Competition » May Pairings Contest · 2:53pm April 27th
Art by Mushroom!
Howdy!
It's once again May, and you know what that means: it's time to crackship!
What is the May Pairings Contest?
If you don’t know, the May Pairings contest is all about original, rare, or unique ships that aren’t afraid to explore unique dynamics between characters. This means that stories about Lyra and Bon Bon, Vinyl and Octavia, or Rarity and Twilight wouldn’t qualify. Rather, we want to see stories about Autumn Blaze and Lemon Hearts! Daring Do and Treehugger! Octavia and Applejack! You get the picture.
Rules
- Your story should feature something that can be argued to be a rare, unique, or original pairing. The pairing does not need to be inherently romantic: student/teacher dynamics for example are fine! If the judges do not believe that your pairing qualifies it will be disqualified. If you aren’t sure, feel free to look around FimFic to get a feel of how popular/not popular a story is. If you still aren’t sure, don’t hesitate to ask!
- No OC’s, anon stories, or self-inserts. Stories with unvoiced background ponies are fine.
- Human AU’s, EQG, and Comics characters are allowed.
- Crossovers are not allowed as we want to focus on MLP shippings. Any other genre is fair game.
- Stories of all ratings are allowed: be aware that Mature-rated fics may not rate very highly and may even rate lower if not executed well!
- Fetish fics of any kind will not be accepted. We reserve the right to disqualify any story that we feel violates this rule.
- The contest period runs from MAY 1st TO MAY 31st! Stories must be newly published between these dates. If your fic gets stuck in a publication queue please contact the judges!
- One submission is allowed per author. Stories must not be longer than 20k words. There is no minimum word count.
- Collaborations are allowed, however these fics will count as one entry for both authors. It is up to the authors as to how they will split the money if they win.
- Stories must be submitted to the contest folder found here by the deadline to qualify.
Remember to join the group for updates!
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is [insert pairing here] rare enough?
A:
This year, because of the frequency which people ask, we're introducing a "Spirit of the Contest" clause. This clause defines the spirit of this contest as a contest celebrating creativity and unique connections. We are excited to read stories that explore new dynamics between characters whose relationships aren't always explored! Trying to find loopholes to submit a pairing that's been seen hundreds and hundreds of times goes against this spirit, even if it may not go against the letter of the rules. So if you're unsure if a pairing counts as rare, please keep this in mind! Below is the excerpt from last year, most of which still applies: We’ve fielded a lot of these already, and more are coming every day. The only way you will be disqualified is if you submit a ship that without question is against the spirit of the contest: AppleDash, RariTwi, OctaScratch, LyraBon, the likes. As long as you don’t do one of these ships (romantic or otherwise), then no matter the pairing, your story won’t be disqualified. However if it is still a fairly unoriginal pairing, it just might not score that high with our judges.
Below is a bit written for previous years which can still apply to this year's contest:
We’ve fielded a lot of these already, and more are coming every day. The only way you will be disqualified is if you submit a ship that without question is against the spirit of the contest: AppleDash, RariTwi, OctaScratch, LyraBon, the likes. As long as you don’t do one of these ships (romantic or otherwise), then no matter the pairing, your story won’t be disqualified. However if it is still a fairly unoriginal pairing, it just might not score that high with our judges.
Here are some quick self-check items that could help you narrow down whether or not you have a rare pairing, or just one that you personally have never read about before:
Do these characters exchange lines? If they have ever talked to each other, it’s probably not as rare as you think.
Have these characters shared a scene? If they’ve appeared in the same frame, you can possibly guess they’ve interacted offscreen.
Do these characters have an obvious connection? Two members of the Wonderbolts know one another. The pairing isn’t rare or spontaneous, it’s more just luck if you haven’t seen them before.
If these rules are still too squishy for you, please use the site search metrics to see if there exist stories starring the pairing you want to write about. Fimfic’s search function, both on desktop and on mobile, allows you to search by character tag. Punch in both your characters and see what pops up. If you get more than one page of hits, you might be up a tree.
Still not sure? It’s probably a “if you have to ask, it ain’t it” situation. Go back to the drawing board and challenge yourself to think creatively. Maybe check out the tag directory and look for characters who have very few stories to begin with.
Q: Is it okay for me to ship the pony version of [insert eqg character here] with a pony? How about the human version of [insert pony character here] with a human?
A: Of course! But the pairing still has to be rare! Pony Sunset X pony Twilight doesn’t get points just because twiset is most traditionally shipped with their human counterparts. Likewise, human SoarinDash is no better than pony SoarinDash. You came up with a unique premise, not a unique pairing. You’re not going to receive a good score for this (especially since the judges don’t like being punked).
Q: Is genderbending allowed?
A: Yes! But the pairing still has to be rare! Dusk Shine x Rainbow Blitz is not fundamentally different from twidash on the basis of originality - as above, the judges don’t like being punked! You won’t be disqualified per se, but you’re sure as sure not going to win anything by thinking you can cheat the rules.
Q: Are gen 5 characters allowed?
A: Yep! You can pair purely within gen 5, or pair across the generations for some truly unique and spicy combos.
Prizes
This year we have a prize pool totaling at $250:
First place receives $100.
Second place receives $60.
Third place receives $40.
5 Judge's Picks will receive $10 each.
Judges
DaOtterGuy
Howdy, hi! I’m the otter gay guy. I write mostly Flash Sentry being gay with different stallions, pairings that no one would normally write. I have been a judge before on several contests and am excited to be a judge for this one! I look forward to everyone’s pairings entries and wish you all the best creative energy to write!
RedParade
Red Parade is a big fan of obscure shipping having created one of his own involving Fiddlesticks and Lightning Dust, the two most important characters in all of MLP.
Zontan
Hello, everypony! I’m Zon, and I mostly write stories that revolve around interesting characters and why they do the things they do. I’ve written a few crackships in my day, but I’m mostly going to be looking for characters who have chemistry with each other, and how they show that. I’ve been a judge for the May Pairings Contest last year, and that had some great entries, so I’m looking forward to seeing what you all come up with for this one.
Shaslan
There's no pairing like a rare one, and I love seeing the ways in which different characters' personalities can be explored by pairing them with different personalities. In this contest I'll be looking for writers who write the characters true to themselves while still finding a way to make crazy ships work. Can't wait to see what you all throw at us!
MushroomPone
Hey there, I’m Mushroom! I’ve been active in the rarepair scene and the contest-judging scene for a while now. There’s nothing I love more than an odd pairing that just works—romantic or otherwise. I’m super excited to see what you all bring to the table this year! Happy writing!
Good luck everyone! Make sure to join the group here to submit and contact us with any questions!
I actually used to do a lot of fics like this for RWBY, back when I used AO3. I'll see about posting something for this! Good luck, people!
Are straight pairings allowed? I can't help but notice that every single pairing mentioned in the post isn't. This contest is about queer pairings, but how queer?
5778387
Straight pairings are allowed, again as long as they are original. I probably just came up with all female characters off the top of my head in the writeup for this.
5778388
Thank you for the fast answer.
I got a unique story in mind, so I hope it gets decent reviews when I publish it. Good luck everyone.
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You know what... I'm in! Now let's see if I have any ships that are rare, unique or... Oh right... All of mine are...
Looks like I’m joining.
i have plans i can't share because the haters [me] will sabotage me
good cooking everypony, may your crackship prevail
Hmm, I know it's potentially risky to say my idea, but I doubt anyone else'd go for it: Caramel x Apple Bloom. As common as it is to see Apple family characters together, he's on the fringes (if he's even really part of the family proper), and I don't think they ever interact, or any stories currently ship them (EDIT: okay there's technically one that's Mature-rated of course, but nothing like, has them have a proper relationship), so that'd count, right?
It'll be definitely intriguing to see what comes out of this contest
I’ll give someone an idea. Autumn Blaze and Vinyl Scratch. One that wanted to talk and sing but couldn’t, and one that likely can’t speak and plays music through machines.
Would Discord and Angel/the Mane 6 pets count?
Love a good crackship. Good time to just not take things seriously.
Personally, my favorite is Twilight with Flim and/or Flam, solely on account of Music Man reference.
COOL, can i write a crossover romance?
Sweet! Here's my entry:
It was a beautiful day in Ponyville, where Vinyl Scratch and Flim Skim were making sweet love down by the fire.
THE END
What do I win?
(Yeah, yeah, I know, standard "1,000-word minimum for published stories.")
🍌 🍌 🍌
🍌 🍌 🍌
5778387
I noticed that, in fact, it seems like when human OC x canon pony is not involved, just canon characters shipping, F/F out numbers M/F. On M/F, I guess it'll be hard pressed to find original ships involving Big Mac or Spike since they seem to be the main male characters shipped with female characters. Although on that note, any submission I make will be F/F.
I think my submission in 2022 was very rushed, while in 2023 it was much better. I wonder if this time if I enter, that it'll be a story I can be proud of, which to an extent my submission from 2023 is.
5778700
I can't top that! Let's see who can make second place.
Interesting observation about the spirit of the rules: some ships that seem like they’re rarepairs are, in fact, formerly popular ships that have become rare.
I took my potential pairing to check just how rare it was and added
-#equestria-girls -#crossover -#anthro -#pornto the search. That cut the results from 150 to 75. Still more popular than I wanted. Then I sorted by date approved.Only five stories in the past five years.
Removing the tag filters, and it’s an equal mix of EqG & crossovers, not the porn, that swell the number published in the past 5 years to around 25. The vast majority of those are quite clearly intended as ensemble pieces, so who knows if my pair even interacted.