Welcome to 2020, everypony! It may be the first year for over a decade without any new Friendship is Magic to look forward to, but there's plenty of life in the old fandom yet! I'm happy to have you still along for the ride as far as FF150 is concerned.

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. I don't intend to do anything interestingly different to these details just to mark the new decade. Actually, I don't intend to do anything boringly different either. Things will continue on their merry (or otherwise) way until the end of time. And possibly beyond, depending on whether I can get a passing alicorn princess to do the honours with some suitable magic. Right, here are the details for this month:

Prompt: "A Near Miss" (selected by last month's winner, TCC56)
Rating: E or T
Word limit: 150
Closing date: Tuesday 21st January 2020, 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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[Target in sight]

[Range: 30 hooves]

[Wind: 0.7 MPH from a degree of 280^o]

[Bystanders in the immediate area. Proceed with caution.]

[Approaching target...]

[The target has spotted me! Switching to inconspicuous mode!]

[...target is observing with no sudden movements. Proceeding with the plan.]

[...target now within range.]

[Ammo loaded]

[Target locked on!]

[....INITIATE!!]

---

"Here it is!" His small hoof slapped the sheet of paper down on her desk, "Last night's homework! Finished and ready to be evaluated. Just for you, Miss Cheerilee."

"Thank yo-"

"And might I add," he flashed a smile her way, "you're looking lovely as usual."

While the young colt wiggled his eyebrows up and down suggestively, the full grown mare had her brows evenly low in a peevish manner.

With an uninterested tone, Cheerilee said, "Get back to your seat, First Base."

---

[MISSION FAILED! OPERATION: 'SEDUCE HOT TEACHER' HAS FAILED!! FALLBACK!!! FALLBACK!!!]

7100599

It's time I finally join the club. What better moment to do that than right after entering the new year? Here goes.....
.
.

Lily Longsocks' vision was blurry as she opened her eyes. She had trouble making out details in her room and her head still felt cloudy from the sleep. Then, a searing hot realization came over her: She had fallen asleep while reading the last pages of her newest book, at 8 PM in the evening!
Shock on her face, Lily jumped up from her chair and knocked it down in the process. Her eyes brushed over the clock ever so slightly while she moved, it was five minutes before midnight! The new year was almost here and her friends waited outside with the fireworks!
In a rush, Lily put on her winter coat, a scarf and boots. She grabbed a firecracker from next to the door and bolted outside. Panting, she arrived on town plaza, where Dinky Hooves and her other friends waited.
"You nearly missed it!" Dinky frowned.

Here’s my take on it, hope you like it!

Chaos Theory: A Near Miss

Doctor Whooves hummed as he assembled bits and pieces together on the table in front of him, occasionally grunting as particularly difficult parts didn’t fit easily.

At a particularly testy spring, he heard a knock on the door.

That alone wouldn’t have made him move, but the three books slamming down to the floor from three different sides of the room did make him jump, and the spring shot out of his hooves, past his head and behind him somewhere.

Raising an eyebrow at that, he went to the front door and opened it to see a grey pegasus mare with crossed yellow eyes standing there.

“Ah, hi, miss...?”

“Hello!” She said, “I’m Derpy, you’re new neighbor!”

A piano fell to the ground a few inches behind her, and, while startling, she didn’t bat an eye.

Whooves grinned. Perhaps this nearby miss would make that chaotinuclear generator unneeded after all.

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Daring Do panted as she struggled to match pace with the earth pony galloping ahead of her. "Ease up! I'm an author, not an adventurer..."

The earth pony skidded to a halt behind a tree, pulling Daring beside her as she continued to examine the jungle path ahead of them. "Yeah, and my name's not Bon Bon," she said. "Okay, I see some ground disturbance. Guessing those are traps for anypony who managed to get this far..."

"Pneumatic spikes," said Daring as she scrutinized the disturbed soil. "Probably three rows of three. Those things are only good for two or three stabs at best... if we can just trigger them safely, we should be good." She looked up at Bon Bon sheepishly. "I did a lot of research on ancient spike traps for Daring Do and the Sword of Abraxius..."

Bon Bon gave her a knowing smirk. "Take the lead."

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First time, worst time

We’re Not Wonderbolts

Cloud Kicker shivered. It was way too cold, even for a pegasus. Blossomforth was somewhere in front of her and Raindrops close behind her. She couldn’t see them through the torrent of rain that fell around them. “How do they expect us to find a missing foal in this storm? We’re weather ponies, not Wonderbolts!”

“The sooner we find her, the sooner we go home,” Raindrops shouted from behind her.

“Let’s do one more pass and report back,” Blossomforth said. They flew along the mountain’s edge, searching for any signs of movement. Then there was a sharp crack and a boom. A massive chunk of rock fell from the side of the mountain.

Glancing back, Cloud Kicker realized that it missed her tail by inches. “Holy--”

“Yikes! That was a close one!” Blossomforth shouted.

Cloud Kicker wiped her brow, eyes wide. “Too close. Ain’t that right, Dropsy?”

“...”

“... Raindrops?”

Pinkie Pie wobbled unsteadily in Twilight's hooves. "Waiter," she slurred, "There's some chaos in my soup..."

A loud clang drew everypony's attention away as Discord pulled his own magic from Grogar's Bell. Taking a moment to flex, he snapped a carnivorous pineapple into existence and beamed happily.

A moment later, Discord popped into existence with the Bell and rang it again to return the magic of the alicorns to Celestia and Luna.

This was a grave mistake.

While well-intentioned, Discord was and always had been a creature of chaos. And as he rang the Bell, chaos reared its head in the form of a tiny gust of wind that pushed to the left. Past Celestia and Luna... and to Starlight Glimmer.

With double alicorn power the three-horned, quad-winged Starlight cackled maniacally as she rose into the air above the tired creatures of Equestria.

"Oh... fudge," Discord pronounced.

7100599
Okay, think I've got something for this one. Amazing how well your brain works once you've escaped the fug of mince pies and sherry.

Yona kept her eyes on the snow-dusted ground as Prince Rutherford's voice boomed out across the valley. Her stomach felt as though it was being stamped on by her entire clan, and for a moment she considered crushing the rocks between her hooves in kind. Yona fought against it, though; smashing the rocks might be interpreted as a sign of strength. But it could also be read as weakness.

Yulia was standing smartly beside her. They had been friends for years, but only one of them would be selected to lead the clan. The other...

Yona swallowed, her heart throwing itself against her ribs as Yulia broke a rock beneath her hoof. Murmurs of appreciation filled the air.

"—Next clan leader will be Yulia. Strong yak, right choice."

Yona gasped, her head spinning. Yulia had been chosen.

Then she grinned. Yes! She would be going to the pony friendship school!

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My entry, hopefully a little better than the last one!

Twang! Whiiiizzzz. Thunk!

“Sister dearest?! I think that was meant for you,” Luna gasped as a fork full of breakfast clattered on to the table.

Celestia lowered the book she was reading and frowned at the crossbow bolt still quivering in the wall a hoofs breadths from her left ear. “Archery practice, just an accident.”

“Our guards do not use Minotaur weapons. I think somepony is trying to...”

“Assassinate me?” Celestia raised an eyebrow and took a sip of tea. “I’m retired. Why would they want to do that?”

Twang! Whiiizzzz. Thunk!

Crash!

“Medic!”

“Guard down! Guard down! MEDIC!!!”

“Oh what a fuss! It’s just a flesh wound. Pull your selves together!” Celestia returned to her book as Luna over came her shock and started to charge a shield spell.

Twang! Whiiizzzz. Thud!

The bolt pierced the hefty tome, stopping mere fractions from Celestia’s nose. “I was enjoying that!”

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Hearing of his reputation, the Equestrian Railway Authority hired Cheese Sandwich to coordinate its centennial celebration, asking for 'an exciting, memorable event'. Following his directive to the letter, Cheese pulled out all the stops.

Trains derailed, boilers exploded, water and coal stores spilled out willy-nilly -- all the stops were pulled. It took months before things were back to normal.

Ponies would talk about it for years.

Meaning no disrespect to Cheese Sandwich -- I just have nothing serious to throw at this prompt.
Partially inspired by the AwfulFantasy twitter.

Thank you to everyone who's entered so far! For the rest of you, just over 48 hours remain,

A Near 'Miss'

Big Macintosh squirmed against his yoke. Normally it was like a second skin, but not when out eating. Unfortunately, Granny was picky about what she'd let her grandson wear around her.

"Old-fashioned potato salad. Hold off on the pepper!" ordered Granny.

Their waitress nodded. "And you?" she asked, without looking up.

"I'd like a Canter salad, please," said Mac, in a soft voice.

"Sure thing, miss." The waitress collected menus and looked up to see a large stallion. "Oh! I'm sorry, sir," she added, blushing.

Mac swallowed the unique mixture of joy and pain. "It's fine," he murmured, as she trotted away.

Granny took her grandson's hoof in hers and squeezed. Mac looked up to see a half-smile on her wrinkled muzzle.

"Sonny, I may not get it, but... maybe there's somethin' to that 'Orchard Blossom' nonsense after all," she admitted, patting his hoof.

Orchard Blossom smiled back at her.

7100599
Once again, I forgot to reply. It's been a long time since I've submitted here.

My entry is just above.

7121953
I feel so ashamed right now. With that slip up and the last minute entry, my mind is immediately thinking that you had...

A near miss.

7100625 7100642 7100845 7101128 7101545 7105603 7108157 7112437 7116543 7121916
Okay, everyone: your time is up! We've made it into double figures this month, which is very nice to see. Thank you to everyone who entered! Welcome to our newcomers, Fluttercheer and TheRedFox, and welcome back to a couple of others.

As ever, I'll take a couple of days to read and re-read all the entries, to think about them, and to try to create the impression that I have the first idea what I'm doing (hasn't worked so far), but for now... feedback is open!

(Edited to add: A quick reminder that any member of the group may offer feedback; you don't have to have entered this month's contest yourself. If you haven't done it before, you may want to familiarise yourself with the brief section of the Rules that deals with feedback.)

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All right, it's results time! Unfortunately I've been very busy the last few days, so no detailed feedback from me I'm afraid. But given we had 10 entries, I'll pick a runner-up as well this time.

Honourable mention: The RedFox -- it actually comes in at 151 words using the counter mentioned in the Rules, but that's because of the accidental space in the last line; with that closed up it's dead on 150, so I'm allowing it. A short-short story with several twists and -- appropriately enough for a piece featuring Cloud Kicker -- quite a kick in the end.

Winner: paperhearts -- I loved this, and that's coming from someone who doesn't always adore the yaks. (I know, disgraceful, isn't it?) You had me worried for a little while with where I thought the story might be going. But the way it did go is just so wonderfully Pony. Even though they're not ponies.

So congratulations! And thank you of course to everyone who entered. As ever, reading them all was a delightful experience. paperhearts, you know how it goes -- please pick next month's prompt for us!

And of course if anyone does wish to offer feedback, you are still welcome to do so!

7108157
GG, congrats on winning this month.

7126258
Man, the yaks really were given a raw deal by the show writers. It's nice to write them as if they're not punchlines for unfunny jokes.

Thank you; honestly, I did not envy you this month. The calibre of the entries was really high and I enjoyed reading them all. I didn't have time to leave feedback unfortunately, but it was definitely a strong round. Incidentally my personal pick was your runner-up, but it was pretty close.

I think I'm going to go with Departures as my prompt request.

7126475
Aw, thank you! Yours did make me snicker.

7126802
Sounds like a great prompt. Thanks! I'll do the updates now and stick up the new thread on the 1st.

honestly, I did not envy you this month

It certainly wasn't easy picking a winnner. But then I got lots of good reading to enjoy. I'll take that deal.

Now I happen to be late with that, because stuff that kept affecting me until recently transpired in January, but I'm still leaving some feedback here to catch up on doing that.

7100625

It's wonderful you chose First Base for this flashfic. We live in times when people care less and less about background ponies and neglect them in favor of OCs, so it's great you contributed a little to break this unfortunate cycle. And very bold choice with the theme, too, combined with an innovative execution.

7100845

That's a very creative use of the prompt, it's nicely out of the box and seeing Derpy is always a good thing. And the story has me very intrigued, Doctor Whooves as a wicked scientist who wants to use an ability of Derpy to cause chaos around her wherever she goes for certain experiments is a story that screams to be expanded. If I would be the judge, I would have chosen you as the winner.

7101128

Two ponies with secret identities together on a mission, while each of them tries to keep hidden who they are? That's brilliant, bringing Bon Bon and Daring Do together like that and something I haven't seen in any fic before (and I check them daily), so you did something very unique here that has a lot of potential. I want to read more!

7101545

The end was a nice punch in the guts. Unexpected and shocking. Short, but very effective. I was sceptical if a story with only 150 words can really be exciting or create great, dramatic feelings, but your entry shows that even a flashfic can be very thrilling if it's written right. It's a prime example for a successful flashfic.

7105603

Not a very creative entry this one, as you only took something we already know and slightly altered it. I don't know how often you have participated in the flashfic contests, so far, but I'm sure there goes more than that.
The end is very random, as it implies that Starlight is suddenly evil without there being an apparent reason for that, so it feels like you aren't fond of Starlight and like you channeled a certain feeling of hatred for her into the story, which is never a very good approach to creative writing.
It's not quite a mouthpiece yet, but I'm also sure there are more wholesome approaches to writing a story.

7108157

An unexpected direction and a nice definition of "weakness". Yona did not want to become clan leader, she wanted to attend Twilight's friendship school, and doing her best to become clan leader would have been weakness, because she would have done what her fellow yaks expected from her, not what she truly wants.
A great, little story about going against the flow and doing what you really want. And it's amazing you chose the yaks, because they don't get as much attention as they deserve and most seem to think it's not interesting to write about them. So you went against the flow, as well, with this story and that's a great thing!

7112437

A very funny story and creative use of the prompt. In retirement, Celestia does not give a flying horsefeather about fighting a threat. Which she didn't much before, either, so it's business as usual for the sun princess. This story makes me wonder how everything continues from here, what are the minotaurs planning?
Even though I read only one of his books ever, the writing and humor here reminds me on Terry Pratchett, so an expansion of this story would be a nice ponification of his work. I wouldn't mind to read more of this.

7116543

I have two things to say about this, but you already addressed both of them; Cheese Sandwich not being very in-character and that the prompt wasn't exactly met, so I don't know what else to say about your entry. But based on what you said, I assume you participate in the flashfic contests regularly, so it's good that you kept at it even though you had trouble coming up with something for the prompt.

7121916

Even though I have to say that I am getting a little tired of Big Mac being portrayed as trans/crossdresser/having a feminine side in ponyfics (and always was), because he only pretended to be female to help Applebloom and nothing else, this is still a creative use of the prompt. More out-of-the-box thinking is definitely good.

7122010

Thanks. And I'll remain a participant here, even though I forgot about it last month (and almost forgot about it this month) because stuff happened that pulled me down and hurt my memory.

7180144
You're welcome. And that's absolutely fine -- there's certainly no minimum participation level!

7180223

There is not. Though, my dedicated pony writer mind sees that differently, so it's time to catch up.