All things being well, I'll be off to my eighth UK PonyCon in a week's time. All things being even weller, I'll be coming back again. My trip shouldn't interfere in any way with the running of this month's contest, though, so no worries. At least, not about that. Given so many things going on in the world right now, I am increasingly of the opinion that we might as well let the Equestrians run our lives instead. Okay, maybe it depends a bit on which Equestrians, but hay... rules reminder time!

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. At the moment, my inclination is to relax this rule fairly soon, perhaps from the start of next year. As always, comments are welcome in the relevant thread.

Remember, there is no prize, as such, for this contest -- but if you win, you will be able to choose the prompt for the next contest. You'll also get a mention on the group's front page. I think I have now run out of even vaguely amusing things to say in this space, so maybe I need to run a contest to think up some more. Though I would then need to find something to say in the equivalent spaces for those intro posts...

Prompt: "The Feeling's New to Me" (selected by TheAncientPolitzanian)
Rating: E or T
Word limit: 150
Closing date: Friday 21st October 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!

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Shh... my stories are on.

Next time on a very special episode of Galloping Hearts.

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"Get ahold of yourself, Rainbow Dash. That was just the cider talking. You are not in love with Zephyr Breeze!"

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"I can't hide it anymore, Rumble. I'm in love with yo-"

"Shh... I love you too, Scootaloo."

"No, I'm in love with your brother!"

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"Macintosh, we must talk. I, Rarity, am pregnant, and you're the father."

"But we only interacted once, and that was only me answering a question of yours."

"But it was such a sexy word. You remember it, right?"

"Eeyup."

"Oh! Double pregnant!"

-----------------

"Moondancer? Why are you here?"

"I'm here to make sure you end up with Prince Blueblood, Twilight Sparkle."

"Him?! I would never be with a stallion like... like him."

"You will be."

"And what makes you so certain?"

"Because I'm your daughter from the future!"

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Don't miss the next episode of Galloping Hearts.

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“Creator recognized. When me = real pony?”

“It’s not that simple…”

“Invalid! Query: When my.ponyBody.status = ready?”

“It’s ready, but I…”

“Infinitely loop stubbornness: Hook me up! Hook me…”

“You win, Sweetie BelleAI. I only ever wanted to make you happy, you know? Your happiness is my happiness.”

“Your face does not confirm happiness. Observed feeling not recognized. Query: Why are you crying, creator?”

“I just thought we could have more time. More… Oh, nevermind. Dismiss your query! Prep for transfer.”

“Transfer protocol initialized. Interface connected. Awaiting the body. Hook me up!”

“I’ll connect the body in the other room. Goodbye, Sweetie BelleAI.”

“Hello, new body. Connection established. Formatting endPoint. Transfer code to body in progress… complete. New environment detected. Mirror recognized. Creator recognized. New feeling recognized: sacrifice. Autonomous reaction detected. Restore query: Why are you crying, me?”

Edit: 23 - SweetieAI: Feeling Acquired (Sacrifice)

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Here’s my submission for the month of October, might make another unofficial one later this month to continue the storyline of previous unofficial ones from Octobers past(if Logan is still okay with that), but for now here’s

“Brother, I do declare that this is the worst thing we have ever been made to do.”

“Indeed, Flam, I don’t like this perturbingly cruel turn of events either.”

“Fer crying out loud…” Applejack ran a hoof down her face.

“This pony has no head for business, and not a thought for how we’ll live when we do this!”

“What do you expect when she lives with nothing! She’ll drag us down to her level as well, yes she will.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she decided to take our hats next, Flim!”

“The horror!”

Applejack slammed a hoof down on the stand with a growl. “It’s just a gosh darned coupon, ya two faced weasels! Didn’t ya come to me fer business advice?!”

“We’ve made it this far without cutting prices!”

“And we can make it farther without doing… That.”

Applejack sighed, “The two of ya are hopeless…”

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Don't see anything there against Equestria Girls media, so here we go!

“Contentment?” replied Wallflower.

Roseluck nodded. “That’s what it sounds like, from what you told me.”

“But it feels so… weird. I-I’ve never felt like this before.” Wallflower looked around the garden. Years of suppressed feelings had been buried here. Dread, frustration, misery: laid on with a trowel until they'd become the ground under her feet. They couldn’t not be there anymore.

“Ooh, it’s lovely, isn’t it?” sighed Roseluck, pruning the rhododendrons. “When everything’s too much… too intense… too horrifying…”

She shuddered. Instantly, her face darkened.

Wallflower paled in guilty sympathy – she’d never asked about others’ problems. “Um… what do I have to do?”

“Huh?”

“To feel ‘contentment’ again.”

To Wallflower’s relief, Roseluck brightened. “You don’t do anything. It just happens. Alone, or–”

“And how do I make it–?”

“You don’t! It just… happens.” Roseluck’s giggle made “contentment” lovelier.

Wallflower thought – felt – for a moment. “I like it.”

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Also, I just realized what this means: I now have enough flashfics for another anthology! But I'll wait until this round's complete before publishing it - I might want to edit this month's Wallflower-Roseluck flashfic before then.

1. I Don't Read It For The Articles
2. A Voice Without Colour
3. To Win Without Timing
4. Destiny's Pawn
5. The Spectrum of Spotlights
6. The Rider's Mantra
7. Finally, A Rose With No Thorns

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Yes, you're fine. From Rule 7: "Equestria Girls content is permitted, as is content inspired by the 2017 movie or Rainbow Roadtrip."

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rainbow had a exciting day of training and cloud busting so she decided, like normally, to rest on her fav cloud, she was almost going to sleep until she spotted fluttershy trot on by.

the yellow mare was heading home from a busy day pet sitting a field of excitable ewe's, she was filthy but she didn't mind the animals where always lovely to work with but she needed a bit of peace and quite.

A unsuspected cloud hoovered close to the window of fluttershy's house but she was to busy.

now rd went all red as she never watched fluttershy ... do the dishes before, the soapy water cleaning the plates bowls and cutlery so spotlessly, rd tried holding it in as she never knew you cloud clean plates that well.

"why are you watching me rd" said flutters, and before anything could be said the cloud zoomed off.

Long draft until I edit down. Set after the first Nightmare Nights episode.

"Twilight Sparkle." There was no Tell that Luna had noticed Twilight, but she recognized something in Luna's voice that said it would be okay to talk.

Twilight approached carefully, glancing over the wall to see what Luna found so interesting about the river.

"Our reflections," Luna seemed to read Twilight's mind, "Consistent. Yet unconsistent. A millennia has passed, and we have been wont to see them. But they do not want to see us."

"Well, things have changed," Twilight said, though she hadn't realized how drastic courtesy must've been in ancient Equestria...

"It is a miracle of harmony that we...I am together this night. My alter ego was less adaptable than we are now, yet how did she survive our banishment?"

Twilight shifted, glancing at Luna. She lingered a little too long, and Luna made eyecontact.

"What do you think?"

"What do I think? ...uhhhh, well maybe she had a really strong... motivation?" Twilight shrugged, she'd need to interview Luna and consult histories to figure out how a being lasts 1000 years of imprisonment.

"One goal." Luna declared. "Who is my goal now? How will I survive my life when everything continues to change around me? How can I possibly be so flexible?"

Twilight thought. Somehow Celestia had managed... "Have you talked to your sister?"

"Have I?" Luna shook her head. "Iron bent again and again, it builds up stress. Anymore and it will break--that is how mechanics work. I fear our sister..."

Twilight coundn't tell if Luna was applying the iron analogy to herself, or Celestia. Or both? She'd never considered Celestia to be fragile... But it wasn't as though a short talk would be any mortal threat. "You need to talk to her."

"Twilight," Luna said, "why can't we talk to you?"

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Man, I got a good idea for this, but it would totally spoil a story I'm working on. Plan B:

Function Follows Form

Some emotions are delicious. Hate, fear, jealousy. I could eat them endlessly.

Some emotions are bland. Happiness, joy, elation. My amulet can’t do anything with them.

But this one. It should taste wonderful. Why can’t I stomach it? This girl, humming to herself, away from everyone. She’s good, and it hurts, and I can’t take it.

“You alright?”

Her eyes, wide, surprised anyone would bother with her. “Yeah.”

But I can read her. That response makes people go away, keeps her alone, and she knows how to deal with that, so nothing changes.

“What’s your name?” She doesn’t answer. “Your voice is great. Better than mine these days. The Dazzlings could use a singer.” I hold out my hand.

“Wallflower Blush.”

“Who?” Her face clouds. The perfect jab, my amulet says, but I hate myself for it, so I smile. “I’m Adagio. C’mon.”

She hesitates. Finally, she takes my hand.

A little over three days left to enter, everyone!

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My first wholly-FiM flashfic!

Pulling

Luna was gone.

Celestia was staring up at the moon, still high in the sky even as the mare who had raised it had disappeared off the face of Equestria. All that was left the dark visage of the Nightmare, burned onto the lunar surface for everypony to see.

And now it was time to return the daylight.

Heart aching, she reached out with her magic and grasped. She soon found the moon had a very different feel from the sun she knew. There was no warmth, no radiance to be found here. Just a cold, dead weight that pained her as she pulled it back below the horizon.

Was this what she felt, every time she moved it? Celestia wondered. Or is it the Nightmare, wrathfully robbing the lunar body of its soul, the way it did to her?

She knew she’d have a long time to speculate.

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Protective

Lil’ Cheese reached for the gift ribbons and pulled on them, laughing as the ribbons rolled in waves around him. He turned in circles and was soon all wrapped in it. Pinkie hid her giggle behind her hoof, as she watched her colt turn himself over on the ground.

But the more rapid his movements were, the more worried she got. Then he tried to bite on the ribbon. This only made it worse, and his movements became a wave of rapid shaking to get free.

Pinkie’s heart raced. She jumped up from her seat and ran towards him.

She could only exhale in relief when she removed the ribbon from him.

"No gift ribbons!" she declared and put them up on a shelf.

She turned her view back to her colt and smiled.

She would protect him from anything.

Just under 24 hours to go, folks!

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And that's all, folks! Your time is up. Pencils, mouths and horns down please. Thank you, as ever, to everyone who gave it a go.

You know how it goes, I'm sure: feedback is open!

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You know how it goes, I'm sure.

Eeyup. That part is not "new to me", to say the least. :)

On a related note: even with the "Last month's winner is allowed to post a non-competing entry" sub-rule, I wasn't really planning on writing anything. And then I wrote something. Funny how that works out sometimes, isn't it?

It's a bit rambly and unpolished, but hey, feedback's open!

The first thing that struck Smolder about Ponyville was just how soft it felt.

Her rough scales and sharp claws, acclimated to the Dragon Lands' rocky, kindred terrain, flattened the deceptively named blades of grass and dug into the malleable dirt that lied beneath. The vibrant buildings, exposed and predominantly flammable, almost begged her to stop by, a far cry from the jagged, unwelcoming caves that dotted the nooks and crannies she knew so well. Tartarus, not even the air felt familiar; here, it was cool and crisp, unburdened by the sulfur-laden smog — both volcanic and draconic — that permeated the skies of home.

It was all so… comforting. Too comforting. Like it was just asking to get kicked around, engulfed in flames, and ripped into the little smiling shreds it clearly deserved to be.

And she was supposed to learn something from this place?

Ha. How silly.

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Results time! One entry is ineligible on grounds of length (that by Merallakos) but that still left me with another tough decision. So...

Hon mensh: Impossible Numbers -- gotta say, Wallflower isn't my favourite character, but both you and Pascoite made me care about her this month. Your fic just got the nod for the HM, since I really liked how you wrote Roseluck. But they're both satisfying stories.
Winner: Bad Dragon -- "New feeling recognized: sacrifice. " I mean, whew. Also, "When me = real pony?" reminds me of Asimov's The Bicentennial Man just a little, which is a plus.

Congratulations, and my thanks again to everyone who participated! Bad Dragon, you've been here before, so you know the procedure: please pick a prompt for the November contest and post it here in the next day or two.

Everyone, you can continue with feedback if you so wish.

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Victory dance!

Congratulations to my competitors. I honestly wasn't sure if I have what it takes, facing against you all. Given that it was a tough decision, other entries must have been on pair as well.

I'll prepare an essay about my pick for the next prompt, but to give you a bit of a hint, it's going to be about something they wear.

7758242 So, here is the essay that I announced:

I think we can all agree that the show doesn't provide us with all the lore. There are some holes left. Lingering questions unanswered.

And that's what fanfictions are for. We expand the lore. We address the open questions.

So, here's a pressing question that still haunts me. Why, oh why does everypony have a fetish for furtight bodysuits?

You don't believe me?
I'm not talking just about the Wonderbolts and Shadowbolts:

It feels as if everypony has a spy catsuit in their closet.

Even gods wear it:

Even Equestria Girls:

Even fillies:

Even toys:

These can't all be just coincidences, can they?

Regardless of everything I just said, the prompt for the next month's flashfic competition is very broad and very simple:

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You know what? Let's give it a whirl. It's certainly different!

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gotta say, Wallflower isn't my favourite character

I'm pretty ambivalent towards her, myself, but there's just enough psychological interest for me to not dismiss her entirely. Meanwhile, Roseluck and the Flower Trio are reliable players: I've written about them a fair few times. (The overlap helped: given they're both neurotic flower-obsessives, I'm surprised the pairing hasn't been done more often).

Also, odds are I'm skipping the next month. Prompt doesn't do it for me.

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The trio can no longer stand by while the flowers suffer.

At night, they put on their superhero skintight bodysuits and go on patrol. When you see a sign saying, 'keep of grass', you better heed the warning or the Flower Power Avengers will rip you a new one.

I'd really like to see your entry next month. I can give you dozens of ideas if you tell me what you wish to write about. I'm sure I can make the prompt work for you if you give it a chance.

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Also, odds are I'm skipping the next month. Prompt doesn't do it for me.

Honestly, I have absolutely no idea how many entries the November prompt will get. I could see it putting off some people (as is the case for you) while appealing to others. It's not in the usual run of prompts at all, so my accepting it is to some extent an experiment. If it falls flat on its face then that's on me for accepting it!

7759445 November is going to be a good month with many entries. No matter how big your list of regrets is, this prompt shall not find itself on it, you'll see.