First up: we're back to the usual closing date of the 21st of the month this time, so please bear that in mind! It's theoretically my favourite month of the year now. I say "theoretically" because this has been a dull and cold spring, and if that continues it will have been a pretty poor season weatherwise. Fortunately, something I can do when I'm forced inside by rain is to read FF150 entries. So to everyone who enters and takes my mind off the rain!

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

You'll note that Rule 6 accommodates G5 entries. Since this means that an active generation is permitted, please bear in mind Rule 9 on spoilers. 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 really have run out of even marginally amusing or interesting things to say in this space now, so instead I'll just mention that the usual summary follows:

Prompt: "carousel" (selected by mushroompone)
Rating: E or T
Word limit: 150
Closing date: Sunday 21st May 2023, 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!

7831096

Pinkie Pie was very excited to ride the new ride at the Ponyville Fair. She found it a bit odd that they would name it DoomStone Carousel, but since all her friends said they’d ride it, so too would she. 

The ride had six seats shaped like different animals and objects: cloud, book, ponyken, rabbit, apple and the best one of them all: a cupcake. The latter one was the one Pinkie Pie would ride.

When she mounted the cupcake something went wrong. The carousel didn’t move. The music didn’t play. The lights didn’t flash.

There was also something wrong with her. She couldn’t move, her stare focused directly in front of her. With peripheral vision, she saw that her forelegs turned white.

All three members of the Legion of Doom stepped before her, laughing. Tirek grabbed her and threw her on the pile behind the carousel where all her stoned friends resided.

7831096
In the words of a little boy who wears a giant mouth retainer...

'Somebody get me off this merry go round called life!'

"AI?"

"Yup, I'm the pony that created artificial intelligence. Never thought you'd be drinking with somepony so famous, huh?"

"Artificial intelligence... nope. As a pony that lives off the land, I can't say I'm familiar with it."

"Envision a tool, a pocket knife, and you're carving wood to make a wooden horse. Now imagine that knife moving independently, making dozens of horses with their own flaws and features, only getting better with each model."

"Sounds like it's just the beginning."

"And ever. We're attempting to create something in our own image to install this in."

"...horrifying."

"What? But it'll follow you, serve you, obey you."

"Then it'll ignore you, deny you, confront you."

"That'll never happen. We made them, even if they gained an independent will and rebelled against us, we can just as easily destroy them."

"Peh..."

"...what about you, Wild Heart? What's your greatest accomplishment?"

"I killed God."

7831096

“Okay, I know it seems bad—”

“Oh, it’s not ‘bad’. It’s sick.”

“Look, Twi, it weirded me out too, at first. But—”

“Sunset, how is it not still weirding you out? If I, as Crown Princess, were to commission an attraction where ponies sat on effigies of humans stabbed completely through with giant poles, everycreature in Equestria would rightfully be disturbed!”

“But ponies here aren’t like us! They’re like Applejack’s horse, they’re not sentient beings!”

“Oh, my mistake, it’s simply animal cruelty being celebrated here.”

“It’s not— ugh, look, the pole is just there to control how it moves and for people to hold! It’s simulating the idea of riding a horse.”

Silent against the jaunty music emanating from the carousel, Sunset watched the Princess's face as she processed the idea.

The eyes on said face narrowed considerably.

“…That’s disgusting. I thought this was supposed to be for children.”

7831096

She was tall.

While he didn't consider himself to have a 'type', there was something about a mare that could look him in the eye, something that made an infamously strict Solar Guard Captain act foolishly.

Indescrete was a word his colleagues used, but they were just embarrassed to admit their own truths. Not that it mattered right now. They were the ones exhausting themselves on display. He could hear the crowds cheering even this deep in the building, his troops busy dodging lances, gathering rings, and catching errant balls.

Carousel wasn't for him.

"Hello. Do I know you, Miss ...?" His not-voice projected, its harsh echo undercutting any attempt at being sauve.

"Cosette, Crackle Cossete," the mare said, her cool gaze setting his body ablaze.

This was a bad idea. The third in six months. She'd found out about the last two, but one more go around couldn't hurt, right?

7831096
I picked up on a snippet from the pre-race commentary for this years Apple Wood Derby.....

“…..and now we hand you to our race commentator. Mare. E. Walker!”

“Thank you every pony! We are here with this years pole sitter, driving for Team Dashinator, it’s Scootaloo!”

”Hi Mare. I’m really pumped for this years Apple Wood Derby.”

“So, new cart, new livery this year, sponsored by the Wonderbolts.”

“Yes ma’am! The cart’s great and to be racing here at the Neighburg Ring? Awesome!”

“And the competition?”

“Well, Team Trad is along side us, great qualifying, but in race trim not so fast. Behind is the first of the princess entered carts, Team Moon Unit, they are going to give us hard time into the first corner, but it’s the forth place Griffspeed team running last years Team Friendship cart, I think they will prove to be a real stalking horse.”

“Thanks Scoots, good luck! And now a quick word with Miss Cheerilee, race director and ……..”

7831096

150 words are way too restrictive. Always a challenge to keep it short

Waiting to Step Off

Wake up.

Shower.

Brush teeth.

Put on suit.

Eat breakfast.

Grab coffee.

Head to the door.

Commit to desk.

Check emails.

Respond to phone calls.

Attend a team meeting.

Take a lunch break.

Continue the project.

Clean your desk.

Entering the lift, Trixie sees a young boy with her mother. She grins and pulls out two red sponge balls. She puts both in her right hand and closes it, but after she opens it just one ball remains. With her free hand, she reaches behind the boy’s ear and pulls out another ball. She places it in his hands and closes them. Leaving the lift, Trixie smiles as she hears the boy’s excitement upon seeing multiple sponge balls in his hands.

Arrive at home.

Prepare dinner.

Watch TV.

“Hello Ms. Lulamoon, my son really loved your act. Are you available for a birthday party?”

Trixie leaps for joy. “Of course!”

7831346

150 words are way too restrictive. Always a challenge to keep it short

Be thankful I didn't copy the contests I largely based this on, since those generally had a 100-word limit!

7831096
100-word would be fine, tbh

Rusted, it scraped under the beating of the weather and elements.
Droplets of rain slithered over its glassy eyes and dull stare.
The muzzle widened in a smile, forever misconstrued, no matter how it felt.

The cold wind brought an echo of laughter. Was it a child's laugh?

'No', it realized, as it suddenly saw the actual source. Somewhere beyond its impossible gaze, somewhere beyond its possible comprehension, but for a moment of clarity, there was an opened window to an otherworldly innocent land. In the midst of all the grey of an abandoned amusement park, four-legged shapes were frolicking amidst green pastures, all colorful, all beckoning to join them, to feel alive, to take a full breath of fresh air. To learn how to breathe.

It wanted to reach them.

It wanted to be noticed by them.

Why it cannot reach them?

7831349
What about we do one month where instead of 150 it's a 200 or 300 words limit? Just to see how it affects the writing and the entries of course

7831096
I was so excited to find out this contest was a thing omg. Flashfic is my ultimate favorite. Consider my hat thrown in!

There used to be a carousel in Maretime Bay. The figures were static, and I would stare for hours. Tufts of cloud became feathers, crystal rose to a temple’s peak, and the one that looked like me stood tall and sturdy.

It was a landmark: “I’ll be two steps, one dive, a spell away from the carousel.” My friends were going to meet me here today.

One step. Two. I looked upwards. Checked for a puff of smoke. I paced.

Then the shouting started. And it didn’t stop.

I watched a pony snap off the unicorn’s horn and use it to pick the grass from between his teeth. Another hacked at the pegasus’ wings, rainbow splattering down her front like paint. They didn’t look happy. But neither was I.

So I searched the sky again. Sniffed the air. Held still.

The carousel wouldn’t spin. The earth pony was left alone.

Carrots

Upon a carousel platform, Daisy hugged her favorite horse: a midnight blue unicorn with wings.

The girl dug into her pocket for a grubby baby carrot, which she held to the horse's mouth. Daisy kissed the horse's cheek, and clambered up monkeylike onto the figure's back.

When the carousel turned, Daisy passed out of her family's view again and again. On one of Daisy's returns, her sister pointed and screamed.

Daisy lay limply upon the carousel platform. Also, her supporting mount was gone.

Daisy's father ran apace with the carousel, reaching out to climb on before the ride had even stopped. He knelt by his daughter, stroked her head, and looked into her eyes.

"It's ok," Daisy said. "Nightmare finally got enough offerings to regain her powers and go back home. Soon, the True Princess shall crush her enemies beneath steely hooves." The girl sighed. "But I'll miss her."

7831096

'I dunno, Twilight. This seems awfully close to those machines Flim and Flam used.'

'Those machines were far simpler than what's common these days and still almost ruined you. You can't compete with all the farms from Equestria and beyond that use these methods. You need to modernise soon, or the farm won't last.'

'Our produce might be a bit pricier, but it's better than any of theirs. Ponies will keep buying it.'

'But that's just not true! Every year their apples get cheaper, and yours don't. Every year you lose customers. This won't get better.'

'It's not that bad. Can't we have one last proper harvest? For old times' sake?'

'You're barely making payments on your loans. This is your last chance to to save the farm. Please, Applejack. I don't want you to lose it'

'I appreciate the offer, but I'll have to think it over. Thanks, Twilight.'

7831096
Hey, folks! I’ve been wanting to try my hand at ponyfic for a long time now, and this seemed a good place (and good format!) for me to finally give it a spin.

A long unbroken stillness and silence came to an end in an instant amid a cacophony of jingling keys and turning locks, soft creaking and bells chiming.

Hoofsteps quickly replaced them, punctuated by the faint hum of magic as the building’s newest occupant fumbled in the dark for the light switch.

Click.

As a hazy, yellow light filled the room, starry sapphire eyes delighted in taking in every imperfect detail. Most likely wouldn’t see much past the torn wallpaper and thick layers of dust, but the fashionista saw the promise laying just underneath. A home, a livelihood, a stepping stone to her well-deserved place in high society. Carousel Boutique, the culmination of a lifetime of hard work, passion and possibility.

After a moment, a white hoof left the dull carpet, noticeably sullied by the abundant grime.

Rarity winced, reverie broken.

“…Let’s start with getting this place looking presentable, shall we?”

7831096
Still not 100% satisfied with this one, but I've sat on its more or less current state for a week by now, so I might as well put it out there. In terms of the prompt, the Rarity connection kinda speaks for itself, though I also tried to think of a "carousel" in the sense of "spinning around 180 degrees". Hope it fits!
:)

"Rari—" Spike jolted awake, only to slam his head against his cave's ceiling. "Gah!"

The gargantuan dragon massaged his aching cranium, pondering the dream that'd startled him so. He hadn't dreamt about Rarity like… like that for centuries, for Celestia's sake!

"Wanna explain digging up my first crush, Luna?" Not like she can answer, he lamented.

"Aha!" a decidedly un-Luna-like voice cheered outside. "Someone is in there!"

A purple unicorn — no older than the Elements once were, aeons ago — skipped into Spike's shadowy abode. Her frizzy blue mane bobbed as she pronked to a halt beneath him. "Hi there!" She waved, her bracelet jingling. "You must be the 'Spike' Sunny mentioned! My name's Iz—"

Mid-introduction, the sunrise struck Spike's face, allowing "Iz" to actually see it.

Her reaction? Instantly familiar: helplessly smitten.

"—zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzy," Izzy droned, blushing.

"…"

"…"

"…Crud," Spike grumbled. "That explains it."

Also, huzzah, first published foray into G5! Preemptive apologies for any potential lore inaccuracies.

7837591
Spizzy was NOT what I expected. Yet the way you've written it makes me want a hell of a lot more!

34½ hours remaining!

(Everyone, please hold off on feedback until after the contest closes, to keep the thread clean. Thanks!)

I have decided to participate out-of-competition this month. Which means my entry might go above the word count:
.

Rarity looked at the little fillies who had gathered in front of her, slightly aghast. She had hoped for a success of her new offering, but by long and far, never would she have reckoned with a large attendance as this. Half of all the fillies in Ponyville must have come tonight, she felt.
There they stood, grouped together inside Carousel Boutique, and all of them wore the black witch dresses, including a magnifique witch's hat, that Rarity had tailored for them. The make-up would come later, but some of them already practiced themselves in flashing wicked, vile witch smiles, with a hint of deception. Hopefully, this wouldn't mean she gets cooked tonight, Rarity found herself with a weird thought, but one that came completely naturally, for a moment.
Witches' Night was new in Equestria, a holiday invented to satisfy the increasing demand for another spooky tradition to pass the time until Nightmare Night, and Rarity had used the chance to hop onto the new trend. She hadn't been exactly sure if it would catch on..... but this sight was proof she had made the right decision. And the dresses were perfection, Rarity praised herself while looking them over. Long enough to be accurate to the depictions in the old witch books, but short enough not to become a hazard once the fillies would dance around the bonfire. Some of the more daring ones among them, like Tornado Bolt, in whose eyes she could already read the dangerous intent, would even jump over the fire.
Her witch dresses were beautiful, practical and safe. They would do their part in Ponyville's first Witches' Night. Rarity felt a sense of pride.

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Time's up, everyone! No editing permitted from this point on.

A pleasing entry count this time, and I'm especially happy to see several first-timers here. Welcome!

Two stories are over the word count: Bad Dragon's (153 words) and Fluttercheer's (279) though the latter's entry was out-of-competition anyway.

It's now fine to leave feedback on other fics if you want to. As usual, I'll be back with the results in a few days. Thank you!

7838525 Am I disqualified because of 3 words? Have you no mercy? Am I at least allowed to shorten my story by 3 words?

7831433
My feeling is that the 150-word count is a core part of this contest's identity, and as such I won't generally change it. I'm not ruling out trying something different as a one-off, maybe for the Christmas contest, but it's not going to become a common thing. I don't really have the same interest in running a 300-word contest, since part of what appeals to me and impresses me is the ingenuity writers find in squashing stories into such a small space. Hope that makes sense!

If you (as in any of you) want to discuss this aspect, please take it to the general discussion thread, to avoid this one becoming cluttered. Thanks!

7838083
Hello. Since you took time in past months to plug through others' stories with comments, here is one for you and also best wishes.

Rarity looked at the little fillies who had gathered in front of her, slightly aghast.

"Slightly Aghast" should not be at the end of this sentence as it sounds like it's modifying the little fillies rather than Rarity. Thankfully you have the comma setting it off, but I still think it has an issue. I have not looked it up to confirm, however.

Possibly:
- Slightly aghast, Rarity looked at the little fillies who had gathered in front of her. (But it's better to start with a noun, so although this works...it's not best for an opening sentence.)
- Rarity looked slightly aghast at the little fillies who had gathered in front of her. (Something seems wrong about this but I can't quite place it.)
- Rarity, mouth agape, looked at the little fillies who had gathered in front of her. (My preference, although it changes the words. It also shows more than tells.)

7838528
I'm going to be harsh, I'm afraid, and say it won't be eligible. The 150-word limit is a core feature of this contest. It has been since the very start. It's Rule 4. It's mentioned again in the opening post. So is a link to the word counter. Every other story (bar that from Fluttercheer, who wasn't competing) kept to it. I do feel for you, not least because many years ago I did a very similar thing. (My fic was also disqualified, FWIW.)

7838539 I understand. It's just that it feels very sudden and out of nowhere. There was a time when you were merciful and I had no indication that anything has changed since then. If there was a warning that 151 words are no longer tolerated and will be disqualified, it would have saved me this month.

7838549
As I say, I do feel for you. I'm not happy to be making this ruling. But I've learned a few things as FF150 has gone on, and I think that the one thing contest participants want more than anything else is a level playing field. For similar reasons, a story submitted five minutes past the deadline would also be ruled out that month. (I'll still read your story of course, just as I will Fluttercheer's.)

7838558 You're tough but fair.

I'll know to follow the rules with future flashfictions.

7838525
Thanks, glad to be here!

7832439
I am just enamored by this one, would've given the win in a heartbeat

7837629

Spizzy was NOT what I expected.

There was a piece of fanart I found on Derpibooru from right before A New Generation came out — a sideview of Sunny chatting with an older Spike — and the artist had a paragraph in its description that wound up inspiring that:

And a part of me found the idea of Izzy Moonbow—a unicorn who loves to create and has long blueish wavy hair—having a crush on an older, adult Spike hilarious because Spike would finally realise how awkward Rarity must’ve felt and I just love that parallel (of course he wouldn’t reciprocate it cause he is wayyyyy too old for her but it would funny to have him be on Rarity’s perspective…)

I'm not sure I'd escalate it beyond a crush myself, but the idea made for quite an elusive plot bunny. Glad you enjoyed watching it run!

7831105
"AI... eats pony... Minotaur inherits the earth."

7831184
Lewd! (Proud of this one no matter how it ends up doing.)

7831207
There's a bit much going on in this one, it feels, but it definitely has a good punchline.

7831317
Team Moon Unit, of course, is further subdivided into Moon Unit Alpha and Moon Unit Zappa.

7831346
Very nicely formatted, and I like the image you have here of mellowed-out adult human Trixie.

7831406
Very effective little piece. Took me a couple reads to fully figure out it was a petrified being. (Discord?) (Edit: Haha nope i didn’t get it)

7831517
Oh dear. At least Sprout never went quite that far. (I like the imagery, but this one feels a bit too narratively oblique for me.)

7832439
Sometimes, a too-real imaginary friend can land a kid in therapy. Other times, it'll land their parents in therapy.

7832912
The darkest timeline in "The Cutie Re-Mark" was the one where Flim & Flam got their shit together, after all.

7837355
Ooh, a nice little snapshot of the Boutique's origin story.

7837591
Good to know Spike's kept his physique up however many centuries later, heh. And oh, how the turn has tabled with him and interspecies attraction.

7840594
More likely a not too graceful dig into symbolic storytelling, on my part 😏
It was supposed to be a forgotten, somehow sentient rusted carousel horse, in an abandoned amusement park. But I'll take 'Discord' too, he is cool

7840630
My fault. I lost track of the first sentence that made clear it was metallic.

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Hello again, everyone. Results time!

Once more, thank you to everyone who entered. It's always a pleasure reading your stories. With that, let's get to the business end of proceedings... as so often, there were more entries I really liked than there were mensh/winner spots available. Such is life!

Hon mensh 1: gapty -- A clever use of formatting that doesn't become either tiring or tiresome, and an appealing portrayal of human Trixie.
Hon mensh 2: Magitronique -- An atmospheric piece put into a new perspective that really made me wonder whether this was set at the start of Rarity's career, or after a long interruption (eg the S5 finale war timeline). I'm not all that keen on "the fashionista", but I really like the rest.
Winner: EileenSaysHi -- It's not always so, but I'm with what seems to be the consensus this month (look at those upvote counts) as far as the winner goes. I don't much like lewdness for its own sake so there needs to be something else there for a fic to catch my eye. With this one, there's both cleverness and humour. This is a winner -- and indeed the winner!

So congrats to you, and especially to EileenSaysHi! You've been around this block before, so you know the form: please post your choice of June's prompt.

7840874
Oh that's incredible news, especially with so many fun and good entries! Very much appreciate the honor.

As for my prompt for June, I'm proposing "A Unique Experiment".

7841023
Eileen (and pretty much the rest of you participating next month), I'm aware that you're still relatively new here, so you might not be aware of this... but when it comes to pulling 'unique experiments' in these prompts... I subvert Logan's intentions...

I'm going to enjoy this.

7840874
Thank you kindly for the honorable mention! I was admittedly rather anxious about participating, but this has been a very fun and incredibly encouraging experience!

7841023
I know I'm in stuck-record mode here, but it was a really tough month to judge. There are pieces which didn't place that I would have been happy to see winning. You're welcome, and that sounds like an interesting prompt. Accepted! I shall make the requisite edits to the front page in a moment.

7841049
And for the benefit of anyone new to FF150 -- or indeed to writing contests in general -- I shall repeat my stance on this. It is a long and honourable tradition in contest writing for authors to play with the rules without actually breaking them. Generally, if the subversion amuses/impresses me enough, I allow it to stand. Once.

7841161
You're welcome! I'm thrilled that you found it fun and encouraging. I absolutely adore seeing new names here, even though you're not new to the site itself.

Time to catch up on feedback, now that things have calmed down on my end.

7831102

What a twist! I already asked myself if there are six seats because the carousel has something to do with the Mane Six, but I didn't expect that Tirek, Cozy Glow and Chrysalis are behind it! A nice revenge too, they decided to turn them to stone because they had been turned to stone, previously.
When I started reading, I also reckoned with some very silly and crazy outcome, cause that's the style of your flashfics, but I did not expect such a serious ending. You lured me off-track quite expertly there.

7831105

Hmm, what is the meaning of this? Did Wild Heart give the other pony that answer on purpose to make her realize how dangerous AI is? Or is this supposed to say that ponies indeed killed their own creator and, therefore, the AI is doomed to eventually do the same?

7831207

I'm not sure what this flashfic is going for, but I can see two things happening here. Either this guard captain cheated on his wife, but she forgave him twice when she found out, because she is patient, but he overstrains it because he just can't resist starting affairs with other mares, or he is not allowed to have romantic relationships with mares as a captain of the guard and Celestia has found out twice, but gave him more chances and he doesn't manage to stop getting it on with mares. If the latter is true, it could even be mares from castle staff and he is only not allowed to have relationships with them.
It's a little hard for me to see a message in this story, but those are my interpretations of what's happening here.

7831317

Yeah, it's Scootaloo! Scootaloo as a race driver, she expresses that so good here, this is one of the things Scoots is born for!
Is Scootaloo an adult here or still a filly? I can see this taking place in the future, after the Applewood Derby gained prominence and evolved from a local small-town tradition to an Equestria-wide known sports event, similar to the evolution of buckball from Appleloosa. Very nicely built on what we saw in "The Cart Before the Ponies"!
Also, I totally read the name of the commentator as "Merry Walker", I can't tell if that's intentional, but it's a nice touch. And now I imagine a merry zombie walking around with a smile on his face and singing and dancing. Thanks for giving me that picture.
I noticed you left out a word to meet the word count, the "a" in "to give us (a) hard time". A bit of a desperate measure to make this flashfic qualify, I suggest shortening sentences by using different words that generate the same meaning, but other than that, this is a very good flashfic.
Scootaloo-approved.

7831406

When I started reading, I thought this is a robot, with artificial intelligence, who mourns his/her (do robots have genders?) fate of being left behind in an abandoned amusement park where he/she used to work. Then I realized it's a carousel pony dreaming about meeting other ponies and about being alive. But robot could still work, since the carousel pony is sentient. So maybe this is a robot carousel pony with an AI, the next generation of carousel ponies that has been developed in the future.
And I'm definitely seeing this is a hypothetical "My Little Pony" amusement park that Hasbro eventually opened and that, after many decades, closed down again because it wasn't profitable anymore for some reason.
A very sad story that grips my heart. My favourite flashfic of this month, so far.

7831517

First I was thinking that Twilight goes to a carousel in Maretime Bay that has carousel ponies looking like her and her friends to cope with their deaths. Then I developed a different theory.
I thought on it that the ponies who live in Equestria's distant future probably hate alicorns too, because they are a symbol for the union of the three pony tribes, and that would mean that Twilight gets attacked by the earth ponies of Maretime Bay if she shows up there. But nothing like this happens. So, maybe they can't see Twilight?
Later, it is mentioned that Twilight takes off into the sky and searches for something or someone there. Is this Twilight's ghost who, after she herself died, searches for her friends and who came to this carousel in Maretime Bay because she thought she has found them?
This is a second place for me, so far.

7832439

Nightmare Moon was banished to Earth after she became defeated in Equestria, got turned into a carousel pony in an amusement park there and slowly regained her power from children who were playing on her and riding her, until all of it was back and she had her true form again and could return to Equestria. And she was sucking up something of the life energy of each child to restore her powers.
Dark and sophisticated. The most unique entry out of those I've read so far. And my new second place now.

7832912

A grim future. It comes across a little weird that Applejack doesn't want to change her harvesting methods even though she is already close to losing Sweet Apple Acres. But I also understand her. She is hesitant about changing everything to cold and soulless modernism and she especially doesn't want to become forced to such a change by a capitalistic competition. I can relate to this.

7837355

Rarity setting her first step into Carousel Boutique after she bought the building. This flashfic has a nice flair of discovering something new, it gives the feeling that moving into a new house is an adventure of its own. And I see a sequel to this now, where Rarity discovers that her future Carousel Boutique is haunted and that she has to get rid of a ghost first before she can properly move in.
I always hate moving, but this flashfic reminded me of something and gives me back that feeling from when I was very young and when moving into a new apartment and exploring it felt exciting and was an adventure. I don't feel this anymore if I move today, but now I remember this feeling again.

7837591

Generation 5 flashfics have become really popular since Loganberry allowed them this year. And I like them more and more, the more of them get written and published here. Still my first contact with Generation 5 stories, too (except for one story I started writing myself and an earlier story that has a Generation 5 scene in it), and I especially love the ones that connect the era Equestria's we saw in Generation 4 and the distant future that Generation 5 shows us.
What caused Spike's dream, I wonder? Izzy's arrival? There is an implication here that Izzy is a descendant of Rarity, but how did Spike feel that Izzy is coming to his cave so that his dream could become triggered?

The flashfics operate on a very high standard this month. My favourite ones, ranked from 1st to 4th place, are "I want to reach them." by Forcalor, "Carrots" by Mockingbirb, "After Thought" by heartlessons and "Diamonds and Dust Bunnies" by Magitronique. It's been an excellent month.

7871497
It's just an idea I had when I was dragged to church one day.

In the car, an old time radio program was playing a story about a scientist making the first robot. He gave the bot a few words that it was intend to repeat. It repeated everything correctly, but when the scientist said, 'I will serve man,' the bot replied, 'I will kill man.' Anyone with a right mind would immediately disassemble the robot on the spot and start from scratch, but just like many geniuses who are on the verge of a revolutionary breakthrough, the scientist decides to keep it intact and says he'll work on correcting it. Next thing you know, the robot gains free will, continues to operate without a power source, and I think the scientist was murdered by the machine. Since I don't see eye to eye with my family's belief, I immediately considered how the decreasing church goers would send the faith into obscurity (the death of God in a sense) and the improvement that AI has been making recently is not being taken with precaution measures very well (leaving robots to overwhelm us), both similar in their own way to that radio show.

I guess if there's anything to be taken away from the story, is that it's a wakeup call on our lives of where it might be heading by using a similar example that'll likely be concluding soon.

7871548

I think that's brilliant. Such deep inspirations, taken out of life. Most of my inspirations come from media I watch. Or from something simple around me, like seeing a tree or standing on a path at night and staring ahead into the dark abyss. Such a profound thought, yet alone one combined with media, hasn't inspired me yet.

7871497
Oh man, now that was completely unexpected. Thank you
Maybe I should give flashfics another shot

Your own take with Witches' Night was curious as well. I can easily see ponies go pagan

7871621

Oh man, now that was completely unexpected. Thank you

You're welcome! I usually give my feedback much earlier, but I was forced into a horrible job at the end of May and that threw me off the loop. Catching up on feedback now and from September onwards, it should be timely again. Least, if no health issues get in the way.
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Maybe I should give flashfics another shot

You absolutely should and why did you stop? Your first flashfic is brilliant and it surprised me to see such a high standard with a newcomer to flashfic writing.
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Your own take with Witches' Night was curious as well. I can easily see ponies go pagan

Thank you! They absolutely would because, if humans can do that, then why not ponies, too? They have the witch spirit induced since birth.

7871497
Thanks for the feedback
Scootaloo would be post cutie mark, but before the school of friendship.
Mare. E. Walker is the pony persona of the legendary British motor racing commentator Murray Walker. If you don't know, go look him up on YouTube, the man was an utter legend from the 70's to the 90's . A massive part of my youth, me, my dad, the tele, Sunday afternoon, Fleetwood mac and the chain, F1 and Murray.