All right, everyone, it's time to launch June's FF150 contest. Mockingbirb mentioned in the last thread that they chose this month's prompt of "Pride" because June is Pride Month in various parts of the world. You are absolutely free to write an LGBT-themed story should you so wish, and equally you are absolutely free to take any other meaning that "Pride" suggests to you and write about that. If it fits, if it's within the rules and if it's Pony, then you'll be in with a shout. Talking of shouts... take it away, Fluttershy!

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

You'll note that Rule 6 still explicitly disallows any G5 (and indeed other non-G4) content. This may change before this year is out, but that depends to a considerable extent on people's feelings here. If you have any particular views on that, in any direction, please feel free to mention them in the Rules etc thread in the forum.

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. You can argue all you like about what "front page" might actually mean in a virtual setting, but if you'd be so kind as to not do that arguing here then that would be great, cheers.

Prompt: "Pride" (selected by Mockingbirb)
Rating: E or T
Word limit: 150
Closing date: Tuesday 21st June 2022, 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!

7696149

Twilight scoffed, "Trixie, why do you want to borrow Magical Impotence, anyway?"

"Trixie has her purely hypothetical and theoretical reasons… Nothing for you to concern your little head with. Now stop violating Trixie’s library rights and just leave the book on the table.”

“About that… Maybe you should check your privileges.”

“Trixie shall use her great and powerful magic to levitate the book that she’s entitled to. After that, Trixie will float it to her vardo where she shall study it."

Twilight sighed, dropping the book on the table and taking her leave.

Trixie lowered her head and picked up the book in her mouth. Trotting outside, she mumbled to herself, “Oh, let this book have the cure…” 

---

“Twilight, when will you tell Trixie that all of Equestria is losing its magic?”

“The whole world as we know it is ending, Spike. Just give me this.”

Edit: 24 - Pride Dies Last (winning story)

I don't want to write it, so someone take my idea... please. Applejack in her lion costume for Nightmare Night was more than she let on. It's her fursona, and she begs Twilight to let her live as part of a pride of lions for a day so she knows what it's like.

7696227
Not my submission.

Twilight stared, flabbergasted. “And… why exactly do you need or want my permission for this?”

7696228
'Cause you can actually make me a lion, sugarcube.

7696149
An interesting prompt. Allow me to give you,

“Scootaloo, tell the garishly yellow pony who must not be named that she can buck off.”

“Why, I-! Scootaloo, tell that good fer nothing ball of shampoo that she can go to Tartarus fer all I care!”

“Girls…”

“Tartarus would be an improvement over staying in the same room as you!”

“You’d be in real good company, from what I see.”

“Girls.”

“I almost pity you for having no good company to stay with.”

“Still better than the sick goop you use to hang out with other ponies.”

“Gasp You take that back!”

“Girls!”

“Remind me again how much makeup you need tah’ use to look, ‘Presentable?’”

“At least I’m not some country pony! Talk normal, you psychopath!”

“Why you two bit, cheating, conniv-!”

“GIRLS!”

“What?!”

“Look, how about we call it a tie and get back to work, yeah?”

“NEVER!”

Scootaloo silently grumbled as they got back to arguing.

7696149
Set in the EqG-verse.

“Why that name, though?” Sunburst asks.

“It feels meaningful.”

“How so?”

“…It’s the way I think about it. The way I’ve been living… it felt stable. Controlled. Just living the life I’m supposed to live, like every other boy.”

Sunburst waits expectantly.

“But when I try to imagine where that life will lead me, it’s horrible. I don’t want it. I’ve known that for a while, but… changing that life means giving up control. I don’t like giving up control.”

He nods.

“Now, though… I’m done clinging to this. I know how it ends if I keep trying to manipulate everything in my life to be what it's supposed to be. The way I see it… I’m not fixating on what’s in front of me anymore. I’m finally looking up, at the stars in the sky.”

Sunburst smiles, holding out a hand. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Starlight Glimmer.”

Bonus entry. The previous post is my actual contest submission.

Sunset Shimmer couldn’t help but smirk as she coyly extended a foot to her right, sending Rarity plummeting onto the hard hallway floor. She guffawed as the fashionista nursed a bump on her forehead, stumbling back to her feet and limping away.

This pathetic world… Sunset had entered this place without even knowing so much as how to use her new body, and yet she’d had these humans groveling at her feet in mere months. Utter child’s play.

And now her plan was already in motion.

The portal had opened that morning. Her scouting expedition had been a success. The Element of Magic was there, waiting for her on the other side. By nightfall it’d be hers. Those buffoonish guards would never stop her.

And then…

I conquered a whole alien species with no effort, no powers, Sunset mused, grinning darkly. What chance does Celestia have?

7696149
Well, I wasn't expecting the 'almighty one' to enjoy my entry from last month. Honestly, I only wrote it to get into character for a story that involved Octavia during the same month. Maybe I should do it again for this month.

...and I know just the guy to use.

The head of the naginata flew off as Genji Spirit slid back, He glared at Ahuizotl, "Not many are capable of breaking a minotaur's weapon."

Ahuizotl stomped past his incapacitated acolytes, "And not many are foolish enough to use catnip on my followers. Surrender the Forgotten Blade!"

"Finders keepers!"

Ahuizotl lunged at Genji as he swung what's left of his naginata. Ahuizotl was flung, but the hand on his tail gripped Genji's horn and pinned down the minotaur.

Genji grunted, "There's one thing a minotaur always keeps," his ring flashed and a lit bomb appeared in his hand, "HIS PRIDE!"

Shocked, Ahuizotl jumped back as the bomb exploded, engulfing Genji in a black cloud with a loud bang. The cloud faded away, displaying no remains of a body to the Aztec.

"Ow!"

To the faint sound in the distant, Ahuizotl saw the bovine running away after stubbing his hoof, "COW-ARD!"

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Set in the EQG universe. I figured it worked with both definitions of pride. This is my first published fimfic, so I apologize if it's bad.

Sunset Shimmer stood at the doorway, staring in horror at her caffeine-hyped girlfriend. "I thought you said no more coffee!"

"I NEED TO SUBMIT IT BY 5:00! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE TIME IS?!"

Sunset looked at her watch and grimaced. "4:00?"

"YES! DO YOU KNOW HOW BIG THIS IS? REALLY BIG!"

"...You sure you don't need any help?"

"IT'S A MATTER OF MY SCIENTIFIC PRIDE SUNSET!" In a slightly less erratic voice, Twilight continued. "You know I love you, but I need to do this by myself."

"You know, there's nothing wrong with asking for help-"

The door slammed shut.

***

Sunset fumed at the sight of the burning garage. "You couldn't put your stupid scientific pride aside for two seconds and ASK FOR HELP?"

Twilight gave her a sheepish grin as her drone flew around, taking multiple "selfies" of things that certainly weren't humans.

Sunset facepalmed.

Earth a unimportant blob that sits so glum about it's un-ashamed success for witch all are very petty in the grand scheme of things, a gigantic ship hoovers menacing over it, as the planet is un-aware of its presents.

"rainbow are you sure nobody will mind us destroying this planet" her wife said as rd was loading the plushie cannon, no response was made as she was so busy.
"Dashy!!!" she wailed Fluttershy a little frustrated by no response, "sorry, these plushies make it hard to hear" she kissed her wife "look we must be prepared for the orders from are glorious leader captain applejack and her wife princes rarity".

Fluttershy look at the blob the computer clamed mostly harmless and back at rd, knowing every second with her was worth the wait, nonmatter the orders.

"we declare war on the potatoes" applejack yelled, the ship was set to plush

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”So, um...” Rarity drummed her hooves on the tabletop. “How do you two... you know...”

Fluttershy tilted her head, an ear flopping.

With an awkward cough, Rarity levitated up a fry and an onion ring from her plate. Slowly, she slid the fry through the ring.

“Ah.” Fluttershy took a sip of her tea, eyes closed.

“Was that too personal?" Rarity flushed. "We’re so open about so many things--”

“We don’t.”

Rarity paused, frowning. “Excusez-moi?”

“My husband is an ageless chaos entity,” said Fluttershy. “He doesn’t really have physical needs.”

“Goodness.” Rarity nommed the still-floating fry. “Well, what about you? Any, er... frustration?”

“Not really. That stuff's never been important to me.” Fluttershy shrugged. “Besides, there’s more than one way to experience physical intimacy.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Such as?”

“Oh, Rarity. Don't you know?” With a wink, Fluttershy said, “A lady doesn’t kiss and tell.”

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Wedding Vows

Thoughts, feelins’
Oh, there were quite few a’ those, I must say
Surely doubt, maybe even a bit a grief
But mostly, it was love
Rainbow was like a light in a dark tunnel, as odd it sounds
Can’t say there were many a time I have felt for another in this way, sure as the apple comes springtime, anyway
Like the good friend she is, she never once left ma side, and that’s somethin’ ta be commended
Honesty, an’ loyalty go hoof in hoof, especially when ya’ love somebody as much as I love her, and I’m sure she feels the same
An’ sure, we’ve butted heads a fair few times, I’m sure y’all seen, but every time we did it, we done gone an’ do it together
An’ thats why when I say I love you, sugarcube, it’s true
I love ya’ darlin’
it’s true, I do.

7696149
finally joining one of these!! I wanted to do a piece on trans love, hopefully it isn’t too on the nose lol.

Rainbow Dash scuffed his-her hooves along the wooden floor. Wood felt weird to stand on compared to cloud. Bodies felt weirder on the ground. More solid. More real. She-he could feel the hardness of the floor beneath his hooves, forcing her to focus on existing, on being. Flying was so much more comfortable, he didn’t have to think.

She’s not allowed to fly inside. “It’s rude, like wearing a hat inside,” somepony had once told him. Rarity wears hats inside, Rainbow immediately thought, and they’re more beautiful and fashionable than you ever could be. He-she looks up across at his date, bartering with the waitress for a better table, their beautiful sapphire eyes sparkling and their movements ever-graceful, as if to drift across the floor rather than stand on it.
The waiter gives in and Rarity turns to Rainbow with a mischievous grin. Rainbow smiles back.
With them, they float.

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Boy, there's certainly a lot more new faces around here (some old), which explains the major issue that everyone of you have... you need to reply to the first post when you place in an entry.

Just copy the following line, place it into your comment, and you should be good to go.

>>7696149

7697743
Well I didn't last time, but if it pleases you, I will

7697743
Whoops! Thanks, I'll do it now.

...So I totally misread the rules, thought it was like the Writeoff, and wrote a fic under 750 words, not 150. Which is unfortunate, because I really like what I came up with.

Enjoy this while I try to come up with something that actually fits the rules:

7697787

Well I didn't last time, but if it pleases you, I will

I do ask people to do so (in bold, too) near the bottom of the thread's opening post, so it's preferred. However it is not part of the actual rules and is not likely to be made so, so your fic will have exactly the same chance whether you do it or not.

7699191

However it is not part of the actual rules and is not likely to be made so, so your fic will have exactly the same chance whether you do it or not.

Trying to be helpful by bringing order over other's habits, got thumbed down because it was never needed to begin with.

It's grade school all over again.

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I shouldn't worry about it. I've no idea who downvoted you (other than that it wasn't me) and I'm not going to let it bother me. I recommend you take the same approach.

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Like I said, grade school all over again (with a smug Applejack).

Grade school for me was around 20 years, so I'm not bothered by it as I've matured. ...despite watching a show targeted at little girls.

7696149

Octavia Makes Tea (Interview With a Cellist)

by Mockingbirb

"I thought this interview would be about my music."

Octavia's visitor smiled condescendingly. "Ponies want to know the mare BEHIND the music. Tell us everything."

Octavia blinked.

"I have three of your music school classmates on record saying you're gay. Do you feel anguish about being different?"

Flustered, Octavia excused herself and fled to her kitchen. Some minutes later, she returned with tea. Octavia poured for herself and her guest.

When Octavia sipped, her composure almost shattered.

The interviewer tasted. "Wow!" he said. "What kind of tea IS this?"

Octavia mentally reviewed the contents of the kitchen she shared with her marefriend Vinyl. Which of Vinyl's containers for weird spices looked enough like the tea tin that a frazzled, distracted mare might select the wrong item?

"Ground cardamom," she said confidently.

"Did accepting yourself as a marecuddler...free you to be creatively different in other ways too?"

Octavia smiled slightly. "Perhaps."

Author's Note #1

Having picked this month's topic, I'm not eligible to win a contest...but there's no way I would just skip this month either.

Author's Note #2

"Hi, Smokey!" :octaviaemojinotfound:

7698950
You could post your 750 word story as a blog post on fimfiction.net?
Or you could write a minific epilogue to go with it, to get up the the fimfimfiction.net 1000 word minimum length for 'stories.'
I am curious to see your 750 word story in either case.

7696149

Starlight examined the 'assignment' Twilight had just given her. "It's a… pot of dirt?"

"Not just dirt," Twilight explained. "There's a seed inside!"

"Ah, that makes more sense!"

"Which brings me to your assignment, Starlight: I want you to grow that seed into a—"

"Got it!"

"Starlight, wait—"

Not letting Twilight finish — if she already knew what to do, then why wait? — Starlight immediately cast the requisite spell. On cue, a colossal mass of leaf-covered branches sprouted from the rumbling dirt, rocketing towards the ceiling. When the dust settled, the gargantuan philodendron was practically a Hearth's Warming tree.

"Ta-da!" Starlight singsonged, smiling in prideful satisfaction... until she felt the daggers Twilight was staring into her. "Wait, shoot. There was a catch, wasn't there?"

"Yes," Twilight deadpanned. "Yes there was."

"And that catch was…?"

"'Grow the seed into a plant… without using magic.'"

"Ah. That… makes more sense."

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"Step away, Sombra." Celestia's tail snapped. "That hole belongs to Equestira."

Sombra shook his head chuckling, "Really?!"

Heat rose between the two magistrates, beating their perspirant brows.

"Beat this," Sombra spat.

With explosive strength, his short tail lashed, whip, whip, whip!

Celestia ground her hooves, suddenly coiling through her body. She let go all at once, brandishing her tail like a sword, wriph! wrhp! wrrhp!

Sombra's haunches vibrated as he cha-cha'd to the right-- Celestia didn't miss a beat! Vapors fumed. Sombra slashed, Celestia ducked, reciprocating. They danced horn to horn, sparks erupting.

Sombra jumped back, neck muscles bulging as he wrung his mane in smoky lashes!

Celestia smirked.

With elastic grace and power her spine hit a standing wave, synthesizing harmony throughout her entire body, terminating in her twin suns.

Rianbow lights blared as the power of twerk upstaged Sombra's fallen figure.

"Noooooo!" Sombra diminished.

Just over two days left to enter this month, everyone!

7696149

Pride Included
(Drama, Romance, Slice of Life)

Starlight Glimmer sat in her office with her fiance and two distressed students.

"I'm very sorry this happened, especially at the School of Friendship," said Starlight. "The graffiti's been removed."

Trixie snorted. "Sorry? I'll hang whoever did this by their ears!"

"Just dumb prank," mumbled Yona, eyes downcast.

"No. You don't deserve this," said Starlight.

"Took a while for us to figure out what 'MOPCLOPPER' meant," admitted Sandbar.

Yona frowned. "Headmare, are we 'queer'? Like you?"

Starlight paused. "Miscegenation isn't usually considered queer, but maybe it should be."

"Species is a bigger leap than tribe," noted Trixie. "Regardless, I agree: our struggle is the same."

Starlight held Trixie's hoof and smiled. "How'd you two like to be Marshalls of Ponyville's Pride Parade next week?"

"We qualify for Pride?" asked Yona.

Sandbar grinned and kissed Yona on the cheek. "Of course we do! I couldn't be more proud to love you."

7696149
Expanding the idea in 7696227 to my entry.

"Twilight! Ah need ya' t' cast a spell on me."

"What are you doing in that ridiculous costume? It's not Nightmare Night."

"Haven't ya' heard? The circus in town."

"You're one of the clowns and need some spell to make an Earth pony juggle?"

"Nah. It's the lions. Ah want t' know how their families work. Be part of the pride."

"Wouldn't they just eat you?"

"That's what I need ya' spelling on me. Make me a lion for the day."

"I'm sure they'd sniff you out as a phony and beat you up. No can do, Applejack."

"I've been studying kitty communication over with Fluttershy. I c'n handle myself. Please, it's important to me."

"Why not mountain lion?"

"Dunno. Just feels right, I suppose."

"Unfortunately, no can do, Applejack. You're dressed as a male and that kind of spell would require special preparations I can't make in a day."

Exactly 150 words, according to the Word Count website.

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Okay, everyone, time's up! I'm really pleased to have got such a solid and diverse entry for this month's contest. (Plus of course the ineligible story by 7698950 which I enjoyed.) A particular welcome to those of you who haven't been this way before.

As per usual, I shall now go away and think about things for a few days. With any luck, those things will actually include this month's entries. But until then, also as per usual...

...feedback is open!

7704836 good luck, glorganglerry

7697114
I'm just cringing going back and reading this. Better luck next time, I guess.

7697272
This is... huh? It's... interesting. But it could use a proofreading sweep.

7704949
It's all a part of the writing process

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All right, results time! Yet again, a tricky one to decide, but (unusually) I think there's a clear winner here. Just my opinion, of course! Honourable mentions first, and these I had to think hard about as there were a number of contenders:

Hon mensh 1: Bad Dragon -- sure, Trixie was a fairly obvious character for pride in that sense, but I liked the way you gave us a little vignette of personality clashes even in the midst of impending cataclysm. Twilight can't quite let go with Trixie, can she?

Hon mensh 2: Trick Question -- this was just adorable. I've never been entirely sold on Sandbar/Yona as a couple (nothing to do with the species thing) but this sold it to me better than anything much else I've read has. Trixie being serious (as seen by her actually using first person) works well, too. A nice alternative take on pride.

Winner: Posh -- I loved this story the moment I read it, and I still do. Okay, I love Fluttershy/Rarity friendshipping anyway, but this is just so perfect. I can absolutely imagine this conversation taking place exactly as depicted here. A lovely ending, too.

Congratulations on a win on debut, Posh! I expect you know this already, but for form's sake: please choose a prompt for next month's FF150, and post it here when you've done so.

Thank you once again to everyone who entered, whether seasoned veteran or FF150 newcomer. See you again on 1st July!

Meanwhile, feedback for this contest remains open.

From now on, ye shall all address me as: The Honorable Mentioned Bad Dragon!

Congrats to all the winners!

congrats to the winners!

Congrats to the winners!

7696153
Pride Dies Last
I think this entry is pretty solid!
I feel Twilight saying "check your privilege" was pretentious. Like, Trixie is a traveling stage pony who has to pull her house around wherever she goes. Twilight meanwhile is God's protégé and has her own dragon servant and an entire library for a home.

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You Can Live a Nightmare If You Never Dream
This story feels kind of... blurry? I don't know what Starlight is talking about very precisely.

But, I think it's clear that the underlying theme is that it is better to set long term goals than to focus on controlling your day to day life. Starlight talking about "not fixating on what’s in front of her(???) anymore." is them letting go of their secure but manipulative and ultimately villainous short term focused life style. (I guess this is an allusion to Pony Starlight?) Starlight saying they're "finally looking up, at the stars in the sky," is them giving sway to change, to the glimmering star of hope!

I like how the title plays into this. "if you never dream" that means you're hopeless, therefore you'd be "living a nightmare." Starlight's life was turning into a nightmare.

Why that name, though?

Would I be too far from the authorial intent to interpret Starlight as trans-female in this story? Like, yeah a name change would go with a gender change. But maybe Starlight's in trouble with the law or something and is forging a new identity. I think you could interpret it either way. The criminal interpretation ties more into Starlight's pony form, the trans' ties more with this month's prompt.

7696929
Prometheus
Solid! I like this one. The fakeout with the bomb was pretty good, but I was kind of expecting it. It's probably just not been long enough since I watched Rainbow Rocks-- this gag happens twice with Trixie.
I appreciated the relative wealth of magic artifacts (the nagniata, the Forgotten Blade [which kind of seems like it might've been Genji's polearm], Genji's ring) and the bomb.

Ahuizotl lunged at Genji as he swung what's left of his naginata. Ahuizotl was flung, but the hand on his tail gripped Genji's horn and pinned down the minotaur.

I think this line doesn't read the clearest. It's really difficult to work complex action like this into this small of a word count, so points for mostly succeeding! My problem was that the mechanics of how Ahuizotl managed to get a hold of Genji's horn with his tail is confusing. If Ahuizotl were lunging, then he'd have a much easier time getting Genji with his front hands. Unless Genji caused Ahuizotl to spin when he hit him, allowing Ahuizotl the momentum and direction to lash his tail out. If Ahuizotl is not spinning, then the grab would've been part of a deliberate misdirection, or maybe Ahuizotl was reaching his tail out ahead of his arms or something? My take on it looks like this:

Ahuizotl lunged for Genji, but the broken naginata hit, spinning Ahuizotl. Rotating, Ahuizotl used the momentum, lashing out with his tail and catching Genji's horn! Crash! Genji was pinned.

I tried to focus on the effects and counters of each move.

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the super sonic lesbians from outer space declare war on potatoes
Gosh, I could tell this was a Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy thing within the first lines. Good job, like, duplicating that.
I love the title. Pretty sure I've seen its like elsewhere, but it's just so absurd?
I always appreciate your entries.

7697726
Float
This is the cutest entry!

I wasn't going to say anything about this one, but then I realized how you used the ground as a point of comparison and kind of developed Rarity and Rainbow's relationship with it? That is some quality stuff. Plus the title and the kind airyness of the tone? Awww yeah, everything came together for this one.

What gender is Dash though? My interpretation is trans-male... but in the text Rainbow uses both "she-he" then "he-she" pronouns? Or is "He-she" Rarity?
From my perspective, it looks like in the first paragraph when Rainbow says "She-he" it's supposed to be "sh—he," like Rainbow is correcting themself on their pronouns...

7698950
Canterlot High GSA will Hold Fundraiser Rally

This is probably the most well done thing in this thread! I think it might be my favorite.

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Celestia's Pride
I think this might be my new guilty pleasure. I will say that the last line is kind of underwhelming, and kind of quieted my laughter rather than increased it.

7701654
Octavia Makes Tea (Interview With a Cellist)
I enjoyed this one. I felt... kind of impressed by the shift in mood in the end?

This starts off oppressive: the interviewer is pressuring Octavia with her friends and school life. I was getting ready for Octavia to endure a beating. But then it gets introspective with Octavia reviewing how it was she brewed cardamom water-- and then it turns, like open? The interviewer's speech with the ellipsis and "creatively different" makes them seem genuinely impressed, like they're coming around to the idea. That got my expectations in a total mess. That, in combination with Octavia's smirk, is kind heartwarming and confidence inspiring.
...I guess that's literally pride, actually.

Thematically, this entry gets 5/5 stars from me. Well done!

Cheers to all the participants!

7707169 By 'check your privilege' Twilight implied that Trixie's library rights were already revoked, but Trixie wasn't listening. Another one of many reasons why Twilight couldn't stand her.

7707169

The fakeout with the bomb was pretty good, but I was kind of expecting it. It's probably just not been long enough since I watched Rainbow Rocks-- this gag happens twice with Trixie.

I was playing off of two factors when making that segment, a line from Vegeta...

...and the matter that Genji is intended to be the MLP equivalent of Final Fantasy 5's Gilgamesh (who could be comparable to Trixie).

the Forgotten Blade [which kind of seems like it might've been Genji's polearm]

That's... kinda difficult to explain.

This entry was also intended to be another prequal to Final Filly Fantasy and the Forgotten Blade is intended to be introduced at a later point of that story. However, the 'Forgotten Blade' is just a placeholder for a weapon that's intended to be God's bane, 'Free Will'.

Not too certain on what it should look like as it's intended to be wield around by a pony. It's likely a sword, which would mean that it would be gripped by the pony's teeth, but a sword is such a heavy weapon to wield that I can't see it being used at all by a pony (let alone, efficiently).

7707169
I was hoping the line "like any other boy" made it obvious, but yes, human Starlight is intended to be transfeminine here. The idea was to translate villain!pony Starlight's obsession with enforced mundanity into a trans narrative, where her human self is trading her own happiness for a controlled, stable life as her assigned gender. And like pony Starlight, it's the recognition of the dark future that awaits should she continue this self-destructive behavior that sets human Starlight on the path she belongs, allowing her to embrace a new identity.

The title is meant to reinforce that parallel -- if you don't recognize it, it's paraphrasing a lyric in "Our Town" ("you can't have a nightmare / if you never dream").

It might be a bit vague, but I didn't want it to feel like I was beating you over the head with the comparison.

As king of all flashed fiction, I hereby decree that the July prompt will be:

”I didn’t think the leopards would eat MY face!”

7708115
Thanks! All right, we'll go with that. For those unfamiliar with the phrase, here's a little background. Of course, a story inspired by any interpretation of the phrase would be fine, not just the one I linked, provided it fits the site and contest rules. As usual, the next contest will begin on the 1st.

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I'm so glad you enjoyed it, by the way.

I probably tried to cram too much dialogue into a tiny space, in retrospect.

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I picked out some of my favorite stories from the June 2022 Flashfic 150 contest...and I call it Mockingbirb's Opinionated Flashfic Award.

LINK FIX: I picked out some of my favorite stories from the June 2022 Flashfic 150 contest...and I call it Mockingbirb's Opinionated Flashfic Award.

7709646
It's not showing

Edit: Nevermind, problem solved.

7709646
Yeah, you’re gonna have to uh. Do something. Different. I don’t know. I just woke up.

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7709733
Click the link, then click the title.

7709738
Thanks! They pm'ed me a different link anyways so problem solved.

7709733
Gee, thanks for the helpful advice. /jk /lh