4192150

I ran into the same issue with my votes, which is why I had some trouble spreading them out into more of a bell curve. There are a lot of excellent reads in this round, and I really wanted to vote too many of them too highly.

It is a terrible burden, indeed, to be surrounded with so much amazing talent.

4191910

There is something liberating-ish in throwing my hands up about author guessing.

4192604
Awww. You know you want to guess me for some-thing~!

(or you could guess somepony for everything so they automatically lose the detection award (cough.horizon.cough) )

4192393

We have a strong suspicion, because the planetary collision that spawned our moon is believed to be extremely rare. Add anthropic principle, shake. Also, the only theories on abiogenesis that make any sense require tidal flats, and that requires a large moon for a small planet.

Almost none of the theories for abiogenesis require tidal flats, and the fact that life was in the ocean for so long (and on land for so little time) suggests rather strongly to me that they're unnecessary. Moreover, tidal flats can be produced in other ways.

4192375
The "protective gas giant" idea was popular for a while, but now they think that gas giants may actually be bad for planets like Earth due to their unpleasant tendency to throw their weight around and mess up orbits.

Anyway...

Ugh, I don't even know what to say about the actual STORIES at this point. What's wrong with me?

4192782
I could honestly make a better case for these offhand comments on the origins of life if I weren't on a deadline, I swear. Just so you know I'm not pulling things directly out of the air here.

My dual-class fiance/husband needs to go get his hair chopped off tomorrow morning for Locks of Love, as a show of support for his sister who has Stage III breast cancer. He's been through some awful losses in his life, and his sister getting breast cancer has been super hard on him. Pretty much anything that reminds him of it is not good, yet he is still doing things like this anyway which has not been easy. Hopefully she will end up okay. My Cadance sister-in-law is a wonderful person with a nearly three year-old daughter who should have a mommy. I've never really been this close to loss, personally, which is pretty strange given that I'm almost 40. (She's my age, give or take a year. Fuck breast cancer, pony. Just fuck it.)

Anyway, I'm rambling, and this is why I need to shut up and read/vote now instead of later. I'll be quiet until reviews are done for this reason.

4192403
The important thing is that your votes represent how you feel the stories actually scored; whatever your distribution is should reflect your feelings about the stories. If you feel like there isn't a big difference between them, so be it. If you feel they're really spread out, so be it.

Don't feel obligated to make your votes follow a specific pattern.

4192951 In the process of distributing my votes out in a relatively defined curve, I was forced to define my goals for the scoring of each story a bit more. I'll be happy for whoever should win in the end, but I also feel pretty strongly about a few stories that I think deserve the higher spots. Clumping too many others towards the high end that I also liked (as I did before) was adding too much weight to them.

But I agree - we should all vote how we feel on the stories. That process just helped to clarify and define that a bit more, for me.

Well, Roger changed the numbering, so all the reviews posted during the preliminary round can't be cross-referenced anymore. Here goes my take on the finalists, minus the ones I already covered in my preliminary batch. I'm spreading out my votes on these, so they don't fit my usual scale. As finalists, I assume I would have ranked them all 6 or higher with the full set, but I rescaled them all to use (mostly) the full range.

1. I shall Please
What I liked: Good characterization of the two. Their voicing comes through nicely. I'm glad to see you getting at Silver Shill's motivation.
What I didn't: The resolution is kind of weak here. I get that you're trying to delve into Shill's back story and invest him with some sympathy, but there's just not that much there to do so. I don't get a sense of his personality, and Flim and Flam aren't exactly putting on the hard sell. He's not under that much pressure.

2. Laughter Is The Second Best Medicine
What I liked: Pinkie's voice is right on. I can easily see her doing this. Very nice twist at the end. That was sweet.
What I didn't: Some mechanical hiccups. The end was a bit saccharine. Really, the sentiment was already there. I think it would have been just as thoughtful but more... I don't know, realistic? if Twilight had tried to tell an actual joke. Then she's returning the exact favor. See, Pinkie was bringing something uniquely hers, but Twilight's not doing anything personalized to her or Pinkie, so it would add that nice touch.

7. First, Last and Always
What I liked: Great character moments. This is another topic that gets dealt with a lot in fanfiction, and while I won't say it's wholly original, it at least focuses on that point of character evolution, so it's more about them and less about the parents. Still, it's right on the tipping point of well-mined ground.
What I didn't: One or two very minor mechanical stumbles. I actually would have liked seeing some sort of reaction from Apple Bloom. Not necessarily her getting upset, as you definitely don't want to go maudlin, but maybe just looking confused, like she realizes something's changed but she can't figure out what.

8. Opportunity in the Community
What I liked: I'm glad you didn't actually come out and call it snake oil, as I believe it was implying. It's nice to leave a little nugget like that for the reader to find.
What I didn't: This probably isn't fair, because I don't really have any complaint about the story, but it doesn't seem very weighty. The brothers don't seem that invested in the outcome, and really, wouldn't they be happy for a steady customer? And on the comical side, this was more amusing than outright funny.

9. Granny Knows Best
What I liked: The interaction between Pinkie and her granny was sweet, and this is a totally believable pre-rainboom version of her.
What I didn't: "a big chunk of rhodite." Wow, if they have that just lying around, how are they not incredibly rich? The end felt like a huge misstep. You build up this discussion of laughter, yet that's not where the story leads. At least not thematically, since you seem to be going for a joke at the end, but one that would be funny to the reader, not to Pinkie. It just comes out of nowhere, and it wasn't really even funny, just an "oh yeah, I was wondering what other kind of soup might be golden." So... fumble on the 1-yard line, I guess?

10. Lament
What I liked: The language is nice, and there's a good characterization of an unsure and troubled Luna.
What I didn't: One pretty big metrical stumble in the poem. Ugh, don't tell me Celestia trailed off when the punctuation shows her cutting off. The early part of the second scene gets bogged down a bit in that Luna expresses the same sentiment two or three times. Then again with Celestia. It never leads anywhere. The last sentence defuses what was a building character moment for Luna, but it doesn't suggest any resolution.

11. White Lies
What I liked: Good character from Applejack. I could see this happening in the show.
What I didn't: Why can't people spell "y'all"? The mention of their parents was probably unnecessary. Maybe it's just a symptom of the limited word count, but there wasn't enough space here to explore Applejack's change of heart.

12. I Want to Go Home
What I liked: I like this sense that Twilight is discovering the hard way how Celestia and Luna must see things.
What I didn't: There's a whole lot of world-building here that just doesn't make sense to me. Maybe they would go back to segregated tribes, but forgetting about history, technology, and the like? There was never any indication that it was the alicorns who gave society this drive, so if it wasn't like that before, then why would it go there after? It's implied that it was a reversion, not some new state, but in any case, it isn't given any justification. Or why these ponies in particular left. Was Cadence being an idealist, or had she become disenchanted with how their society runs? I have nothing with which to put stock in the story's background.

13. It's a Fine Line
What I liked: Great character moment, and Rarity makes a good argument, if slightly misguided, but one appropriate to her.
What I didn't: For a story which took a limited narration in Rarity's perspective, it doesn't do anything with that at the end, where it could do the most work. There's no sense of satisfaction or justification she gives off, and there's no evidence that Twilight has come around much, either. For all I know, she's conceded the point without becoming convinced. I'm also not sure I could see Rarity putting Twilight, Aloe, and Lotus all on the spot like that.

16. Aspirations
What I liked: A lot of good characterization in this round, as expected. Good voices for the two, Rarity in particular.
What I didn't: I'm a little surprised at the lack of a reaction when Sweetie Belle hears Rarity's admission. I'm also surprised that Rarity puts it out of her mind and goes back to work. This is the thing that pretty much everyone realizes will likely result in her getting a cutie mark, and Rarity's content to let it fall off her radar? I'd figure she'd go listen at the door. For this short a word count, it wasn't really relevant to go into the details of what Rarity was making, but if you choose to expand the story later, it makes for a nicer narrative.

18. In the Fields
What I liked: Great moment between Applejack and Winona, and I like that she can get out of business mode because she needs it as much as Winona does.
What I didn't: "the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding" Oh jeez, that is the most cliched thing. The conflict is weak here, as it's some vague, off-camera illness, so the story doesn't have much direction at the end.

21. To Soothe the Savage Breast
What I liked: Structurally good. Though I wonder why you put that horizontal rule at the end. Were you expecting to add another sonnet? This does a better job than most poetry at saying something concrete.
What I didn't: That said, it doesn't delve into exactly why these pairs know each other and want to get together, so it's kind of haphazard. I like that we see their internal impressions of what music means to them, and in a variety of ways, too—some focus on their own experiences, while others say how the others' music makes them feel. Still, it's just those impressions; it doesn't lead anywhere or make a bigger point or grow the characters beyond "music lovers," which I could surmise already.

23. The Laughter I Choose to Be
What I liked: Very nice character voice for Pinkie, and a surprising twist as well. This probably wouldn't have worked a couple of years ago, when there was a glut of such stories about, but it's not so saturated now.
What I didn't: From what few comments she's made about Granny Pie, I don't buy that she'd never heard laughter before. Isn't that who told her to "giggle at the ghosties"? This spends an awful lot of time rehashing old episodes. I guess it's necessary to establish her mindset, but if you choose to expand this later, I'd focus on the latter parts, as having half the story as recap isn't a good idea. So how did the changelings in the invasion not realize what she was? For that matter, focusing on her conflicting loyalties there is probably a good direction to go.

25. One Untended and Apart
What I liked: Good bleak tone, and I appreciate it as an obvious play at a fairy tale, which not all such stories are.
What I didn't: There are two different fairy tale styles, and this one is trying to play both, which isn't quite working. One is to have a very playful, whimsical tone, and the elements of that present here are the persistent repetition and using simple sentence structures almost exclusively. The other is to have a very pompous, overblown feel, and the seriousness would seem to go in that direction, yet the language is a little too simple for that. So this ends up feeling like a weird mishmash to me. I have zero idea what the repeated first/last line is supposed to mean. And given that all the apples were recovered, which should have been enough to support everyone, why not leave enough to sustain her? He never expresses a motivation to punish her or anything, so it seems rather pointless.

28. Back On That Horse
What I liked: It's hard to get into Scootaloo's character, what with the narrative disconnect (more on this below), but Dash makes a very nice appearance here.
What I didn't: The language and phrasing here are too advanced for a limited narrator in Scootaloo's perspective. It's actually easier to do a flat spin in a free fall. A free fall is often the result of a flat spin. How does Scootaloo not know about all the times Dash has crashed around Ponyville?

29. The Problem with Prokaryotes
What I liked: Germ-phobic Sweetie Belle is great. I can see her responding in this way.
What I didn't: Twilight reacts a little to events, but mostly in a telly manner. The girls just seem to be along for the ride, though, neither interested nor bored with it. A few mechanical issues. It feels odd to have the first scene omniscient, then switch to limited right at the end. Saving the hazmat suit for the joke is okay, but it creates a disconnect when your limited narrator notices that last. The ending... well, it teases at an incident we have no knowledge of, so it carries little power. And it doesn't resolve anything, either Rarity's situation or Sweetie Belle's fears.

30. The Cure for Death
What I liked: A rather creative concept, and the interaction between Philomena and Celestia at the end had a nice touch to it. I'll be curious to see who wrote this, because it shares a couple of elements with one of my entries in the last minific event. Not that that would be a problem. I just wonder whether that served as a spark for ideas.
What I didn't: The plot starts to unravel a bit when someone starts thinking about it too much. Like why nobody has tried this before, and what sort of condition Philomena might even be in after turning back. They never really consider the possibilities. Would she be dead, since that point has already passed for her pony self? Somehow young again? I think the most obvious one is that she'd pick up where she left off, still old and in poor health. It just seems like they didn't think their way through it enough.

32. If You Can't Cry...
What I liked: I like non-standard funeral settings, and Pinkie is certainly one who I think would have a different kind. I've always been partial to a New Orleans-style jazz funeral for her.
What I didn't: Several of the emotional beats just feel off here, like ponies laughing after the first sentence of the letter. And the ending makes its point very swiftly and bluntly. It's like you realized you had 25 words left and needed to wrap it up posthaste.

33. Hometown Support
What I liked: Good to see Maud turn up. It makes me wonder if not even Pinkie knew what she needed (though that may be a bit of a stretch), or she could have told her friends.
What I didn't: A number of mechanical issues. Kind of tired Maud puns, there. With her penchant for poetry, why not a silly limerick?

34. Intention
What I liked: This is a good situation set up where Scootaloo is in an interesting conflict. I'd like to connect with her source of pain better, though—is she mad at herself for messing up, mad at Rumble for the same, maybe both? She's kind of generically mopey.
What I didn't: That first paragraph is a little confusing. I think some of the wording got jumbled. Having a lot of this told as exposition weakens the effect. A flashback would probably do the job better. And the ending is completely unresolved. An open ending is fine, but we need to have some emotional investment in the options, and Scootaloo sure doesn't show any. You had a little word count left to try it.

35. Ten Degrees
What I liked: Cute interactions between the two, and I like this more restrained take on them, rather than the madcap wackiness I usually see.
What I didn't: The emotional presentation is a little on the telly side. I don't buy that Bon Bon would think her candy wouldn't taste good. It may not look presentable, but she knows better. The ending is awfully abrupt, too, like Bon Bon had a magically instant change of heart. I suspect you rushed the last bit to make word count without evening out the pacing.

4192774

I vibed on you once or twice but I forgot which ones they are and I'm all 'bluhhhh workdays bluhhh' and can't care any longerrrr

4191385 I've seen a total eclipse; they're awesome. I was sort of bummed this one wouldn't be near me. This may be a little late, but the (easy) safe way to see one is to watch the reflection in water.

4192951
I strongly, strongly, strongly feel votes should be normalized. Super-duper extra strongness of strength and votedo's.

Ponies who vote more critically get a much larger vote share, and that's not fair. The "best to worst" system is perfect. Or, give us a limited number of points to distribute. Or, do it as we do it currently, but then normalize (I think this is the best option because it distributes voting more evenly for those people who vote them all high because they find all of them to be good, and that's what that should mean: if somepony's lowest score is an 8, that fic should still rank highly).

I generally find stories to be more interesting and fun than most authors here who are more well-read than I, so my votes are worth less than the average (and significantly less than yours). But I can't change my voting pattern without being dishonest about how I actually view the stories. I'm not going to start chopping points off to give myself more of a vote.

So, "The Symposium" has been edited and published.

I will add it to the folders when they are ready.

4194023
If we wanted to normalize everyone's scores, we would just do ordinal ranking of all the stories. We don't do it that way because we believe that there's information in people's distribution curves.

If I feel like there are a bunch of good stories, a few middling stories, and a bunch of bad stories, and someone else feels like there are a bunch of middling stories, with a few bad ones and a few good ones, those are not the same opinion and normalizing the scores will remove information about our opinion on the relative merits of each story, and thereby make the voting less representative of the judges' true opinions of the merits of the stories.

As long as everyone votes honestly according to their true opinion of the relative merits of the stories, there isn't an issue. You should use the whole scale, but you shouldn't alter the distribution of your scores.

4138470
We need a folder for this month's write-off.

4194023

Ponies who vote more critically get a much larger vote share

Only if you interpret "vote share" as "amount of points distributed".

Sure, people whose votes form a bell curve with an average of 5 will impact the individual scores of every story a lot more than someone who thought every story bland and rated everything between 4 and 6.

However, the one person rating everything between 4 and 6 will contribute to "smoothing out" the votes, lessening the gap between the 10's and the 0's. And if that person thinks every entry was about the same in quality, that's of course what they should aim to do.

The "Best to Worse" system does a perfect job of sorting the entries according to how they were perceived in general, but it says absolutely nothing about how the stories compare to each other. Numeric voting does, which is why it's still used in the finals (or so I assume).

So I don't agree when you say votes should be normalized. Your votes should reflect your actual opinions.

4194063

You should use the whole scale

Why?

Also, you say there is information in people's distribution curves, which I agree with. But since the distribution curves aren't publicly available, isn't that information hidden? (or maybe you can access this stuff; I'm no regular here)

KEEP IN MIND.
I'm not a mathematician, nor a statistician - I can barely spell those words. So if you think I'm dead wrong about something I said here, do tell me. I'm still in the process of rating the finalists, and of course I'll spread out my votes if I'm incorrect.

4194063
As an relevant comment, there may be contradictory definitions of 'normalizing' at play here. What Trick was pondering and you caution against interprets it as equal-interval or something similar (and I'm not entirely sure where that interpretation comes from, exactly); what you suggest with "use the whole scale but don't alter your distribution" is, I am fairly sure, the correct technical use of the word.

A rough example: say you had a distribution of five stories at seven, one story eight, and two stories ten... simple enough. To normalize, then, you would probably split that 'five at seven' to two or three each at zero or one, your 'one at eight' somewhere around four or five, and your tens either stay there or have one bumped down to nine.

(Crude attempt at textual graphing below, apologies if formatting breaks... it looks correct to me with the default text settings, whatever they are.)
5 1 2
BEFORE: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

3 2 1 1 1
AFTER: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

So, for finals voting I've been using a slightly different scale than I used to when I was voting for the full pack. Mostly it just stretches the middle out, but it comes down to:
1 = This story did nothing for me, 3 = This story is fairly enjoyable, 5 = This story is good, 7 = This story is really good, 9 = I love this story. Even numbers are a bump up or down for a specific detail I liked.

So my rankings this time were:
10: I Will Learn; 4th District Court, Canterlot, 11:35 a.m.
9: First, Last and Always; Scootaloo, M.D.
8: I Want to Go Home; The Perfect Cure for the Common Cold
7: Good Girl; Ten Degrees
6: Lament; It's a Fine Line; Love at First Sight; The Laughter I Choose to Be
5: The Topiary Garden; Opportunity in the Community; Aspirations; In the Fields; One Untended and Apart; The Problem with Prokaryotes
4: I Shall Please; White Lies; To Sooth the Savage Breast; Hometown Support
3: Laughter is the Second Best Medicine; Mondays; Balm; Love and Other Bandages; Back on the Horse; The Cure for Death; Gilda Has the Floor; Intention
2: The Poetry of Politics; Granny Knows Best; A Healthy Obsession; Light and Dark; If You Can't Cry...
1: --
0:--

My author guessing sheet looks a little weird. My method is to guess authors I know for anything they might have written, regardless of how many I think they actually wrote. (So, even if I thought TD only wrote two stories, I still might guess him for six because it's more likely that the two he wrote are in there than that I would correctly guess which two and guess a third story by someone I'm less familiar with.) Then I randomly guess authors I don't know for stories I have no idea about, in case I hit one by luck.

But I will mention that The Laughter I Choose to Be is giving me fits because I see strong arguments for it being either HoofBitingActionOverload or Trick Question, with JaketheGinger as a possible dark horse. Of course, saying this assures that none of them wrote it.

As usual, if you have any questions when this thing is done, feel free to ask!

Trixie's Finalist Reviews (3 of 3)! Bonus: The Artificial Donkey and Trixie's Yoga Pants

The Laughter I Choose to Be
I love the story itself, especially given that it is yet another Pinkiecentric tale. However, the writing has some issues. The biggest issue by far is that Pinkie's voice varies from spot-on, to waaaay off. Maybe you were trying to hint that taking her down memory lane pulls her into a non-Pinkie headspace? That is a wild guess, because it didn't work for me. I think this is another story that was too long to fit into 750 words, but I'm grateful you tried, because it gave me pinkafeels. You need more context at the end to explain the confusing parts in the beginning, like how the descriptions of the babies are the other hatchlings, not the Pies (at least I think that's the case, because that part of the story makes no sense otherwise). Fortunately, I did a Google search on changelings, and discovered that Pinkies irises are the same color as a changeling's eyes, which is admittedly creepy. Half a sentence during the reveal (maybe the eyes being "easy") would be enough to give readers a better clue. This needs work, but I really look forward to seeing this one fixed up.

4th District Court, Canterlot, 11:35 a.m. (sic)
Damn, but this is one of the best. It's the best of the hilarious fics, easily. Imaginative; funny; unconventional; perfectly written. I suspect in Equestria that music just starts playing whenever anypony begins singing. I have no suggestions at all, but I still find the quartet-poem more impressive. I also like the headcanon of Flim and Flam being unnaturally good at the evil they do.

Back On That Horse (sic)
I love Scoots so much. She is second-best pony. I love Scootadash and they are perfect caring tearjerking pair of awesome buddies together. This story was a very simple, butt touching and well-characterized ride. It got my adrenaline racing for many different reasons (but no, not that reason), and I loved reading it. Personal disclosure follows. I've been a daredevil myself, and something you never hear Dash say (but should!) is that if you never get hurt, you're not pushing yourself hard enough to improve. With any sport like skating or scootering, that is the straight-up truth, and I know this from a lot of personal experience. In risky sports, scrapes and bang-ups really are your war wounds. You learn from those who came before you that it's not embarrassing at all: it's enboldening, and honorable. Not killing yourself, but being willing to do what it takes to get better even when sometimes you faceplant. I'd like to see Dash admit she still makes mistakes when training for new and better tricks (and she does!), but I might have to write that one myself for it to happen. (And they'd better bucking address Scootaloo's disability in Season 5 more than a "oops can't fly guess it's okay derp".)

The Problem with Prokaryotes
This is cute, and very much in character. "I should write a dissertation..." That is not how that works or what that word means. I like that Rarity has basically concluded that what fillies do is scream nonstop for no reason because Sweetie seems to; I can totally picture Rarity generalizing quickly enough to create a sufficiently accurate theory for handling Sweetie Belle, and then just leaving it there. Rarity's, "give Sweetie PTSD once, shame on you..." headspace seems intended for silliness or humor, but the ending here left me hanging on why Rarity seems eager to prevent her sister from getting an education. Is that the proper course of action when Sweetie Belle has severe psychological problems? :sweetieunsure: I don't think that was the intent, but it came across that way and then the story abruptly ended. I think this fic would be better with an extended resolution.

The Cure for Death
You made me cry, you beautiful bastard. This is a great story. However, I'm a little put off by the fact that moments from death is when all of this is happening, and this is really not something somepony would do on their deathbed unless they were desperate and afraid. When you're dying, you want closure. If she's actually comfortable with her lot, as she seems to be, she wouldn't be begging for immortality, because she would want to close doors for herself and even moreso for her Princess. This makes the exchange very awkward, and it seems less than noble despite her insistence that the Princess "deserves an immortal assistant". I think the story would be much better if Celestia herself came up with the idea, and the dying mare reluctantly agreed to it. That would be realistic, it would make perfect sense, and the dying mare wouldn't seem like kind of a douche who wants to guilt a close friend right as she dies, which is awful. There is some grammatical awkwardness at the onset, such as the tense change in, "She spotted her friend on the hospital bed, walking toward her and placing a hoof on hers." It should be "...walked toward her, and placed...". Just little things, though, which don't lessen the impact of an otherwise strong story.

Gilda Has the Floor
This is emotional, realistic, and well-written, and it gave me great feels. I'm almost certain the author is Titanium Dragon. A couple of character issues pulled me out of the narrative, though. I don't think AJ would continue serving alcohol to Gilda until she nearly kills herself with it, unless perhaps Gilda hides her drunkenness well (a note on that would go a long way). I think Dash would want to hug Gilda, once she sees how much she's hurting, and tell her things are okay despite the fact Dash is off the market. As is, it really looks like Dash invited her former friend just to rub it in her face, which is awfully out of character for her. Nopony supports Gilda in any way when she's at her worst (prior to nearly killing herself), which is unponylike. Worst of all, nopony even sticks around to see if she's even alive afterwards! This is horrific to me. Blacking out from alcohol can easily kill you in a number of ways, vomit clogging your windpipe being one of the biggest risks. I can't believe anypony would let this happen. But: if I can somehow brush all of that aside, the story is perfect.

If You Can't Cry...
Oh HELL no.

If You Can't Cry... (second attempt)
Okay, this was pretty cute, somehow. You succeeded at a very dangerous literary task, and I commend you for it. I have a significant problem with "pony Mentos and pony Coca-Cola". It's the only metahumor in the piece, which detracts from the realism of the rest of the story. It's cute and funny, but inconsistent with the rest of the visual, immersive experience. That one phrase almost ruined the story for me. Why not, "Muletos and diet cola"? It can be silly without pulling me out of the story. You don't have to do an exaggerated wink at the reader to get them to chuckle. You're already trying to make a funeral hilarious, and that's hard enough already.

Intention
I like the story, with two caveats. First, Dash's total lack of information on Rumble is overdone. Like, she knows what room he's in, and recommends Scoots go visit him right away, yet doesn't even know if he's dead or not. Second, the last paragraph falls flat with me. Nitpicks follow. "...on the white, blank that she'd..." On the white, blank, what exactly? You are missing a noun. I can't hear "sq- Scootaloo" in my head, so I'm not sure what phonetic meaning you're trying to convey there. Was she starting to say "squirt", maybe...? That's just a wild guess, because it's really vague. "squir-" would be better. Similarly, "H-he," doesn't really work as a nervous stutter (try saying it, note that the high tongue placement in the back of the mouth prevents an easy stutter, if you're actually trying to make the hard 'h'). Maybe, "He, uh," or something. I'm not trying to be a harddonkey on this or anything, I just think a lot of these don't sound right phonetically when you imagine them.

Ten Degrees
I like this story (I squee'd at Bon-buns ), but it didn't really have much impact. I was bothered by the plot a little, too: you don't set chocolate by placing it on a windowsill in hot weather when the interior of your business is frosty cool. That is totally nonsense-bonkers and wat. I understand it's just a plot gimmick, but it's much too large of a hole for me to ignore. The ending was a little flat for me: one sentence isn't enough of a resolution, and it "meh's" the story right when we arrived at the interesting part. Maybe Bon-Bon discovers, after tasting the treats, that she serendipitously discovered a new recipe? Maybe they decide to go do something together? Maybe a thing happens? This confectionary is very sweet, but it needs more spice.

The Artificial Donkey
This is beautiful. The characters came to life, and it was touching, and very sad. I'd not be surprised if this fic had won the competition. So how the hell did my fic make the finals when this one didn't? I'm completely floored. I don't understand why ponies didn't score this one higher. It's better than most of the fics that made the final cut! This makes no logical sense at all, unless ponies misinterpreted it, or were unnervingly prudish, or something weird. I really don't get it. Anyway, I think it might be improved by a tiny mention that "the donkey was seen leaving town with a cart". This would give it a stronger tie to the show, a clearer resolution, and add a bittersweet note to detract from the hopelessness (fans could infer that this is when Cranky decided to begin his quest for Matilda, which would be wonderful). The ending makes me question whether the narrator actually understood that Bounder thought this was a sex device, and it leaves me uneasy not knowing what the narrator actually thought was going on because they are our viewport into the story. Maybe you meant that the narrator believed hugging the doll should be sufficient to indicate it was a sex device? Or maybe hugging the doll was weird enough to shame him even though the narrator didn't know why? One picky comment: I don't think "slat" implies anything strong enough to support the device. Maybe "plank" or "beam" or something else, but "slat" usually means Venitian blind thickness, and this thing is clearly bulky from its description.

Trixie Invents Yoga Pants
This is another fic that should have made the cut. It's cute, highly evocative, and much better than mine. Minor complaints follow. First word in, and I'm not happy: I hate circle-jerk meta-references (there's a good reason Fimfiction won't let you publish stories revolving around them). This isn't the n****t word (so it's not nearly as offensive), but it's still equally dumb. Also, I don't think "killing two birds with one stone" is a pony expression, so that kind of pulls me out of the story. Finally: "Doesn't Trixie's ass look fantastic?" "This line is called Full-On Luna." ...okay, I can maybe see why ponies think I wrote this one. You did this on purpose, didn't you?

4193114

It's nice to leave a little [redacted] like that for the reader to find.

I HATE ALL OF YOU

4193718
It's not that unstable. It would form naturally: as gravity in the disc pulls together to create Earth, some of the mass coalesces at a Lagrange point which wouldn't affect the initial stability of the orbit. Both planets are orbiting the sun, so there's no reason one or the other would "fall in", so to speak. Keep in mind the Earth's orbit is pretty large. The distance between the two planets was big, and the Sun heavily dominates the three-body system. It took millions of years before the instability led to monster truck planet kaboom show at the Expo.

4194063
No, it makes a big difference. I'll use the power of math after I've done my voting to illustrate this (please poke me if I forget).

Here's the top half of my curve.

10: Good Girl, To Soothe the Savage Breast, Love and Other Bandages
9: Love at First Sight, 4th District Court, Canterlot, a.m.
8: The Poetry of Politics, Balm, A Healthy Obsession, Gilda Has the Floor

Good luck to all (in the next 20 seconds)!

Spectral: finals ratings & reviews

I read & rated everyone's today. My brain hurts.

HoofBitingActionOverload (I think) said something about originality going a very long way. I agree - I get jaded very quickly when reading these many. I included some brief thoughts/reviews on the stories that managed to grab my attention.

Distribution:
10: -
9: 1
8: 4
7: 2
6: 7
5: 6
4: 5
3: 6
2: 3
1: -
0: -

Average: 5.03

Top five, no particular order:
4th District Court, Canterlot, 11:35 a.m.
A Healthy Obsession
I Will Learn
To Soothe the Savage Breast
Hometown Support

1. I Shall Please
Is this linked to 4th District Court?
I think Flim and Flam's voices were slightly off – they've never stricken me as this... righteous?
As a standalone, this isn't very interesting. The writing is all right, though.

2. Laughter Is The Second Best Medicine
The first scene in the library is a bit "too much", if you get me? If you don't, that's too bad, because I'm not sure I can describe it better. Something about how Pinkie acts.
Either way, the ending scene is cute something fierce. Like, a lot. Love it.
The opening still drags this one down a bit, however.

3. The Topiary Garden
I liked this one. Cute, heart-warming, and funny.
I can't help but wonder where Celestia is, but that's out of scope. This story does a good job at telling us only what we need to know, which isn't really much.
Nicely done.

12. I Want to Go Home
This was interesting. Very much so. Nice job.

14. Scootaloo, M.D.
Kinda silly, but made me smile.

17. Love at First Sight
I don't like how Echo falls head over hooves for Pinkie – it's not believable, at all. That being said, this is one of the stories in here that I feel has potential, and I would definitely read an expanded and refined version.

As a minific, there are definitely better ones, but this could, unlike most minifics, actually be expanded into an interesting full-blown story.

Also, you don't tell us much about Echo at all. No gender, no age, no race. It works perfectly fine here, but will be very hard to pull off for a longer story. It might turn out rewarding, though.

So yeah. Judged as a minific for this competition, the story doesn't get into my top five. However, it is without a doubt the entry I'd most love to see expanded.

Great job. Now get writing. /joking

19. I Will Learn
I really like this one. I think the final line should be in verse, however – it'd be a nice conclusion. At the moment, that line is kinda cliché, and honestly pretty lame.

21. To Soothe the Savage Breast
Fun fact: I learned what Iambic Pentameter is by reading everyone's comments about this entry.
And now that I can actually appreciate the meter in this one, it becomes really impressive.
Really well done. Great entry.

23. The Laughter I Chose to Be
I don't know what to say. I did not see that coming. You've got me impressed.

25. One Untended and Apart
This was interesting. I kinda wished for some kind of redemption for Antonovka, but hey – it did have the vibe of one of those old traditional tales with a moral and everything, so props for that.

26. 4th District Court, Canterlot, 11:35 a.m.
This story is downright hilarious. The formatting may seem weird at a glance, but the story wouldn't work without it.
Really good job whoever wrote this.

27. Love and Other Bandages
At first, I thought this really weird, but the reveal at the end redeemed it. Nice.

30. The Cure for Death
This one is cool, and really interesting.
Minor plot-hole in that if this was possible, we'd see a lot more phoenixes around present day. Still a solid entry.

32. If You Can't Cry...
I kinda saw where it was going, but still funny. Nice.

Oh, look at the time.
Congratulations to horizon!

God damn it, Cold in Gardez. Do we need to give you your own minific competition?

Congratulations to horizon, Pascoite and CiG for the podium!

I seem to have won Most Controversial, didn't really expect it

I'm leaving - major headache. Will respond to reviews tomorrow.
Cheerio!

I had to take screencaps and save them so I could remember what I voted and whom I guessed. I really wish we could access that information through writeoff.me.

The Laughter I Choose to Be

I made several errors here but I think this story is salvageable. When I talked about babies never laughing: I was referring to the hatchlings. When I said baby-blue eyes: changelings have the same eye color as Pinkie's irises. The intent was that the story read completely differently after the reveal. I also drifted way too far outside of Pinkie's voice, in part because I didn't enmesh the changeling with her in my mind enough. Finally, there's a ton of stuff I wanted to add but didn't have space for. This one I'm definitely fixing up and publishing, even though it's crap at the moment.

Now I need to go help fiance do a thing for charity so I won't be able to converse or stuff until after.

I Shall Please

Or not, it would seem.

For this one, I started with the question “Which medicine would be the best?” Well, one that can do everything you want it to and nothing you don’t, and we have an alleged example of that in the show. So I decided to get the Flimflams’ perspective on the matter. Silver Shill provided the opportunity to have them deliver their spiel without having to talk to themselves.

Of course, the key problem was that that's all there was. This was a sales pitch, not a story. As many have noted, the characterization was strong, but there wasn't enough plot to go along with it. The main problem there is that in order for there to be more of one, the brothers would need to preach to someone who, unlike Silver Shill, is less impressionable than warm wax. Though I suppose I could front-load something and turn this into the resolution. Hmm...

The title is the English translation of the Latin "placebo." Depending on how you interpret it, it can also be seen as what the Flimflams will be doing with this scam.

I actually got the most guesses for this story. I suppose people are beginning to get a sense of my writing.

Congratulations to the winners. Especially horizon. Nearly two points ahead of the silver medalists. Dang.

Here are my review responses:

4152273 (horizon) Very good point regarding what to do with Silver Shill. I think I know how to make it work with his character.

4152327 (TitaniumDragon) Yeah, I got caught up in the Flimflam philosophizing.

4154818 (Baal Bunny) Well, given that the tonic is apple juice and pressed beet leaves, it seems like it’d nourish more than hydrate. It’s like one of those kale smoothies, not exactly what you’d call refreshing. See above for the meaning of the title.

4157762 (Cassius) I’m glad you liked the story, though I’m sorry it made you lose your honor. Also, please note that I am not the Avatar, and Fire Lord Pascozai will not love you again if you bring my body to him.

4166247 (Quill Scratch) Wow. I certainly wasn’t expecting to actually convince anyone with that argument. Yay?

4167866 (Chris) Good points about what to do with both the dashes and Silver Shill (though he struck me as rather weak-willed in the episode.)

4193114 As I noted above, Silver Shill strikes me as a pushover. He squeals the moment Applejack corners him and switches from “Lying is great!” to “Sirs, I am morally outraged by your dishonesty!” over the course of a few minutes. It didn’t seem like Flim and Flam would need to deliver the hard sell to that guy.

4194582 Who said the Flimflams were being sincere? You should take anything those two say with a pound of salt. And no, no relation to the winning story.

Congrats to all of the medalists!

4194597 I was going to joke earlier about just voting CiG for every story I couldn't identify in the Author Guessing. Looks like I really should have!

This was another fun, exhausting round of mini-fics. !

Well this marked a series of firsts. First time writing anonymously, first time having to read so much, first time entering a competition, first time writing a fic within such limited word constraints...

I'm surprised I did so well, really. I'm not sure I should've been in the finals to begin with but I'll take it. Thanks to those who read/enjoyed/reviewed.

I'm a little concerned Cold got so many entries in the finals. To be sure, he's a fantastic writer and person but God daymn... he got all seven of his entries in, which totals to a whole fifth of the finals. If that's not entirely discouraging/disappointing for some of the participants, in particular the new guys—of which there are many—I'm not sure what is. Maybe next time set a cap on the number of fics people can enter with for these types of competition?

Ah well. Kudos to Horizon and everyone else who participated! Looking forward to the next one.

4194279

with JaketheGinger as a possible dark horse

Writing a Pinkie fic for this competition would've been waaaay too predictable for me. I wanted to spice things up a little and I do love writing the CMC, so it was a win-win for me. Buuuuut...

4194064

How did you guess me correctly, you crafty bugger?

I find it amusing that people keep accusing me of being the changeling when everybody here is actually Cold in Gardez.

This was a fun little contest. Congrats to horizon for the strong win.

Question though. What does controversial mean in the context of the contest? And what's a participation ribbon?

Congrats to horizon, Pascoite, and the Cold in Gardez franchise!

Love at First Sight

People who thought I wrote multiple things must not have been paying attention to my whining about the prompt. As it is, this is based on an idea I talked about on my blog two years ago, but never wrote. I've always been a big believer that shipping an OC with the mane six needs to be based on the character first, with a good reason why they might connect with the other pony. A couple of things:

1) Echo is actually female, but I left that off on purpose, sort of. I actually got the fic done and realized that I left it out, then decided to leave it like that because it would be interesting to see where people defaulted, or if they noticed. The only real clue (which wasn't much of one) was that Echo in mythology is female, and using the name for an invisible pony was an allusion to her. Unless I missed something, Present Perfect is the only one who either picked up on that or just defaults female. Most people noticed there was no gender given.

As far as age, I just figured that everyone would assume like I do, that unspecified means "adult pony along the lines of the mane six and most background ponies." And Echo is an earth pony, but that doesn't matter much to the story. It's not like you have to visualize her.

2) As someone who actually experienced love at first sight (with my now husband) this is actually what it's like. It's not lust, as I've seen some people argue, but meeting someone in a way where all the social cues they give off slip right into "these are things I love in a person." If you are also in a position where you would really like to find someone with those qualities, this is totally enough to knock you off your feet. Or hooves in this case, when Echo met a pony who could look her in the eye and be totally comfortable with her situation. Note that nothing Pinkie said or did indicated if Pinkie is also in love, which is one of the frustrating things about love at first sight.

3) I always did intend this to be a longer fic. I might even get it written at some point.

4) I'm too lazy to look up the comment, but somewhere early in the competition Trick Question asked how people submit fics that are 750 words exactly. I know in my case, the whole morning before the deadline was spent removing sentences and individual words, adding words in other places, and muttering "I need three more words to add this. Where can I get three more words?"

5) The tie to the prompt is another "love is the best medicine" thing. Echo has talked to a bunch of magic specialists already, and the point was that whether or not Twilight's treatment works Echo already feels better about her condition.

All in all, I'm a bit surprised I scored as high as I did. I knew that shipping an OC with the mane six in a minific was hard mode. I'm glad so many people liked it!

Results are in! Congrats to our winners, horizon, Pascoite, and Cold in Gardez! Some great stuff from everyone too, this round.

Re: Ten Degrees

Well, the only real interpretation I got from the prompt was the whole hurt/comfort thing (aside from the obvious Pinkie Pie-related applications), and I wanted to steer clear of what I thought was going to be heavily saturated topics (NMM, Fluttershy, AJ's family). I had this silly idea about Lyra and a melting ice cream cone that slowly evolved to include Bon Bon, snuggles, and way too many pet names. It ended up being a lot of fun to write.

Just a few thoughts about the goals of the piece: I was trying to avoid some common pitfalls of shipping-related minifics by focusing on committed love rather than passionate or classically romantic love. The result called for Lyra and Bon Bon to be a bit more mellow than they're usually depicted, which looks like was hit-or-miss with a lot of reviewers. Still, I'm pretty happy with how the piece came out, overall.

4151354
Thanks for the feedback! Though I have to ask: Would this be a case of a "good-bad" story or a "bad-good" story in your opinion? I've been wondering ever since I saw your comment, and it's gotten to the point that I've made a few arguments going either way in my head.

4152327
You're absolutely on the spot, especially concerning the ending. I was running out of words, and I ended up trying too hard to tie things up with a pretty little bow. Thank you!

4154544
Of all my writeoff entries so far, this one is the one that I wanted to give another sweep for mechanical flubs the most. Thanks for pointing out some problem zones!

4154874
I agree with pretty much everything here.

4155598 4159581 4189663
I was actually proud of myself (to an embarrassing degree) when I came up with "Bon-buns." I mean, it's a pun on her name and a description of her cutie mark! Best nickname ever, amiriteguise?

Yeah, but in hindsight, using not one, not two, but three different pet-names kinda pushes the envelope, doesn't it?

4156845
I was under the impression that the whole "clearing the skies" deal in Winter Wrap Up was to warm things up. A matter of headcannon, I suppose.

4191250
I caught the whole living room/bedroom thing the morning after submissions closed. Needless to say that there was much weeping, and moaning, and gnashing of teeth.

4193114
In my head, Bon Bon is a bit of a worrywart. Here, she's supposed to be caring about things like presentation and perfection while Lyra kind of offsets that.

4194291
Okay, what I'm about to say is based entirely on a hazily-remembered documentary about food-making I saw while I was a kid, so if there are any confectioners with us, I apologize in advance. Anyways, I was under the impression that too cold is just as bad as too warm when it comes to letting high-end chocolate set. Something about condensation dissolving the glossy finish? I'm no expert. And yeah, I think the ending fell flat for everyone.

Thanks for another great event, everyone! I'm expecting to see a lot of these on the feature box in the coming weeks, so don't disappoint me, people of the Writeoffs!

4194732

Is this the closest we'll ever see of a Pinkie shipfic outta you?

I crave more!

4194742
It's not impossible that I could write another Pinkie ship, and I would like to finish this someday. It isn't the top of my priority list, but there is hope that I'll write more!

So, my obligatory explanation post.

"Gilda Has the Floor" is meant as a companion piece to a minific I wrote a while back called "A Trick of Memory," which I liked well enough to try stretching into a one-shot, but I didn't think had enough material to do so. I'm planning to combine the two into a story now, so if it felt like some context was missing here, I guess that's not surprising. It was deliberately structured to make the reader think it was a wedding in the first scene then realize it was a funeral in the second. A couple reviewers were undecided, and two never picked up on that, but 4152273 in particular went back to re-examine it after considering the possibility and still rejected it. And I don't get why. Consider the foreshadowing of a "dead" silence in the first scene. Then the specific objections in the second scene amounted to:
1) This really doesn't seem like a funeral ceremony.
To which I'd respond that the other entry featuring a Pinkie funeral had some decidedly non-standard things as well, which nobody objected to, and in both cases, these are exactly the two ponies I'd expect to have deliberately unusual funerals.
2) Some of the things Gilda said.
"Don't need Gilda anymore." Well... she doesn't.
"Why'd she even invite me to this?" Calling back to the point about non-standard funerals, I see this as actually being true. It could be chalked up to Gilda being drunk and misspeaking, but as I intended it, Dash spelled out how she wanted her funeral to go, including a celebratory atmosphere, toasts to her awesomeness, and a guest list, either because she just wanted to plan for that eventuality in general or because she was in a situation where she knew her death was likely coming, which spurred her to plan for it.

I'm not going to change those things about it, but in the context of adding that second story to it and having room to expand both, it should make sense. The one thing I couldn't get to in the word space here in particular is that while some attendees were in favor of just dragging Gilda out of the way and leaving her there on the floor while they continued, they did grudgingly decide someone should look after her, and Pinkie immediately volunteered.

"The Poetry of Politics" is one of those stories where I just picked a character I wanted to write about and invented a short situation to put her in, but I didn't end up having enough space to give it the proper gravity and spent the least time editing/fine-tuning it, even though it took me the longest to write. I'll probably try to make a one-shot out of this eventually. If anyone is interested in the concept of cutie mark mutability (and doesn't think I'm a hack) should check out Until Forever.

"A Healthy Obsession" was my last idea, but one that immediately clicked with me. I honestly thought "Gilda Has the Floor" was a more powerful story, but this one was purely fun. On reviewer complained that Twilight wouldn't be left home alone at that age, but Rarity leaves Sweetie Belle alone in "For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils," and the Apples decide Apple Bloom can not only stay home alone but handle the chores (which seems to be the more serious part of the discussion) in "Somepony to Watch Over Me." I realize laws are more strict about this now, but when I was 8, I'd stay home alone when sick.

Unlike more recent events, these results do seem to jive well with what I would have expected, except that I didn't think I'd medal at all. Maybe things just averaged out more than usual? There was a huge variety in what people considered their top and bottom favorites (wow, bookplayer really thinks I suck), as shown by the huge gap between gold and silver and the fact that 2nd through 20th place are all within a point of each other, so almost everything seems to have gravitated toward the middle even more.

Nice work, everyone. Nice to see so many people writing!

4194726
I believe most controversial is determined using the standard deviation of the scores, which is the number in parentheses in the "Controversial stories" list. The participation ribbon is the default award given to people who didn't earn a medal, a spoon, or whatever the Most Controversial icon is. (Seriously, what is that?)

4194714 4194732
Cold in Gardez is like Batman; not a person, but an idea.

4194652 The issue with having Silver Shill be such an easy pushover is that it really takes the thorns out of any possible conflict. He doesn't agonize over what to do, and there isn't a battle of wills. Flim and Flam put forth an argument, Shill immediately bites, and...? You need something to build tension.

4194734

Would this be a case of a "good-bad" story or a "bad-good" story in your opinion?

I think using the hyphen confuses the semantics. But I'd call this one a good good story.

So, I wrote two things that didn’t make into the finals. And then, to boot, I get so distracted with other things that I don’t notice the moratorium in revealing the authors had been lifted for the stories that didn’t make it until a week after

Let me talk a bit about them.

Like Draconequi and Rabbits (or “that silly story that had the ‘just over the medicine cabinet’ line”)

If I was to review my own story, it could be condensed in one word: unpretentious. I mostly wanted a bit of fun, and since I see Discord’s and Angel’s personalities as mixing as well as sodium and water, those two were my obvious choice.

The one bit that might be worth talking is the tie to the prompt, as I apparently wasn’t skilled enough to get it across. Not Fluttershy’s cold nor the medicine; those were a mix of red herring and insurance, meant to make readers that didn’t get my intent still think I at least tried to follow the prompt. The real tie was the attempts to make Discord and Angel play nice with each other.

So, I have the beginning meant to show that they often fight between themselves, and while I didn’t specifically say so (not enough words left) I wanted to leave implied that Fluttershy had tried to make them get together in the past. Then we have Snowheart making an appeal to reason, and Fluttershy attempting some emotional blackmail, but nothing works. What finally works, the “best medicine” for fixing their relationship, is the love they both have for Fluttershy, which only works after Fluttershy had no recourse left to get them to play nice.

Thank you everyone that reviewed my story: 4155025 (Titanium Dragon), 4151999 (bookplayer), Fluttersyke, 4159505 (Everyday)

A few more specific responses:
4153188 (FanOfMostEverything)
In my headcanon, more like Fluttershy made Discord promise to never, ever, mess with Angel using his reality warping powers again. And Discord accepted because, well, if he couldn’t even get the upper claw on a little rabbit without using his powers, what kind of Lord of Chaos would he be? And, besides, messing with the little furball is more interesting if he thinks he can win

4154322 (Bachiavelian)
Not an OC, actually; Snowheart has a speaking part in Read It and Weep and has an official mini-figure and collector card.

4155084 (monokeras)
I guess you dislike all-powerful protagonists like Q, Captain Atom / Doctor Manhattan, and of course Discord? Well, not anything I can do, though I would recommend you to look at those characters’ limitations, both the real and the self-imposed; in well written stories at least you might find that some of those characters have a depth you might have missed.

For what matters, Discord’s canon personality seems to reflect at least a bit that of the faeries of old English myth; exceptionally powerful, capable of basically winning any contest against a human if they so desire, but they limit themselves and give humans a chance because otherwise it would be no fun.

Discovery (or the confusing story where Daring Do is immortal)

This one started as a deconstruction; I wanted to write something about how time isn’t the best medicine, but quickly discarded using Twilight (as stories about her dealing with immortality are quite tiresome by now), Luna (because I already wrote this story in a previous WriteOff), and Celestia (because doing it believably would require an extensive setup). Then I remembered Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, where Indy drinks from the chalice of eternal life (AKA the Holy Grail), and decided to do something similar.

So, basically it was a homage of Indiana Jones, from the first trap (the classic Indy boulder trap) to the character getting back to school (Indy is a history teacher), going through the character thinking his or her name dumb (though I ruled out having a dog named Daring) and having been in a race against agents of an empire to get to an artifact that grants eternal life. There was some of Lara Croft thrown into the mix as well (the aristocratic origin), though the main influence for this specific element was other pony fics that portray Daring as Blueblood’s wayward sister.

And then I noticed that it would still feel repetitive, and too forced. I didn’t want to leave Daring Do wallowing in the end, as I dislike this kind of ending. I couldn’t fix her issues, as within the limits of a minific it would be too rushed to be believable. But, what if I set the story in the past and worked with her canon episode, making the episode the end of a healing process and showing in my fic just the first push that set her down that path? What if her unwillingness to associate with others wasn’t truly about keeping secrets, but about having once lost everypony she cared about and still being scared about making new friends?

Thus, the take on the prompt changed. It’s not that time heals all or that time doesn’t heal all. It’s not that laughter is the best medicine, though I did take a swab at that. My take on the prompt is that the best medicine for what ails Daring Do is to have something to care about, in this case her books, something she can always turn to even as ponies come and go.

And, in that change, it also gave me what should happen. Daring Do’s early life would be, to a large extent, about rejecting the image of what it means to be a noble, and this would put her at odds with Celestia from the start and give a reason for her to keep her activities secret from Celestia. Since I didn’t want other immortal ponies, whatever gave Daring Do immortality would need to have been destroyed, likely by the only pony going around that understood how much of an issue immortality could be both for the immortal and for others. Such an artifact would be among the greatest archeological discoveries ever, thus destroying it would drive a rift between Celestia and Daring. The hate Daring Do nurtures against Celestia would keep driving her even as she figures what immortality truly means, preventing her from simply wallowing but instead driving her to be self-destructive. Celestia’s message can only get to Daring Do after the armor of rage Daring built had been damaged, in this case by despair. And, since I wanted Daring Do to change, but not so much as to be unrecognizable before that change, having her need to learn how to be a writer became obvious (and the yearling joke almost wrote itself).

One extra note about “miss perfect” Celestia: kind of a headcanon in how she interacts with Blueblood’s family. In politics showing weakness can be deadly (sometimes in the literal sense), so Celestia would need to be extra-careful to never be seen as less than perfect in front of the noble houses, specially those that could make a grab for power if she was ever to fall. Daring, at first, couldn’t see beyond the act, and thus assumed that Celestia letting her find the fountain, and then destroying it, was intentional; after that, Daring didn’t want to understand, to let in anything that could make her rethink the image of Celestia as a too perfect tirant she had built.

Thank you to everyone that reviewed my story: 4154908 (Titanium Dragon), 4155247 (FanOfMostEverything), 4150624 (Bachiavellian), 4152273 (horizon), 4151901 (Trick Question), 4152601 (Orbiting Kettle), 4159530 (Everyday), 4169471 (Foxy E), 4169514 (Von Snootingham)

One answer to a specific point:

4156274 (monokeras), 4152257 (Cerulean Voice)
As far as being Celestia’s niece, that isn’t as strange (or rare) as might seem at first glance. According to Lauren Faust, Blueblood is the "great great great great great great great great great great great (and probably even more greats) nephew on Celestia's and Luna's mother's side, about 52 times removed, roughly speaking." This means that, basically, everypony in that whole branch of the family, going back dozens of generations, is Celestia’s (and Luna’s) nephew or niece.

Look at all these fools, so blatantly unaware and ignorant of my literary genius. For shame.

Congratulations to the winners! This was a fun little contest and I will most certainly be entering again. I won't rest until the contest is no more or I have attained that coveted gold medal to fuel my intended nefarious deeds.

So when do we start on the next one?

4193720
Trust me, monokeras: we don't like it either.

Although I doubt anypony has as much privacy as they'd like to believe they do, these days.

4194756

Poke me if you ever decide to take it on. Would be more than glad to help out if you needed it!

4194279
I found Love at First Sight to be the most enjoyable fic in the entire competition, even though I only gave it a 9. I also correctly guessed you, but I that one was easy.

It is my steadfast hope that you publish this on Fimfiction. Thank you so much for writing this story. It's much deeper than the episodic narrative, and I am certain far too few reviewers understood its meaning.

Well, I'm just glad Laughter is the Second Best Medicine placed as high as it did. I plan on sprucing it up (more Pinkie/Spike dialogue) and publishing it as a standalone sometime, and possibly some small part of The Frog of Love will sneak into Letters From a Little Princess Monster. After all, nothing says young love like a few hundred frogs slipped into the window some night.

Another fine contest:

Congrats to all the winners, and if anyone's interested in seeing the revised version of "To Soothe a Savage Breast," it's now the 28th poem in my collection Ponyville & Other Poems over on my AugieDog account.

Mike

4194848
Captain Atom is a hero (currently part of the DC universe) that can do almost anything, from curing cancer with a thought to dismantling all weapons of a whole army in an instant. Doctor Manhattan is his Watchman version — and, if you never read Watchman before, it's a graphic novel that really deserves being called a masterwork (and the movie, while somewhat worse, is still quite good).

Now, if you don't find issues with Q, but has them with Discord, this leaves me scratching my head, as they are more or less the same character in different universes, just with slightly different motivations. Well, scratch that; Q seems to be quite more powerful than Discord, in relative terms (as Twilight was able to temporarily block his magic, and even reverse a bit of it by turning a little grass back, in Return of Harmony). So, I guess your issue is that Discord is now among the good guys?

Nothing against, mind you, just a matter of preference. I bet there are some here that don't understand how I can dislike shipping as a whole

As for the 52 times removed, I would find it strange if it was any less. At twenty years per generation, there were 50 pony generations during Luna's exile alone, and Celestia's parents seemed to be already absent by then.