What is Twidash Prompt Tag? It's a game (gleefully stolen from the Appledash group and ruthlessly modified to suit our own nefarious purposes), and here's how you play it:

I'll start off by posting a 100-500 word mini-fic about Twilight and Rainbow Dash. At the end will be a one word prompt. If you would like to write a 100-500 word Twidash mini-fic relating to that prompt within the next four hours, comment right away to claim that prompt. Post the story when you finish, and add a one word prompt at the end for the next people to claim.

Simple enough?

Just to make sure everything is clear:

* The mini-fic can be in any style, any tag, AU, humanized, whatever. It can be a cute scene, a snippet of conversation, or an excerpt from an Equestrian history book. It's not expected to be preread or proofread, and if you've never written before that's just fine. Just try to keep it rated teen or lower and make sure it's 100-500 words of fiction about Twi and RD and it relates somehow to the prompt you claimed.

* Claim prompts with a quick post responding to the last post. Just the word "claimed" is fine. When you finish, make a post with the mini-fic and the next prompt.

* Your claim is valid for four hours, to keep someone from accidentally holding things up all day. After four hours, another person could post a claim for the same prompt. If you ran out of time, and no one else has claimed it, and you still want to write it, just go ahead and reclaim it.

* In the event that people become confused, and two fics are posted for the same prompt, the first one posted contains the official next prompt.

* Please include a one word prompt at the end of your fic. There are lots of words, and they can mean lots of things, and it's up to the next writer what they want to do with it.

* By participating, you automatically agree to allow your entry to be posted to The TwiDash Prompt Collab, unless you specifically state in your post you do not want it posted. You are still free to use your prompt however you wish.

(Sample Prompt: Fireplace)

The pegasus had not moved an inch in four hours. That wasn’t entirely true; the rhythmic rise and fall of her sky blue, trim and muscled chest offered its own breed of hypnosis. The slow bellowing of breaths a metronome keeping time for a musician that wasn’t present. She would also occasionally dip her head down to the mighty tome propped up in front of her, catching a creamy page of paper on the end of her snout. A sharp flick of her neck and it would finish turning just as her head resumed its original position. And calling her still would have been a terrible lie if you caught her eyes. Glimmering pools of magenta reflected merry yellows from the fireplace and danced across the page in a race Twilight knew all too well.

A soft pulse of magic fluttered the unicorn’s own text to the next page, but her attention remained drawn to the statuesque Rainbow Dash laying carelessly on the pillows next to her, legs tucked underneath and colorful tail circling halfway around her body. Twilight’s mouth didn’t know if it was smiling with glowing affection or frowning with concern. She cleared her throat. “Hey, Rainbow Dash?”

The blue mare started, her gaze flicking rapidly from printed words to purple face. “Hmn?”

“You okay?” Violet eyes drew together under knit brow. “I know that book’s interesting; it’s one of my favorites, but wouldn’t you rather be…I don’t know…doing something else?”

Rainbow’s eyes returned to the book, her expression far away, lost in the story unfolding in front of her mind’s eye. She spoke distantly, her tone distracted, but carrying no hint of annoyance. “I’m curled up with an’ adventure next to the best pony in Equestria. What else would I wanna be doing?” A downy wing unfurled from her barrel, crossing over Twilight’s back. With unexpected strength and sudden speed, the feathery limb gripped and pulled the unicorn forcefully into Rainbow Dash’s side. The coat to coat contact brought immediate heat to Twilight’s frame far beyond the crackling blaze of the fire.

Twilight expelled a lingering sigh of comfort and leaned into the pegasus, resting her head into a soft, warm shoulder. Her eyes returned to her book and began scanning the page. “What else indeed,” she murmured.

Next Prompt: Stormcloud

TAG!

That prompt is two words

731735

Better?

731743
Yes.

Now then, somebody claim this, because my brain failed to come up with anything relating to that prompt.

731728
Well, here goes nothing. Claimed!

731726 It begins!

... You just gave me a new way to procrastinate, you know that right?

731779

Think of it as a warm-up exercise before more serious writing!

Or not; come waste time with us! GIVE IN!

731779

If you procrastinate I'm gonna choke you.

731779>>731784 TwiDash is always productive. You can't claim TwiDash is procrastination.

731843 Unfortunately Twidash doesn't earn money though.

732014

Why not say that the prompt must be related somehow to the mini-fic

That takes out some of the fun!!!!

By the way....

CLAIMED!

732014
Oi, I already claimed that one!

732051 FUCK.

I didn't see that. Damn I had something going with that prompt too.

732014 you didn't claim you S.O.B that was shell shockers turn

Yeah... about that, apparently I suck at reading main posts and the posts beneath them until after I post things... deleting.

732014 732051 732078

Official rules, Shellsh0cker claimed the prompt and has until the end of four hours to post, so it's still shell's turn and shell's prompt will be the official next one.

And we just started so there was bound to be some confusion. Let' s try to keep it civil; this isn't a flutterdash group, is it?

It's all good! Civil it is

731728

Looks like you folks have the privilege of reading the first actual piece of writing I've ever put up on this site.

Prompt: STORMCLOUD

The sky was deep gray, like slate. Water fell in sheets, promising instant saturation for any creature unfortunate or unwise enough to be outside. Lightning would occasionally rend the sky asunder, bringing with it a deep rumble—or sometimes a sharp crack—of thunder, momentarily overwhelming the soft, continuous hiss of rainfall.

Twilight Sparkle could perhaps be forgiven for mistaking the knock on her door as another byproduct of the rapid expansion of air caused by a sudden electrical discharge. When the sharp rap-rap-rap came a second time, though, she quickly realized three things:

First: there had been no recent lightning strikes which would have caused any thunder.

Second: thunder, as mentioned earlier, was characterized by a deep rumble or a sharp crack. Neither of those sounds were all that similar to rap-rap-rap.

Third: rap-rap-rap was, in fact, remarkably similar to the sound of a hoof repeatedly striking the door of the library in which she lived.

Quickly hopping down off the couch (and silently grumbling at the loss of a comfortable reading position which she knew she’d never be able to perfectly recreate) she trotted to the door, opening it to be greeted by a very familiar, if unusually wet, face.

“He- Hey T-T-T-Twi,” Rainbow Dash managed to shiver out.

“Rainbow!” Twilight exclaimed, ushering her friend in. Her horn lit up and several towels came flying out of the bathroom and down the stairs to wrap themselves around Rainbow’s drenched form. “What were you doing out there? Harmony, you look like you’re freezing! Come over here, I’ll stoke the fire and heat up some tea.”

Twilight guided Rainbow in front of the fireplace and had her sit down, discarding the soaked towels and trading them for thick blankets. Thanking Celestia that it was late autumn and she’d had a fire going already, she tossed a couple of extra logs onto the low flame and blew on the red-hot embers, expertly coaxing the dying fire into a healthy blaze. Finally, she cast a mild warming spell on her half-full teapot and floated a cup out of the kitchen for Rainbow.

“Here. Drink,” she commanded, setting the cup down in front of the shivering pile of blankets that was Rainbow Dash. “On second thought, let me help. You’re shaking so bad you’d probably spill most of it.” The cup floated up to where Dash’s snout poked out of the blanket pile, allowing her to take a shaky sip. “Harmony, Rainbow, you’re in bad shape. OK, I’m coming in there.”

“H-h-h-huh?” was as far as Rainbow Dash got before the blankets opened up and a warm body settled next to hers.

Twilight let out a little gasp as she snuggled up to her friend, wrapping the blankets around them both as she did so. “Dash, you’re like ice. Come on, wrap your wing around me. The more surface area in contact, the better.”

It took all of Rainbow’s willpower to force her wing to unclamp from her side and wrap around Twilight’s back.

“Good,” Twilight said, lifting the cup so her friend could take another sip of tea. “Now, what were you doing out there?”

“S-s-standard p-procedure,” Dash stuttered. “S-somepony has to m-monitor s-s-storms to m-make sure they d-don’t get out of c-c-c-control or anyth-th-thing. W-we take shifts. M-m-mine just end-ded.”

“Sure, but we’ve had storms before. You never came to the library soaked to the bone any of those times.”

“F-f-forgot my s-storm g-gear this time. Th-th-thought I c-could t-tough it out-t-t.”

“You featherbrain! Hypothermia isn’t some joke, Dash!” Twilight threw a foreleg around her friend’s neck, drawing her close as if to reassure herself Rainbow was still there. Nuzzling her under the jawline, Twilight whispered, “You . . . you could’ve died out there, Rainbow.”

“I . . .” Rainbow hadn’t thought it was that serious. A little rain never hurt anypony, right?

“Please, Dash, just . . . don’t take a risk like that again, alright?”

Even with her teeth chattering, Rainbow managed a snicker at that. “Uh, T-twi? Th-think about who y-you’re t-talking to, here.”

“What do you . . . oh, right.” Twilight blushed a bit. “OK, maybe that wasn’t the best thing to say. But . . . I worry about you, Rainbow. Seeing you like this . . . I don’t want to lose you to some stupid accident. Can you at least promise you’ll think before doing something like this again? For my sake?”

Rainbow ducked her head, embarrassed by Twilight’s sincerity. “S-s-sorry, Twi. G-g-guess that w-was p-pretty boneheaded of m-me, huh?” She gave Twilight a reassuring, if shaky, nuzzle. “Alr-r-right. P-promise I w-won’t just try to t-tough it out n-next time. F-for your s-sake.”

“Good,” Twilight said. “Now, come on, finish your tea.” She floated the cup to Rainbow’s lips, allowing her to drain it. “Hey, would you like to read? I just started a new series I think you’ll like.”

“S-sure. B-but, um, c-could you m-maybe read out l-loud? I d-don’t think I c-can focus th-th-through the sh-shivering.”

“Sure, Rainbow.” Twilight cuddled closer, floating her book over as she did so. “Alright, here we go. ‘Ash fell from the sky...’”

* * *

Twilight was only halfway through the first chapter when she heard the soft snoring that indicated Rainbow was asleep. Smiling, she marked her place and set the book down before enclosing the fire in an airtight bubble, extinguishing it. Nestling her head next to Rainbow’s, she closed her eyes and allowed sleep to claim her.

Outside, rain fell, lightning struck, thunder rumbled, and the sky was deep gray, like slate.

Why yes, I do like me some bookends.

+10 to anypony who knows the line.

Oh, and hey, thanks for being a good sport about this, 732115.

New prompt: SNOWFALL (Because we need more stories set in winter.)

TAG!

Claimed!

732427

mother fucker! I was in a car for the last 10 minutes!

I'll get you next time!

732371

Man, is that more than 500 words? seems like it

Also, we should compile these into a story. A bunch of Twidash vignettes so that more people can enjoy them.

732445 Sorry!

732452

I dunno about everyone else, but I was planning on sticking mine in an odds and ends fic; some sort of mini fic repository (or, as the case for me may be, a mini fic suppository).

732449

Oh, he said 100-500, not 500-1000. Whoops! Yeah, it's like 900 words.

Are these little minifics going to be residing in this one forum area? That seems really disorganized to me. Are we gonna make a folder or an actual story to put all these in?

732473
732452

Meh. When I actually get to claim one of these prompts I'll probably eventually just turn it into a story. I haven't written anything in a while. Need to exercise my grimmer

732506

This isn't really about generating stories, it's more of a writing game. Whether a participant does anything with their prompt pieces is up to them. If someone wants to compile them at some point intro something, that'll be a different project.

732549 Ah, okay then. So it's gonna stay in this discussion thread unless some person comes along and does otherwise. Cool.

Damn my slow internet! I would be participating now if I could.

Soon...

731726

Why do I feel like this is your attempt to get me to write something. I rather enjoy our whole "I throw out insane ideas and you writing them" gig we got going. I may..MAY...partake in this.

731728

Also in “I’m curled up with an’ adventure" there shouldn't be an apostrophe. You see the horrors I keep you people from?

Trolololol

732371

You made a big mistake. After reading yours, I will not rest until I pester you into writing some full-length fics.

732572

Depending on response and interest (which seems to be rather high so far), we could maybe have mini-fic mini-events, where a group writes to the same prompt and we put it up as a collaborative fic. That might be fun!

732584

I like our give and take insanity-fests, too. Never change. But also write something, fucker.

732610
Oh . . . dear.

732616

And by that I meant it was really good and I hope you share more of your writing with us!

732610

You can't make me. How many ideas for stories have I had again?

Prompt: Snowfall

The fire crackled in the hearth, heat filling the library, keeping the cold and snow outside. The lights were dark, the room only lit by the flickering flames. A small way from the fire, a plush window bench lies, covered in pillows and blankets. Surrounded by the warmth from the fire and the pillows, two mares laid together, side by side with one’s wing draped over the other. The two gazed up into the falling snow and the stars above. One’s head laid on the shoulder of the other, careful to not stab her marefriend with the horn on her head. The hours passed as the two of them laid there in peaceful silence, reveling in each other’s presence.
A gasp escaped one as in the darkness of night, the aurora came into view coloring the snow the mares favorite shades as it fell. A white rainbow twirled through the air highlighted with starlight.
A chuckle escaped the pegasus as she pulled the unicorn closer. A blush crossed the unicorn’s face as she looked into the eyes of her lover. Her eyes closed as they kissed, filling each other with warmth. They broke the kiss and pulled closer to each other and looked once more towards the sky.
“It’s beautiful.”
“Not nearly so much as you.”
The mares laid there, content, until they each fell asleep in the other’s embrace. The unicorn mumbled something in her sleep, and the pegasus mumbled back in her own dream. Smiling in her sleep the unicorn curled closer to the pegasus, and together they dreamed of a kaleidoscope of hues, both by the others side. Deep in love under the snowfall.

Tag!

Next Prompt: Horizon

731784, 731843 This is true...

731801
You make a convincing argument, though I'm certain some of my readers would love that considering the stuff I've done to the ponies, especially Twilight.

Maybe. I may join in. Short stories have never been my forte, but I can give it a shot I suppose.

732627 The more the merrier!

732640

I stopped counting sometime around the brony in equestria idea.

732647

Claimed! Take that everyone else who was waiting, mwahahaha

732656

Wait...what brony in Equestra idea?

Seems like every story so far has had a fire in it.

732681 Fires are very romantic.

732681

OMG I said the same damn thing like 5 minutes ago to bats

Oh and "Ohhhh THAT brony in Equestria story" That one is an instant feature fic lol.

New rule: All writings that have 5 or more thumbups MUST be made into 3-5k one-shot ore more

732680 Hey, look! I wrote something that wasn't misery porn.