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^{THE HORSE PHENOMENA WRITING COMPETITION} 

^{MANGO'S CHOICE:}

^{August/September Edition: 2023}

^{Form: SHORT STORY}

^{Theme: TRANSFORMATION}

^{"Anything that involves any kind of transformation: physical, emotional, magical, natural, etc. Someone or something does not end the story in the same state as when the story began."}

^{Word/Line Count: 10,000 Words Maximum}

^{Prize: 1 MONTH UPGRADE and $20mill HPD}

^{(Thanks to Sat for your generous donation!)}

^{Closes: 25th SEPTEMBER}

^{Voting Begins/Closes: 27th SEPTEMBER / 30th SEPTEMBER}

^{Winner Announced: 1st OCTOBER}

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^{Post your story below!} 

^{Any questions, please do not hesitate to message me.}

^{Happy Writing!}

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I will try to get something written within the next few days to enter. Nothing like waiting until the very last minute...

Once upon a time, in a quaint little forest nestled between two towering mountains, there lived a curious caterpillar named Calvin. Calvin was no ordinary caterpillar; he had a dream that set him apart from his fellow larvae. While his friends were content munching on leaves and twigs, Calvin aspired for something greater. He longed for the day when he could soar through the skies like the magnificent butterflies that occasionally fluttered through the forest.

One sunny morning, as Calvin was slowly inching his way up a leafy branch, he overheard a group of butterflies conversing about a mystical waterfall hidden deep within the forest. Legend had it that any creature that bathed in the magical waters of the waterfall would undergo a miraculous transformation.

Determined to change his fate, Calvin embarked on a perilous journey through the dense forest, guided only by the distant sound of cascading water. Along the way, he faced numerous challenges, from evading hungry birds to crossing treacherous streams. Yet, his unwavering determination propelled him forward.

After what felt like an eternity, Calvin finally stumbled upon the hidden waterfall. Its shimmering waters seemed to hold a promise of transformation. Without hesitation, he lowered himself into the water. A strange sensation washed over him, as if every cell in his body was awakening.

As Calvin emerged from the water, he was no longer the humble caterpillar he had once been. He was now adorned in vibrant colors, with iridescent wings that glistened in the sunlight. He had transformed into a beautiful butterfly.

Calvin's heart soared as he tested his newfound wings, realizing that his dream had come true. He was no longer confined to crawling on leaves; he could now dance on the breeze and explore the world from above. The forest that had once seemed vast and daunting now appeared inviting and full of wonder.

As Calvin returned to his forest home, his friends were astonished by his transformation. They gathered around him, their eyes filled with awe and admiration. Calvin, in turn, shared his journey and the magic of the hidden waterfall. Inspired by his story, some of his caterpillar friends decided to follow in his footsteps and seek their own transformations.

In the end, Calvin's quest for transformation not only changed him but also inspired others to pursue their dreams. He had discovered that sometimes, the most remarkable transformations occur when one is willing to venture into the unknown, face challenges, and embrace the magic that lies within. And so, the forest was filled with caterpillars aspiring to become something more, and the legend of the mystical waterfall lived on as a symbol of hope and change.

(I started something a different character decided he wanted to make it about him. LMAOOOOOOOO)

Link Tree

((Never underestimate the power of a deadline. Due Tomorrow, Do Tomorrow.))

https://i.imgur.com/1qMkZQ4.jpg -- stupid link is being stupid. Behold Thane's Fashion Choices ©

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"THANE-THANE. whatdoyouyouthinkyouredoingyouwretchedlittleOUT! OUT-OUT MY CLOSET YOU HORNED DEVIL! Be gone-done with you!" She had a slipper in her hand, smacking it all about the back of the (... mostly) dark haired young man's head as she herded him out of their endless caravan, whistling to her cousin with words that sounded more like hurried squeaks and squeals and snaps of her little fangs than... anything civilized. Aside from a curse on carefully a different thorn in her other side. Those she did not dare utter in rat-folk's own tongue for their sibling's sake, down-down-down in the Realm of Ruin. The place the Devil... honestly couldn't be bothered with, more than avoided, but she'd play along with her cousin's delusions of fanatical grandeur if it kept the blinders on that halter he refused to give back to her mount because he didn't know why the draft-feast got to wear bright-tinkle things but HE-HE. Did not. She knew which battles she could win and lose but she drew the line at him thinking he could go out in public dressed like... THAT. She was bringing him before the Sabbat and no-no. The vampires were no longer man-things. He didnt have the play sneak-pretend in his man-thing costume around him but that did not. Mean. He could just do whatever the hell he wanted with her clothing. Perhaps down-down back in Skavenblight. But down beneath Bethlam Royal where the Blot was being held was not, in fact, far enough away from man-things for him to get away with these..."Crimes. Thane. Crimes. That is a man-thing fashion-crime. And. AND. Several. CRIME-crimes that goes OVER. Things. I know you're bat-blind but everyone can see through that skirt. Glamour off-off. MY CLOTHES. Off-off. YOUR CLOTHES. On-on. All of them! ALL OF THEM THANE-THANE. And then you can taste all the different flavors-tastes of vampire blood you want! You have my-"

"No-no! You SAID-SAID. I don't have to obey-fake your Masquerade-Plot around the Sabbat-Things. Only Man-Things and Camarilla-Things. 'Make Skaven proud-proud' you said. I'm Skaven. I think--"

"DO-DO IT-IT NOW-NOW SO HELP ME GOD, FURIES, AND GREAT HORNED RAT I WILL DRAIN-DRINK YOU DRY AND FEED YOU TO OUR WOLVES-COUSINS." Ninmet may have been frozen in time as barely more than a girl-thing. But that SHRIEK in mixed Queekish and Latin as the ancient vampire lost her not-so-little-actually temper was... Loud.

The pointy little (human-looking) nose on her GHOUL had creeped one degree too high for her liking, and she ripped the faintly glowing green stud out of his ear (and nearly his ear), and shoving him back to land, mostly on his sudden tail, onto a stump. And her hands audibly slapped over her eyes with a screech he would have been able to pass on with man-thing ears at the sight of the Greyseer in what he thought he could get away with calling an outfit. But the thin rat ones were... much more sensitive. And he flicked his tail around right angrily and gnashed his overgrown, even sharper incisors and tossed his head a little. off-key bells and rings chiming about his antlers as he settled back into his own skin. Not the man-thing illusion his half-cousin had designed for him. Whiskers now nicely accentuating that lovely sneer on what could only be described as a Hart's nightmare of a rat-man's face.

".... CHRIST ALMIGHTY Thane that is even worse. Don't make-make me get in your head we both-both hate that. Git. Hustle. We only have so much night..."

Link Tree

Welp, had this written up the other day, then we lost power in dramatic fashion on friday and I totally forgot -facepalm-

Anywaaaaayyyy. Hoping this counts as enough of a transformation.

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The bird was perfect. From the soft, rosy down upon its breast, to the the delicate flecks of colour upon its neatly folded wings, and the curled-in fists of its tiny feet. Perfect, and utterly lifeless.

She didn't know how it had died; there was not one single blemish upon the diminutive corpse to tell of what trauma it may have experienced in the last, fleeting moments of its life. It simply lay, nestled amongst the herbs and grasses that tickled at her knees and infused the late-summer air with their delicate aroma, as though it had merely settled down to rest its wings.

She knelt, with one hand sweeping back the fabric of her skirt so that it would not tangle about her knees, and with the other reaching to brush the pad of her forefinger ever so softly across the little bird's crest. For a moment, she half believed that it might awaken; might startle at her touch and spring into the air, full of life once more. But it remained still and silent, and the brief flicker of hope that had dared light within her sputtered out once more.

Murmuring a muted apology for disturbing its rest, she scooped the little body up so that it lay, cradled between her hands. So slight was its weight, that when her eyes slid shut she might almost have forgotten that it was there entirely, but for the subtle tickle of its wing-tips against her palms; the pin-prick scratch of its beak against her thumb.

Inhaling deeply, she let her focus to drift down, settling within the little body nestled in her hands and sending her awareness out, searching. There was no denying that not a single breath of life remained inside the bird; yet in some, inexplicable way, there was the barest flicker of awareness still within its motionless body. Not an awareness that could be likened to actual consciousness, no, it was more as if... as if the physical body of the bird remembered what it had once been. And with that softest whisper of a memory was the most fragile of ties, barely within her ability to sense. A shining silver thread that stretched into the fog that veiled the boundary between the living and the dead.

All awareness of the physical world beyond the bird fled, and with the softest of grips she latched onto that delicate thread, drawing it back toward her. Progress was agonisingly slow, at every moment terrified that she might finally snap the ghostlike wisp within her grasp and lose forever this one chance. But through the fickle mists a tiny wraith began to emerge; a perfect, translucent recreation of the bird that fluttered this way and that, tugging at the last tie holding it to it's corpse as if struggling to free itself.

A quiet thrill of excitement caused her grip to waver, sending a shudder down the thread that all but loosed the tiny ghost-bird from its bindings. Steadying herself once more, she hesitantly sent a wordless, soothing call down the thread even as she drew it back toward her. To her surprise the tactic worked; the phantom was pacified and allowed itself to be pulled back into the body that it had once occupied.

Something tickled the palms of her hands, snatching her awareness violently back to her own body. Eyes snapping open, the breath that she had been holding left her in a rush as the bird stirred, then burst into motion, springing up to perch upon her index finger, somehow managing to look thoroughly baffled by the entire affair. She stared, fixated as it ruffled it's colourful feathers, seeming to take a moment as if to ground itself fully within it's own body once more. The next moment it was gone, spiralling upwards toward the sky, its song suddenly filling the formerly silent grove.

She watched it go, feeling the gentle touch of the breeze swoop in to chill the palms of her hands where, moments before, a lifeless body had lain – and a wistful smile slowly crept across her lips. One down, one life saved - how many hundreds left until her debt was repaid? Too many to count. Too many to ever assuage the guilt that festered deep in the dark, dusty corners of her mind. But it was, nevertheless, a start. The first suture to an open wound that she had an eternity to heal.

Yassss all of ya'll coming in with the GOODS!

Thank you my beloveds! Appreciate all your wonderful entries! Voters gonna be making some tough choices in the next few days >:D 

yay!! :)

^{Voting is now OPEN! One vote per player, winner announced on the 30th!}

^{( Please let me know if anything is funky with the poll, I'm not very good at the Typeform platform :D )}

Vote here!

I voted!

Wooo! Good luck lovely! 

:D :D

Better late than never, hey? xD

Voted!

Thank you!

-glances around-

Apologies, we have bushfires here at the moment, so I've been a little MIA. Will sort this tonight! 

oh gosh! Stay safe, Skell!

I will do my best, thank you love < 3

Have bushfires on one side of me, flooding on the other. My home town is smack bang in the middle of it all, so I'm helping my bosses water and secure their properties. I will announce the winner in about 6 hours or so, I promise! 

Well, just pick up all the houses/civilization and let the floods put out the fire?

You're fine! Real life comes first, I'm just eager to know who won! :P No rush.

^{If only I could!}

^{Australia is broken :(} 

_{And the winner is..............................}

_JAYA!

_{Congratulations! I will be in touch for next month's prompt!}

_{Apologies again for the delay, half my state is burning and the other half flooded : (}

_{If anyone would like to see a breakdown of the voting, you are welcome to message me.}