What in tarnation are ya doin’ to my barn, sugarcube?

Oh, hey AJ! You’re gonna love this!

And… what is ‘this’, exactly?

Just hang on a sec; I’ll show you.

...This goes here… and this one here… and a little of that…

And maybe some of that… Ooh! Gotta make sure these are all ready...

‘This’ had better not be another contraption for one of your tricks. I had to make a new wagon after you went and ruined the last one.

It’s not!

You ain’t tryin’ to make cider again, are ya?

Nope!

So... what is it?

You'll see. Just need to connect this… aaaand got it!

...Really?

It’s... so awesome.

Dash! All of Ponyville’s gonna see this!

Exactly!

Celestia help me.

Every AppleDash contest has been bigger than the last, both in terms of prizes and number of entries, and this one is no exception! This time...

With our biggest prize pool ever, at $1100, we thought it only fitting that the theme this time is “Go Big or Go Home”. Applejack and Rainbow Dash, the most competitive ponies in Ponyville, have a natural talent for going big and, occasionally, overdoing it. What exactly “going big” means for their relationship and your story, we’re leaving entirely up to you! Interpret that however you please.

As a throwback to some of our earlier contests, we’ve chosen to disallow something we see in a lot of AppleDash: getting together fics. For this contest, Applejack and Rainbow Dash must be a couple at the start and remain one throughout the duration of the fic. We want the theme of the contest, not the get-together, to be the focus.

There are a whole six winners for this competition with a total of $1100 to be awarded! The prizes are as follows:

• First place: $500
• Second place: $300
• Third place: $150
• Fourth place: $75
• Fifth place: $50
• Sixth place: $25

Upon announcing the winners, KrazyTheFox will contact each via PM and arrange for the distribution of the prizes. Every effort will be made to get prizes to the winners in some way, shape, or form. PayPal has been used in the past, but we’ll do our best to use what works best for you!

If you’re familiar with previous AppleDash contests, be sure to read these rules thoroughly—they have changed again!

• Entries must be a minimum of 5,000 words long. There is no maximum length!
• Entries must be complete by the end of the contest; incomplete entries will not be judged.
• Entries must be published to FIMFiction by the deadline. If your story requires approval to be posted to the site and you are submitting near the deadline, message one of the judges with a link to your story and we’ll make sure it gets counted (it must still be fully published and readable by the end of the judging period).
• Multiple entries are allowed. They will be judged completely separately. Do note, however, that a single person may only win one prize, even if multiple stories would place. In the event this occurs, the highest place won by an individual will be the one awarded.
• No anthro, crossover, grimdark, gore, human in Equestria, pony on Earth, species-swap, or gender-swap entries. EqG and humanized are both allowed.
• Applejack and Rainbow Dash must be in a romantic relationship at the start, throughout, at the end, and after the fic (their relationship should not end proceeding the events in your story). There are no getting-together fics this time around!
• Mature fics are allowed, but not required.
• Bear in mind that the contest is still about the story. Mature fics won't score extra points (and may score less if not well executed!).
• Fics can be part of an extended fic-verse, but need to be able to stand alone.
• The spirit of the rules should be followed. We can't account for every edge case or tip-toeing around the rules here. If still in doubt, ask—we're happy to clarify things.
• It's up to the discretion of the judges whether an entry adheres to the spirit of the rules and they'll have the final say.
• The deadline is 11:59PM PST on March 14th, 2020. (Deadline Countdown)

Please ask for clarification on any of these rules if you have any questions about them.

The contest will last from now until 11:59PM PST on March 14th, 2020 (originally February 29th). Normally we run contests for two months, but with the holidays coming up, we’ve tacked on an extra two weeks.

Once the contest ends, the judges will take 1-3 weeks to judge the entries (depending on how many we get!), after which the winners will be announced in a post in the AppleDash group forum.

KrazyTheFox
Tchernobog
This could be you; we're looking for a third judge!

Add your entry to the group's submissions folder, then message one of the judges with a link to your story. We’ll move your story to the dedicated contest folder and start tracking it as an entry. Remember: we can’t judge stories we don’t know about!

Since the rules have changed, it bears mentioning here as well: we will not be accepting unpublished or off-site entries this time!

We hope you're as excited about this contest as we are! If you have any questions or need any clarifications, feel free to contact any of the judges either in this topic, through PM, or on the AppleDash Discord server. Good luck!

By Celestia's massive plot...

Y'all are heckin' crazy with them prizes.

I'm in.

7082368
...a writing contest that uses my personal writing motto. I almost feel like you guys are trying to suck me into it.

7082368

With our biggest prize pool ever, at $1100, we thought it only fitting that the theme this time is “Go Big or Go Home”. Applejack and Rainbow Dash, the most competitive ponies in Ponyville, have a natural talent for going big and, occasionally, overdoing it. What exactly “going big” means for their relationship and your story, we’re leaving entirely up to you! Interpret that however you please.

Is it bad that I immediately thought of these two in an eating cintest and getting fat upon seeing the title for this contest?

No anthro, crossover, grimdark, gore, human in Equestria, pony on Earth, species-swap, or gender-swap entries. EqG and humanized are both allowed

I agree with this rule 100%! I love it!

7082368
Are friendshipping stories permitted?

Goddamn, those are some chunky prizes I've never cared much for AppleDash as a ship, but this is seriously tempting.

7082525
Gotta live up to my name somehow!

7082527

you guys are trying to suck me into it

We definitely are!

7082532

Is it bad

Maybe! But if you can pull it off, all the more to you!

7082540
While I love a good AppleDash story, friendshipping or not, the contest does require they be in a relationship throughout.

7082558
Then they're working as intended! You should totally join!

7082561
I presume you mean a romantic relationship?

7082564
Correct.

7082567
That will only require a slight alteration to my proposed idea.

This prompt is basically screaming directly at me and my tastes. But, I just don't think the odds are very high that the judges will appreciate a clopfic in which AJ and Rainbow make love while they outgrow the planet. So I'm afraid I'm going to have to pass.

7082562
I’ve just realized the rules prohibit me from writing a breakup story, which is apparently the kind of romance story I do best, so... no promises, but as I said, tempted.

7082368 *Sees prompt*

*Looks at prompt harder*

*Laughs in subversive*

Weird, everyone else sees just the one prompt, but to me it looks like you've actually got two...

7082525

By Celestia's massive plot...

I like the way you think.

7082561 Shouldn't be too hard.

Here is a contest I can sink my teeth into. I think I will step outside of my 'normal' style (if anything I do can be called normal) and have some fun! Banzai!

7083455
:)

7082368
Quick question as I'm brainstorming:

Human in Equestria, Pony on Earth, and species swap are not allowed, but EqG is allowed... Would EqG in Equestria or Pony in EqG be allowed?

(As in, EqG AJ and Dash have to hang out in Equestria as ponies, or pony AJ and Dash have to hang out on EqG-earth as humans.)

7083916
That would be allowed. Tyro did that last contest with Self Help.

7082368
To clarify: if one of them passes away, does that count as "not being together."

7084046
It would count as them not being together, sorry!

7084049
Gotcha!

7084049 What, if, and I'm just spitballing here, one of them died, but time shenanigans, and they were sort of working through that little complication by communicating amongst one another through various time-capsules in a sort of complex long-distance relationship?

I'm asking for a friend.

Contemplating writing something for this, but do Applejack and Dash have to be the focus for the fic, or can it be a fic, say, about Luster Dawn with Applejack and Dash being main characters in the story but the protagonist and focus being Luster?

This isn't exactly a ship I sail (though the finale is slowing changing my opinion on it).

But, what the hay, I'll bite :)

7084939
While that would technically be within the rules, I guess, Tchernobog and I agree that it's probably toeing the line a bit too much.

7085287
As long as Applejack and Rainbow Dash are main characters, we see no problem with this! Go for it!

7085699

There's a couple of rules clarifications as well (a culmination of things multiple people have asked about):

• Applejack and Rainbow Dash should remain in their relationship after your fic as well. It should not be implied that their relationship ends.
• While we'd love to cover every base with the rules, we simply can't. Thus, we're saying that the spirit of the rules should be followed, if not the letter.
• To the point above, it'll be up to the discretion of the judges whether an entry adheres to the spirit of the rules. If in doubt, please reach out still; we're more than happy to mull things over and provide clarification.

Per the norm, Money is always a good incentive to get me off my rear and start writing again.
And I think I have the perfect idea.
See y'all in two months

7085766
Question; does it have to be strictly Romance based, or can it feature their relationship separate to the main plot?

7085766 Hee hee, yeah probably.

Don't have to worry about that from me, though. I already did time shenanigans last time.

7085827
The plot doesn't have to be about their romance. As Tchernobog put it: "They need to be in the relationship the entire time. And usually, there's some form of showing that in the story without it being the focus."

7086071
Wonderful. Thank you so much for offering this to everyone! I look forward to writing and reading the entries.

7086259
Sure thing! I love AppleDash and getting to read so much of it is a real treat for me. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

Minor rules clarification:

Applejack and Rainbow Dash must be together at the start, throughout, at the end, and after the fic (their relationship should not end proceeding the events in your story).

has been changed to

Applejack and Rainbow Dash must be in a romantic relationship at the start, throughout, at the end, and after the fic (their relationship should not end proceeding the events in your story).

Hi, quick question; When I'm finished, should I specify that it's for the contest, and what folder do I drop it in?

7103673
Drop it into the submissions folder and PM either me or Tchernobog. We'll get it to the right place(s) for you after that!

Understood. I will have it finished hopefully by tomorrow night. Thank you again!

Hmm... I'm working on something, but, with all the irl stuff I have going on, I don't know if I'll have it in time...

I confess I've rewritten something like 30K words at this point. The number of words I've written, discarded, and then started again from scratch would probably be enough for three entries at this point.

I'm not saying I'm grumpy. I'm just livid, lol.

Finally, a first draft I'm happy with. It's been pretty fun looking at the already published entries and seeing their word counts.

*laughs in over-compensation*

Consider this your...

Roughly 19 day warning!

Just under three weeks to get your entries in!

I meant to post this two days ago but my Factorio speed run planning sucked me in and time vanished.

7142988 Sounds like plenty of time to me. Over two weeks is plenty long enough to do all the editing I need.

I've not really checked the other submissions so far; I hope they're looking good! : )

*internal screaming intensifies*

7147259 You think that's bad; I'm also trying to write something for a different competition at the same time.

Forget internal screaming, I'm going external if I don't make some progress soon...

Come on, crack that whip (and that ship)!

You can do this!

7147259
7147270
7147375

c:

Just 7 days left!

Remember: Stories must be published on FIMFiction for them to count. If you've submitted and are waiting for your story to be published when the deadline rolls around, PM me or Tchernobog with a link to your story so we can count it.

If you're in need of a (short) extension, now's the time to let us know. Because what's an AppleDash contest without an extension or two?

7155815
...awkwardly raises hand

7155815 I should be good.

A little tight, but considering a consistent, chapter-a-day publishing schedule, it'll be complete and on the site by the deadline. Kinda squeezing my editing process a bit, but that's what I get for writing over twice as much as the next largest contest entry, I guess.

7155815
I'm working on something for this. I haven't published anything for a while - the only story I've managed to finish since July was a super short EQG meta exercise - but I think I've got a sweet and hopefully unique idea for this one. It involves rye whiskey and dinosaurs. Anyway, I'm really hoping to have it finished on time, but if it looks like I'm going to struggle, can I beg for a few extra hours to complete the last chapter?

7082368 I have a question.

I intend to publish today, but since the story is in chapters, it won't be complete until the end of the week (although the story is complete on gdocs, it's just that a healthy publishing schedule means you don't want to bomb all the chapters down at once). Can I still add the story to the contest folder today when chapter one comes out, or will I have to wait until it's marked as complete on the site?

Cheers.