May is the month of expectation, the month of wishes, the month of hope. With apologies to Emily Brontë, May is also the month of a brand new edition of FF150. If you're in the Northern Hemisphere, we're not far off midsummer already, even if it doesn't feel like it. If you're in the Southern Hemisphere, please turn that quote upside down for absolute and total accuracy. Ahem. As ever:

Here are the full rules.
Please use this word counter.

You'll note that Rule 6 accommodates G5 entries. Since this means that an active generation is permitted, please bear in mind Rule 9 on spoilers. As always, comments are welcome in the relevant thread.

Remember, there is no prize, as such, for this contest -- but if you win, you will be able to choose the prompt for the next contest. Of course, I am assuming that there will be a next contest. Since we're not in Equestria, the chance of half a dozen monster attacks before June is probably quite low. However, you are free to imagine and/or invent some horrible Bad Ending for yourself, even if it does involve coleslaw. On to the summary!

Prompt: "In the Garden" (selected by TCC56)
Rating: E or T
Word limit: 150
Closing date: Tuesday 21st May 2024, 11:59 pm UK time (world clock)

Please reply to this post with your entry. This makes it easier for me to keep track. Please do not leave feedback until after the closing date.

Entries are now open! Have fun!

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Upon reaching the garden in the heart of the Everfree Forest, Twilight turned to her friends. “My subordinates spent a whole week clearing out pyrophytes and flame lilies while fending off fireflies. They informed me that encased in the crimson vegetation at the center, a statue was found.”

“Why’d ya call us for then?” Applejack sighed upon reaching the clearing. “We ain’t historians. And why’d you make us bring our elements?”

“Because I don’t think it’s a statue.” Twilight pointed to the inscription under the marble alicorn. “It says: ‘The Element of Fire’.”

“Are you saying there are more than six Elements of Harmony?” Rainbow Dash tried counting on a hoof, but only managed to count to one.

“Only one way to find out. Elements, unite!”

Multicolor light enveloped the statue and from it emerged a living alicorn.

“Welcome to Equestria!” Twilight greeted the newcomer. “What’s your name?” 

“Opaline.”

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In The Garden... that sounds like it would be the title for a painting.

This piece is truly a work of art.

At first glance, one would see a young maiden, princess perhaps by her ornament, who happens to be scorned over something during a stroll in the garden. While depicting nobility is either formal or scandalous, this depiction tells of a deeper tale.

Note the spot where the filly stands, how the soil cracks with a peculiar absent of grass beneath her hooves. It's as if she was emitting her negative essence upon her own land, drying up the life with each word that's projected through her voice.

It's as if the artist were saying that we were the rabbit, befuddled by the rambling of the higher class that's distracting us from the corruption that they know not they're bringing to the garden which we live in.

Absolutely chilling.

7964499 🌻🌼🌷🌻🌼🌷 Happy May everyone! 🌻🌼🌷🌻🌼🌷

My garden is distinct from the orderly orchards that feed our family. If I'm being honest--and I always am--it's kind of a mess. Sunflowers sweep in wild loops across the half-acre of my little plot. Azaleas spring up in patches, confused at being brought forth so out-of-season. Zinnias tussle with coreopsis for sunlight. Black soil frames it from below, so that from a pegasus-eye view, the color really pops.

I am an earth pony. How do I know what it looks like from above?

Because she tells me every time she drops in. I hear the admiration in her voice, see how when she lands she pulls up higher than usual to make sure the downblast of wind doesn't hurt the delicate flowers. She tells our friends about what images I pull from the earth, the mosaics of blooming flowers.

My garden is chaotic. But it's not chaos.

It's love.

7964499 Yay, springtime!

Unlike most guards, enjoyed patrolling the lonely gardens. It gave me time all to myself.

Not tonight.

Something rammed me into the topiary. I felt it's fangs over my neck.

I slammed my hooves into it's chest, sending it up into the twigs above. I rolled out of the bush and yanked it after me, out onto the path.

I pinned it bodily before its leather wings could save it, my armored weight covering its soft back. I groped for its forehoof, twisting the limb into a bind. Then, she looked at me. Pleading eyes, breathing ragged.

"I-I'm sorry," I said, reaching for my hoof-cuffs.

BAM!

My breastplate went flying off. Then, she was ontop of me, ripping inside of me, working. I could only watch as she violated me.

Finally, she left. Covered in my blood, she flew away into the night.

Leaving me aching... and alone.

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I tried to get into the thoughts of what I wanted for this a bit more than I would on other fics. Here’s hoping it works.

The birds sang around the castle’s gardens, celebrating the end of winter at last, the snow gone and plants leaving fresh scents as new growths had already begun sprouting.

Blueblood sat on a bench to take it in. And the head of the guards sat beside him.

He wasn’t allowed out on his own after his last endeavor.

“Sigh… Why do you do these things, Blueblood,” Shining finally ended the silence.

“I do what I want. A prince doesn’t need to explain himself.”

“But a princess can just as easily make these punishments worse. I would’ve to let you know how those maids felt.”

Blueblood’s lips tightened, “That would at least be something… I haven’t gotten a word in five years.”

Shining tried to hold his glare, but felt it break. He sighed, “She cares about you, Blue… You’ve gotta know that.”

He didn’t bother answering.

The birds sang on.

I wonder if this month will feature song lyrics by I. Ron Butterfly.

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Starlight rarely visited the statue; it felt like an indulgence. Today merited an exception.
She greeted each figure; they remained silent. "You'll be pleased to hear that you're still managing to cause problems for Equestria. We've been negotiating a treaty for ethical treatment of prisoners, which was nearly ready when Thorax asked if we could prove petrification complied.
"We couldn't; only Discord knows what it's like, and he's being his usual charming self. Keeps offering to statue ponies for a century so they can find out. Now the foreign office is breathing down my neck, and I'm having to explain to them that my salary cannot actually fund a major research project."
Starlight sighed. Twilight's reforms were sensible - ordinary ponies really did deserve more of a voice in government. Still, she missed the days when she could get a research grant approved without having to arrange an international incident first.

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In case you forgot, this is Señor Huevos.

The glimpse had lasted mere moments, yet it had changed everything.

Had Señor Huevos been able to close his eyes — he couldn’t, and he wasn’t aware of the concept — he still would have seen it. The other world, the world of so much more.

It was still lacking in a third dimension, the kind only his own body and sombrero seemed to occupy. Yet it was far beyond what he'd ever known; vibrant, astonishing, colorful, full of life. Full of activity. Full of beings. A garden of infinite possibility.

And yet he’d run. And when he'd thought to return, it was gone.

Señor Huevos stared at the landscape around him, where the shapes now seemed all wrong, the sky a blank space, the trees lifeless. For the first time, he grasped how empty the world around him truly was.

All he could do to fill it was scream.

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White fruit hung from a white branch of a white tree with white leaves. White flowers stuck to the base of its white trunk. Beside these a white brook neither flowed nor burbled.

White trees stood by white bushes in a white garden. All was still. All was still. There was no breeze. There were no bees. All was beautiful.

Her black hoof crushed the white grass. And Her black hoof plucked the fruit and brought it to Her black lips and she ate of it and it tasted of hate. And with Her black hoof she hurled it to the white ground where it was dust.

All was dust.

And She spat in the white dust and thought it a seed. And that seed bore white fruit upon a white tree.

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“Please.”

Twilight closed her eyes… and sighed. She was exhausted. “... Alright.”

—

Bon Bon grimaced as she caught glimpses of each twisted, moss covered face. She tried not to feel the weight of her despair when she recognized the faces of princesses and element bearers.

Just follow Twilight’s directions, she told herself. Find her.

And then she did.

A twisted face made out of bark. Branches growing upwards from out her loose hanging mouth. Bright spotted flowers hanging over her head. Pulsing appendages burrowing deep into the soil. Her wife.

“Lyra…,” Bon Bon spoke, her voice unsteady as she took a seat beneath her shade and stared in disbelief into hollowed eye sockets. “Oh, Lyra… I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you.” She finally allowed herself to cry as the flowers sensed her presence and bloomed gently open. “I’ll never… leave your side again.”

Usually these take me at least an hour and somehow I wrote this in, like, maybe less then ten minutes. Wow.

Two and a half days remaining to get your entries in!

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Surprised no one used this character for this prompt. Well, then it shall be me, may it even be to annoy Logan with an EqG one

Rules

They say that everyone is born with the ability to understand the unwritten rules of social interaction. And yet, when Wallflower would ask what these rules were, she would never get the same answer.

Even worse, whenever she would try to apply them, it turned out that there were several unmentioned nuances that changed the rules completely.

So why bother trying? Why bother to fit in?

If only she didn’t want to. Then it wouldn’t matter that she was alone during lunch breaks, that she stood awkwardly in a corner at a school’s party.

But she had something no one else did. After school, she would go behind the parking lot to her garden.

There, she was alone.

There, there weren’t any unwritten rules she had to figure out.

There, she knew what to do, what each plant needed and how to take care of them.

And she was happy.

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I nearly chose to not enter this month. This is just something silly, and easily my most dialogue-heavy entry ever.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash were nose-to-nose, glaring at each other as they argued.

“Ya ain’t never grown nothin’, Rainbow! That’s one thing I got over ya!”

“Have too!”

“What have you ever grown? Yer house ain’t got any soil, on account of it being so high up in the sky!”

Rainbow Dash pulled her nose back, and smirked as she turned and gestured with her head towards her midsection, swollen with life. Applejack gave her that look.

“Havin’ a foal don’t count, and you know it, Rainbow!”

“A foal is a kind of fruit. A womb is a kind of garden.”

“Now I’d expect this kind of fancy-shmancy word games from Twilight, but not you, Rainbow!”

“Besides, having a foal is something I’ve got over you, then.”

Rainbow Dash stuck her tongue out and, after some effort, flew away. Applejack wanted the last word.

“This ain’t over you swollen feather-fer-brains!”

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Okay folks, time's up! Nice to see an increase in entry numbers since last month, and particularly nice to see some names beyond the regulars. Thank you as always to everyone who had a go!

As ever, I'll now take five or six days to think about my verdict. In the meantime...

...feedback is open!

7971565 Cutting it close, aren't we?

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I've cut it closer, but yes.

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I vaguely remember someone slipping in an entry with 3-4 minutes to go once. Was that you?

7971793
Yes.

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Hah! I chuckled.

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These ones are neat! I like how they seem to approach tragedy. I feel like one is more external and the other is more introspective.

7966320
I really like this little commentary about the democracy/autocracy dichotomy.

I also love that Discord could solve the problem, but won't.

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I like the juxtaposition and vibe in this fic. Almost peaceful.

My impression is that Blue Blood sexually assaulted (or otherwise did something) to a maid) while unsupervised in the garden because he felt neglected and alone, especially since the Princess has barely spoken a word to him in five years. Shining meanwhile is a conflicted because (it seems to me) he legitimately cares about BB.

In my interpretation, I think Shining has a case of confessed love. On one hoof, Shining doesn't understand why BB would do this, and shining thinks BB should be given a taste of his own medicine. On the other, he pines for BB and wishes he could make BB happy in his own special way, and solve this problem. To Shining, Blue Blood is an enigma he can't help but but be attracted to, one that he's never been close enough to peak inside until this twist of fate. On Shining's line about the princess being able to make the punishment worse, about how she cares... What if Shining's including a little bit of himself in there?

So even though the birds sing on, oblivious to this perhaps ultimately inconsequential affair, spring blossoms around these problematic ponies. Perhaps signalling a bountiful summer to come.

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But just a moment, further analysis of this painting shall shed great insight unto a truely nuanced interpretation!

The story is in the composition you see. One's eye is drawn by the vibrant blue of the filly-monarch's eyes immediately when gazing at this piece. The filly's face serves as the focal point of this whole thing; literally at the center of the painting. But this only serves to egnage the audience's curiosity because there's something missing: why is she so upset? Automatically, the audience follows the line of her gaze to the source-- except there is none! The painting cuts off and the viewer's eye darts back onto the bunny stark face. The bunny stares up with befuddlement at the filly, mirroring the audience's reaction! After completing this loop, the viewer begins to wander about the garden, gazing at the bushes the flowers and the mountains off in the distance. But still, what is it the tiara'd filly is upset about? Something out of frame, something which distracts her from the beauty around. And the bunny too. believe what the painter may have truly been trying to express is an idea about futility. What the filly is upset about is ultimately inconsequential, she is being self centered and incidentally the bunny is more involved than the offending party. She is blind to her surroundings, her vengeful snarl is impotent against the unknown. She is an expression of futility. This interpretation is supported by the fact that the bunny and the so called royal are physically impotent creatures. Too young and too small to be of much change.

But while it is a solemn commentary about futility, the palette and scenery is pastel and bright. I might say, this tones down the stark emotions in this piece. The effect of the washed out colors is nostalgic and old-timey, almost as if to suggest that there is beauty and heart in this conflictuous moment. That suggests that the entire scene is childish and even cherishable.

Perhaps the painter is telling us to remember the conflicts in our life and the frame them not as two sided and solemn affairs, but as interpersonal and valuable experiences.

*ahem,* at least, that is my two cents.

Real question: who or what is the artist for this piece?

7971058
Wow, you are the only person who used Wallflower! I can't believe I did even think about her.

I like the way you show Wallflower as lonely with "Then it wouldn’t matter that she was alone during lunch breaks, that she stood awkwardly in a corner at a school’s party," is. Especially since it also illustrates her want to not be lonely. It really lets me engage with Wallflower's experiences and feel them similar to my own.

There, there weren’t any unwritten rules she had to figure out.

There, she knew what to do, what each plant needed and how to take care of them.

Aw, cute!

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As usual, a typo in the very first sentence.

Unlike most guards, I enjoyed patrolling

7972055 No soup review for me?

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Wow, you are the only person who used Wallflower! I can't believe I did even think about her.

She's becoming too powerful with her Memory stone!

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It was funny and I laughed! I liked all the buildup only for the statue to be Opal. Admittedly the only thing I know about Opal is that she's evil and The Worst.

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Opal is that she's evil and The Worst.

Your comment has a dual meaning, but you're right either way.

This is Opalescence, otherwise known as Opal:

Evil.

This is Opaline:

Evil.

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Real question: who or what is the artist for this piece?

A combination of a few things. On Civit.AI, I used 'Pony Diffusion V6 XL' with a LoRA model called 'All Disney Princess XL' and some lighting tools. My exact words for the prompt were...

score_9, score_8, score_8 and up, (rating_safe), Diamond Tiara as an filly earth pony ((chasing after)) ((one)) (small) ((white rabbit)), ((teeth clenched)), ((angry eyes)), (((garden)))

...and this was one of the results I got. One of her forelegs was a little scratched up as well as her teeth, but I considered it could be of use. so I cleaned it up a little with Paint.net. This pic was originally meant as a warm-up for the May Shipping contest between Tiara and Angel, but I was at an impasse on how their chase scene would play out and considered that I'd figure out some ideas using AI imagery and this month's flashfic entry. Neither helped, so I used one of the back burner ideas I got from a collab game that had a 'sophisticated' narrator talking about each artist's work.

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I actually considered Shining and Blueblood to be closer to brothers. They’re both high ranking and would rub shoulders a lot, and with them around the same age they might have even gone to the same school for unicorns.

I thought of it more as Shining looking at somebody close, being angry at what they’d done, and left wondering where things went wrong.

Results will be on the 29th this month! An unexpected family visit (unexpected in a nice way) is the reason for the slight delay. Should be back on course tomorrow.

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But I want my disappointment now!

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Even the scale knows what's up

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And finally, results time! Without further ado:

Hon mensh: Bandy -- this little piece really caught my eye for its imagery. I don't know exactly who the ponies in question are, though it's fun to think of possible candidates, but the love for the garden shines. Nice ending, too. Also, I am pretty certain no entry to FF150 has ever used the word "coreopsis" before!

Winner: Amereep -- I thought this was a really interesting approach. I'll be honest, I had a slight pause about the picture -- nothing to do with the AI origins, but that I suspect that if everyone starts using pictures to circumvent the word limit I may have to address that. But here I thought it was original and thoughtful. The formatting was striking, and I felt it worked.

Well done both, and congrats to Amereep for the win! You know how it goes: please suggest a prompt for the June contest and post it right here.

Feedback is still open if anyone wants to comment further.

7974222 Ayy congrats to Amereep! Well deserved :)

As to the identity of the two ponies - think well-known characters. One of them loves to fly. The other, the narrator, says, "If I'm being honest--and I always am..."

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Well... didn't expect I'd get very far with my entry this time. I feel that I should give a direct shout-out to the art collab that spawned the idea, but they rated it M for dirty depictions, cartoonish gore, and having a series of F-bombs, so I don't think that'll fly here. All I can say is that it's on Newgrounds, it came out on January 1 of 2024, and it has a medal attached to it. I should know that last fact, because I'm #1 on the medal list, and I have my lifestyle to thank for that. Got laid off over a year ago now, every attempt I've made for a job has been hectic with fruitless results, and we can't forget the matter of the untouched spot of boojiboo.

It's at times like these where I'm reminded of Nanako Kuroi (a character from Lucky Star) and begin to admire the way she tries to keep up a strong appearance despite the dismay she has with her shortcomings that seldomly hints at her single status. One of the best examples of this was when she was spending a romantic holiday playing video games without a special someone and sees the next day a box of holiday cakes on sale, which she buys one and repeats a phrase as she walks home, "You are not a leftover." While I would love that quote to be the next prompt, I feel that it would be too restrained and it'll just keep repeating the same setup with each entry under different characters, so let's just cut it short and call it... "Leftover".

There's a lot of breathing room with that. Humorous, hurtful, heartwarming, many ways to interpret it that fits with the writer's approach from any angle they charge at it.

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That was my immediate thought, but then it occurred to me that some other less obvious pairings might work too. For example, having one of the Flower Ponies in AJ's spot.

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Heh, I can't say I understood all of that -- Newgrounds yes (I'm old...) but I'm neither a Pokémon nor an anime fan, which doesn't help with some of the rest! No matter, though! And sure, "Leftover" it will be. Thanks!