It's April, everyone! This is the fifth anniversary of the very first Flashfic 150 contest. I really did not think in April 2017 that we'd still be going five years later, but here we are. Thank you to all of you for making that happen! Now, in honour of this anniversary, there's a special one-off rule change for this month only, and that's this:

This month's judge will be EileenSaysHi, as a result of them winning the March contest.

That means they, and not me, will be making the decisions on winners after the 21st. The rest of the rules will remain the same as usual:

Here are the full rules.

You'll note that Rule 6 still explicitly disallows any G5 content. This may change before this year is out, but that depends to a considerable extent on people's feelings here. As always, do feel free to comment in the relevant thread (pinned in the forum) if you'd like to contribute any thoughts on that rule, whether positive, negative or mixed.

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. Since I am not judging the contest this month, I'm going to completely abdicate my responsibility to say much else here this month. I may actually have a go at entering this month, though, dependent on whether I can think of something to write!

Prompt: "The Haunting" (selected by last month's winner, EileenSaysHi)
Rating: E or T
Word limit: 150
Closing date: Thursday 21st April 2022, 11:59 pm UK time (world clock)

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

Entries are now open! Have fun!

And finally: take it away, EileenSaysHi!

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The Haunting

Celestia was still in recovery from the banishment of her sister. Despite the protests of her caretakers, she visited the spot at the haunted Castle of the Two Sisters where Nightmare Moon first struck her down a year ago on the Nightmare Night.

Upon landing, the ground beneath her hooves gave weight and she fell to the soft matter below. “Rotting mattresses?” She quickly jumped out to escape the stench. “Why would anypony put a bunch of mattresses on this spot?”

She gasped. A stream of tears burst down her face. “Every year she pranked me, but that time I thought it was real! She was Nightmare Moon at the time! She was…” The Princess crumpled on the ground under the weight of the truth. “Luna!”

The realization of what she had done gave birth to a haunting that would persist until the end of her days.

Edit: 21 - The Haunting

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The prompt line needs to be brought in alignment with this month's title topic. It currently reads:

Prompt: "Myth and Legend" (selected by last month's winner, EileenSaysHi)

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Greetings from your Most Honourable and Esteemed [citation needed] Guest Judge! I look forward to seeing what you all have in store!

(And yes, this month’s prompt is indeed ”The Haunting”, not “Myth and Legend”. Sadly, Loganberry did not extend me his Fimfic password as part of my judging privileges.)

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Oh cruelest of fate, why have thou placed me in this spot? Our new substitute judge is in fact one of my competitors for another competition. What chance do I have at winning this month when I'm going to be winning the other competition?

Brash, you say? How can I not be when my entry is about a magician and a rabbit, they go together like peanut butter and jelly. I even placed research into it...

...and I discovered something interesting...

Trixie leaves the stage in excessive hubris. She turns to the stallion performing next, "Sorry, but I've stolen the show."

"My experience will get them soon enough," he displays his own pride, "but I have to ask, where'd you learn the trade?"

"Self-taught."

"That makes us similar."

"It was mainly intended to cheer up my mother. Being a single parent, she was often under a lot of stress. She had a fondness for watching magic, so performing for her brought a smile to her fa-..."

"...face?"

"...I'm just realizing... now through older eyes... she was smiling... but... but she looked like she was on the verge of tears... and also said... 'You're a spinning image of him.'"

The sound of another applause pulls Trixie's attention.

"Looks like you're up, Jackpot. ...Jackpot?"

Trixie turns back, receiving a pale expression from the stallion.

"What's wrong? You look like you're guilty of something."

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Technically Logan never said I couldn’t make my judgments based entirely on petty grudges or outrageous bribes, but out of the goodness of my heart I will choose not to do so.

Though if you get to hock your contest fic, then so do I. Click here!

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Sadly, Loganberry did not extend me his Fimfic password as part of my judging privileges.)

For shame, Loganberry.

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Aren't I just a ray of sunshine!

It is dark. Celestia's seatbelt is unbuckled. A student runs from behind the statue in front of the car. Luna swerves hard. There is a crash.

---

The equipment beeps and hisses in rhythm as it has for months now. Sunset takes a pause from reading to look over at the alabaster-skinned woman on the hospital bed... a woman she doesn't know, yet knows all too well... a woman who didn't deserve what Sunset was resposible for. Sunset's stomach knots even tighter and she digs her nails into the book. "I'm sorry, Celestia," she whispers. She dozes, near to tears.

A hand folds high around the bruises at Sunset's neck -- patient, domineering -- and she is paralyzed with fear.

"Yet again you return to keep watch over my dear sister," says the familiar, icy voice. "Good."

"Moon," Sunset says, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"I know," Nightmare Moon says. "Stay that way."

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Here’s my entry to the stories, though I’m seeing a trend in dark writings as of late for myself. Sorry in advance.

Might I give you,

“I hunger… I thirst.” The voice groaned into the cold night. A clawed hand cupped the chin of a leathery face. “But these… ‘Ponies.’ They are… Pure.”

The tall, two-legged figure, donned in rags so torn and dirty, you could hardly tell what color they originally were, sighed.

“A simple life…? If only. Kill this world…? Or die in it?”

He looked to the lights of the village in the distance. Even at night, the ponies were lively. Their boisterous parties never seemed to stop.

“These creatures… They would taste good. Their screams would be delightful.” A grin set itself over his wrinkled face, “Their blood would be sweet. Their bones would crunch. They are weak. I would feast!” His voice crackled in the night, before he sighed, his sharp teeth hiding once more.

“But they would bring me no comfort.” He couldn’t help chuckling, “Mercy? From me? Imagine that…”

Intro post fixed! The prompt is indeed "The Haunting" and not "Myth and Legend" as I stupidly forgot to change. Apologies!

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a flicking tv is on in a dark and quite room, you approach, nervous, unsure, what could be happening, a distant laugh of a filly could be heard but its muffled, you try to raze your hoof to turn of the tv but you feel stuck in place, entranced by the white Nosie as colours start to appear, you memory starts to hit you.

What did you witness.

"party.." a distant horrific voice can be heard over and over again though the hall getting closer and closer., bounce noises and the sound of "party party party" over and over ricocheting though the walls and the hallway black flashed with purple on and off as you look from the counter of you eye still fixated on the screen...

motionless and now silent almost, too quite, you slowly turn you head and ask " would you care to join are pinkalicous tea party?".

We’re nearly halfway through the submission period and only have five entries so far! Don’t wait until the last minute!

It was a hole. An aperture into aeons dead granite. Large enough for one pony to shimmy down, but its fathoms were unplumbed except by queer, eyeless fauna.

Celestia sometimes thought of the hole. It was hidden deep in the creases of Canterlot Mountain. She knew it was older than her, but she'd never known its purpose. Over her millennium there was, by morose compulsion on a moonless night, an attempt she'd made to glimpse it.

Celestia spent a few hours staring into it. It produced odors: Acrid stenches, humid and mineral rich, breached from the abyss. They made her sinuses click, resonating with bygone echos, spliced with weird, fatigue induced chirping hallucinations... Her vision tunneled, afterimages thousands of fleshy tree limbs, splitting into cillia. They propagated into the depths.

Celestia eventually fell asleep, dreaming of the afterimages. It was the Stars' Forest, engulfing Celestia into fascinating, elder lands.

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Here's another story I've been sitting on for a couple weeks now, making minor edits a time or two.

High-Pressure Sales Tactic (How It Really Happened)

by Mockingbirb

Deep within Pony-Chan's Magical Emporium, one cursed artifact whispered to its owner continually. No matter how far the proprietor went, its voice somehow reached his ears. Even in the little ponies' room.

"You're driving me mad," he grumbled.

"Not mad ENOUGH! Sell me to some innocent victim!"

"No. I know what you'll do to anypony who wears you."

"True...when placed around a pony's neck, I shall overpower that pony's personality with my own madness. But--"

A cloaked unicorn approached the counter. "The Great and Powerful Trixie returns! She demands to buy that necklace."

"No," the shopkeeper said. "I've warned you before! The Alicorn Amulet is far too dangerous."

She whined, "Trixie wants it!"

"Young mare, you are the most obnoxious pony I have ever--"

He looked at the amulet, then at Trixie again. "I doubt the amulet's mind-warping powers can make you any more annoying than you already are. Sold!"

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Don't listen to her! Let's have a special event where everyone posts their entries in the literal next-to-last minute! We can call it a "Flash Pileup" or something like that.

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Technically Logan never said I couldn’t make my judgments based entirely on petty grudges or outrageous bribes, but out of the goodness of my heart I will choose not to do so.

Whenever I run a contest, I always have at least one special prize category reserved for "Most Outrageous Bribe." I figure if I split it out as its own separate, explicitly named category, it's hardly even a real ethical conflict.

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Sorry, I'm afraid the term "Flash Pileup" has been trademarked by the Flash Magnus x Flash Sentry Shipping Society.

5 days left to the deadline! This is the last weekend to submit entries!

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A Haunting Arrival

Tonight was Equestria’s first Nightmare Night to include other creatures. While Celestia was watching the citizens from an opened window in the hall, she felt an ominous shadow looming over her.

She smirked. “Nice try, Luna. I know it’s…” Only it wasn’t Luna, but a giant maulwurf who let out a ferocious roar that blew her mane and tail back and covered her in spittle. After fixing herself up, she readied her magic for the fight of a lifetime.

“Wait!” The zipper on its head unfastened, making the entire body collapse like a cooled souffle. Luna exited out of it and kicked it back. “Sorry, Tia. I was just trying to get in the mood for the holiday.” She hung her head low. “Can you ever forgive me?”

The older alicorn hugged her around her hoof, smiling. “Oh, Luna.”

24 HOURS REMAINING! It’s your last chance to send in (or make edits to) entries for this special anniversary contest! Let me judge you, you cowards!

It’s a pretty low-entry contest so far… maybe it’ll be your month!

Tick tock, tick tock…

Speed-writing entry! Slipping in under the wire and written in a matter of minutes, because I wanted to have a go when I wasn't the judge! (I was going to try to enter properly, but sadly outside events have distracted me a lot this month. Don't worry, things are getting better now, but I wasn't in the right frame of mind for a while.) Anyway, before I forget again...

A thunder in the hush. "Spike!"

A sigh-punctuated hurry of feet. "What is it now, Twi?"

A pursing of the lips. "Have you moved my book?"

A sideways look. "Which book?"

A vague motion of a forehoof, somehow managing to take in the entire library. "That book."

A somehow audible rolling of the eyes. "Oh. That book. Silly me. I guess the ghost did it."

A lowering of the temperature. "Spike."

A step back. "Yeah, yeah, I know. There's no—"

A nudge up in smugness "Exactly. Now...?"

A blink. "But you gave it to me a minute ago!"

A different, slower blink. "Spike, you're too grown-up now to be telling lies."

A flick of a claw. "Then what's this, Twi?"

A widening of eyes and mouth. "That's it! Where did you—?"

A small shrug. "I know how to tidy stuff up."

A horrible dawning. "..."

Less than two hours! You might say it's... the final countdown.

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I'm not a 'last hurdle' fella, I'm more of a 'approaching demise' kind of guy.

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Pencils down, everyone! Time is up for our 5th anniversary contest! We've got a decent-sized sample of entries this month, with an interesting mix of tones from what I've skimmed through so far. Should be a fun matchup!

As per usual for FF150, I'll be announcing the winner on the 28th (next Thursday). In the meantime, feedback is open!

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I was a bit confused on who's doing the talking. Her mother thought Trixie looked like a stallion? Jackpot is Trixie's father? She feels guilty for leaving his other sperms in the dust? I'm sorry, but I'm just confused a bit.
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To be honest, Celestia didn't wear a seatbelt and Luna was the one who creshed the car so...
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They would feed his hunger though. He's got to eat something, right?
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Yay, party!
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So, what was in the hole besides purple prose?
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Yet even Trixie could not resist its influence. Maybe she's not so great and powerful after all.
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Only it wasn’t a giant maulworf, but Luna.
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Yeah, books are horrible.

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I was a bit confused on who's doing the talking. Her mother thought Trixie looked like a stallion? Jackpot is Trixie's father? She feels guilty for leaving his other sperms in the dust? I'm sorry, but I'm just confused a bit.

Examine this pony from the episode, 'Grannies Gone Wild'...

Take heed upon these words from one of the show's writer...

Placing interest upon that last line, taking the appearance of the stallion into account, and keeping the stereotypical fantasies of the classic 'groupie' in mind, reflect back to my story and stitch the elements together.

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To be honest, Celestia didn't wear a seatbelt and Luna was the one who creshed the car so...

I think it's fair to say that neither Sunset nor "Luna" are doing a good job of handling their grief here.

7678239 Thanks for the context.

7678241 I still love how Luna rubs the salt in the wound.

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I came out a little confused from this one. First though, “The nightmare Night” is a really cool term.

So, the biggest thing for me is the mattresses. How do they relate to pranks? What was the intent here? Did Luna use mattresses to prank Celestia every year? How? My impression was just that, like, a mattress is a weird thing to land on, maybe that weirdness is the prank? I think that the mattress’ relation to Luna’s pranks (or maybe just Luna in general?) needs to be made clear in order for them to function in the story. Otherwise they’re just kind of confusing.

My best guess is that in this story, Luna turned into Nightmare Moon and intended to blast Celestia into the mattresses, but accidentally knocked her onto the ground. A misunderstanding turned into a fight, and the rest is history.

the ground beneath her hooves gave weight

Gave way?
I do like the idea that the touching the ground gives a pegasus a sense of weight again.

I felt like the last line would work better as:

The realization of what she had done gave birth to regret that would haunt her until the end of her days.

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This is sufficiently haunting!

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It produced odors: Acrid stenches, humid and mineral rich, breached from the abyss.

The sentence is a little redundant. Just saying that the hole smells is good.

They made her sinuses click, resonating with bygone echos, spliced with weird, fatigue induced chirping hallucinations...

I feel like this could use a rework.

Celestia eventually fell asleep, dreaming of the afterimages. It was the Stars' Forest, engulfing Celestia into fascinating, elder lands.

Shouldn’t this be in past tense? It seems a little lacking.

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This is my favorite entry.

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Every single line beginning with “A [thing]” gets a little repetitive. Needs variety.

A vague motion of a forehoof, somehow managing to take in the entire library. "That book."

My favorite line from this competition. The followup is great as well.

But also,

A somehow audible rolling of the eyes. "Oh. That book. Silly me. I guess the ghost did it."

A lowering of the temperature. "Spike."

A step back. "Yeah, yeah, I know. There's no—"

A nudge up in smugness "Exactly. Now...?"

A blink. "But you gave it to me a minute ago!"

A different, slower blink. "Spike, you're too grown-up now to be telling lies."

A flick of a claw. "Then what's this, Twi?"

A widening of eyes and mouth. "That's it! Where did you—?"

A small shrug. "I know how to tidy stuff up."

A horrible dawning. "..."

What exactly is happening here?

A somehow audible rolling of the eyes. "Oh. That book. Silly me. I guess the ghost did it."

This is Spike giving Twi some sass, I assume because of Twilight’s unclarity? He implies that the ghost moved the book. Whatever that book even was.

A step back. "Yeah, yeah, I know. There's no—"

A nudge up in smugness "Exactly. Now...?"

A blink. "But you gave it to me a minute ago!"

Then Twilight intimidates Spike, getting him to admit that there’s no [ghost,] but suddenly Spike knows what book Twilight it talking about? After this, Twi accuses spike of telling lies, Spike gets the book, Twilight confirms that is the book-- Spike HAD put it back where it was supposed to go...

i feel like it’s supposed to be implied that the ghost gave Spike the book, but... I dunno it doesn’t feel like it adds up. It could’ve been just spike taking the book on his own.

Here is my take:

A widening of eyes and mouth. "That's it! why did you—?"

A small shrug. "You gave it to me... Right?"

A horrible dawing...

Yay flashfics! Way to go, everyone!

7679406 There's a reason why Celestia survived the fall.

Buried mattresses under the spot were the reason, but she only found out about them one year later.

There was originally another version of this story, but it grew too large and would get disqualified.

Huzzah! It Was Merely a Prank!

There was a cave-in at the Castle of Three Sisters and a pony got trapped in the hole. Celestia was called in because she knew all the traps of the castle. Starswirl the Bearded came with her; more for emotional support than the need, for she had not yet recovered from the banishment of her sister.

When Celestia arrived, she shuddered upon seeing the spot where the hole was. “There was no trap on that spot. ‘Tis the spot where Nightmare Moon struck me down a year ago on the Nightmare Night.”

A voice called out from the hole. “Not to pressure anypony, but I’m soaking in rot down here.”

Celestia levitated him out of the hole and brushed a hoof on his coat, collecting the soft, moldy material. “Starswirl, hypothetically speaking, if there were a bunch of mattresses buried here, would that leave behind something like this?”

He used his magic to analyze the matter. “Indeed. You are correct. But how did you know? Why would anypony put a bunch of mattresses on the spot where Nightmare Moon struck you down?”

A stream of tears burst down Celestia’s face. “Every year she pranked me, but last year I thought it was real! She was Nightmare Moon at the time. She was…”

“Celestia?” Starswirl looked at her with concern in his eyes.

Celestia turned to him with a gaze of desperation. “The recoil spell! Did you teach it to Luna?”

“Only the first part. She rescheduled the part about circumventing the star alignment requirement for the spell to work. She said something about needing more time to prepare a darkly prank.”

“No!” screamed Celestia and crumpled under the weight of the truth. “The stars won’t be aligned for the next thousand years!”

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Yeah, he really should make do with the prey he has. Not all monsters have the satisfaction of being able to eat awful people, sometimes they need to make do with the sickly sweet hearts of do-gooders.

7679554 All it takes for bad people to come to power is a monster going on a diet.

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Every single line beginning with “A [thing]” gets a little repetitive.

That was deliberate. Whether or not it works isn't for me to say, but it was a conscious choice.

My favorite line from this competition. The followup is great as well.

Thanks!

As for the meaning of the story, my own take on it is that Spike is a ghost, meaning that Twilight has been living with one all that time she was insisting they didn't exist. Yes, I know a certain film got there first. But hay, this was written in minutes.

Hello! I'll have my final judging results in tomorrow, but in the meantime, I decided to write an out-of-competition entry! (Though I would like to have this compete in the Mockingbirb side contest if allowed.) This is adapting a scene I referenced as having happened in the past in my story "Shaking Off Bad Memories".

Childhood Remembrances

“…Wally?”

“Go away, Mom.”

“Sweetheart, you’ve been up here crying all night. Can… can we please just talk?”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Wallflower.”

“…”

“How can I help you if I don’t know what’s hurting you?”

“You can’t help me!”

“Why not?!”

“…”

“Honey, please, just say something! I’m trying my best to reconnect—”

“That’s just it, Mom. We shouldn’t have to reconnect. We weren’t apart. We did all kinds of things together, fun things, good things… you just don’t remember them. And it’s my fault.”

“You keep saying stuff like this, and it doesn’t make any sense. Why wouldn’t I remember?”

“…I wish I could make you understand. But if you did, you’d never look at me the same.”

“Wally… of course I’d understand. What could be so terrible?”

Wallflower Blush inspected a shattered piece of rock in her hand. “You have no idea…”

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Alrrrrighty then! It's time for the first ever (and probably last ever) non-Loganberry presentation of the results! A winner will be crowned! Hon menshes will be named! Hopefully no rotten fruit will be thrown at me!

There was a good mix here of tones, genres (comedy vs. drama vs. light horror) and interpretations of the prompt, and it was tough to choose. I went back and forth on whether there were enough entries to justify doing two hon menshes, but in the end I decided to name them both because I was fluctuating too much on which I preferred. (And hey, I only get to do this once!)

Hon mensh 1: Frazzle2Dazzle -- I really dig the tension in this entry. That foreboding electricity of impending carnage. It's a fun horror setup with nicely vivid imagery that reminds me a bit of the way you'd see Tolkien or Roald Dahl have a man-eating creature talk about how they'd implement their dining strategy. The last line feels like a bit too abrupt of a shift from a character we know little about, though.

Hon mensh 2: Mockingbirb -- This was an amusing reinterpretation of the Alicorn Amulet. I love the line "Not mad ENOUGH!", and of course it's easy enough to buy Trixie being the one to push the shopkeeper over the edge. (But does the amulet come with a free frogurt?)

Winner: Merallakos -- This hit me right in the horror sweet spot. I love Annihilation (both the book and the movie) and this very much has that kind of creepy energy. The imagery is immersive and unsettling, giving the aura of a truly haunted and eldritch space. And the hole being a mystery that not even Celestia can glean much insight into adds to the effect. I noted some of your self-critiques, but, at least for me, going a little over-the-top in the descriptions enhanced the otherworldly feeling, as though simply saying it smells just wouldn't do it justice.

Congratulations to Merallakos! Please come up with a prompt for the May contest and post it in this thread; once it's approved by Loganberry, he will create the thread for May in a few days!

And congrats to Frazzle2Dazzle, Mockingbirb and our other participants, including our dear founder himself. Loganberry will presumably return to his judging post next month and relieve me of my temporary duties. Hope this was as fun of a change of pace for you as it was for me. Here's to the next five years of FF150!

Feedback can of course continue! And check out my newly added non-competitive entry above!

7673393 Per this suggestion, I am still accepting entries in the category of "Most Outrageous Bribe".

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Might you be familiar with / interested in Scampy and David Bryant's "Three-act Play"?

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I tend not to read a ton of Wallflower stories because I get skittish around the Suicide/Self-Harm tag, but I'll give it a look.

And there we are! First up, a big thank you to 7681003 for so ably taking over the judging reins for this month. I'm glad you had fun, which was of course the main point of the exercise! I must admit, it was also quite fun for me to have a month just reading people's fics without having to assess them too.

the first ever (and probably last ever) non-Loganberry presentation of the results!

Well, we shall see! It does strike me that if this thing somehow keeps going for another three and a bit years, we'll reach 100 contests...

Congratulations to Merallakos on a fine victory! Also to Frazzle2Dazzle and Mockingbirb for the hon menshes.

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I see what you mean with the last line. I should just follow through with the ravenous monster instead of trying to make him sympathetic.

Quick mod note here: assuming Merallakos chooses a prompt by the time I'm ready to put up the May thread, then that's the prompt we shall use. If for whatever reason they don't, then I'll use the fallback option of me picking the prompt, since that avoids any problems with the prompt-setter also being eligible to win. Hopefully Merallakos will be able to post, in which case we carry on as normal.

I'm out today, but I'll put up the thread this evening UK time. Don't worry, it's on the way!

The May thread is now up. Since Merallakos hasn't responded, I've picked a prompt for May's contest.

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Just in time for 'not the end of May yet,' we have the April 2022 MOFA awards...awards you can win without even asking for them or knowing they existed!

On the basis of my opinions of story quality on the day I was judging, the second place winner is Amereep with "Baby Blue", and the first place winner is KwirkyJ with "Vigil."

More details here. Congratulations to the winners.