Shorn
is a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfiction by Ralph Hayes, Jr..
The Mane Six have obtained the Rainbow Power of their Elements, and are requested by Celestia and Luna to go to a monastery that have the knowledge required to fully master their Elements' power.
One problem, though. This requires them to go as supplicants, which means that their manes and tails must be sheared off (hence the title).
Naturally, Rarity objects, and goes on at length as to why she does so.
Tropes found in this story:
- An Aesop:
- Resisting peer pressure to do the right thing is one of the main morals of the story. The second is the importance of protecting one's dignity against those that would take it from you for pointless reasons.
- A subtler but just as necessary one; when Pinkie figures out the filly who had her mane cut off by bullies was Rarity herself, Rarity denounces the idea that being the victim of such a thing clouds her judgement, as if being the victim of cruelty makes one less understanding of mistreatment rather than more so.
- …And That Little Girl Was Me: Rarity relates a story of a young filly who was shy and nervous about being in a new school but had said behavior taken as being "uppity" and had her mane shorn off by classmates to "put her in her place". As Pinkie deduces and Rarity confirms, Rarity was said filly.
- Appeal to Tradition: Abbot Costello and his peers exploit this to try and force the Princesses and the Elements of Harmony to go through a humiliating supplication process. Celestia eventually turns this around on them, pointing out that the monastery was originally run by castrara and asking if they should restore that tradition, too.
- Bullying a Dragon: Abbot Costello continues to denounce the Elements of Harmony and the two Princesses as disappointments.... even when said Princesses are right in front of his face. Obviously, it didn't go so well for him.
- Chekhov's Gun: Rarity tells Celestia that the monks likely saved her and Luna's hair and hung it up as some obscene trophy to mark their 'superiority' over their rulers. Sure enough, they later spot their old tresses hung up in the monastery marked with a plaque that states "HUMILITY BEFORE THE POWERS."
- Dark and Troubled Past:
- Celestia and Luna had to go through the humiliation that the monastery forced all supplicants to go through, in spite of being powerful ascended equines. The trauma was so bad that Celestia suppressed the memories after 2000 years.
- Luna's primary motivation for forcing Rarity to undergo the ritual shearing is less because she considers it proper and more because she'd resent Rarity if she didn't have to go through what Luna did when she was last there.
- Rarity's grandmother was treated like a sex slave during the last Gryphon Empire invasion, not unlike the real life Jewish women during the Holocaust. Her mane getting sheared is also something that is a parallel to what happened to them.
- Deconstruction Fic: Of Last Evening Together by Penstroke Pony, writer of Past Sins. Penstroke, who wrote the story as a silly tale of Rarity spending some time in contemplation about having to shear her mane and tail hairs to go to the monastery, wasn't aware of the negative historical connotations of hair shearing a woman. R.H. Junior wrote Shorn to set the record straight regarding the practice, making historical parallels to real life events and anecdotes in his version.
- Determinator: Rarity refuses to budge with her reasoning as to why she didn't want to have her mane and tail sheared. Even if she has to endure a Tranquil Fury from Celestia and an outwardly angry Luna.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: For the Mane Six and the two alicorn princesses. It involves a lot of anguish from both sides (Rarity for fearing she had forsaken her friends with her stubbornness, and the rest for not being able to convince Rarity to change her mind), and a verbal smackdown from Celestia to Abbot Costello. However, the Mane Six and the Princesses obtain the tomes with the knowledge of the Elements in the end, and celebrate by letting each other do up their manes and tails.
- For Want Of A Nail: This fic wouldn't happen if Rarity had not refused to go to the monastery as a supplicant.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Since Celestia and Luna previously went through the supplication process, this technically makes them the most senior members of the monastery, outranking even the Abbot. Celestia thusly invokes this authority against them.
- Neck Lift: Princess Celestia does this to Abbot Costello when he way oversteps his authority and starts treating the Princesses with nasty disrespect (as well as the Element bearers).
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Abbot Costello's furious reaction makes clear to the princesses that he's hiding behind tradition in order to force them and the Element bearers to humble themselves before his authority, and it's all an ego trip on his end.
- Precision F-Strike: When asserting her authority, Celestia calmly informs the abbot that if he continues to insult Twilight and her friends over their careers, pastimes, or especially their gender, "I'll squeeze until your bucking head pops off."
- Properly Paranoid: The monks in the monastery very wisely start backtracking when their head abbot fails to shut up in time. Given what happens afterwards to him, it was a very good decision.
- Reality Is Unrealistic: Yes, shaming/torturing (psychologically) someone by haircut did happen in reality. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a Real Life section in Traumatic Haircut.
- Shout-Out: By way of Punny Name with Abbot Costello.
- Tranquil Fury: Celestia goes into one upon hearing Abbot Costello's highly insulting rant towards her, her sister, and the Element bearers.
- Traumatic Haircut: Defied, as that is the point of the fic after all.
