SciSet Contest Results! · 3:28am Oct 9th, 2023
copied from the forum thread below the break:
thanks for your patience! this almost didn't come out today, but i can thank co-judge EileenSaysHi so much for being kind enough to put together the post for me:
Welcome one, welcome all to the SciSet results thread! After discussing and coming to our consensus on the winning entries, Bicyclette has graciously allowed me to handle crafting the results post. I thank her very much for the opportunity and I assure her this post is in safe hands!
(Think she'd let me get away with awarding myself first, second, and third place for my own SciSet story that I wrote and published after the contest and embezzling all the money?)
Bicyclette (left) about to have her trust in Eileen (right) very much not rewarded
Speaking of poorly-planned attempts at major crimes, let's take a moment to remember what we're celebrating here—our two favorite ex-demonic dorks in love, Sunset Shimmer and Sci-Twi. Or maybe not so ex, given the number of entries that brought Midnight Sparkle and even Demon Sunset into the picture.
Look at these gaybies I mean come on
SciSet might be one of "the big ones" when it comes to Equestria Girls ships, but it's been a little while since its heyday; earlier this year, the EqG 10th Anniversary Shipping Contest attracted very few stories with the pairing, though they did pop up more often in the background. In launching this contest, we were excited to help reverse that trend, and I'm happy to report that we had a pretty solid showing. At 8 entries, which you can read here, it tied the ApplePie contest for the most number of stories submitted to a BPC contest! Also exciting was the fact that a whopping four entries were from authors who joined in 2022 or later, showing how even years after the end of Equestria Girls, the series and SciSet specifically are still bringing in new and creative fans.
Nuh uh, I see you scrolling past this! You get back and finish this pointlessly long intro!
Anyway, as grateful as we are for these stories and how much they make us remember how much we adore this coupling, we do have to pick favs, this being a contest and all. With that in mind, the prize pool is as follows:
- First Place: $50
- Second Place: $30
- Third Place: $20
And so, without further ado:
Third Place: "Signed, Sealed, Sent" by starcoder
i am glad someone wrote a human Sunset POV for this competition, and this take on her is a pop of vibrant color in more ways than one. but most of all, i love this story for just how much the protagonist truly feels like a teenage girl stumbling through her feelings. very few stories i’ve read on this site capture that feeling nearly as well.
This is a story that takes a moment for the reader to realize precisely what's going on, but once that connection is made, it's very rewarding. Without giving too much away, it's a clever and compelling little tale with some neat tricks up its sleeve and a vibrant, musical heart.
Second Place: "Her Other Wife" by Luminous Comet
while most stories of Midnight coexisting with Twilight inside her head lean into the angst or drama of magical events, i love how we get little slice-of-life details of a settled, married life between Sunset and Sci-Twi as the background of this one. it underscores Midnight’s alienation from her original context, and makes her yearning for connection all the more poignant. i only wish i had more, honestly!
The idea of Twilight gaining Midnight as an alter isn't new territory for stories, even SciSet stories. But Luminous Comet's work here makes it feel very fresh and lived-in, touching in its own unique way. I absolutely adore the dynamic between Sunset and Midnight it presents, and it's a story that leaves you wanting more for the best of reasons.
First Place: "Astronymous" by FanOfMostEverything
so much good story juice is squeezed out of this story's ingredients: the SciSet romance still in pre-embryo, the parallels and divergences between Sunset and Sci-Twi’s character arcs as of the camp movie, and a fantastic take on the relationship between them and their demon versions. classic FoMEcraft of characters deconstructing each other (and thus themselves in this case) with witty exchanges in reality-bending environments, all the while feeling like a slice taken from a solid larger world, what else can i say?
What I love so much about this story is just how effectively it drills into Sunset as a character, taking little odd quirks of Equestria Girls canon and turning them into an effective basis for psychological drama and interrogating the very basis of who Sunset Shimmer is. And the way it ties that so neatly into SciSet, drawing powerful and poignant parallels between the two characters, is just a joy to read.
Prize PMs to be sent! Thanks so much to all participants, and consider writing for these other ongoing contests!
- RB_'s Whodunnit? Youdunnit! Contest!, ending 2023 Oct 10
- the Sunset Shimmer x Villains Shippers’ Group's Sunset X Villain AU Contest, ending 2023 Nov 02
- the Cyberpunk Equestria group's 2023 Cyberpunk Nightmare Night Story Contest ending 2023 Nov 03
- FanOfMostEverything's Imposing Sovereigns IV: The Aluminum Jubilee, ending 2023 Nov 26
- my M/M Shipping Contest III, ending 2023 Dec 03
A very happy SciSetmas to all!
