6046019 Don't worry, I am making some really good progress on my story, so as long as my proofreader can keep up with me, you will have some friendly competition.

Or if I die, that would definitely make submitting my story difficult.

6047106
Noooo don't die! I wanna read your submission XD Also, don't die because dying is sad, and there is enough sadness in this world!

6047110 Don't worry. With my luck I will probably come back.

6047111
nice image there lol

6047123 Yeah, I really enjoy this anime. Not a big fan of the whole magical girl aspect of it but I do like that he is a zombie.

6046019
Alright. Unfinished though ;/

My story is finished, now I am just waiting for my proofreader to finish proofreading and then I will be able to submit.

6058223
Awesome!

There's just under a week left for everybody else to write.

6058252 Lets just hope the submission process goes smoothly.

Seriously, everyone who is considering to submit a story to this contest, don't wait until the last day to submit the story to FiMFiction, because it might take them too long to "approve" your story so that you can submit it into the contest.

6058322
Yeah. Though if push comes to shove, I won't be reading all of them instantly, I'm giving myself a couple of weeks to do the reading and judging, so if it's done by the end of the contest but the submission takes too long, I'll still accept it.

6058360
...I wish I knew that.
*Looks at the panically released 1k words chapters trying to get to the ending.*
At least with this knowledge in the bank I can give it a true ending.

The story has been proofread and submitted. Now let us hope it will let me submit the story into the folder soon.

EDIT:

It would seem I made it. I really enjoyed writing my story for this contest.

May the best writer win.

6062901
Unfortunately for me, I won't meet the deadline for my fic to be completed. Going off likes yours looks like the default winner.
I am curious though, how does your fic align with the theme 'begin again'? Just asking.

6065277 Well, I was just going off of my interpretation of the phrase: To Begin Again, which could be taken as to start over or to start anew. While I do actually address this in the author notes of my story I will carry my points over.

• The story takes place in an alternate version of the regular mlp timeline, starting with the pilot episodes so you could say it is a starting over of a series (if I ever have a time to write a sequel).
• On top of that Fluttershy has to begin again. After the events of the story there is hope that perhaps she can begin anew among the other ponies despite her monsterous characteristics.

But to be perfectly honest I didn't think my story would do so well.

6065323
6065277
I now feel like my submission is least likely to win XD either way, good luck to you both!

6066349 You never know, SPark might be one of the people who gave my story a thumbs down. lol.

I'm sure your story is good and I am sure Jackelope's story is good as well. I will definitely need to look at them when I have the chance.

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Forgot to post this last night, so I'm giving you folks a few more hours.

This is the final call! 24 hours from now I need to have your submissions in the folder, *or* have a comment/PM letting me know it's in the submission queue.

Judging should be done by the end of the month, assuming life doesn't bushwhack me too badly.

6067458
Thanks for the heads-up. Sadly I had to drop out. Too much to write, and not enough time. The contest gave more than enough time. I simply wasn't able to work on things too often.

Thanks for the update! Sadly I didn't finish in time offline life got in the way with things that had to get done asap. Of course, I finish them right as the contest ends, silly life. but it's okay, there will be other contests. (Sure, maybe not ones that fit my plans as well but I can deal.)

6067458
Hey, if there are only three entries, that means everybody is a winner!

Indeed!

The contest is officially over now. I'll post when I have the judging results for you fine folks. Thanks to everyone who entered, and thank you to the ones who tried, too! I know how disappointing it is to have to drop out of something like this.

Fortunately the next contest will be another shortfic one, though with an interesting twist... I'll talk more about that when the judging for this contest is finished.

Well, this has taken embarrassingly long, and I am very sorry for that! Life kept happening. Darn life. But the judging is finally done!

It was once again a difficult one. I still haven't been forced to read a story that makes my eye bleed, they've all been enjoyable, and this contest was no different. We seem to have attracted some good writers here. I did eventually come to a decision, but first, the detailed results:

The Gorgony in the Everfree
By Robipony

1. Technical writing skill. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.
The first thing I noticed was that there were awkward phrases scattered about, some so much so that I wasn't sure exactly what they meant. Also some punctuation errors. (In particular, "'It would seem that we should eat.' Noted one of the serpentine voices" should have a comma and a lower case n, not a full stop and a new sentance. That error was repeated pretty much every time a quote like that popped up.) A few other tiny nit-picks, but nothing that made the story unreadable.

2. Basic Storytelling. Are the characters interesting? Does the plot hold together? Is it enjoyable to read?
I found some things about the setup odd. (Where does Fluttershy get gems to pay the diamond dogs from, for example?) Zecora is maybe a little too convenient as the story's deus ex machina, she knows a lot for fairly arbitrary reasons (vision quest okay, but where did she get the book?) Points for tackling her rhyming, though, that's always a pain to do! The other characters as they turn up fit well into the story, though I think their dialoge could use a little bit of work. They're a bit flat and stereotypical. Rarity says "darling" after most of her lines, as an example, which get repetitive. Their characterization I think is better handled. Although Pinkie breaks the fourth wall a little too often for my taste. Generally I like to give her *one* brony/writing/modern reference per story. That may be just me, though. A few other little quibbles pop up, like the mayor knowing what a gorgony is, wouldn't she just say "monster?" All minor issues, though, overall the plot hangs together pretty well.

3. Use of the theme. Does it really use the theme? Does it do so in interesting ways?
Beginning the whole of Friendship is Magic again is a pretty spot-on use of the theme, so definitely full points there!

4. Creativity and enjoyment. Is the story interesting, unique, or fun?
It absolutely is unique, and I found much of it interesting. I think it's a little rough around the edges, and falls into some cliches. It still also has very enjoyable moments and interesting "what if" ideas.

5. Bonus points. A catch all for any good things the story did that don't fit the other categories.
I liked the characterization of her mane snakes! I think they hit a very appropriate note, sort of primitive and instinct-oriented, which introduced a bit of a conflict, since they're attached to somepony so civilized, but also was a useful motivation to get Season One super-shy Fluttershy up and moving.

Overall it's a novel story with a lot of good concepts, but with some rough patches in the execution.

Final score: Decent.

Snow and Sand: A World In Two Shrouds
by Jackelope

1. Technical writing skill. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.
The language is wonderfully compelling, but it does have some very odd turns of phrase and little errors that make me wonder if English is the author's first language. These are far too minor to interfere with my enjoyment of the story, though.

2. Basic Storytelling. Are the characters interesting? Does the plot hold together? Is it enjoyable to read?
This started off very strong, and dragged me straight into the world and characters. It kept going from there. Everything was interesting, and everything made sense. The characters work as well, each is completely distinct, and has a unique voice, which is rare with OCs like this. So many little bits are just exactly perfect, too. The introduction of Discord was just spot on. (Though it should be cataracts, not cataphracts in his eyes, cataphracts are a kind of mounted soldier.) The story does hit some common cliches (unicorns having died out and pegasi being warrior/bandits are both very common in post-apocalypse stories), but it handles them well, so I didn't find myself bothered by them. I do have a ton of questions about things (why are the Five five and not six, why is Twilight separate? WTF even happened to the unicorns, this reference to the horned monsters implied maybe they didn't die out, but unicorns seem to be held in awe while "horned monsters" is obviously negative. So many questions!) Questions are good, though, people ask questions when they've gotten invested in the story. As long as it doesn't completely fail if/when it tries to answer them, that's a good sign. Really, its only flaw so far is that I have to say "so far". It's not complete. I'm itching to read it when it is!

3. Use of the theme. Does it really use the theme? Does it do so in interesting ways?
It's a whole new world, so I think it applies, though the "again" is less clear here. I have not seen any parallels to the pony stories we know from the show as yet. But it does still qualify, I think.

4. Creativity and enjoyment. Is the story interesting, unique, or fun?
Absolutely! I was dragged straight through. The only reason I didn't read it all in one go in an hour or two is that I had to do life things like work and make dinner and deal with a toddler and so on. I enjoyed every bit of this.

5. Bonus points. A catch all for any good things the story did that don't fit the other categories.
I have a massive soft spot for frozen world stories. (I have been working on one of my own basically forever.) So I was delighted to run into one here.

Final score: Amazing, with the caveat that I never trust a story to stay amazing until it's done.

A Cake for Discord
by Silverintuition

1. Technical writing skill. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.
This was quite immaculate, I didn't spot any errors.

2. Basic Storytelling. Are the characters interesting? Does the plot hold together? Is it enjoyable to read?
I felt like Pinkie Pie was pretty decent, but Discord was a little off. He's very hard to write, so that's not surprising. The plot was amusing, Pinkie's frantic ingredients quest kept me reading along. Unfortunately, though each individual action in the story was entertaining, the story as a story doesn't actually have much going on. I didn't have trouble reading through it, but it's not the kind of tale that's going to stick with me, because nothing much actually happens. The most character development we see is the little snippits Discord accidentally drops about his feelings for Fluttershy, but they feel like a good B plot, not like a solid A plot. It's not a bad story, but it's just kinda there, hanging out, not quite going anywhere.

3. Use of the theme. Does it really use the theme? Does it do so in interesting ways?
Best use of the theme here, actually. Or at least most literal, and that was what finally made me laugh at the end, was when I realized that the theme was literally the punch-line, inasmuch as there was one at all.

4. Creativity and enjoyment. Is the story interesting, unique, or fun?
Definitely fun! Also, as a joke, rather than as a story, it comes closer to working for me, though I feel it's still not quite there. As I mentioned already, the individual bits are often quite funny. But the over-arching narrative could also be a joke, if it were tweaked a little, and if the ending was more punchy. As in punch-line. It ends with a joke-ending concept, that Pinkie has to do all this *yet again*, but it doesn't end in an actual joke. Also, I actually think the pacing would work better if the first cake was easy, and the second cake was hard, rather than the first cake being hard and Discord's handy magic making the second cake easier. I realize changing that would require a lot of re-writing, but I think it'd be funnier that way. Maybe that's just me.

5. Bonus points. A catch all for any good things the story did that don't fit the other categories.
I am not an expert cake maker, but I spoted some real life methods I've used in the past, which makes me suspect all the things Pinkie does and mentions are accurate to actually making a cake like this. That was a nice touch, if so!

Final score: Good!

As I said, it was very difficult to choose a winner. However, even though it was unfinished, Snow and Sand just blew me away. So congrats, Jackelope, you win first place! I will be watching the story with interest, and I hope you finish it soon!

I'm tempted to call it a tie for second, but I think Silverintuition juuuuuust squeaks into the lead for second, and Robipony takes an honorable third.

All three of you get a prize! Jackelope gets a color drawing, the other two get sketches, so do please contact me and let me know what you'd like me to draw.

And thanks very much for entering. I read a lot of interesting stories I'd never otherwise see, doing these contests, and I think that's great.

6124544
Yee. One thing I will reveal is that the horned monsters are minotaurs
I am overjoyed, thank you.
Do not worry, I have finished my plan for how it will continue, and in the final chapter, I plan to paste the meagre timeline I created for all the events that happen if I deem it not too revealing. Some of the details can be arrived at via careful scrutiny. Other than that, I am extremely happy that you liked it more than anything, thank you again.

6124550
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. That makes sense now! It really is a great story.

6124544 I am just glad you enjoyed my story. I will try to see if I can use your feedback to improve the story as I am hoping to resubmit it to Equestria Daily at some point in the future.

Glad you enjoyed my story as well, it was as implied, mostly just a fun little joke of a story to write out. My original plan for it was much longer, and much more storylike with actual plot development and character development and such, but I just wanted to write something quick and fun for this, so I kept it to my basic idea based on the theme. If ever I get the chance, I will probably re-work it to its full potential, but for now, it just remains in its happy land of nonsense.