C O N T E S T # 4

Fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders fans, hello and welcome to the fourth official story contest of the Cutie Mark(ed) Crusaders!
Surprised? We promised you the next contest soon and here it is!

The title of the thread already hints at it, this contest will be held in honor of our awesome Crusaders reaching their long-time goal of getting their cutie marks last year!
And with this, we come to the

PROMPT

One year it has been since Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle have finally gotten their cutie marks. A year of changes, discoveries, unique experiences and a whole new life! And this is reflected by the prompt of this contest, which is.....

Your goal for this contest, if you choose to participate, will be to write a story about how the Cutie Mark Crusaders mark and celebrate their special occasion! The possibilities are, as Scootaloo would say, endless!
Do they throw a huge party? Have their big sisters a surprise for them on their special day? Or will they just spend the day in quiet contemplation, thinking about what they have achieved with their special talents since they got their cutie marks?
Everything is possible!
You also don't have to stick to one year as the time that has passed since they got their cutie marks, if it suits your idea, any timespan is eligible! The only requirement is that all three Crusaders share the spotlight and have a prominent and significant role in your submitted story. Babs Seed, Gabby and ponies they helped with their cutie marks, be it pre-marking or post-marking, and any other ponies that play an important role in their lives are welcome as well and we accept all genres, be it Slice of Life, Sad or even Adventure!
Let your imagination run wild! Just make sure that your story is SFW and refrain from grim-dark and sexual content and you're good to go!

CONTEST RULES

+ The deadline for the contest is October 3rd, 2016. Contest results will come out on October 10th 2016, right on the big anniversary!

+ In order to qualify and be included in the reading queue, you must also include a link to this thread in your story's description. Entries submitted without a link, regardless of how good they may be, will be automatically disqualified.

+ If there aren't at least three (3) participants in the contest, nobody will receive any of the prizes.
We will, however, still list all the entries in an own thread on the anniversary on October 10th and publish our thoughts about it to give the authors who did participate at least some feedback, so there will still be an incentive if you submit a story!

+ Contributors and/or admins may participate, but they will not have any advantages over other participants in order to ensure fairness. If you are an admin, and you don't want to join in, you may judge instead.

+ Your submission must be published to the site in order to be judged.

+ Since the contest is about their first Cutie Mark Anniversary, the Cutie Mark Crusaders must appear with their marks in the story, so the story must be set after they got their cutie marks. Short flashbacks to their mark-less past are allowed, but they must have their marks for the most part of the story.

+ Your entry must focus primarily on the Cutie Mark Crusaders or else you will be disqualified. Other ponies (griffons) like Babs Seed, Gabby, Tender Taps, ect. can contribute to the story, but must stay limited to side roles or cameos.

+ Since this contest's topic is a lighter one again, we return to the usual rule here. Gore and anything sexual of nature are not allowed. The story can be dark, but keep it family-friendly. For orientation, this means don't write your story darker than anything that can be seen or heard in the show or official comics.

+ All contest entries must be placed in the folder Contest #4: Our First Cutie Mark Anniversary! so they can be judged by Frost Vortex and the rest of the admins (or Frost Vortex only, if the other admins are all participating). Additionally, you can post the link here so we'll be notified of it faster.

+ Failure to submit your entry before the deadline will disqualify you. Based on the number of entries, we might slightly extend the deadline towards the end. But don't count on it, so make sure to get your entry in on time!

PRIZES

The person in 1st place will receive these prizes:

+ A SFW, one-shot fanfiction of your choice, written by me, Fluttercheer!
Note: Due to the lack of cutie marks on humans and anthros, I will only write a story about ponies. Keep this in mind when deciding what the fic should be about!

+ Contributor status

+ A special mention on the group page alongside their winning story

+ A honest review of any one of your stories by Frost Vortex

The person in 2nd place will receive these prizes:

+ A special mention on the group page alongside their winning story

+ A honest review of any one of your stories by Frost Vortex

The person in 3rd place will receive this prize:

+ A special mention on the group page alongside their winning story

If you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to ask me, via PM or here in the thread. Also, please note that the admins reserve the right to modify certain parts of this thread, like the contest deadline or prizes or anything else that is necessary to guarantee a smooth course of the contest. Good luck!

5493213 I accept the challenge! Though, I'm not sure I can meet the deadline... still, I'll give it a try

5493213 All I can say is:

BRING IT!!!

-Ru

I'm definitely in.

Well I was going to ask if it would be okay to include it in fandoms like Fallout: Equestria, but FoE would be difficult to fit in the family friendly rule.

I'm not getting a lot of ideas this time around if I can think of something I will join.

5493260

A try is always appreciated already. Don't worry about the length of the story, though.
You can write something very short and you will still have the same chances to win, it's all about the execution.

5493274

HUZZAH!

5493382

I'm leaning towards no on this. The FO:E universe generally makes it hard to meet the prompt, as you said. And since FO:E is one of the big fandom classics, I would also like to keep the submissions free of spoilers for the judges.
What you can do, however, is writing a Crossover fic with every franchise you like, if you manage it to relate it to their cutie marks and their anniversary and if that is the main aspect of the fic.

5493433

We would be happy to have you back!

5493509 I easily could write a pre-apocalypse FoE fanfic within the prompt, I actually have several ideas to make it work, the problem is that family friendly rule and spoilers.

I'll come up with something though, I have a couple of alternate universe series that I could work with.

5493213 Is it already the first anniversary? Damn, time sure feels like it flies by fast!

5493607 Not yet, I think it's next month for the first anniversary.

5494106 Oh, still, times sure feels like it flying by fast...

5494114 Right?

5494116 Yeah

5494122 Well if can remember which day it is I'll watch Crusaders of the Lost Mark again. it only seems fitting.

5494123 Same here. although I will end up having to shed tears again

5494130 Yeah, I did the same after watching it on my D.V.D.s. I suspect that one will always get me choked up a little.

5494133 I think it will choke up everyone...

5494138 Not everyone, some people have no souls, but we don't need to worry about them. Nope we have our fillies and they are pretty damned inspirational at times.

5494144 Ya don't say... now that I think about, when I first watched The Fault at our Marks, I found it funny and yet awesome that adults talk to those three fillies specifically like they were... I have no idea what profession is it called but you get the point right?

5494154 Yeah I get it, and I have a question. Do you think Gabby could be any more energetic? Because I've used fusion powered equipment in Fallout Four that doesn't have that kind of energy output.

5494158 Gabby? I think she could get more energetic if she needs to be! She's just a ball of fun I love to see

5494169 More? now there is a scary thought. Anyway she is pretty darn cute and that's fine by me. Also I noticed Sweetie Belle has picked up some more of Rarity's mannerisms.

5494235 Why wouldn't she pick up on her older sister's mannerisms?

5494236 I know, she spends enough time with Rarity. Though that does not guarantee this but it's by no means uncommon. Scoots has done the same with Rainbow's mannerisms as well. Not to the same extent I think, but she has done it all the same.

5494250 It's noticeable that's for sure

5494252

5493509 You said it's okay if a character like Gabby makes a cameo, but is it okay if she's a part of the story, not just a cameo?

5493538

Show us what you got! As long as you meet the prompt and the rules, we're eager to read your entry!

5493607

It was a long and fulfilled year and I can't wait for the big anniversary to come! I'm going to celebrate this like my birthday (which happens to be a day before! ), Hearth's Warming Eve and Nightmare Night together!

5494295

That's perfectly okay:

+ Your entry must focus primarily on the Cutie Mark Crusaders or else you will be disqualified. Other ponies (griffons) like Babs Seed, Gabby, Tender Taps, ect. can contribute to the story, but must stay limited to side roles or cameos.

5494366 Okay that makes me jealous!

5494366 Don't party yourself into the ground now Flutter. Frost might take over and start a cute dictatorship with you away. Or not I don't know. *looks around carefully* Between you and me this is just a bad joke.

5496232

What, I'm not already the dictator here? Must have dreamt that.....
And partying into the ground sounds good..... Man, this is going to be a crazy day!

5497056

5493213
When you say August 3rd is the deadline, do you mean that as soon as it's 12:00 am on the third it's closed; or do I have until 11:59 pm on the third to submit?

5528418

Thanks for your question. You still have the whole October 3rd to submit a story for the contest. Or, in other words, from October 3rd 00:00 AM to October 4th 00:00 AM.
Hurry to get your entry in!

And I really hope you aren't the only one. Otherwise, I have killed our contests with my derp the last time.

I might be out, I honestly haven't been able to think of anything...

5528418

We received your entry! Thanks for participating!

5533567

Might? If there's anything you want to get in, you still have until midnight to do it!

5493274
5493433
5494295

Just a heads up that the clock is ticking! If there's anything you write on, hurry to get it polished and submit it to our contest folder! You still have until midnight to submit!

5533663 I know, but not a whole lot is jumping to mind, which stinks because I am a huge fan of the CMC...

Hmm... well, I might have an idea, but I need to give it some thought.

5533663 Yeah, I think I have an idea, though I'm thinking about writing that Fallout: Equestria CMC anniversary idea I had anyway, not for the contest of course, just for fun.

5533830

You can still make the deadline. A wise and talented author, ocalhoun, to be precise, once said that he managed it to write and polish a last-minute fic for a contest in the last two hours before the deadline once, so it's definitely possible to still get something in.
If worse comes to worst, hit me up with a message! I said in the initial announcement that we might give participants some more time to get their entry in, if they are very, VERY close to have a finished fic, so don't give up close to the finish line!

5533853 I'll keep that in mind, but hopefully I'll be fine.

5493213 Story is ready. Waiting for approval. It's nine pm in Louisiana.

-Ru

5533673 Story submitted. BOO-YAH!!!

-Ru

5535077

And received! Thanks for joining the contest!

5535124 Thanks for having it.

-Ru

5533889

Just a heads up, there is one more hour to get your entry in. Deadline is at 00:00 AM EST!
How far are you?

5535194 Oh crud, I thought I had two hours, I gotta pay attention to time zones...

I'm getting close, but I might need some more time.

5535196

Don't worry about it! It's actually my fault, because I didn't say earlier which timezone I'm using.
And since you're so close to get it done, just finish it as fast as you can and then submit it as intended! We give you this time to get your entry in.

5535218 Thank you, that's a relief , I should be done soon.

5535218 I'm almost done, I just have to wrap it up and post it the site, thankfully I have auto submit so it should only take a few minutes.