Here we are in June, then. It looks pretty much like May from where I'm standing. Well, it would if I were standing. I know that "standing desks" and so on, but give me a nice chair to flop into any day. Off we go with the next FF150, then. The rules haven't changed since last time, but if you'd like a refresher then here you go:

Here are the full rules.

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. You'll also get a mention on the group's front page. Whether you get a mention on any other front pages depends entirely on what you get up to. I suppose you could also get a mention on back pages too, in the unlikely event that buckball becomes a mainstream Earth sport. Anyway:

Prompt: "Ow! Where did that come from?" (selected by last month's winner, Somerset Cider)
Rating: E or T
Word limit: 150
Closing date: Friday 21st June 2019, 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!

6872748
Ah, an easy yet hard one at the same time.

———

Twilight stands in the middle of the Grand Galloping Gala, shaking the hooves of the endless noble horde.

All of a sudden, something impacts her in the back of the head, “Ow!”

She tosses the thing off, and looks back, yet she doesn’t see a thing. She gets hit once more, and twirls around, “Where are you?!”

Finally, after a final impact, she sees the culprit. Pinkie and Rainbow stand next to each other, both holding a pie. Twilight smiles, and grabs her own pie.

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*Sitting in a chair, resting on a elbow.*

............

*Tapping fingers on desk, feeling antipathy sink in.*

............

*Slowly takes a deep breath through nose before releasing it the same way.*

............

*Views this month's prompt.*

Your guess is as good as mine.

In the beginning, there was nothing. An empty void of endless space.

Then.... land formed.

Though barren at first, a field of green spread over the surface.

Within time, the plant life of many forms began to appear.

Floral, fruit, vegetable, it all embraced the land.

Beautiful as it was, the realm was soon met with disaster.

The stars fell from the heavens and toppled the vegetation to mush.

It rained bloody tears that splattered the ground crimson red.

It started to darken and the sky itself fell with a violent impact into the land below.

All that resided were being pressed between the two plains; as if God wished total destruction for his creation.

And then, in a fierce shake, the world started hurdling into a BLACK HOLE!

---

Whatcha got there, Spike?

A lettuce, daffodil, tomato, and pickle sandwich; sprinkled with gems and ketchup. Tastes pretty good, want some?

6872748

Missed last month's. Had a rotten month. Hopefully, this is a step in the right direction.

Apple Bloom left the attic, rubbing her head.

“Ow… Applejack, this yours?” she said, hefting the guitar.

“Hm?”

“Ah moved some stuff for Granny, it fell and hit me –”

Applejack gasped. “Mom’s old guitar!”

Silence breathed…

“She used to play that to me every evenin’.” Applejack placed her hat over her heart. “Such sweet music.”

“So why’d you hide it away?”

“Ah didn’t! Mom did.”

Apple Bloom strummed a few cords. “Mom?”

“See, she only used to play for family. One day, Granny reckoned Mom could make it big as a professional country singer. Mom started OK, but then… she got some… uncompromisin’ honesty.”

“Bad review?”

Applejack squirmed. “Abandoned music overnight. High-standards industry, music.”

Apple Bloom strummed it. “Then why’s this still tuned?”

“Apple Bloom!”

“Well, someone still cared for this. Who?”

“Put it back! It hurts, rememberin’.”

“Oh. S-s-sorry.”

Applejack whispered, “Ah’m sorry, Mom. Ah only meant professionally…”

Ok trying again at a silly but of storytelling.

Shining lead the enthralled little filly through the large hall filled with displays. Armor, shields, spears, weapons and trinkets.

"You helped me study to learn all of these for my guard's test sis I thought you'd like to see them yourself"

"You didn't need to your my BBBFF after all"

She said as she beamed back at him reading each plaque with growing gusto.

"Shining ... What's that?

Her attention drawn to a lone glass case inside what looked to be a rock.

"Ah that's something we're not supposed to talk about to none guards. The only successful attack upon Princess Celestia. It fell from the sky knocking her out. No one knows who caused the attack. It's kept to remind each new recruit like me we can always do better"

"Wow funny it looks like the description of moon rock from my astronomy book"
The little purple unicorn gazed puzzled at it.

6872748

Winter time, the last few months before the new year. Whether they were sledding, making snowponies, of snowball fighting, everypony was enjoying the weather. Deserving a rest from their recent adventure, Twilight, and her friends were currently engaging several colts and fillies in wintery warfare.

Without warning a snowball struck Twilight's shoulder, surprised she turn her head to see who'd thrown it. Unable to see anything but snow, she focused back on the game. Again a snowball struck the same spot, however, this time would be different. Having spotted the general direction from the corner of her eye, she teleported.

Reappearing several feet away she immediately spotted the familiar quadri-colored mane and tail poking from under the snow. The snowball fight came to a halt as Celestia and Twilight were heard wrestling. After a few minutes, with Celestia trumping Twilight, both mares searched their surroundings as another snowball struck Twilight.

6872748
Here is my first attempt at a flashfic. Hope it goes well.

It was summer time in Ponyville. Classes had officially let out as every last filly and foal exited their school excitedly. But no one was more excited than Apple Bloom; she and the other Crusaders had plans for the summer.

“Ah can’t wait to visit Rainbow Falls with Big Macintosh and Applejack!” she squealed in excitement. “What about you two?”

“I don’t know,” Sweetie Belle sighed. “I’m probably just going to stay home. What about you, Scootaloo?”

“Eh, I’ll probably just stay home,” Scootaloo shrugged. “Maybe Rainbow Dash will-“

“Ow!” Apple Bloom yelled. “Where did that come from?”

As if out of nowhere, a soccer ball had appeared and struck her on the head. Apple Bloom looked at the object curiously. Where had it come from?

“Oy!” a young foal’s voice called out. “That’s mine!” The Crusaders looked to see a young yellow colt with a red mane approach them.

Thanks for the entries so far. If anyone else feels like a shot, you have just under 72 hours left.

6872748

Pinkie Pie looked up from the depths of the oven to find Twilight at the kitchen door, and she smiled. "Heya, Twilight! What's up?"

"Pinkie, I don't know how better to tell you this, so I'm just going to say it. I don't want you to spend time with me any more. If you see me around Ponyville, please don't make the effort to come up to me."

Pinkie twitched. "Twilight… what?"

"It's a small town, so it's probably inevitable that we'll see each other." Twilight's lips pursed sharply for an instant. "And stay out of my castle."

"What… Twilight, what's wrong?"

Backing away, "Thanks, Pinkie. For the good times. Bye." Wings clamped to her barrel, Twilight turned away.

Pinkie bounced over. "Twilight! Don't… What?"

Looking directly ahead, Twilight left the building.

On her left, Pinkie saw Rarity, looking mildly surprised.

"Rarity! Do you know—?"

"Ah. She told you, then."

6872748
Last-minute entry a-go-go!

You Gotta Know When To Hold ’Em

“Oi! Gerroff me boulder, ya git!”

Startled, Private Persnickety fumbled his quill and inkwell. They fell and shattered into a huge, sticky mess.

Persnickety tisked. “Now how am I supposed to file this report?!”

“You wot?!” bellowed the wild-eyed, dirt-brown stallion who’d come galloping out of nowhere. “’S me land and me boulder. Private property, ’s is!”

“Sir, with respect… this clearly matches the description of Dragonlord Infernus’ stolen egg. Princess Celestia is searching everywhere on his behalf.”

“No i’ ain’t. Oi says it’s a boulder that just fell out a’ the sky! And if you ain’t gotta warrant, oi says you ain’t welcome!”

“Indeed, mister—?”

“Holder Pie.”

Persnickety flipped through his various papers, seeking the pre-signed warrant he’d been issued for just such an occurrence. He smiled with triumph as he prepared to fill in the name and serve it—

He froze.

“Um. Sir? Could… I… borrow a pen?”

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And... your time is up! Thank you to everyone who entered -- that's eight of you this month. And a warm welcome to MetaLord395, who's making their debut in FF150.

I'm very busy this weekend, so it might take a day or two longer than usual to announce the results, but it'll certainly happen well before the end of June.

Until then... it's feedback time! Please feel free to post.

It's been a minute since I was involved in one of these rounds...
Kwirky's usual red ink to follow. It probably isn't made from blood, so don't stress.

6872751

Assuming Pinkie Portals and/or Rainbow Speed, sure. Not clear how one 'tosses off' the contents of a pie. The setting (Gala) is at best superflous here... Where would Twilight have a pie close-at-hoof in the middle of the gala, as part of the greeting line? A bit too straightforward, this one, I think.

6872959

A very clever reversal of expectations. Simple and cute, and clearly intentionally a bit obtuse to set up the reveal. Have an up-thumb.

6873752

Honestly, I'm not certain how Applejack's last line fits into things, and that really impacts my ability to come away with something from this. Still, as it is, excepting the last two lines this one struck a strong chord with me.

6878380

Two positives: cute Shiny/Twily interaction and a fun Celly/Luna rivalry bit. Unfortunately they don't really mesh too well (the former only there to set up the latter and just disappears), and the formatting (punctuation, line structure) is poor.

6883205

Structurally identical to the first entry: "hit don't see it, hit don't see it, see it (?) and go". Again, it doesn't do anything with it, and for scene work it's wasting a lot of crucial space emphasizing this is winter, fillies and gentlecolts. Celestia's appearance is a surprise, as the text is implied that Twilight and her friends are engaging in play with younger ponies ("several colts and fillies"), presumably in Ponyville.

6889124

Contrary to my blunt affect in my feedback, I wish you welcome!

As a story, it wastes a lot of space. Observe:

Every last filly and foal exited their school excitedly. Out of nowhere, a soccer ball struck Apple Bloom on the head.

“Oy!” a young foal’s voice called out. “That’s mine!”

The Crusaders looked to see a young yellow colt with a red mane approach them.

6897598

So... Twilight is having a snit (or probably worse) over Pinkie and unilaterally tells her off. Rarity at least already knew about things? The reader is left as stunned and bemused as Pinkie, which might be the point?

6898071

I'm not sold on the connection to the prompt, but setting that aside this one is just plain fun. Now I (i.e., the reader) want to know just what it is with this pre-signed warrant!

6898879
I may have butchered what’s possible from a legal perspective; perhaps I can shelter in Equestria being a monarchy/despotism? My thought was that Celestia would try to grease the legal skids a bit given the extraordinary circumstances involving an international kidnapping of royalty. It’d be something that investigators like Persnickety could use to cut through red tape in the short run; just issue the “blank check” warrant and be done with it. But there’s always red tape, whether in be in the short run or the long run; and even such a powerful expedient must be documented and followed-up after the fact.

tl;dr: I am neither a lawyer nor a law enforcement person. Something something cartoon horses.

6898879

The last two lines mean this: Applejack was the one who gave the "uncompromisin' honesty".

I'd hoped to foreshadow it when Applejack avoids Apple Bloom's question ("Bad review?") - because it technically wasn't - and with the fact that someone (Applejack) is still tuning the guitar despite it being supposedly hidden/forgotten in the attic and Applejack wanting her to put it back (Applejack's guilty conscience makes her hide her mistake without lying to her inquisitive sister).

In hindsight, I'm guessing the hints weren't strong enough to make that intended meaning clear?

6898995
Ah, being the Dragonlord's stolen egg. (Stolen by someone else and dropped, I would understand; either because that was the plan, or something came up, like the first sign of an Imperial Star Destroyer.) The warrant wasn't needed initially because Persnickety didn't know that the egg was on private property at first. Got it! In my imagination I had something more vague and amusing relating specifically to Holder in some way.

6899143
(I will follow your choice to spoiler-tag stuff, I guess)
Okay, I can see that. I think I didn't draw the connection because of these two lines: “She used to play that to me every evenin’. [. . .] Such sweet music.” “[. . .] High-standards industry, music.” The former suggests a strong bond over music, and the latter excplicitly refers to the industry but it's clear from your explanation that the meaning was a euphemistic. Because I didn't get exactly what you intended out of it, I saw instead more a daughter remembering her mother, the music, and the memories, less so also dealing with guilt.

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Here's the results post. I went back and forth a bit between several entries this time. But in the end, I decided on Impossible Numbers' entry. To coin a phrase, it hit me right in the feels -- yes, by some miracle I actually interpreted the ending correctly. (The lyrics referenced in the title helped: "Build Me Up, Buttercup" is followed by "don't break my heart".)

Since we had eight entries this time, I think that's enough for an honourable mention too, which goes to Amereep for a fun reversal of expectations.

Congratulations to Impossible Numbers! You've been here before, so you know how it goes: please think of a prompt for July's competition and post it here when you're ready.

As always, thank you to everyone who entered. And as always, everyone is welcome to enter next month whether they did so this time or not. And do feel free to continue discussing feedback and suchlike if you want.

6901814

Well that's just dandy! And since I quite liked Amereep's entry too, I'll take some inspiration from his and go with...

Interpret it literally, metaphorically, or any which-way-ally. I also considered "The Creator's Sandwich", but that might be a tad limiting by comparison.

6901845
Thanks! That seems like an interesting one, and I look forward to seeing what people come up with next month.