At least here in the UK, it's not 2020 any more! Yes, yes, I know 2021 isn't going to be a bed of roses, certainly not at first, but nevertheless the end of that awful year is surely worth celebrating. Anyway, another thing worth celebrating is that we're beginning another year of Flashfic 150! Thank you to everyone who's supported FF150 in any way between its birth in April 2017 (yikes, really?) and now. I really didn't think we'd still be going at this point, so I'm happy and grateful.

Here are the full rules.

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. There is a way to avoid that, but it involves choosing not to enter FF150. Or, I suppose, making a plaintive appeal to me to be kept off that accursed front page at all costs. Or something. Anyway...

Prompt: "Poetic Justice" (selected by last month's winner, Pascoite)
Rating: E or T
Word limit: 150
Closing date: Thursday 21st January 2021, 11:59 pm UK time (world clock)

Optional challenge (set by Pascoite)
Easy mode: use the idiom
Medium: write a poem
Hard: write a poem incorporating the idiom

This challenge is entirely for fun and whether you choose to do it will not have any bearing on the judging.

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!

7405648
How funny.

Poetic Justice.

It almost sounds like Poetic Irony.

"And that's why they call him a 'waffle stealer'?"

"Yup. And since then, no one can stand the guy and avoids him."

"That's ridiculous. Just because he forked a waffle piece off of someone else's plate shouldn't brand him in such a harsh way. It was a bold move on his part, but he seems like a decent guy."

"Maybe."

"Maybe? You're saying you don't know anything about him?"

"Well I know he plays guitar, and... there's... hmm..."

"That's all you know?"

"Pretty much. I don't want to be viewed in a negative light by associating with him."

"Well who does associate with him?"

"..."

"...is there anypony who associates with him?"

"..."

"...I'm going to talk to him."

"But others will look down on you for doing so!"

"Then let there gazes be low. I wouldn't be much of a princess of friendship if I'd ignore the loneliest pony in Equestria."

7405648
Poetry! Yay!

Zecora reflected on a time now dated
When her speech flowed ideas of all kinds
Riddles and rumors left her friends frustrated
Her young self paid the cost no mind

Daring ideas and dreams were seeded
During troubled years for the herd
Youthful recklessness however was unneeded
And consequences had to be observed

Reluctant to charge a youth for dreaming
Elders concocted a creative plan ahead
To encourage the young to start thinking
Rather than simply saying what was in their head

To this day the penalty remains:
Those who cannot check their thoughts in time
Now must for all their days
Pause as they speak in rhyme

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"What's the big deal? I just wanted to say hi to my mom."

"You raised her from the dead, Zecora!” the elder pounded a hoof on the ground.

"I missed her. I really don't see why my talking to her triggered you all so much."

"Necromancy is a serious offense, as you are well aware. The punishment is either death or banishment after drinking this poetic justice." The elder carefully lifted a bottle from his saddle pouch. "Either way, no more talking to the dead!"

"Well, if those are my options..." Zecora grabbed the potion from the elder's hooves. "Bottom's up!"

She curiously looked around but silent was the crowd, no zebra dared to make a sound.

"So, what was in the brew?" On the ground the bottle she threw. "What does this potion do?"

Edit: 10 - Talk No More ·

7405648

Should note that the WordCount.net system counts two dashes as words, for some reason (I know it's them: I tested it by deleting them and checking the counter). Now, I'd prefer to keep them for the sake of style, but if that's going to get me disqualified due to strict word count violation, then I'd like to know ahead of time so that I can edit accordingly (change them into commas, for example).

In the meantime, here is my entry. I took a left turn from the spirit of the prompt and tried to do something different with the letter of it. Don't know if that puts it on thin ice, but my brain is otherwise having a hard time getting much from this one.

Also, just like to point out that Written Script is not an OC (well, no more than the average background pony is). I simply enjoy taking obscure characters and trying to make something of them.

Enjoy!

How to do justice via poetry? Justice to the one you love?

Written Script, a unicorn with a Canterlot past… but Ponyville in his soul! Its grassy knolls, its whispering treetops, its homegrown ponies.

Slick as a simile, burning with metaphor, imagery wherever he looked: seeing what was there, its soul, what was really there.

Juxtaposed by:

“Carrot Top”, farmer. She worked on a carrot farm. Farming carrots.

To her, simile sounded similar to “silly”. Carrots were carrots, not “unsheathed swords of golden holiness”. They didn’t need a shower of words. They needed a rain of… well, rain.

Yet Written Script needed her. In a world of illusions, she was as solid and nurturing as the planet that kept him from the existential void of space. And she – blind earth mole – needed his eyes.

Eventually, he wrote the perfect poem.

It began, “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun…”

A rather quiet month so far, but there's time for that to change.
Just over two days to go!

And now it's just under 24 hours to go!

Ah shoot! I knew I was forgetting to do something this month!

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"NOOOOOO!"

The rainbow came crashing down on Nightmare Moon. Another banishment - another painful wait.

But it was different this time. Luna, the ungrateful cur fought back. As much as Nightmare hated to admit it, she couldn't fight both Luna and the Elements at once.

Rainbow power eroded her grip, tore her stranglehold... and threw her away, leaving Luna behind. But in that moment where the Elements remained focused on the Mare of the Moon, the Nightmare grabbed outwards. It needed a host body to anchor to the world - any would do. And any was found.

As the hateful sun rose, the Nightmare unsteadily stood. "I shall... I shall have my revenge," she vowed. "I shall regain my strength, strike down Celestia and..." She looked at her hoof - no, her white paw. Then at the rest of herself. And that was when the panic set in. "Why am I a rabbit?!"

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All right, everyone: time's up! The smallest entry for some time, with five stories submitted, but I'm sure I'll enjoy reading them. All eligible, so no worries there. Thank you to everyone who had a go.

Feedback is open!

I'll bite. But, you know, not in a mean way. I hope.

7405664

I like this one for how much it conveys through its strict dialogue format, but between the curious title and the lack of detail around "the loneliest pony in Equestria", I feel a tad unequal to the task of evaluating it properly. It feels like there's a reference going over my head, on the tip of my tongue (the guitar mention feels like a clue), but never quite spelling itself out fully.

That said, Twilight comes across quite admirably in her determination to be inclusive and not bow down to expectations, which is one of the better ideas of her sense of friendship-oriented duty. So even though I don't feel I understand this one, I did enjoy what I gleaned from it.

7407232

Mmmm... the thing about poetry (and this is a general thing: you're certainly not alone here) is that, once you signal you're using it, people's expectations adjust accordingly. That is, they expect to find a traditional or recognizable meter, a beat, a regular or structured rhythm syllable-by-syllable. Part of the problem is that, with such unusual emphasis, things that aren't a problem in regular prose become major disturbances in a poetic form.

Here, I have to say I never really found its rhythm, if there was one planned, so the result has an "off-note" quality to it. Go through and count just the syllables of each line. I didn't spot a rhythm there. Now go through and count the stressed syllables, the ones you em-pha-size. I really didn't spot a rhythm there. (Similarly, the rhyme scheme is off too: it's a simple A-B-A-B in the first two verses, but then gets dropped in favour of just --B--B, which is really jarring for me personally).

The actual content I like: Zecora is a mischievous riddler at first, but then the "elders" and others get tired of her shenanigans and put her under some sort of rhyming curse. I think I'd like this one more if I didn't find its structural oddities so distracting. I don't want to discourage you, though: I think, if the meter was reviewed and revised, you'd be on to a winner here. The trouble is just that, in poetry, with great gambles come great risks.

7408298

I don't know if I'm expressing myself right, but one of the more interesting things about your work (I find) is a sort of matter-of-fact cruel bluntness to it. For one thing, the previous flashfic has a similar idea to yours, but Zecora's crime there was due to being an impish rogue, whereas here she's a blase necromancer. I like both approaches - admittedly because it jives with my own ideas about Zecora - but there's something darkly humorous yet emotionally straightforward about your take (who wouldn't want to reconnect with a lost loved one?).

I wouldn't have minded seeing a bit more reasoning over the prosecutors' decision (like why necromancy is so reviled or why the punishments are so... oddly specific as to include rhyming potions), but that could just be my personal bias, not your problem. Also, while Zecora starting to rhyme is fine, I'm befuddled as to the narrator rhyming alongside her too. Felt a tad unnecessary. And I can't help but feel "triggered" isn't really an Internet slang term we should be seeing in the world of ponies.

That said, I appreciate the dark humour of Zecora's nonchalant dead talk, and the sillier, comedically serious tone around that, so kudos there.

7415927

Ugh, not this jerk again. Next!

7419134

Petty gripes, first: I'd ding you for the smushed-together dialogue formatting in the last paragraph. New lines of dialogue are usually best placed in new paragraphs, and in this case I'd divide up the regular sentences in-between too for stylistic elegance. That final punchline on stylistic grounds I think ought to be given its own paragraph.

Anyway, I digress.

My positive review can be summed up as: .

The title, the punchline, the weird "this explains so much" feel... I don't have much to complain about, really. Just a nice, silly concept with a solid comedic impact. Can't think of anything pertinent to add other than: .

7420862
The guitar is indeed a clue, but there are two more clues that are indirectly connected to the loneliest pony.

The first is that he's a waffle stealer. In truth, he isn't; but the title 'Waffle Stealer' is intended to loosely cover a similar sounding title that I was aiming for, 'Waifu Stealer'. The second clue, the story's title, has many meanings to it that directly point out the pony. 'Branded' was the title I originally wanted, but that was before I saw that 'Braded' would be a deeper meaning for this character because before his name was announced, many would call him, 'Brad', as a way to insult him.

...yeah, it's another story dedicated to Flash Sentry.

This story is basically intended to point out the ironic twist that could be interpreted as poetic justice for Flash. A character that was hated so much by everyone would probably feel that they're all alone in handling this intense hatred over him, just because Twilight found him attractive despite the lack of character he displayed. He definitely could use a friend during all of the bulling he's receiving, which is something Twilight would volunteer in without question.

Fans hated Flashlight shipping and took it out on Sentry because there's no reason in liking him, but the poetic justice is that they actually formed a reason why Twilight would be with him.

7421066

I see. That's pretty meta-clever, though given I missed it, either too clever (there's no way I'd have spotted the 'waffle-stealer'/'waifu-stealer' crossword puzzle of a hint) or just too clever for me specifically. A couple more clues, like a name hint, might have made it click in my head.

7421267
I wouln't say it would just be you, it's a bit of an older (at least early 2014) and possibly underused silly little joke, so I'm sure there's a not-insignificant number of people who may not have connected that dot.

That said, I'll just leave this image here, then slink back to lurking in the shadows...

7421727
Huh?! And here I thought I was the only one that thought of this joke.

It was honestly something I came up with while writing a Cranky's Corner segment in the Donkey Kong crossover. I wonder if anyone made the connection on their own with the other word as well?

You're still reading this garbage? Well, I guess that's why they call you.... what was it again? 'Brownies', that's it.

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Okay, results time! Just the one award this time, given the smaller entry, but the decision was still a toughie for me. Thank you again to everyone who entered, and thanks in advance to everyone considering entering next month!

The winner is TCC56. That punchline sealed the deal. I am one of the fandom's rare-ish Angel supporters, but it still brought my house down, so to speak. (I do agree with Impossible Numbers that the last para would be a tad more effective spaced out a little, though.)

And I know I just said I wasn't going to give any other awards, and I'm not going to do this as a rule: but an honourable mention goes to all the other four of you. I think this was a hard prompt and all your ideas had something unique about them. I enjoyed Amereep's Flash Sentry jokes, Beautiful Horse doing things the tough way with actual poetry, Bad Dragon's dark humour and Impossible Numbers' sideways take on the prompt.

So, congratulations, TCC56! You know the drill, so let's hear your February prompt when you're ready.

By all means continue the feedback chat if you like, folks.

7419134

Congratulations on the win, TCC56. You have earned the right to name next month's inspirational prompt.

Now make it a good one!

7421949

Uuuuuuuuh crap. Unexpected.

7422027

Now make it a good one!

Oh apples.

Uh. Um.

In hopes of an early spring, let's go with a classic icebreaker:

Two Truths And A Lie

7422234
Okay, that seems like a good 'un to me, so thank you!

I'll be putting that up on Monday (1st Feb). Thanks again to all who entered this month!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Given I'm the one who selected the prompt, it seems only fitting that I should have stopped in to leave some feedback, but I didn't think the judging would have been complete already. Oh well.

7423371
I don't lock these threads, you know!

7426336
Yes, but it'd kind of be closing the barn door after the horses have escaped, as it were.