Okay, I'm very tired tonight so this is going to be a very short introduction. Welcome to the September FF150, which I hope will encourage a reasonable number of you to have a shot. Here's the usual summary to begin with:

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. Just the one, mark you. Cross my hoof with silver and you may get... well, still just the one. But you can feel all virtuous.

Prompt: "The Prophecy" (selected by TCC56)
Rating: E or T
Word limit: 150
Closing date: Thursday 21st September 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!

7874040
September is quite a month for this theme, because for a while now, I've foreseen that the number 34 will be of great importance to me before the end of September.

"They're dropping like flies. AH! There goes another one."

"Shining."

"The breeze!! I can feel the breeze!! it's s-s-so cold."

"♪Shinnnniiing♫~"

"They could be scattered across the entire kingdom by now! We gotta put up 'Missing' flyers! We gotta find every las-"

"SHINING!" Cadance took a firm hold of her husband and forced him to face her in the eyes, "It's okay. Many stallions go through this everyday. It's very common and part of life,"

"Right... right..." Shining slid his hoof along his head, "this is normal, this is nothing to worry over, this... this is..." he trembles at the sight of his hoof covered in a series of blue strands, "THE END OF LIFE AS I KNOW IT!!!"

Flurry Heart watches her father acting hysterical and her mother groaning into her hoof, "Mom, is Dad going to be okay?"

"He'll be fine, dear. Your father is just going bald."

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Luna merely wanted to peek into the forbidden chest, but that was enough for the dark mist to possess her. Her mind was slipping away. Desperate for a cure, she fully opened the lid, but the only item she found inside in her last moments was a note:

When the sun sets and the stars shine bright

A shadow will fall upon the moon’s light

The darkness will rage and corrupt your soul

Unleash your power and take control

Beware, young pony, of the price you will pay

For the night will consume you and lead you astray

You will lose your sibling and your friends will flee

Alone you will simmer in your misery

But do not despair, for there is still hope

A sparkle of magic that will help you cope

A hero of friendship will rise down below

Bring you back to the love you know

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Getting this one in early to avoid a repeat of last month. I tried to channel my inner sibyl, but I'm not very frenzied right now.

Twilight Sparkle set down her tiara in the restricted section of Canterlot Library. Magically illuminating the book before her, she delicately turned to the first page and began to read. It was dense Old Ponish, written in thick black ink and filled with non-standard spelling and syntax, as well as many unfamiliar words. Puzzling through it, Twilight found a story about an earth pony desperate to learn magic. He tried many things, and fell into darker and darker patterns.

As she turned the page, an otherworldly hiss started. Whipping round, horn at the ready, a murky vapour coalesced into the figure of a pony and shrieked like a boiling kettle:

'So long as Magic flows and thrives,
Friendships shall Time's lust survive;
Equestria her fearsome Foes
Will strike so true with ready blows;
Harmony will reign supreme,
So long as Magic lives.'

The figure vanished, and Twilight sighed in relief.

7874040

As a personal first, I'm going to be different and stray into hitherto-untouched G5 territory, specifically because I only recently saw the movie My Little Pony: A New Generation on Netflix. Perhaps a fresh look at pony has finally given my gears a good turn.

The film's bits and pieces have already been going round my head as recently discovered novelties, so when I saw this prompt, the Large Hadron Collider that is my brain smashed this fic's fundamental components together, creating a brand new particle. Or something. There was a mental collision, at least, and for once not between my head and the wall. So that's a good sign, right?

Not sure if it's too obscure or relies too much on vague implication, but I'm banking on there being enough clues present in the text that people can see what I'm getting at (so critics: when the time comes, there's your angle of attack!).

Either way, please enjoy.

Argyle Starshine held the dogeared book, Predictions and Prophecies (five-hundredth edition). Rescued during Great-Grandmama’s castle-exploring travels.

He’d show it to Sunny Starscout one day, when she was older. Quietly, trying not to wake her upstairs, he read:

“With Open Eyes, the Opal Lies

“A tribe divided into three,
And lost to time their magic be.
Their fears are riled, their rumors wild,
But soon there’ll come a faithful child
Who dwells where light once guided souls.
So here’s the goal: beseech the foals.
A star will shine and undermine
The clover’s (be)leafs…”

Ominously, the rest of the page was burnt. Unreadable. He’d spent his prime searching for another copy, but no luck.

If only…

Miles away, in the ruins under Zephyr Heights, Celestia’s original, magical copy sparkled under rubble. Abandoned, the next page self-updated:

“The clover’s (be)leafs: all hail Starshine!

–Alphabittle the Eleventh.”

Another generation, another page, another prophecy lost…

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Post Mortem

"Phew! I am exhausted!" Snips cheered.

His family laughed.

Snips didn't usually have fans, but supposedly his life was about to be cut short.

Snails, covered in dirt from chores, hopped onto the couch with Snips, "Me too!"

12:21

Five more minutes.

Snips closed his eyes. He had no regret from his last week alive; He'd made a vow to the future and devoted himself to enriching the lives of his neighbors.

Time flowed icily by, and Snips steeled himself.

12:25...

12:26

"The prophecy was false!" Snails shouted.

---

The next day, Snips awoke, ready to enjoy his new lease on life when he heard... His name and... shouting. He opened his window.

"Rake my yard!"

"Could you come over and play with Dinky again?!"

"Snips, my Granny needs her house swept!"

"Could you be my service dog again, young man?!"

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Celestia paced, she fretted, the search had gone on for days.
"How could I mislay something so important!"
The quiet sound of a door behind her, she held her breath and turned.
“Raven, Have you….?”
“Yes princess.”
A long sigh of relief as a cloth wrapped bundle was placed on her desk. She gently folded back the dark blue velvet wrap, embroidered with a faded pattern of crescent moons and black clouds to reveal a book.
“Prophecies and Predictions?” Raven inquired. “I could have obtained a replacement copy from the castle gift shop.”
“This one is mine.” Celestia smiled. “The original manuscript, there is a little more pertinent information than later editions. And now, I must give it to another.”
A knock at the door. “Princess? I am here for my lesson.”
“My faithful student. I have a gift for you to help in your studies of pony magic.”

7874040
Here it is:

Spike was waiting for Twilight by the entrance door.
‘Twilight, what are you doing?’ he asked. ‘We’re going to be late at Pinkie’s birthday party!’
‘Hold on a minute, Spike!’ she answered. ‘I’m almost done.’
She came out of her study with a folded piece of paper. ‘Look,’ she said, ‘I’m placing this note here. We’ll read it when we’re back, right?’
‘What is it?’
‘My today’s attempt at predicting the future.’
Spike rolled his eyes, and they both went out.

‘Ahhh…’ Spike wailed as he walked back in. ‘My belly aches… Too much ice cream…’
Twilight giggled. She grabbed the paper she’d left, unfolded it, and showed it to Spike. It read: ‘Spike will complain tonight about his belly!’
‘My belly was a soft target’, Spike grumbled.
‘But I’m just a rookie prophetess,’ Twilight replied. ‘I have to aim low!’

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Sunset Shimmer, Royal Apprentice to Princess Celestia, wasn’t like other ponies.

Of course, she could say that about a lot of things. But what made her certain she was special, beyond merely her position, was a little guiding voice.

A prophet.

Sunset Shimmer had a prophet in her head.

The others wouldn’t have understood how this could be. Even the Princess would’ve been baffled. After all, if one of them tried to test it with some insipid question, like what will the Gifted School chefs serve next week, she wouldn’t have had an answer. So Sunset didn’t talk about the prophet.

But prophets didn’t deal in such silly, needless knowledge. Prophets focused on what was important.

That was how Sunset knew she had a great prophet in her head.

Because it had told her what really mattered. Where her destiny lay.

She looked over at the Royal Throne, and grinned.

38 hours left to get your entries in, everyone!

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Foretold Emerald

“It’s ours,” a Crystal Pony ambassador declared, standing before a mountain-sized emerald. “Long ago, our ancestors foretold of a stone that shall bring us a new era of prosperity.”

“That’s what you think,” Grampa Gruff replied, flying over the emerald in circles. “It has been foretold by King Guto that the loss of the Idol of Boreas shall be replaced by something even more precious, bringing back the Griffon’s glorious era.”

“Actually,” Thorax intervened, “the prophecy of this emerald was amongst the Changelings for centuries and promised for us a new and better hive.”

Princess Twilight sighed. What should she do? Every creature claimed that this emerald that fell from the sky belonged to them!

Suddenly, it cracked and split into small pieces, one of which fell before Twilight. Examining it, she realised that it was…

“Candy?”

Watching through a portal, Discord fell from his couch and couldn’t stop laughing.

7874040
Determined Change
Pain struck. The red she-demon smacked into the rubble. She rebounded, claws sharp, eyes intent.

The nemesis cackled.

“Pity you believe in her,” Midnight Sparkle teased.

“I may be darkness, but she redeemed me!” she growled.

She let loose crimson-colored fire. However, Midnight twirled away. Each shoot in the barrage wasted.

“Can’t save her if you can’t aim!”

Angered threatened to destroy her. She couldn’t give in. Breathe calmly. No matter what.

I am counting on you.

A voice echoed.

She could not fail Shimmer!

A storm of violet blasts followed. With each tenacious dodge, she subtly lessened the distance.

“You will learn!”

Fear pulsated as the power surge ended. Before she could refresh, the demon swiftly charged. 

Midnight missed the move in the lull of the moment. The demon’s hands grasped a choking throat.

“Please, no!”.

Rainbow rays gleamed from demonic eyes.

“For friendship!”

White light exploded.

Thank you…

7874040

I just spent a very long time thinking about this prompt. I was going to write a flashfic with Petunia Paleo; something about the prehistoric Equus, mysterious time portals that suddenly open themselves all over Equestria, a bodyless voice that gives Petunia a prophecy to make her look out for something in the future and the subversion of an expectation..... but it went nowhere in the end. The time probably just wasn't enough to figure it all out and nail it together into a proper shape. If I had gotten the idea on September 1st, the time might have been enough to make this flashfic work, but I was recovering from an infected tooth and then, when I was in operation again, I came down with fever for a week.
So, it's now going to be the idea that's second in charge that will get written, a flashfic starring Wind Sprint. I didn't want to write a horror flashfic this month, considering what will happen next month, but it is as it is..... An appetizer for the Dark Season:
.

The white crosses called something and it was her name. Wind Sprint turned, heart pounding. The graves speak and they tell stories, she had been informed, but she thought it was a metaphor and didn't expect it would happen for real.
"But is this real?" she whispered.
The wind ripped at the white crosses. Why was she here at this time? The mud under her hooves felt slimy and cold, she smelled the wet grass that grew between "Best Bunny Ever" and "Goodbye, my Friend". But she knew it was a nightmare.
Moonlight fell onto the bloody, torn-up shape of a dog. "Stay away from the border! It was not built to be broken and I'm not worth it!"
"B-Bucky?"
Faint roaring came from the trees and grew deafening until she woke up.
All just a nightmare. But the mud and the pine needles under her blanket said something else.

.
Wow, this was hard to write! A scene that could easily have a 1,000 words (and should have), it was a painful procedure to squeeze this into 150. I mutilated something beautiful. But that's the challenge I signed myself up for.
An idea that is circling in my head ever since "Common Ground" aired. It finally got some life outside of my mind. And it felt good to work on a flashfic slow and with enough time again.

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All right, everycreature, your time is up! Please put your pencils, quills and horns down (figuratively so in the last case!) and hand in your papers to the invigilator. Thank you to everyone who took part -- and especially if you're taking part for the first time.

Feedback is open!

7874172
Excellent set up for the punchline. Feels a bit dramatic for Shining, but it makes sense.

7874197
Final, tragic moments before the darkness swallowed her for a thousand years. Tear jearking poetry.
7874315
Another nice bit of poetry. However, I feel the first paragraph takes too many words for too little set up. Too many details compared to the short poem and shorter ending lines themselves.

7874373
Quite an interesting twist on prophecy! It writes itself as time goes on if I read it right. The rhyming is also sublime. Excellent balance of exposition and meat of the story.

7874539
Poor Snips and Snails. Befuddled, and now they're in for in deep. Maybe this helps them become genuinely nicer ponies in time.

7880979
Sneak peak on secretly raising her heir. One can only wonder the informative footnotes Twilight will lust over in this unique edition,

7881285
Got a good smile from this. Every prophet needs a start!

7881732
Uh oh, sounds like inner-alicorn darkness is rising. We can only hope it isn't too late in this univere... Spicy ominousness.

7881754
Classic Discord maneuver! I hope everyone can still share

7882182
Indeed a beautifully compact short! It leaves much to mull, every implication precisely delivered. I think it'll be wonderful if expanded on.

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Okay folks, results post! For some reason I got a downvote for the "time's up" post, which was... odd. Gonna put it down to fat fingers rather than anything more sinister.

Anyway, enough entries this month for an honourable mention as well as the winner -- though, as per usual, there were far more great ideas than there were mention spots:

Hon mensh: Impossible Numbers -- as usual from you, imaginative and interesting, with nice use of formatting. I'll admit, though, that I did indeed find it a tad obscure -- though I'm more than willing to believe that's just my usual dimness!
Winner: EileenSaysHi -- considering that I don't always love EqD EqG, you often seem to make it really matter to me. Here's a good example. A story that gets more uncomfortable the more you think about it.

Congrats both! EileenSaysHi, please give next month's prompt here when you're ready.

NB: I'm going to UK PonyCon tomorrow, albeit just for the Saturday, so I may be a day or two late in putting up the October thread. If so, I'll add the equivalent time so that everyone still gets the usual three weeks.

Please continue with feedback if you like!

7885319
Thrilled to see it! This was a tough one to come up with a satisfying entry for, but I'm glad I put in the effort! (Also, I'm assuming that's meant to be EqG. Making EqD really matter might be more Pascoite's thing.)

Anyway, my prompt for October is... "They're Revolting!"

7885403
Revolting? A perfect excuse to break Logan's rules once again

7881285
Just for a formatting perspective, it might have been nice to leave blank lines or indent to show paragraphs. Since two of your paragraphs do wrap to a second line, it can confuse a little as to when new paragraphs start. That does bring up another issue that's mixed. Having them compressed like this does make the story look meatier. With blank lines added, it would emphasize that so many paragraphs are a single line, which can be troublesome under some circumstances. It's more reasonable when the paragraphs are mostly dialogue, since those won't always be long sentences and speakers change often. But for narrative sentences, having them as one-liners often shows that you're trying to add emphasis to them, yet when everything has the same emphasis, it produces the opposite effect. On the third hand, the tight word count restriction here doesn't lend itself to long paragraphs, so to a degree it can be unavoidable. Just a thought on how it's visually presented.

For content, this is a cute story. It seems to be linked to the time Spike got a stomachache during the time-travel episode, so maybe having an explicit reference to that might make for a nice anchor. Or, especially since that's the only episode where that happened, a hint that it's actually a recurring problem for him. Though exactly how recurring would affect how amazed we would be at Twilight correctly predicting it. The story could work either way, as her being right about an unlikely event or it being a deliberate joke that her "prophecy" was a no-brainer.

On usage, there's one misplaced comma, and one of those pesky prepositions: people are said to be late to an event, not late at one.

My feedback for September might be a little short and maybe a little weird, because I have gotten sick again, but I eventually need to write it, so here it goes:

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That fits to him perfectly. Simpler than your usual entries, but I'm glad for this, I need something simple right now, as I'm once again sick and sit here with a stuffed nose.
A satisfying entry. It only would be better if Flurry Heart asked "Mom, is Dad going to die?". That would make the punchline more complete.

7874197

There are many interesting approaches here. Why is Nightmare Moon, that evil spirit, locked up in a chest? And who did this? Obviously someone very evil, as it's to expect that somepony will eventually get curious and open the chest. And also someone who's very sadistic, as they left a note behind for the unfortunate victim. But also someone who precisely knows the future, as they listed everything that would happen to Luna after becoming Nightmare Moon.
I wonder who this mysterious pony/creature could be. Lots of interesting aspects to think about here.

7874315

Oh, a prophecy about the disappearance of magic from Equestria and how the three pony tribes don't live together in friendship anymore. I love this. It shows Twilight the future. I love how it brings Generation 4 and Generation 5 together.

7874373

Obscure and vague? For anyone who has seen the Generation 5 Movie, this is actually very easy to understand. The implications have already been there in the movie and were not particulary concealed either. It's still a great entry that lives from its atmosphere, though. The mysterious connections between the era of Equestria we've see in Generation 4 and its distant future are the selling point of Generation 5 and I look forward to finally being able to explore it all. This flashfic makes me more hyped for Generation 5.

7874539

Snips decided to help his neighbors with their chores and that made him so exhausted that he thought he's going to die? That's what I can take away from here. But why 12:26 and five minutes, then? And who made that prophecy Snails talks about, anyway? I'm sure there's a deeper meaning here, but I have trouble getting behind it.

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I always love the stories that fill in something we know happened, but haven't seen, the most. Like the exact moment before Twilight got the book "Predictions and Prophecies". I always thought Twilight just got the book herself from the castle library, just because she's reading so much and eventually reads every book in there, which made it not necessary for Celestia to do anything except waiting. So this was a pleasant surprise here and gave the moment much more depth.
Stories like these immerse you so much and make everything feel much more like you're there.

7881285

Twilight tries to predict the future, that's a fascinating idea. Even though she doesn't believe in those things, but Pinkie probably changed that. Though, I would say, that Spike eats too much ice cream isn't such a difficult prediction to make..... She really does aim low. I bet she wouldn't have been able to predict Pinkamena.

7881754

A nice subversion of expectations at the end. When the "emerald" cracked open, I thought it's an egg and that a being would hatch from it that will decide independently which creatures it will help, based on who it thinks is more worthy. But then it was a prank by Discord. Kind of what happened with the finale of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Subverted expectations are always great!

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Thanks! It looks like I indeed made it work in 150 words (although shortening it like that still pained me). That I was finally able to write something down for that vision after more than four years is a nice compensation for having to write it so short, though. Maybe I'll expand it to the 1,000 words in a blog entry this month, as I have recently done with a few story visions. It would be appropriate.

7893448
Go for it!
Also, I think you missed my 150?

7893446

who this mysterious pony/creature could be

Well, Starswirl the Bearded did live in that time and he was known to travel time and seeing the future. He also told Celestia about Twilight a millennium before she was even born.

The evil had to be contained, a mere chest couldn't hold it. Only a strong vessel could keep it contained.

7893450

No, I haven't missed it, I just avoid reading EQG stories like the plague, so EQG flashfics typically don't see any feedback from me.

7893455

The evil had to be contained, a mere chest couldn't hold it. Only a strong vessel could keep it contained.

So Starswirl has decided to seal Nightmare Moon inside Luna, damning her to all these horrors she had to endure under the Nightmare's influence..... This fits to what Hoofless has been saying about Starswirl being "kind of" evil. There are a lot of people who see that about him, it seems.

7894982 Serves her right for peeking. Curiosity turned Luna into Nightmare Moon. All the while, Starswirl the Bearded could sleep like a foal at night because not only was the Nightmare contained in Luna, but also in the moon. And not just that, it was her own fault so he could wash his hooves of any responsibility. After all, he did write 'forbidden' on the chest with a crayon. He did all that he could short of not giving Luna the key to the room with interesting artifacts.

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Evil.

Source: https://www.deviantart.com/uunicornicc/art/Get-A-Better-Idol-SEASON-7-FINALE-SPOILERS-709246299