> The 'Mane' Problem
>  by RazorSharpFang
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The head of the issue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

//-----------------------------------------------------------
// The Mane Problem
// Chapter 1: The head of the issue.
// Author: RazorSharpFang
//------------------------------------------------------------

It was a cool afternoon in the late autumn. The clouds, few in number, flew lazily across the sky, pushed by the gentle wind. The wind caressed the auburn leaves of the trees, dislodging a single leaf. The leaf flew off in the wind, completely taken by the wind’s vibrancy. The leaf continued in its path until it hit a window. The window belonged to a certain boutique, where a white-furred mare was having a shower.

“Hmm hmm...” hummed the mare as she let the warm water flow down her figure. She loved the cleansing feel of the shower, the way it cleaned her, removing impurities... it felt like bliss to let it work its magic. She leaned her head into the spray, letting the water soak her mane, slowly drooping into the flow of the water down her neck. “Ah” Sighed the mare as she levitated the bottle of shampoo to her hoof, squeezing it of its contents. The bottle breathed a channel of air out where the mare was expecting shampoo.

“Hmm?” She shook the bottle, and squeezed it again. A small dribble came from the end. It wasn’t near enough to clean her mane. Her face gave a frown, and she put down the bottle, looking around for a suitable substitute. She came across her sister’s shampoo, ‘Mane 'n' Tail: Filly’s Full Shampoo’ it read. “Surely it couldn’t hurt if I used it once... just once...” She thought to herself as she squeezed a dollop onto her hoof, mixing it with her own shampoo, silently reminding herself to buy some more of hers. Layering the shampoo into her mane, she continued with her shower, loving the feeling as she massaged the shampoo into her mane.

Finishing her shower, she stepped out of the recess, her pristine mane, coat and tail glistening in the afternoon sun creeping through the window. Grabbing a towel off the bathroom counter, she dried herself off, leaving her mane to last; she wrapped her mane in the towel, and exited the bathroom. “Sweetie Belle!” She called out to her younger sister, “I’m done with my shower!” A white unicorn filly with a pink and violet coloured mane walked in from the other room. A scowl on her face, she did not look pleased.

“Rarity, do your showers have to be that long? You use up all the hot water!” She took a deep sniff of air through her snout. Her eyes widened with surprise, her scowl disappearing “And... is that my shampoo? Why you would use my shampoo?” She stared at Rarity in shock. ‘Rarity used MY shampoo?! Why would she ever? She has her own... and she totally freaked out when I used hers...’ Sweetie thought to herself as she tried to process the new information.

“Well...” Rarity began, dragging her hoof across the ground. “I ran out of my shampoo, and needed to use some, sorry Sweetie.” She looked up at Sweetie Belle who was far more shocked than annoyed.

“I... don’t mind, but... isn’t your shampoo, like, special?” Sweetie walked up to Rarity, an inquisitive look on her face. “You got really mad when I used yours...”

“Yes, my shampoo is ‘special’ in that it’s expensive and hard to get.” Rarity walked over to door to her room “Your shampoo, however turns out to be the least expensive brand in the market.” She levitated her empty bottle of shampoo out of the bathroom and into the rubbish bin, where it landed with a thud. “Thanks for understanding Sweetie, and you may want to have your shower now, or you won’t make it in time for dinner.” A smile crept across her face as she said the last line.

“Oh, right, Shower!” Sweetie said quickly, as she ducked into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Rarity giggled slightly at her reaction, entering her room, decorated pristinely, every aspect of it to her liking. Grinning, she got her diary out of her hiding place, unlocking it with her magic, and levitated a quill and pot of ink to her desk. She unwrapped the towel, which was holding her mane together in a bundle, letting it fall out, glistening slightly with cleanliness. Shaking her head slightly, droplets of water sprinkled all around, sparkling in the afternoon sun. She then looked in the mirror.
“Wahaha!” Rarity yelled, jumping back in pure shock. What she saw horrified her. Her normally full-volume back-length mane has short. It spiked up and out, no longer flowing with grace, but jutting out in defiance. Her legs started shaking below her as she continued to take in the view. Quivering, she turned her side to the mirror to get a good look at her tail, which, like her mane, was short and spiky. Rarity’s lips trembled as she reached up to touch it. Prodding it, her hair resisted her, and was stubbornly keeping its shape, as if it had been gelled in place. Her hoof fell back to the floor as her breathing increased in rate, nearing hyperventilation, and then it happened.

“No! My mane! My beautiful, beautiful mane! No! No, no, no, no!” She leant down to the ground, tears forming in her eyes. “Of all the worst possible things that could happen, this is The. Worst. Possible. Thing! No!” She screamed the last word of that sentence, collapsing onto the ground, bursting into tears, not even bothering to summon that couch she was used to crying on; it would bring her no comfort, nothing could compensate this, nothing. Her mane was everything to her; it represented her desire to be noticed, to stand out among the crowd. It represented her cleanliness, her high standards of hygiene. It represented her social aspirations, her desire to fit in with the higher ups of society, and it had left her, left her in a state of hysterics.

“Rarity! I’m done with my shower!” Chimed a voice from the nearby room. Rarity didn’t bother acknowledging her presence, entirely consumed with sobbing on the floor of the room, creating a pool of water. “Rarity? Are you ok? You sound like you’re crying.” Sweetie Belle entered Rarity’s room and her mouth fell open in shock. Rarity turned her head towards her, her face drenched in tears that were still falling off her head, leaving dots of wetness onto the floor, her eyes red with sadness, and her cheeks puffy from all the crying. Her lips trembled as she looked towards Sweetie. 

“What happened to your mane?!” Sweetie finally got the words out. “It’s... all spiky and short!” A multitude of ideas running through her mind, she blurted out the most sensible sounding one. “You cut your mane? And tail?” Rarity shook her head slowly, her mane not flowing as she used to, causing another sob.

“It...” *sob* “Was like this when I untied it...” Her eyes filled with tears again, as she looked at Sweetie Belle with pleading eyes. “What could have happened?” Her voice was cracking, her sorrow-induced exhaustion showing. Sweetie Belle was not much of a thinker, but applied logic anyway. ‘If it was normal before she had her shower, normal during her shower, but then weird afterwards, what could have caused her mane to go weird...?’ Sweetie Belle gasped as the answer popped into her head.

“The shampoo!” She yelled, jumping in place. “It had to be the shampoo!” Rarity stared at Sweetie Belle, not quite registering what she was saying. “You used my shampoo right? Did you do anything else with it, anything unusual?” Sweetie Belle was a little hyperactive with the adrenaline of her newly found realization, looking at Rarity with eyes wide.

“I...” *sniff* “did mix our shampoos before using them...” Rarity trailed off, still clearly upset, but had run out of tears to shed, and was slowly recovering. She gave a big sigh as Sweetie Belle left to examine the shampoo. Taking Rarity’s out of the rubbish bin, she turned it over and began reading it. ‘Apply to the hair wet, massaging into the skull... Keep away from eyes and sensitive areas of the fur... Warning: do not mix with shampoos or cleaners based on sodium lauryl sulfate.’ As educated as she was, Sweetie Belle had no idea what that was.

“Soda, what-now?” Sweetie said aloud, trying to make sense of it, which totally didn’t help. Taking her shampoo out of the shower recess, she began reading the ingredients, looking for soda-something. ‘Ingredients: Purified water, sodium lauryl sulfate...’ “Soda!” Yelled Sweetie Belle rushing over to where Rarity was, still on the floor in despair. “My shampoo has soda in it! That’s what caused your mane to go weird! Your shampoo says not to mix it with stuff that has soda in it!” Sweetie Belle beamed a large grin, expecting Rarity to jump up at the sound of her voice. Her expectations were hardly met, with Rarity barely budging.

“So what?” She spoke slowly, her expression jaded and her voice cracking from her crying “Just because we know how it happened does mean it can be undone…” She lifted a hoof to her short hair, brushing it gently. “Longer hair can be cut short, but short hair… cannot.” Her voice lowered at her last word, her tone indicating her spirits, which was as low as ever. Sweetie Belle paused, trying to think of a way around that.

“We’d need magic to do something like that…” Sweetie Belle said under her breath. “Magic…?” She said a little louder. “Magic!” She exclaimed, as an idea fully formed in her head. “Rarity! All we need is a little magic to fix your hair! Twilight’s got plenty! I’m sure she has a mane-growth spell!” Sweetie Belle’s eyes beamed brightly as she pushed her head into Rarity’s personal space.

“I… suppose that could work…” Rarity trailed off, getting to her hooves and walking towards the half-open window, where she stopped and looked out. “But it’s still daylight… I can’t go out, looking like this!” She looked in the mirror again, her appearance drawing new tears in her eyes.

“Sure you can!” Sweetie Belle answered. “Just wear one of your big dresses and one of your giant hats, you have plenty of those, I’m sure nopony will notice. You should go now, before Twilight closes the library for the day.” Sweetie nudged Rarity in the direction of her wardrobe. “C’mon!”

“Ok, ok, I’ll do it, just, let me change, ok?” Rarity half-pleaded offering little resistance to Sweetie’s nudges and was pushed across the room.

“Fine. But don’t take too long.” Sweetie begrudged, as she left the room, and Rarity so she can change.

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“Rarity? Are you done yet? It’s been twenty minutes now!” Sweetie raged, pounding on the door with both front hooves. “Come on!!” Sweetie Belle leaned her head on the door, which, to her surprise, opened. There, stood Rarity, clothed in a gown, coloured a light green, laced with white lace. The gown covered her mane fully; it started just before the mane, and covered her entire neck area. The gown also extended far beyond the flank, obscuring any view of her tail. Sweetie looked up. “Whoa.”

“What do you think, can you see my tail? What about my mane?” Rarity stammered, obviously nervous about being in the public eye soon. Rarity began walking in circles, trying to get a good view of herself. Sweetie Belle gave a smile as she glanced upwards at Rarity.

“You look great. Nopony will notice anything.” Sweetie Belle motioned towards the front door of the boutique. “You should get going, it’ll take a while for Twilight to find a solve.”

“A solve?” Rarity queried, arching her eyebrow. “Really?”

“Ugh. You know what I mean, just go. I’ll make my own dinner.” Sweetie Belle walked towards the kitchen, with Rarity fighting off a twitch. ‘Sweetie Belle… cooking…’ She thought, walking over towards the front door, and building up courage silently.

“Ok, I’m going now, see you later, Sweetie Belle, I want the boutique standing when I return!” Rarity declared loudly, to which Sweetie Belle acknowledged with a simple ‘Ok’. Rarity took a deep breath, opened the door and stepped outside, into the sunlight.

============================================
	
	

> Getting to the roots
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	//Chapter Two. Getting into the roots.

Rarity closed her eyes as she passed through the invisible boundary between the sanctity of her boutique and the outside. Her hooves hit the ground with a light thud as her muscles alternately tensed and relaxed as she parted the air standing in her way. She could feel the air moving past her; an afternoon breeze, carrying many scents; a sure-fire indicator of her new location. She came to a rest a few meters from her porch, refusing to delay the inevitable no longer. She opened her eyes.

Staring at her in the face was a pink pony, a VERY pink pony. A pony so pink, her name was Pinkie. “Hiya, Rarity! Nice dramatic exit!” She beamed a giant beam, almost as wide as the curls of her pink mane and tail were curled. Stepping back from Rarity, her grin turned into a look of wonder, her blue eyes dilating. “Ooh! You sure are dressed up! Going somewhere special?” She gave a soft wink, after she said ‘special’ giving the word an emphasis and hidden meaning.

“Oh, you mean this old thing?” Rarity gave her dress a very light nudge, taking care not to adjust it unnecessarily. “Just something I threw on for my, er, meet-up with Twilight this afternoon, for which I am already late, so I must be going now.” She stepped past Pinkie, who had a quizzical expression thrown onto her face. “You understand, don’t you?” She turned to Pinkie, stopping for a mere moment, anxious to get there A.S.A.P.

Pinkie’s face beamed once again, as she lilted her famous expression. “Okie dokie lokie!” and she bounced off into the distance, at speeds difficult for pegasai. A safe distance from Pinkie, Rarity gave a sigh of relief. Pinkie Pie, although hyper and carefree, was a discerning pony, and could tell when things were up. Being a good expression reader, Rarity could already see the suspicion oozing off Pinkie’s body. She quickened her pace, not wanting to stay outside for any longer than necessary. Not long later, she found herself outside of ‘The Golden Oak’, home to Twilight Sparkle, expert wielder of magic and science. She took a deep breath, and pushed onto the wood of the door, opening it.

“Twilight? Are you home?” Rarity called from inside, desperately hoping that she was here. The door shut with a click, as its counter-weights did its job. Responding to the voice of its beloved, a purple dragon emerged from upstairs, racing down the stairs at unsafe speed, topping down them in a rush, and falling to the ground in a heap. Rarity gasped in shock and concern, racing over to the dragon. “Oh Spike? Are you ok? You really should be more careful coming down the stairs… and slower.” She helped spike up using her hoof, showing real concern for her good friend. Spike appeared be uninjured, showing just a few misplaced scales from the incident.

“Um… thanks, I’m fine, Rarity.” Spike responded, his green eyes sparkling in interest. “What are you doing here today? Looking for a book?” Spikes eyes widened a bit more. ‘If only once, just once, she would come here for me…’

“Thanks, but no thanks, I’m here to see Twilight. Do you know if she’s here right now?” Rarity looked around, searching for a purple unicorn with straight blue hair, and a pink and purple streak along them.

“Did somepony mention my name?” Twilight asked. She was wearing a wielder’s helmet, steam emanating from her entire body, and dissipating into the air above her. She lifted her helmet, a smile forming on her face as she located her friend. “Oh, hi there, Rarity. Didn’t expect to see you here today. What can I do for you?” Her smile faded as she noticed more details about her friend. She was dressed pristinely, with an over-the-top dress that seemed too fancy for Rarity to wear to anything, save a special occasion. Not only that, but she looked nervous. Nervous and anxious and worried and troubled and others… Her eyes widened as she came to a realization. “Spike, I think you’ve been delaying the chore for too long now, can you get the extra packet of parchment from the store?” She took off her helmet and levitated to the side, where it came to rest on the wall.

“What? Now? But…” Spike stammered, looking for an excuse to stay. He turned around, and came to see Twilight’s expression. Twilight was making the most adorable puppy-dog-eye expression she could muster, and Spike was no match for it. “Uh, ok. I’ll go get it, see you later, Rarity.” Spike waved goodbye to the love of his life, as he exited, determined to get this chore done as quickly as he could. Twilight locked the door behind Spike, and slid a ‘closed’ sign onto it from the outside.

“Ok, Rarity. I can see that something’s troubling you, really badly.” Twilight caressed, putting on her ‘best friend’ voice. ”As a good friend, I want you to know that I am here for you, and you can tell me what is wrong, and I won’t judge you, regardless of what it is. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” She indicated the respective actions for Pinkie Pie’s ‘Pinkie Promise’ remembering to have her eyelid shut for the latter part.

“Ok, but promise you won’t laugh when you see this.” Rarity entreated, the nervousness getting through to her voice, which was squeaking ever so slightly.

“I also promise not to laugh.” Twilight added, nodding to her friend. Rarity responded, her horn lightening up, a soft blue glue enveloping her horn and her dress. The buttons unclicked, and her zips unravelled. Her dress came apart, piece by piece, revealing the cause of her troubles, exactly the same as it was, before she had put the dress on. The dress floated to her side, where it came to rest on the ground. Twilight’s mouth fell open at the sight, closing suddenly, in an attempt to supress a snort at how ridiculous it looked. Though valiant, the effort failed, a small snort escaping her mouth. Rarity’s face tinted a light pink colour, obviously annoyed at Twilight’s reaction. Twilight took a deep breath, and managed to regain her composure.

“Sorry about that… I’ve… just never seen a mane-style quite like that before.” She admitted, walking around Rarity, trying to get a good look at it, her eyes taking in all the details. “So, how did this happen? Did Sweetie Belle get your hedge-clippers?” Twilight asked, raising her eyebrow.

“Oh, heavens no. I would never let Sweetie Belle near anything like that.” Rarity answered, trying her best not to think about Sweetie Belle with hedge-clippers. “My hair turned out like… this… when I shampooed my hair using two different shampoos.” She indicated to her mane, drawing her eyes up, and then down again in sadness as it came into view.

“Huh… never heard of hair getting shorter like that before… Well, if your hair has just shortened, a simple mane-growth spell should fix it up really quickly.” Twilight perked up, her enthusiasm increasing all of a sudden. “I don’t even need to look it up, it’s so simple!” She clopped her hooves together to emphasize. 

“Well, if it’s really that simple, that would be lovely. Thanks, Twilight. It’s good to know I can always count on you to be a good friend.” Rarity remarked, purposefully using those words to build Twilight’s enthusiasm up. She loves being a good friend.

“Alrighty, then. Here we go!” Twilight lilted, goaded into action by Rarity’s words of encouragement. Her horn lit up, Twilight closing her eyes lightly, and focussing energy into Rarity’s small mane.

Seconds pass…

“Twilight is anything supposed to be happening?” Rarity asked, slightly unnerved by the lack of activity occurring, despite the obvious magical power coming from Twilight’s horn. Twilight’s eyes jutted open, a look of confusion on her face. She looked up at her horn, and back to Rarity’s mane a few times, trying to sort things out in her mind.

“What in Equestria? What’s happening?” Twilight lifted her hoof up, nudging her horn. It sparked slightly in response, making a short buzzing noise. She took a few steps up to Rarity, and lightly tapped her mane, which also sparked in response. Twilight’s mouth disengaged.

“Twilight? What’s wrong?” Rarity’s expression turned more and more nervous, perhaps with a hint of subtle panic, which was not helped by Twilight’s expression of shock.

“I’m not entirely sure. It’s like the energy I’m pumping into your mane is being absorbed by something… Hold on, I’m going to try to overload it.” Twilight sat down, closing her eyes once again, this time, her brow was twisted into a frown, concentrating rather harshly. Twilight’s horn lighted up brightly, causing Rarity to strain her vision. Twilight opened her right eye, observing that no change was occurring, though Rarity’s mane was now glowing slightly. ‘I’ll show you! Nopony beats Twilight Sparkle in magic!’ She thought to herself, scrunching her face to new extremes. Her horn brightened even further, causing Rarity to lift her hoof up, and look away from the intense light. A giant band of white energy began circling Twilight’s horn, as Twilight lifted her mental limiter, eager to beat her foe. Too eager…

*CRACK!*

*BOOM!*

A giant bolt of magical energy connected Twilight’s horn and Rarity’s mane, showering the room in excess light, sparks exploding from the bolt, firing off in every direction. Both Twilight and Rarity are thrown back from the blast, which subsides in a few seconds, the echo from the building and their ear-drums both subsiding. Twilight was the first to stir, more used to being thrown back from explosions.

“Urgh… Rarity… Are you ok?” She squinted, her vision obfuscated from the blast. Though that didn’t stop her from seeing what was there, perched right on top of Rarity’s head. Twilight gasped, causing Rarity to look up in shock, still blinded from the blast.

“What? What is it? Did something happen to my mane?!” Rarity looked around, despite not being able to see anything. Twilight’s vision returned to her, a puzzled look appearing on her face, or perhaps perplexed would be a better word for it. Twilight stood up slowly, cautious to place weight on her hooves, and she walked over to the flailing Rarity, bending down, and putting a hoof on her face to calm her, which worked wonders.

“Your mane looks better.” She replied, a tired smile on her face. Now staring at a single object, Rarity’s eyes refocussed successfully, her vision restored. As Twilight stood up, Rarity drew her gaze to her mane, which she could see in front of her, dangling down, curling nicely. Rarity smiled in glee, and giggled. Well, she would have, if she had caught her breath yet, so she snorted sporadically instead. But something was off. Rarity knew her mane, and it was different, shorter. Not only that, but he curl was weighted differently, not quite curling with life as it did before, as if weighed down with its own weight. Ceasing her giggle/snort, she glanced over to her tail, which did like-wise. Her smile did not vanish from her face though. It was a great improvement, and she was happy with it. “Though, I have no idea whatsoever what just happened. The mane-growth spell backfired!” Twilight levitated a brown book from her shelf, continuing to ramble. “But it’s under the list of ‘Spells that cannot backfire’! How does that make any sense?!” Twilight threw her hooves up into the air, emphasizing how lacking she was in understanding the situation. She glanced down at Rarity, who was tilting her head from side to side, watching her hair fall down, and back, over and over.

Rarity suddenly snapped back into reality. “Huh? Oh, right. Thank you so much for helping me with this.” Rarity conceded, slowly getting to her hooves. “Admittedly, I got rather worried back, there, but you overcame, Twilight.” Rarity smiled at her friend who wasn’t smiling back at her.

“But I don’t even know WHAT I overcame! And I’m not sure I even overcame it! That mane-growth spell was configured to restore your mane to the same length that it was before, which it totally didn’t do!” Twilight declared, looking exasperated. “This isn’t what was supposed to happen, and I am NOT satisfied with the outcome!” Twilight closed her eyes, frowning again in light frustration, stomping her right hoof onto the ground, eliciting a loud thump from the impact zone. She opened her eyes to see Rarity folding her dress, and placing it into a saddle back, ready for departure. “What? You’re going? But your mane isn’t fixed up yet!” Twilight cried, not happy with the situation at hoof.

“Twilight, while I appreciate the offer, I find myself getting fond of this mane-style.” Rarity replied, joy in her tone. “But.” Rarity continued, turning serious. “Sweetie Belle is cooking, and I will head back as soon as I can, so I have a place to head back to. Thank you again, Twilight, this means a lot to me.” Rarity nodded at Twilight, levitating the saddle-bag onto her back, and unlatching the lock on the door. Just before she left, Twilight added something.

“At least tell me which shampoos you used.” Twilight asked, calming down from her near-hysterical state. Rarity stopped, and looked back, Twilight giving Rarity her sad face. Rarity gave a smile.

“I mixed Mane ‘N’ Tail with Fuente shampoo. See you later darling.” Rarity closed the door, missing Twilight’s eyes widening at the name.

============================================================================
> Split ends...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rarity trotted along the road, a skip in her step, reflecting her mood after averting the epic disaster of ultimate unfabulousness. Looking around, she noticed that her new mane-style was attracting some attention from onlookers. She winked at one particularly well-built onlooker, who elicited a blush and looked away nervously. Rarity giggled slightly, ‘I could get used to this… I probably was in need of a make-over’ she thought to herself as she continued on her path.

Half-way to her destination she noticed something. Something was up, something unnatural, something that hadn’t happened so soon, it was almost alerting… her expression upturned itself in notice, the skip in her trot fading completely.

Her neck was hurting…

It wasn’t the pain or the uncomfortableness that she would go to the masseuses for. It wasn’t the pain she would get from face-hoofing too hard during one of Pinkie’s schemes. It was something altogether different, something she had almost never experienced before…

Her neck was … tired?

Rarity slowed to a complete stop, now two thirds of the way to her destination, she had to stop. Her neck was bending low, struggling to lift the weight of her head. Rarity looked around, searching and finding a closed café with outside tables. Trotting over to them, Rarity sat down and laid her head on the table, the pain in her neck subsiding almost immediately. This was odd, very odd. Rarity had attended monotonous speeches in Canterlot for hours, without her neck getting tired… but it had only been ten minutes.

Something was up, and Rarity had a clue. Lifting her hoof up to her face, she took a part of her mane, and lifted it. It was heavy, far heavier than it should be, she could feel its weight, it was far too much for its size, even heavier than the heaviest fabrics she’d ever worked with. She moved her hoof, letting her hair fall to her face.

*SLAP!*

Rarity made a mental note to not let heavy hair fall to her face as she massaged her face gently with her hoof, trying to reduce the pain coming from it. ‘Must be an after effect from the mane-growth spell…’ she thought to herself, trying to come up with an explanation for this weird activity. ‘I’m sure it’ll be gone by tomorrow.’ Rarity rose, her neck rested, and made her way back to the boutique, bracing herself for the state it’ll be in, with Sweetie Belle making food.

Rarity opened the door to her boutique, poking her head inside, looking for flames or smoke of any kind. There weren’t any. “Hey Rarity! Just finished eating dinner!” said Sweetie Belle, sitting at the table laden with used plates, smelling of deliciousness. Rarity walked inside and looked around. There were no flames of any kind, or burned food/furniture/utensils of any kind. There was no smoke in the air, but the smell of pasta lingered, pleasing the nostrils.

“The bouquet’s still standing!” Rarity rejoiced, eyes wide and a great smile on her face. She continued looking around, to see if her eyes were deceiving her, but they weren’t.

“You’re surprised?!” Sweetie Belle questioned, her eyebrows upturned. “I’m not that bad at cooking... when I have a cook-book to go off...” Sweetie Belle said, getting off her chair, and walking up to Rarity, noticing the difference in Rarity’s mane-style. “Your mane looks… better, definitely, but it’s normally curlier than that.” Sweetie Belle tilted her head, inspecting Rarity’s mane with wonder.

“It is, and I’m sure it’s just a side-effect of the mane-growth spell.” Rarity tilted her head, her neck making a foul crack. Rarity groaned, rubbing her neck and furrowing her brow.

“Ouch, that sounds bad. What happened to your neck?” Sweetie Belle asked, concern for her sister evident from her face, which was awash with worry. 

“My mane is just… heavy at the moment. I think I’ll head to bed early, my neck is complaining. You’ll be fine cleaning up, right?” Rarity asked hesitantly, not entire sure of her little sister’s trustworthiness and continuing to rub her neck.

“I’ll be fine, you should rest that neck.” Sweetie commented, moving back to the table, preparing to clean.

“Mmm…” Rarity groaned again, heading towards her bedroom, eager to lay her head down. Opening her door and closing it with magic, she threw herself onto the bed and sighed. ‘I hope it’ll be gone by tomorrow, I won’t be able to work like this…’ She rolled onto her side, her mane barely budging, continuing to flow downwards, not curling as it used to. Rarity levitated her diary out of her drawer, unlocked it, and set it next to her, getting a quill and ink out as well. 

She had a lot to write.

After collecting and recording her thoughts on today’s events, she threw her diary back to its location, and obtained her eye-mask. She slid gently into the covers, taking care not to ruffle them, and lay down for sleep. Her horn glowed light blue one last time as it flicked off the light. Rarity lay her head down on the pillow and let out a contented sigh. ‘Everything will be better when I wake up in the morning’ she thought to herself as she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Meanwhile, at the library…

“GARRRH!!!” Yelled a very frustrated purple unicorn, enveloped in a frenzy of science, books and magic. Her library was in complete disarray, books knocked off their shelves, used coffee mugs aplenty, not to mention the clearly unhappy unicorn in the centre generating more chaos as the afternoon slowly turned into night. “This doesn’t make any sense!” Twilight cried as she slammed her hoof onto the table she was working at again. “Spells that can’t backfire just don’t backfire when they feel like it!” Twilight’s horn glowed as she levitated a book out of the pile of books and laid it on the table. “I can’t find fault with his proof either!” Twilight moaned, placing her head on the table right in front of the book. “Mane-growth is so simple, there’s no room for backfires!” Twilight punched the book with her hoof, sending it skidding across the table.

“Twilight, I think you’re taking it too seriously.” Commented spike from across the room, making sure to stay out of the way of harm… and chaos. “So what if a spell went a little wrong? Your spells go wrong all the time and you don’t normally panic to this extent…” Spike added, his arms folded; it was time for his nap, and there’s no way he could be sleeping with Twilight’s noise and the occasional buzz of unicorn magic.

“Spike,” Twilight said, preparing for a rebuttal. “Those spells are complicated, and there are plenty of ways and reasons they could fail. This spell is not like that, it just adds mass to the end of the hairs, duplicating the lower region of the hair.” Twilight rebutted. “There is literally nothing that can go wrong with that, since my target wasn’t resisting. You’d have to force the effect into negation in order to do that!” Twilight paused. ‘Could that actually be possible? Could there be some foreign entity that was present during her visit that could directly absorb the effect of my spell? That wouldn’t be a backfire, that’s a negation…’ Twilight continued in thought for a while, her train and trail of though clearly going in a direction. She was, however, not changing her expression, and looked like an unresponsive window.

“Ok, whatever. I’m going to sleep, good night Twilight, hope you solve whatever new problem you’re facing.” Spike gave a long yawn and trudged upstairs, hoping to fall asleep soon. Twilight continued in thought. ‘What if something or someone was interfering? Could someone have a grudge on me or Rarity? What if she’s been targeted?! What if I’ve been targeted?! What if…’ Twilight continued in thought, her train of thought speed out of control on the tracks, her trail of thought falling into a black hole. Twilight stood up, her face plastered with determination. ‘I will find out!’ she declared to herself as she walked over to where Rarity was standing during the ‘incident’. Twilight stopped, and closed her eyes, furrowing her brow in concentration.

Her horn glowed purple as she focussed her spell. ‘If there truly was someone interfering, they should be detectable.’ Twilight focussed harder, armed with the knowledge that the further an incident is into the past, the harder it is to obtain information on it. Her horn glowed deeper, buzzing with energy, which calmed down instantly as it received a result. Twilight opened her eyes, which were wide with panic and alarm. 

Three.

There were three entities with 3 unique mana signatures present and partaking in the cast of the spell. Twilight’s legs started shaking, her breathing picking up in pace. She looked around, and immediately shut all the curtains around the library, awakening Spike in the process.

“Twilight? What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost…” commented Spike, his eyes half shut, totally not having much time to drift into slumber.

“I may very well have! Well, not seen, but detected. Remember that spell I told you I couldn’t tell you about? Turns out that there were three entities involved! Do you know what this means?!” Twilight gasped, shoving her face into Spike’s, letting him know that Twilight was almost entering over-react mode, her eyes showing a spark of crazy in them.

“No, Twilight. I have no idea what that means.” Spike commented flatly, not appreciating Twilight’s word choice, completing eluding the meaning of Twilight’s sentences from him. He was a baby dragon after all.

“It means that someone else was present at the cast of the spell, someone who actively interfered with the spell, and I am going to get to the bottom of this!” Twilight declared, striking a pose not dissimilar to the pose she struck when she declared to restore her friendship during Discord’s attack. Twilight rushed down the stairs, tripping just like Spike did, and landing just as Spike did, but with bruises instead of misplaced scales.

“This isn’t going to end well…” commented Spike as he contemplated going down the stairs to help her.

===========================================

> Knots...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I don’t have time for this, Spike! I need to OW!” Twilight half-cried, covered in gauzes, stopping her grazes from bleeding. She yelped when spike applied another one to her flank. 

“You don’t have time to care for yourself? You JUST fell down the stairs! You’re practically covered in grazes.” Spiker replied, slapping another one onto her back, eliciting another squeak from Twilight. “I understand that you’re concerned about whoever it was that you cast that spell on, that you’re not telling me about, but you won’t be helping anypony if you don’t take care of yourself first.” Spike spoke a voice of wisdom, calming Twilight down a little bit.

“Fine. But if you’re done, I’d like to go research this.” Twilight sighed, trying to be patient. “How many more do you have to DO?!” Twilight yelped again as Spike applied another.

“None! You’re all set. Take care of yourself, ok?” Spike asked, putting the first-aid kit away. Twilight stood up from her sitting position, testing out the gauzes, which were all staying on. She leapt towards the door, eager to start searching.

“Alright, I’m going to start researching. Get some sleep, Ok?” Twilight started, turning around to see Spike frowning, reminding her that that was what he was doing until she interrupted him. “Right. See you.” Twilight replied, trotting out the door, letting Spike return to his bed. The night had begun several hours ago, the air now cold, the sky a dark blue, painted with stars. Twilight’s horn glowed white, and Twilight’s search began. ‘Time to find you!’ Twilight mentally declared to herself. She trotted out, into the darkness, eager to find the mystery.

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The evening passed uneventfully for the white unicorn. It was filled with deep, restful slumber, which was rather needed after the events of that day. A mare has to look her finest. She began to stir as the bright sunlight penetrated her sleep-mask speaking ‘Good morning’ to the young unicorn. She lifted her hoof off, throwing the sleep-mask to her side, looking towards the sun, which was just above the horizon. ‘Time to get up’ She thought to herself groggily, her body stiffened from the long slumber. She rolled onto her side, and snuggled into her blankets. They were soft, silky, warm and pliant. ‘Wait, pliant?’

She ran her hoof through her blanket again. It parted, allowing her hoof to pass through it. Her face scrunched up. ‘Do I have a hole in my blanket?’ she thought to herself, as she brought her face to the blanket. It was purple. Her blanket was red. She looked around, startled, attempting to discern the situation.

Once it dawned on her, she screamed.

Sweetie Belle fell off her bed as she was forcefully pulled out from her sleep. She groaned when she realized it was Rarity screaming that awoke her. ‘Not again…’ She thought to herself. ‘Rarity’s such a drama queen sometimes…’ She pulled herself off the floor, and walked towards Rarity’s room, from which some movement could be heard. Sweetie Belle knocked on the door with her hoof.

“Rarity! Can you not scream every time you wake up? It’s getting annoying!” Sweetie Belle called at the door, annoyance dripping from her tone. Seconds pass, and nothing can be heard from the door anymore. Sweetie’s expression changed from annoyance to concern as the seconds continued to go by. “Rarity? Are you Ok?” Sweetie called into the room, but was met without response. “I’m coming in, Rarity.” Sweetie called once more, pushing the door open.

She wasn’t there, not at all. Sweetie Belle scanned the room, looking for her sister, but come up empty. She walked into the room bewildered. ‘Where could she have gone? I know she was here before…!’ Her thought process was interrupted by a squeak from one of Rarity’s wardrobes. Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. She should have checked there first. She walked over to the wardrobe and opened it, her eyes widening at the sight. “Rarity?!” 

Rarity sat, slumped down in the corner, her hair far longer than it should be, filling up the space inside the wardrobe up to her head, leaving her head just above the mess of tangled hair. She looked incredibly confused. “Hi, uh, Sweetie Belle. I woke up like this…” Rarity picked up a piece of her hair, which had turned light again, and flowed down as she released it.

“How does that even happen?! Hair doesn’t just grow that long overnight, that’s impossible!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, the weirdness of the situation getting to her. 

“You mean just like how hair doesn’t cut itself short over a half-hour?” Rarity asked sarcastically, attempting to draw attention to the weird activity yesterday. It sailed right over Sweetie Belle’s head.

“Yeah! Just like that!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed again, glad that her point was conveyed and received so perfectly. Glad until she saw Rarity’s facial expression, seething with sarcasm and am-not-amused. “Right. Well, you can just cut it, right? It’s just longer than before, now. Cutting it should work.”

Rarity looked down, her expression changing to sadness. “I’ve already tried that. It didn’t work.” Rarity breathed a deep sigh. ‘Why does this happen to me?’ she thought to herself.

“What do you mean, cutting doesn’t work? How can cutting hair not work?!” Sweetie Belle questioned. “That doesn’t make any sense!” Rarity replied by levitating the scissors she used to cut her hair previously. Levitating a lock of her hair, along with the scissors, she cut a large portion off, which evaporated in a beam of light as it hit the ground, reforming where it was cut. Sweetie Belle’s mouth disengaged as she witnessed the scene. She was speechless.

Rarity sighed, resting her head onto the purple blankets which were her hair. “I just feel like giving up… everything just been going wrong, I can’t cut it, it’s hopelessly long, and do you have any idea how long it’ll take to get the knots out? Or even separate my mane from my tail?” Rarity gave a small whimper and buried her head in the mass that was her mane and tail. You couldn’t tell which part was which.

The doorbell sounded with a sharp ding noise, eliciting surprise in Sweetie Belle, and horror in Rarity. Rarity pushed Sweetie towards the door. “Sweetie Belle, please answer the door for me. I can’t be seen in this state!” Rarity closed the doors of the wardrobe with her magic, concealing her inside her room. Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes, and made her way to the front door, which had been making dinning noises continuously. Somepony was repeatedly pressing the doorbell, irritating everyone within earshot. Sweetie Belle opened the door to see her standing there.

It was Pinkie. The personification of pinkness-in-overdrive was hopping from left to right in a frantic manner, concern plastered all over her face, which was not in its typical smile. “Hiya Sweetie!” Pinkie greeted Sweetie Belle, continuing to bounce around slightly. “Is Rarity in? There’s something I need to talk with her about. It’s REALLY important.” Pinkie drew her head super-close to Sweetie Belle when she said ‘REALLY’ for emphasis, momentarily stopping her erratic bouncing everywhere. Sweetie Belle arched her eyebrows, Pinkie’s behaviour confusing her.

“Um… Rarity doesn’t want to um… see anypony right now, sorry Pinkie.” Sweetie Belle spoke quietly, unsure how to phrase that to not let out Rarity’s condition. “She can’t see anypony, maybe you can try tomorrow!” Sweetie Belle gave her best smile to hide her worry about Pinkie’s expression, which had turned dead serious. ‘Pinkie is serious! Pinkie is serious!!’ She thought to herself.

A sharp noise was suddenly evoked from Sweetie’s right, clawing at her for attention. Pinkie turned her head, giving the brightest smile should could, pointing at the source of the noise and yelled “Oh My Gosh!! Free Cutie Marks!!” while keeping her eyes locked on Sweetie Belle, who’s entire attention was turned to the source of the sound. While Sweetie was distracted, Pinkie rushed into the house, navigating towards Rarity’s room, and opened the door to Rarity’s wardrobe before Sweetie could even react. “Rarity!!!” She yelled at the top of her lungs towards the white head which was sprouting up from a mess of purple hair.

“Pinkie?! What are you doing here?!” Rarity cried in shock, completely ruffled by Pinkie’s explosive appearance. “I thought I told Sweetie not to let anypony in!” Sweetie Belle appeared in the room several seconds later, apparently having actually gone and looked for the free cutie marks, with a sheepish expression on her face.

“Rarity, I’m so sorry to barge in like this, but you need my help! I know ALL about your problem and can help you fix it!” Pinkie yelled at hyper speed, just like she did everything else possible. Rarity’s eyes widened at her phrasing, and her eyebrows arched in questioning.

“Pinkie, how did you know my hair was like this?” Her arched eyebrows turned into a frown that was furrowed. “You haven’t been SPYING on me, have you?” It was Pinkie’s turn to widen her eyes as her expression turned expressionless. She stood still for several seconds before responding, her mouth disengaged. Finally, after what seemed like forever to Rarity, she gave the most sheepish face and an awkward smile appeared as well.

“I… may… have been… observing you a little, but it’s totally not spying! I was interested in what you were doing with Twilight, but it turns out it was something completely different to what I thought you were doing, so it’s ok, but you’re in this terrible state now, and that’s so sad, so I was totally going to help you and stuff, but I fell asleep, and now here I am!” Pinkie stammered initially, mulling over which words to use, but then her pinkness took over and she continued streaming out words far faster than is normal for conversation. “Come on! We need to get some help!” Her mouth arched into her normal Pinkie Pie super-smile.

“I can’t do that Pinkie, I am not leaving this spot until I get my hair back to normal. I can’t be seen like this, let alone move with all this tangled hair!” Rarity replied, struggling a little big with her hair, which had gotten surprisingly tangled for her lack of activity in the wardrobe.

“Then I’ll bring the help to you!” Pinkie exclaimed, in full-volume again. She rushed out of the boutique with hyper speed, sending a gust of wind whirling through the house. Pinkie was no longer anywhere near the boutique.

“I’m a little worried about what Pinkie is going to bring back with her…” Rarity sighed, resting her head on her hair again.

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