Hello everyone, Blue Dragon here! I’m going to be hosting Equestrian Harmonic’s second contest, and it’s certainly something to be excited about!

We’re still judging based on song lyrics, except this time you will need to write a story that goes along with your song. What this means is we will not only be looking at the song itself (though that is the main focus), we will also be paying attention to how well it is incorporated into the story. That said, the story itself will also play a role in the judging.

Here’s the rules, as per usual:

1. Entries MUST pertain to one of the provided prompts.
2. If an entry is a parody of an existing song, due to copyright, it cannot just be a "ponification" of the original lyrics. They must be changed more than "person" to "pony" or "girl" to "mare." This isn't just our rule, this is a site-wide rule. Try to be original.
3. One entry per user.
4. Stealing another fan's work will NOT be tolerated. If we discover a contestant doing so, he/she will be withdrawn from the contest and permanently banned from the group. This goes for all contests in the group.
5. Entries can be of any existing genre.
6. To submit your entry, you must PM either me (Blue Dragon) or ThaStrangr with the link to your uploaded story.
7. Deadline is November 30th, 2013.

Here are the prompts:

- With Pinkie Pie feeling down in the dumps, it’s up to somepony else to cheer her up.
- The Mane 6 take part in a Dirty Joke Contest, and someone unexpected ends up taking home the trophy.
- “Be careful what you wish for.” Somepony makes a wish that comes true, but paradise takes a turn for the worse.
- "Losing Her Element." Harrowing or traumatic events transpire which cause one of the Mane 6 to slowly, subtly break her tie with her element.
- Shipping (Any two characters of your choice).

And this time, we do have some incentive for all you lucky individuals! The winner of the contest will have their story featured on the front page of the group until the next contest winner takes its place. If that isn’t enough for you, I will commission an artist to draw the winner a pony of their choosing (specifically original characters)! If we have at least ten entries for this contest, the winner will also receive pixel art of their pony or their OTP!

Here are some examples of the artist’s work I plan to commission: Example 1, Example 2, Example 3. Each of these were commissioned by other people (the second by me), and are not to be used elsewhere. I attained permission to use these specific examples.

And as for the pixel art: Example 1, Example 2.

What’re you guys waiting for? Get writing! If you have any questions or would like anything clarified, feel free to comment here and I'll reply as soon as I can.

Edit: To clarify, you do not need to create an entire song for your entry. The minimum requirement is a single verse along with a chorus. You can write more than that if you'd like, however.

Edit 2: You are allowed to use a pre-existing story for this contest so long as it follows one of the above prompts, but you must create an entire song to go along with it. What this means is a minimum of 3 verses and as many choruses as you see fit must be included in your song. (It's highly recommended that you write more than the minimum.) If you choose to do this, you may submit by linking one of the judges to a Google Doc with the song lyrics, posting another chapter of the story with the lyrics by themselves and linking us to that, or just typing out the lyrics in a PM to either of us. (The last method would require you to link us to the story as well.)

2089807
holdupholdupholdup!
Sorry but I'm new here... So we have to make up our own song based off one of the prompts above and write a story to go with it?

Part of me wants to do a shipping story for this.

But the other half wants to try something out of my comfort zone. Hm...

I'm definitely in on this one!

2090209

Welcome to the group! To clarify, you don't need to create an entire song for this contest. A single verse with a chorus would be enough, and that's not terribly long. Of course, you can do more than that, but that's the minimum. (A story does need to go with it, though.)

I hope that clears everything up.

2090240
Sounds awesome!!!
I'll get right on that (once I finish my 3 projects and essays for english, make a device to drop an egg from 12m (top of bleachers to bottom) without it getting scratched for physics, and build a small scale tower that can hold up to 250x its weight for engineering as well as finally start on the Pony Parable... So basically give me like two days and I'll get started on this. When is the deadline?

2090212

I'm glad to hear it! We're looking forward to seeing what you come up with. Good luck!

2090270

You have until the 30th of November to get your story completed. Almost a month, which I think is a good amount of time for those that like to take their time (or have a lot to do... like you, I see). Sound good?

2090270 ... Are you God?!
How can you do all of that in two days?
(BTW deadline is November 30th)

2090306
Idk if this'll answer your question but I only get about 12 hours of sleep a week. And plus I've already worked out of some college textbooks in the past (16y/o South Texan YEAH!!!) so I kinda got a bit of a head start... hehe

2089807

Do we have to put it to music? Because my singing voice was never meant to be heard by mortal ears ... (in other words, cat yowling is more melodious than my voice).

2089807

Hm. Are we allowed to write a song for one of our existing stories? Say, maybe, this one?

2090464

Nope! I can relate with you on that, heh... All you need is the song lyrics (one verse along with a chorus) in a story. No vocals required.

2090480 We have decided that one can write a song for an existing story. However, to even things out a bit, any song comprised for a story written prior to this contest must be an ENTIRE song, rather than the standard (one verse, one chorus) medium.

2090480

Sorry for not replying sooner! ThaStrangr and I were discussing whether or not pre-existing stories should be allowed, and have decided that it'd be alright so long as the story in question follows one of the prompts above. Also, to keep things fair, you'd need to create an entire song rather than just one verse and a chorus. And to submit, you can simply type it out into a PM to either me or ThaStrangr, post another chapter of your story and give us the link when it's done, or link us to a Google Doc.

How does that sound? If you'd rather stick with creating a new story and writing one verse and a chorus instead, that's fine too.

2090240>>2090672
Can it be for only a chapter of an existing story?
Cause I wrote this beauty as part of this amazing collab although it's only a chapter

And it perfectly follows the whole "be careful what you wish for" prompt.
And does the song need to have a title?
PS. Please be ultra badasses and give those two links a shot

2089807

*cracks knuckles*

It is on, darlings!

2090672>>2090698
So I underestimated myself... I finished everything. So back to my question (before I priority this): Can it be a chapter of a story that I wrote? Or does it have to be the whole thing? <refer to my above comment for further details>

2095220 I read your excerpt from the collaboration. It is technically an individual story, but this is Blue's contest. We'll have to discuss this and come to an agreement.

2095334
ok thanks

2095338 Oki doki loki!

2095220

I apologize for not getting back to you sooner; I had to stay after school for an assignment.

Anyway, seeing as how the chapter does exceed the site's minimum (1k) by itself, is a stand-alone story, and it does follow one of the prompts, that's perfectly fine. However, keep in mind that because it was written before this contest was posted that you'll have to do an entire song and not just a single verse with a chorus.

As a side note, a song title is not necessary. Hopefully that clears it all up for you.

2096661
Jess....
And how long does the song have to be? Cause some pass with very few of anything. Cause I have a 6 line first verse and am working on the chorus (will probably have multiple alternating chorus.Not too sure yet...)

2096788

Our minimum will be 3 verses (and as many choruses as you see fit), however, it's very much recommended that you do more than that. The more material, the more we have to base our judging on. As for lines, just use your best judgment. We won't put limits on that, though around 6 lines seems reasonable.

2089807 Oh hell yes, sign me up.

2089807 I was working on something for this, but I soon realized it's going to be something much bigger, as well as the fact that my free time is decreasing. So I'mma have to drop out of this one, unfortunately.

2089807

Sent a PM with the link.

Let the games begin...

2280045 That pic is... rather disturbing.
(Walks away slowly)

2280747

Um... so is this thing still on, or...?

2341410 I can't really give you guys that info. This contest was hosted by Blue Dragon, who doesn't seem to have been on in a while. Real world stuff, probably. I'll send a PM, but that's all I can do.