Okay, changing things up a bit: we're still going to have Monthly Story Challenges, but we're going to have the deadlines two months out.

This month's challenge is: Outliers!
- Sure, we know what life is like in Ponyville, Appaloosa, Manehattan, Canterlot and others, but what about the smaller town/? What about how they see things?
- What about Oatmaha, which does have some human experience, but is so far from the capital that the populace really doesn't care much about them?
- Or San Franciscolt, on Equestria's west coast, who might fear a changeling attack in the wake of Fillydelphia...and worry that the military might not save them in time.
- Or Saddleback Mountain, an old mining town going through an economic depression; who cares what's going on over in Canterlot because life is hard enough here in town?

Inquiring minds want to know! So get scribbling! Deadline is September 5!

The Rules (because we must have some):
- Canon AAG - no towns suffering inverse-TCB shenanigans.
- Let's keep it clean for the kiddies.
- You can use one of the towns that I've mentioned before or invent your own, but the following locations are off-limits: Canterlot, Ponyville, Manehattan,Fillydelphia, Cloudsdale and Berryville.
- Stories about pony settlements in other countries (e.g. the pony district in Zhanguo's capital) is acceptable. All of Human-Earth is off-limits.
- None of the major characters in AAG can be used; all original or minor characters. However, per Fimfic submission rules, you need to at least make a minor reference to someone in the show (Celestia, Twilight, etc.)
- When you submit, either post the link below or drop a line to one of the admins, (me, Cody or Blue) and we'll add to the appropriate AAG fanfic folder
- One entry per person, please.
- Since we're adding a month, please try to have it edited prior to submission. While I know it's sometimes hard to find an editor, I'd hate to see anyone picked on (unfairly or otherwise) because they rushed to beat the deadline and came up with an eye-searing, grammar-slaughtering typofest.

Winner gets a cover, bragging rights...and the town will play a role in the upcoming AAG Book II!

- Canon AAG - no towns suffering inverse-TCB shenanigans.

Huh? As in "The Conversion Bureau"?
I really don't understand what you are talking about.

3418985
That's exactly what I mean.

3419882
I really feel like you should explain yourself: Do you mean no tales about human immigrants, about ponies wanting to migrate to Earth, or what?
Just not including the eight ounces of purple gel?
No genderstones?

Keep in mind that I can't document everything.

Human immigrants are fine. Ponies discussing migrating to an HE nation is also fine.
And what I meant by "TCB elements" is that I've already had someone request to turn the Purehooves into a TCB analog so he could merge the two universes. While I'm okay with parodies and pastiches of such (have another author looking into a story where a TCB-like movie gets ridiculed by pony moviegoers), the pure anthrophobia in TCB just turns me off. While there will always be racism/specism, the level of it in TCB even makes me lose my lunch.
Genderstones are fine, though I had figured them to be still at the early, very-hard-to-get stage, since they're so new.

3416828

Sadly don't think I've got any ideas for this theme, but I just wanted to say that I think expanding the deadlines to two months is a great idea.

Should hopefully lead to both more and higher-quality submissions.

3421008
Well, some of TCB is really off-putting, but that's mostly Chatoyance's purple prose and her sycophants'. And heck: even she wrote a story that I sincerely like: TCB: Code Mageste.
Here are a few stories that are definitely not bad:
TCB: Last Man Standing. The world is in bad shape, but nowhere as bad as Chatty's dystopia. The Barrier didn't exist until some muslim terrorists made it necessary. The protagonist goes through life seeing how humanity freely chooses to either convert or not. He gets recruited into the HLF, and sees them as scum. Even the princesses make a significant appearance, treating the PER as the scum of the Earth. this story is among my top faves on fimfiction.
TCB: Together. A dramatic comedy about employing Conversion as a medical treatment.
Railroad Seven-Three. Despite being ponies or humans, each individual can freely chose to be hero or monster. While the Barrier is encroaching, Celestia wishes humans to choose freely. (If you are a religious man you may wish to skip the epilogue, though.)
TCB: What would really happen. The most realistic story ever: Equestria comes and opens tons of conversion Bureaus. A few million people worldwide get converted, but the 'flood' never happens and Equestria eventually cuts costs and announces their general closure, so now Conversion can be sought on their embassies and consulates. Some people still get Converted, but that's mostly limited to patients suffering terminal illnesses who are incurable or cannot afford treatment. The bureaus become a running joke among human society. End of story.
TCB: Yellowstone. There are Conversion Bureaus, but there are as many ponies going out of Equestria as humans converting to go in.

Since we're adding a month, please try to have it edited prior to submission. While I know it's sometimes hard to find an editor, I'd hate to see anyone picked on (unfairly or otherwise) because they rushed to beat the deadline and came up with an eye-searing, grammar-slaughtering typofest.

that would be me

3425309
No, not just you. No offense intended, but I've seen story submissions in other forums which were even worse. A good example (which I'm not linking here) is a story that used "cried" three times in one sentence and still managed to misspell it all three times (cryed creyed, criyd.)

3427687
ah umm, Challenge excepted?

Reminder, people - this contest closes September 5!