cut-Off. It's an event where ponies sit up on a stage and get their hair cut really short. The length donated is then used for wigs for cancer patients. I had been thinking for a while now if I should do it. And I have."

"You have? You're going to do the cut-off?" Twilight looked up from the game of checkers she was playing with Applejack.

"It all started when Miss Tardis came into my shop the other day. She had the cutest hair cut. She was telling me all about her cousin that had gotten sick and how they all shaved their heads to support her. They had donated the hair to make wigs. She told me how proud she was when her cousin got the wig made from her hair! Such generosity. And in a fabulous way. So I had decide to do it. Short hair can be so fashionable. What is keeping me from doing it?"

"Wow. That does make sense." Rainbow shrugged. She was up in the tree. She had lost the fight over the leftover potato salad with Pinkie.

"It is very you." Twilight said. "Is there any length your hair has to be to enter?"

"Are you thinking of signing up?" Rarity was a little amazed. Twilight lightly blushed.

"It is a nice thing to do. It's also something a princess like myself should be doing as a role model."

"Why don't you all sign up? It'll be great publicity for the charity to have the Elements and the new princess joining in. The hair stylist is even going to be Shear Edge! Can you believe it?"

---

Twilight

The stage for the charity event had a good sized audience that day. Twilight remembered how happy the coordinator had been. She guessed Rarity was right in her comments about good publicity. The line for the booth to sign up was pretty decent by her standards.

When the lengths fell from her head, Twilight felt a strange sense of lightest. She had never cut her hair before. As long as she could remember, it's always been long. The crowd cheered when the stylist held up the hair. He put it in a shallow bucket and proceeded to trim her hair to a proper style. He held up the mirror. She gasped. It looked great! She beamed. Twilight shook her hair as she walked off stage.

It was more like a shorter version of her normal style but she loved it all the same. Spike chuckled and played with the bobbed hair. "It's nice."

"Thanks."

"And no more clogged drains."

"Hey!"

---

Rainbow Dash

It had been weird sitting up in front of a crowd just for a hair cut. But then again, Rainbow had only ever cut her hair in front of the mirror in her bathroom. The stylist, some fancy pony apparently, pulled her hair back into a ponytail like he did with Twilight.

"How short will you be comfortable with?" he asked.

"Eh, I don't really care. Just make sure I look cool."

"Cool." He smiled. It was both agreement and reassurance.

The dull part of the blade ran a chill down her spine when he cut. She knew he wasn't going to cut her but her body still reacted. He held up the length and a cheer rang up. She laughed. Now this is what she's used to! He didn't touch her bangs so much as just trimming them. He pulled out a hair clipper and trimmed close to her scalp on the back. The cool air felt good.

He held up the mirror. Her eyes widened. She felt..strangely feminine. The cut was so..cute? She reddened. Didn't girls look girlier with long hair? She shrugged and joined Twilight off stage.

---

Pinkie

She knew the power of laughter. It lifted spirits and brightened lives. Even ones that were ending. Pinkie had a set schedule and contact with the hospital for bi-monthly visits. They paid well but the biggest pay off to her was seeing the ponies smile again. The greyness receded from their faces after Pinkie walked into the room.

Yet, as much as she loved bringing joy to others, she felt a sense of selfishness. She loved her bouncy hair. She was quite proud of it. She probably took as much care of it as Rarity did her's. The lengths fell and pulled away with every snip. Pinkie tried to imagine the thought of somepony out there with a wig of her curly hair. Oh the things it could do! They'll be the luckiest pony around. Maybe it'll become so heirloom passed down. Or the magic wig at the hospital that brought good fortune to the wear!

Pinkie looked into the mirror. Her smile felt plastic. "Ooo, nice."

She held back bitter tears as she joined her friends.

---

Applejack

AJ was a practical pony. Hair is hair. It grows back just like the trees after winter. She had only the mildest of thoughts on it. Long hair was nice and all but it's also not necessity on a working farm. She just let it grow and trimmed it to keep it from getting too long.

She took off her hat. The stallion took out her hairband and out it aside. Applejack looked at her hair one last time before he pulled it back. She really thought about it. She did like her hair. It reminded her of sunshine. Of yellow corn. Wide fields of grain. Long days of applebucking caused it to collect with sweat, yet, it smelled of harvest. The sweet apple smell and grass. Dirt as well but she didn't mind. Only the best dirt smelled the worst. She loved it when she smelled of dirt. It just means a good day's work was done.

The bucket held her hair now like the legendary golden apple bucked from its branch. He tied her hair back up. She looked into the mirror. It reminded her of the hay in the barn. She would lay in the piles after a day of bucking and often, her and Big Mac would lay there resting, telling jokes and stories.

"My appreciations." She left the stage with an odd new sense of connection to her hair.

---

Fluttershy

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes."

"Do you want short or longer?"

"Um, what ever you think."

"Your hair is so long already. I bet we could make two wigs with it haha."

"Yeah."

"How do you like it? Good?"

"Yes."

"But do you like it?"

"It's fine."

Fluttershy walked off the stage. The long bangs didn't cover much of her face anymore. Did that make her more open? To what? She rubbed a hoof on it. It's too late now. But did she like it? She wasn't sure at all to be honest. It was just..different.

---

Rarity

Rarity beamed and strutted onto stage. "Thank you all for being here!" She waved to the crowd. She stopped to blow a kiss to one serpentine dragon in the back. He caught it and laughed. "This means so much to me and all of crew here from the hospital. Your donations will brighten the lives of patients here at our own wards and wards across Equestria."

After a bit of fanfare, she sat on the chair. "Do your thing." She winked.

Shear laughed. Rarity was smiling and waving to the crowd as he cut her precious locks away. The crowd went nuts when he held up the filled bucket. She clapped her own hooves. He handed her the mirror.

"Oh Shear!" Rarity exclaimed. "It looks fabulous!"

She played with the leftover locks. They hugged. Rarity waved and blew more kisses to the crowd as she left the stage. The girls all stood in a circle by the stage. They each played with or commented on their new hair cuts. It was a good day.

Author's Note:

by schnuffitrunks on deviantart.

This story was inspired by this picture and similar ones where they have short hair.

103-H: The lengths of Charity

This one speaks in support of donation programs like “Locks of Love”, but not to the extent that Ianpiersonjdavis’s story “Fluttershy Donates Blood” promotes its form of charity. The focus here seems to instead be on the feelings each of the mane six have about losing most of their manes, and the problems come in how those are presented. In what I’m sure is just a sign of rushed writing, all of them are pretty telly, while also failing to explore those emotions to any great length, even when the story warrants it. For example, Pinkie clearly had the worst reaction to it, but we really only get to see that she’s putting on a false smile. Everything deeper than that is left out. (2/5)

Comments

[California10978]

Aww, Pinkie...