Tidy Conclusion

Six weeks.
Seven by nigh-infinite prompts.
Fifty stories.
Over three hundred seventy thousand words, with stories ranging from the minimum to the maximum.

I am grateful to everyone who made it. To those who didn't, I hope you still bring the idea to full fruition. To everyone else, I hope the prompt matrix can still inspire you. The Second-Born folder's there for a reason.

But for now, the submission period for Imposing Sovereigns II has come to a close. And out of that word count I mentioned above, I have almost two hundred thousand I still need to get to. And I'm going to have to actually do my job at some point in all of that...

Ideally, we'll have the results by or before Thanksgiving, but that's not a hard lock. Still, thanks to all the participants. This should be fun.

Comments

[Flashgen]

Looking forward to giving it all a read soon!

[Daedalus Aegle]

It's been a lot of fun

[Herald of Opera]

Obligatory "Thanksgiving was nearly a month ago" is obligatory.

Also, I guess I have to stop referring to that story as "my Imposing Sovereigns entry" even though I still theoretically want to write it? I'll admit this was pure laziness when it comes to putting not-technically-pen to not-technically-paper because again, I already had the story mostly written in my head before the contest was even announced.

[Captain_Hairball]

Many of the few stories from this that I've read were excellent, and writing mine was an wonderful creative experience. Thank you and the other judges for your hard work!

[Skywriter]

You and your judges have a big pile o' words on your plate. Best of luck getting through them, and thanks for making this happen!

[Celefin]

Really wanted to write something for this, but my mind just kept drawing blanks for the setting.
Well. Looking forward to reading.

[PresentPerfect]

Fifty.

Oh, fuck. DX

[ArgonMatrix]

Having read a healthy chunk of that word count myself, I do not envy you or the other judges. There are gonna be some tough calls. Looking forward to seeing how it all plays out!

And on a personal note, thank you for hosting this contest. I'd been wanting to get back into writing for a little while, but I was struggling to find the right motivation or inspiration. This contest came around at the exact right time to light a fire in me, and now I'm back at work on a few other stories, with many more ideas still bouncing around in my head. So whether I place or not, this contest has been a win for me personally. Thank you sincerely.

[Eruantalon]

Thank you for hosting the contest! I'm sorry I couldn't have added to that word count, and I hopefully will finish my story (and some other stories...) soon. Life's been busy, but at some point that stops being a good excuse and becomes just an excuse.

[The Voice in the Water]

Thanks for hosting this thing FoME. I had fun, and I look forward to taking a dip into the entries when I've got a little free time.

[Speckle]

"starts waving pom-poms"
You can do it, FOME-sensei! Go Go Go!

If you need help, just ask.

[AkumaKami64]

Well, me being the number nut I am, decided to check the numbers: 374,224 words
Which averages to 7484.48 words per all 50 stories.
Also, what the buck were the odds you got exactly 50 entries? XP

Still, best of luck to you on this and thanks for the review!

[Skeeter The Lurker]

If only I had time... I'd have offered to help judge.

In any case, good luck.

~Skeeter The Lurker

[Bugsydor]

Thanks for running the contest again. This one seems to always make for a lot of great reads.

[TheDriderPony]

Thanks for hosting, it was great fun! Finally gave me the motivation I needed to pen down a plot bunny that had been bouncing around my head for ages.

[chris the cynic]

I am so sorry to anyone who wanted to do Celestia and New.

I had this long series of things going wrong, but every time it felt like "Thank God that's over, now I can actually get things done," so I kept thinking that I could really write the story I set out to write, and I ended up holding down the spot for almost the full six weeks (less however long it took me to sign up) and producing nothing.

And I'm not sure if I could have told the story in 15000 words anyway, so I really should have given up the spot.

The plan, for whatever it's worth, was for a story about Celestia dealing with:

• The rise of the telegraph resulting in widespread adoption of text speak, which she does not like
• The revelation that Sunset Shimmer and Sci-Twi have used the magic of SCIENCE! (or possibly the science of MAGIC!) to punch holes in the veil between worlds, thus unleashing Eldritch horrors upon the multiverse
• Luna --who is unable to cope with calculus or, indeed, any branch of mathematics developed during her lunar sabbatical-- being unexpectedly introduced to the surreal number system
• Sunset Shimmer attempting to introduce the internet to Equestria (in an effort to divert Celestia's attention from the second point)

more or less in that order.

(When I say, in the second point, that she'd be dealing with the revelation, I mean that. She wasn't going to be dealing with the Eldritch horrors themselves, just the knowledge that they had been unleashed and would only need to stumble across the portal to become a threat to Equestria.)

-

It started as two scraps on Discord that were entirely focused on point two.

The first was:

Sunset: So, uh, Princess . . . Twilight --human Twilight-- and I were experimenting with portal science to see if we could find alternate worlds where the inhabitants were neither pony nor human and we . . . well, we kinda did.
*pause*
Sunset: Now, don't worry, I did a scrying spell and I assure you that Cthulhu and the Great Old Ones to whom he is High Priest are still fictional.  So, you know, no worries there. But . . .

The second was:

Celestia: Sunset, what's the first rule of exploring the multiverse?
*pause*
Celestia: (tone of warning) Sunset . . .
Sunset: Avoid tentacles?
Celestia: Avoid tentacles.
*Sunset looks down in shame*
Celestia: Now, you've always been my best student --unlike Twilight Sparkle, you actually listened to me enough to learn that social skills were a thing before you encountered the Elements of Harmony-- so I know that you didn't come here to tell me that you've doomed us all by giving eldritch creatures the keys to our universe.
Sunset: Uh huh.
Celestia: So, with that in mind, what did you come to tell me?
Sunset: (in a hopeful 'Does this mean I'm not being executed?' tone) That my friends and I need to borrow some of the most powerful artifacts known to pony kind, several tomes from the restricted section, Starlight Glimmer, and enough diamonds to construct several hundred laser cannons?
Celestia: Good.  I thought it would be something like that.
*pause*
Celestia: It, of course, goes without saying that if I provide these things to you, I will not see any betentacled beings that violate all laws of nature and magic in Equestria.
Sunset: Absolutely, Princess.  Thank you.

Unfortunately, with the exception of a passage about how Celestia uses the Wonderbolts and the nobility as tools for social engineering and another dialog-only scrap or two, it kind of ended there too. Depression's been bad, I've been sick, and I had so many problems with access to my medications over the last . . . two months, maybe. (Each one of which seemed like it was the last one, and everything medication-wise was therefore resolved.)

[Cerulean Blue]

Thank you for hosting this contest, and I'm looking forward to what comes out of it. The first one was full of excellent stories, and from what I've seen so far, this one looks to be the same.

[Cynewulf]

I knew I shouldn’t have taken up a slot. Looking forward to seeing them.

[CoffeeMinion]

Thank you for giving in to my prodding and doing this again!