The morning sun rose over the home of Twilight Sparkle and the light of the sun slammed into her eyelids stirring her from her sleep. Twilight wondered what kind of crazy shenanigans she and her friends would get into today. Stretching out her hooves she sat up rubbing her back as a sleepy yawn escaped her mouth.
Wiping the sleep from her eyes Twilight set off for the bathroom and saw a small note posted on the mirror. Slowly Twilight roused herself well enough to read it out by shaking her head sending her bangs flopping through the air.
“Dear Radiance, use the shampoo provided. After you’re done taking a bath this morning, please dry off and call for me. You probably will anyway once you find out what the shampoo does, your friend Tress Ravel. P.S. I hope you enjoy receiving as much as giving?” Twilight tilted her head in confusion and looked at the shampoo bottle; she popped the cap and sniffed it. It smelled of grapes, appreciating the simple gesture the purple pony started to run some water for her bath. She wondered what Tress’s note meant.
Hearing the water run from the kitchen, Tress had the hint of a smile on her face as she looked up to the ceiling as she ate her eggs. She turned to Barb, the dragon nodded and started about preparing a perfect breakfast for her mom. Today was a good day to be Twilight Sparkle, especially considering it was her birthday. They had all kinds of contingencies to stop anything from ruining Twilight’s day and Pinkie assured them with a Pinkie Pie Promise that she wasn’t doing the surprise party thing for Twilight today.
Every pony was gathering everything together for the special pony’s day and hoped to everything that was good in the world that everything went well. They were especially hopeful that Pinkie would make every effort to not surprise Twilight into having a volatile magical reaction. A lot of ponies were making the effort to make Twilight happy because she worked so hard to keep helping the citizens of Ponyville, despite the absurd situations that resulted from throwing herself into the thick of things. Many other ponies would have just given up by now after some of the things they’ve seen Twilight handle.
Twilight scrubbed the body wash along her coat and made sure to get every inch of herself, she washed her face carefully as well. After sitting back to enjoy the warm water, she levitated the bottle of shampoo in front of her face. She still wondered what Tress’s special shampoo did other then the obvious things shampoo was supposed to do. She shrugged, squirted out a bit and then started to rub it into her mane and tail.
After she was done washing Twilight hopped out of the tub and grabbed a towel with her levitation magic. Drying off she sighed in contentment, the shampoo had felt nice and she didn’t feel anything was off or different. Her hair must have been really damp because it certainly felt heavier than normal. Wiping down the mirror using her magic, Twilight just stared at her reflection and reached up with a hoof.
“Tress, you were right!” Twilight’s voice rang throughout the house in an excited tone.
“That would be my cue, can you keep the food warm Barb. We might be a while.” Tress stood up with her green mane and tail already formed, she grabbed a few things on her way to the bathroom with her hair tendrils. It was time for the birthday girl to be pampered for once, instead of being the one that pampered others. Pampering in a manner that Fluttershy seems to chronically do to her closer friends nowadays, it was truly appreciated as it always helped them feel better after a particularly tough day.
Walking into the bathroom slowly, Tress saw Twilight was just standing there staring in the mirror at her floor length mane and her elongated tail. Tress didn’t disturb Twilight’s staring and sat down a stool, before whistling sharply to Twilight breaking her out of her stupor. Tress patted the stool while waiting for Twilight to get the idea.
Twilight had some trepidation about the stool, but she still sat in it and felt every movement of the shifting mass of hair falling down her back. She didn’t have her bangs anymore as they had grown to the same length as the rest of her mane. It was still unbelievable that a foot of her mane was dragging on the floor when she moved over to take her seat. It all felt so weird and looking in the mirror she could see Tress holding a comb and brush in her mane.
“So Radiance, now that I have your mane in my clutches… what do you want me to do with it?” Tress smiled as she wrapped her hoof entirely around Twilight’s mane and gave it a tug causing the mare to squeak while looking to the floor. It made Tress happy to see Twilight trying to dig her chin into her chest as she squirmed slightly. “You’re hair growth formula has been finished by the way, I thought it would be a nice birthday gift if I styled your mane for once. Anything you want, even your original style. You could have a slightly trimmed, one length mane like mine or you could go even shorter then you previously had your mane. The sky is the limit birthday girl, just tell me what you want and I’ll do it. Well after I’m done brushing and combing you that is!”
Twilight couldn’t figure out if she was dreaming or if this was actually happening to her right at this moment. Her hair was so long, but she wouldn’t want to keep it this length as walking around with this much mane was not something she could do. She didn’t want to drag such beauty through the mud. Feeling something entering her hair, Twilight’s attention went to the comb held in Tress’s mane as it slowly swept her bangs away from her right eye. Her cheeks lit up as she realized this was all real and that Tress was combing her mane.
Tress calmly ran the comb from the base of what was once Twilight’s bangs dragging her hair back and over her shoulders and slid the comb all the way down to the tips. She was straightening out Twilight’s hair in preparation for the brushing and then would come the styling. Twilight was so silent and her face was almost redder then Fluttershy could even manage, Tress could only hope she was enjoying her early morning surprise. They still had a full day ahead of them.
The brush soon finished running through the mass and Tress gave a tiny tug of the mane she held causing Twilight to squeal slightly. Who knew Twilight was so embarrassed to be treated to a hair care session, Tress certainly didn’t think she could be so shy about it.
“Come on Radiance. If you don’t tell me what to do now, I’ll just do whatever I like and you know I can get pretty darn evil. I’m already thinking that you’d like a pixie.” Tress whispered into Twilight’s ears and the mare shivered under her caressing brush strokes, causing Tress to enjoy this even more and to chuckle darkly.
“Tress… I kind liked my bangs the way they were, but can you leave my mane a few inches longer then I previously had it.” Twilight was having a hard time talking; just looking at herself in the mirror made her feel embarrassed to be pinned down by her best friends iron grip on her mane.
“This is the reason I also have a brush as a part of my cutie mark you know. So you want to keep it simple if a bit longer, sure you don’t want anything different then your usual style Radiance?” Tress leaned in close to Twilight and the purple pony again squirmed at the feeling of Tress tugging on her dark blue locks with the two naturally occurring highlights. “I find it kind of strange that ponies around here never change their hairstyles very much, except Rarity as she’s fickle like that.”
“Maybe… um… no, I’m absolutely sure that’s what I want… thank you.” Twilight said after a moment with a small smile as she managed to still her nerves as some of her hair was quickly brushed in front of her eyes. She could barely make out the shears Tress was wielding with a hair tentacle through her hair.
“Okay then, last chance to change your mind, going, going…” Tress slid the open blades into Twilight's hair and slowly closed the shears. She had her chest pressed against Twilight’s back and could feel her friends’ heart rate spike. A mass of hair fell to the floor and Twilight just stared at herself in the mirror as her left eye was uncovered and the scissors slid over to the right side of her mane. As they slowly closed once more, Tress made a humorous comment punctuated by the sound of the shears fully closing. “Now it’s gone.”
Minutes later Twilight came down the stairs with her slightly longer than normal mane and found Barb placing the last of her breakfast on the table. Her daughter had a talent in cooking and it was something a normal Sparkle wouldn’t be capable of, even then Barb was still a true Sparkle through and through. She sat down to hearty meal and recalled how tenderly Tress treated her back in the bathroom, her face had yet ceased to stop being a bright cherry red.
“You’re early morning surprise is not all we have Radiance. We’ve still got a birthday party to attend, it’s no work and all play today. Nothing bad is going to happen or I’ll deal with it personally.” Tress’s mane had returned to its normal light blue color and she was waiting for Twilight to finish breakfast. She thought Twilight had been acting cute all morning; making her wonder if she could do something similar to Fluttershy because it was funny.
The day was going by rather fast as Twilight ended up playing a few board games, spent an hour or two quietly reading books and then was dragged into shopping around Ponyville. Before long she had all the things she got in their shopping excursion squared away and they were now standing outside of Sugar Cube Corner.
Twilight opened the door and just saw a lot of ponies quietly waiting for her to enter and she saw the banner that wished her a happy seventeenth birthday. She smiled and stepped inside; Pinkie quickly hopped up to her and then stopped. All her friends were here, even Fluttershy with who she assumed was the enigmatic Scootaloo that was currently rubbing up against Rainbow Dash.
“Welcome to your own special birthday party Twilight, okay every pony it’s time to sing along!” Pinkie was now acting excited, she stood up on her hind legs and swirled her hooves as she got some music started up and all the ponies gathered together. “~Happy happy seventeenth birthday to Twilight our lovely friend, we hope that your stay in Ponyville will never come to an end! We’re all your friends and enjoy you being around, so we’re certainly ecstatic to know that you’re enjoying our little town! Excitement and adventure is something you bring to all of us so of you we’ll never ever bore, so a very happy birthday to the girl we all happen to adore~!”
A huge cake was brought out, every pony sang in key and a huge pony pile started up around Twilight after they finished. It made her heart swell at all the hooves trying to wrap around her. Then they all broke apart and the party started in earnest after Twilight cut the first slice of cake.
“So is that Scootaloo?” This was the first time Twilight has ever seen her, she looked happy and any pony would be after being introduced to Pinkie Pie. The filly was particularly enamored with Rainbow Dash’s presence even as she was stuffing her face with some cake.
“Yes, she seems to be enjoying the party well enough and you shouldn’t be worrying about it. I’m worrying about her enough for the both of us.” Eventually Fluttershy hoped to figure out where the filly came from and would help her whenever she needed it.
“My word darling, did you do something with your mane? You look marvelous today, positively shining like a diamond.” It looked like Rarity was in great form today with her compliments.
“Thank you very much Rarity, Tress got a hold of it this morning.” What Twilight wasn’t saying was that she enjoyed every moment of it too. Tress was so evil in the nicest way possible.
“Trixie has finally decided to return that long overdue compliment that your mane also looks nice.” There was no point in Trixie being jealous of Twilight Sparkle and she liked that they were now generally good friends. Not once did Twilight show a very strong ability in the art of illusion magic which Trixie has mastered.
“Say Twilight, is there any chance we can figure out a way to get Big Mac and Fluttershy together?” Rarity was watching Fluttershy shyly interacting with the few stallions that were here at the party. Twilight had a lot of mares for friends; Rarity thought it was nice that she also knew a few stallions as well.
“As Big Mac would say, nope, Fluttershy is into mares. You know, as in she’s gay.” There was an odd reaction to that, one of which Twilight wasn’t expecting.
Rarity just had a thoughtful look on her face as she put a hoof to her chin instead of immediately freaking out.
“Well no wonder I had a problem setting her up with a nice stallion.” Rarity thought a mare as sweet and adorable as Fluttershy deserved some companionship, so she had been barking up the wrong tree this whole time?
“Darn it all Radiance, now I can’t enjoy her failures at matchmaking! My day is now and forever completely ruined!” Every pony near Tress let out a burst of laughter at the overly dramatic pout Tress had on her face.
Rarity ears went limp and her mouth scrunched up, she tittered into her hoof trying to keep her ladylike composure in the face of the hilarious look on Tress’s face.
“Well I hope you’re happy now… that it’s time to hoof out the presents to you!” Tress’s continuation into a faux angry tone caused more giggling about the room as ponies gathered to watch Twilight open her presents. The first one was a cookbook from Fluttershy; it was about making all kinds of pudding.
Every pony in the room just gave Fluttershy a flat look as she smiled brightly, a lot of ponies would come close to dying of laughter this day.