Welcome to June's contest! Because the contest's ending date is my birthday, I'm being shameless and making this month's theme One Year Older. It doesn't have to be about birthdays, of course, you can interpret the theme in any way you choose.

Since this is a short fic contest, your stories should between 1000 and 6000 words long.

Stories must be rated either E or T.

Stories must be new for this contest, you cannot simply submit a story you have already published.

The contest deadline is June 21, so you have three weeks to write in.

To enter a story in the contest, simply submit it to the appropriate group folder.

You may enter as many stories as you wish.

The winning story will be featured in our winners folder, and the author will also get a sketch of the subject of their choice, provided by me! (Examples of my artwork can be found over on Deviantart.)

Stories will be judged (by me this time, but eventually other judges may be recruited) based on 5 categories.

1. Technical writing skill. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.

2. Basic Storytelling. Are the characters interesting? Does the plot hold together? Is it enjoyable to read?

3. Use of the theme. Does it really use the theme? Does it do so in interesting ways?

4. Creativity and enjoyment. Is the story interesting, unique, or fun?

5. Bonus points. A catch all for any good things the story did that don't fit the other categories.

All further updates, including the judging scores and results, will be posted in this thread, so do keep an eye on it. Questions totally welcome.

5969277
So do we post them in the folder that's titled "June 2017"? Or do we post it in the one titled "August 2017"?

5969284 You post in the June folder.

5969285
Thanks for verifying it.

5969288

Stories must be new for this contest, you cannot simply submit a story you have already published.

5969290
Huh? Did I already publish one of them before? I wasn't aware that I entered one before. Which one is it, and I'll unsubmit without delay?

5969277 So this is going to sound like splitting hairs, but does it have to be a one-shot, or a a multi-chapter fic that adds up to between 1K and 6K words? Great to see you be a judge again, by the way.

5969473 It can be a multi-chapter, sure, the total just has to be under 6k words.

5969299 You cannot possibly have written any of those stories for the contest, it started five minutes before you entered them. You may be a fast writer, but nobody can write four stories in five minutes. I've already removed them all from the contest folder. (Not only that, but two of them, The Flaming Trash Bag and The Stallion in the Suit are already here in the group because you entered them in a previous contest!) In addition, Twilight's First Gift was published last August, and A Shattered Diamond was published nearly a month ago. So I'm not sure by what definition any of them could have been new for this contest.

5969546
Oh. I miss understood that you meant "new" as in posted right now.
Also, I had completely forgotten that I had submitted "The Flaming Trash Bag", and "The Stallion in the Suit" some time ago.

You may be a fast writer, but nobody can write four stories in five minutes.

I wish that were true. If I was that fast of a writer, then I would get all the stories I had thought up written right there. But I'm not. The most recent story I'm writing is "Buffalo Wings Tonight", but I'm sure it's going to be more than 6k words, and it's a clop-fic anyway, so I have high doubt that it would be an acceptable entry. Then after that, I'm going to hopefully start writing another story that's linked to my story, "A Pop Star, a Princess, and a Prisoner", but it would be a very dark clop-fic.

All in all, maybe it's best if I sit this out.

5969830 I'll be doing a clop contest eventually. Not this round or the next, but sometime within the next year.

5969277 As with all the contests on this site, I'm promoting this one on my user page in an attempt to get you more contenders. Good luck!

One Year Older, huh...
I'll see what I can do! At least I'm catching this contest on time

Hey, the ending date is my birthday, too! Now I feel an extreme need to enter!

5978665
If you’d like to see how the judging will go, you can check out the April thread, I posted the full judging results there for each story. It’s not a number score, it’s a little more haphazard than that.

5969284

5969473

5970524

5974490

5978665
Just a reminder that there's one week left to write!

5987111
I’ve been going through some story ideas, and had to trash a couple after a few hundred words of going nowhere, but I think I finally have a good one. Time to procrastinate.

Well their older. Hopefully taking artistic liberties, and creative interpretations with the prompt won't bite me in the butt.

5989063

5987940

5974490

5970524

5970486

5969830
Well, there's slightly over 24 hours left! It's ending at midnight tomorrow, Pacific time.

5994716
So close! I already submitted one but it was rejected, so just need to make some changes and re-submit

...I thought my idea would be a bit out there. How is it that three of the four currently submitted seem to be dealing with ponies dying? Well, now to read the others, then!

It's already over!?

It is indeed officially over!

Thanks to everyone who entered, looks like we got six entries. I'll read and judge them sometime in the next few days, and post the results here.

Okay! I've finally had time to judge the entries. And once again I didn't have to suffer through a horrible story I hated, they were all at least readable. That said, I do have to pick one winner.

This month's winner was WovenTale, with The Last Year of Starswirl the Bearded! Frankly, this story is criminally underappreciated. It's definitely worth the read, especially for anybody who enjoys closed time loops! Please drop me a line and let me know what you'd like me to draw for you.

Here are the detailed judging results:

Time is Short
by Shortmane

1. Technical writing skill. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.

It skips back and forth between present and past tense a bit. I'm actually not entirely certain if that was deliberate or not. I found it a little distracting. No other errors, though.

2. Basic Storytelling. Are the characters interesting? Does the plot hold together? Is it enjoyable to read?

Rainbow is in character, as are what we see of her friends. The plot is pretty straightforward and easy to follow. I know some people might like more detail, but I think it's fine that exactly what happened to Rainbow was left unsaid.

3. Use of the theme. Does it really use the theme? Does it do so in interesting ways?

I have to say that when I put out a birthday theme, I was not expecting so many people to go for stories about death. Apparently you all are a morbid bunch. But it is a pretty interesting twist on the theme, so full points there.

4. Creativity and enjoyment. Is the story interesting, unique, or fun?

I have to say here's where it fell a little flat for me. I don't expect wild plot twists, but we know what's going on from pretty near the beginning of the story, and everything unfolds pretty much exactly like you'd expect. Rainbow Dash is dying, her friends are nice and supportive as friends might be, then she dies. It was decently executed, but didn't wow me.

5. Bonus points. A catch all for any good things the story did that don't fit the other categories.

I do appreciate the attempt to put a positive and uplifting spin on that inevitable end. I suspect it will read as very warm and comforting to some people.

Final verdict: good

Birthday Cake
by No Raisin

1. Technical writing skill. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.

It's pretty immaculate, didn't spot any errors.

2. Basic Storytelling. Are the characters interesting? Does the plot hold together? Is it enjoyable to read?

There isn't really a *story* as such here. Things happen, but they're not really coming from anywhere, or going to anywhere. That said, this had a fantastic sense of time, place, and mood. So although there wasn't a plot as such, what was there did hold together very well.

3. Use of the theme. Does it really use the theme? Does it do so in interesting ways?

Yep, full points for that.

4. Creativity and enjoyment. Is the story interesting, unique, or fun?

Since it's a bit of a non-story, my enjoyment was limited. It was very well written and would make a great chapter in a larger story, and it's a fine little bit of mood, you can feel the moment, but I was left wanting a little more substance.

5. Bonus points. A catch all for any good things the story did that don't fit the other categories.

I liked Vinyl's "voice", it was pretty distinctive.

Final verdict: good

The Last Year of Starswirl the Bearded
by Woven Tales

1. Technical writing skill. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.

I didn't find any errors.

2. Basic Storytelling. Are the characters interesting? Does the plot hold together? Is it enjoyable to read?

This one had a fantastic hook right at the beginning and pulled me in. It was a great read all the way through. I think the only possible quibble I could find was that the archaic language felt awkward in places. I think the issue there is that all the thee-and-thou is mixed in with bits of completely modern phrasing. It sounds a bit odd to the ear sometimes.

3. Use of the theme. Does it really use the theme? Does it do so in interesting ways?

Very much so. (I swear, though, all these stories are pretty morbid, for birthday stories.)

4. Creativity and enjoyment. Is the story interesting, unique, or fun?

I thoroughly enjoyed this. Clover is well done, Starswirl is too, and the tension between their differing personalities really drives the story.

5. Bonus points. A catch all for any good things the story did that don't fit the other categories.

I really did love that this all starts as a closed time loop mystery. I have a massive soft spot for closed time loops.

Final verdict: excellent

But a Day
by Comrade Bagel Muffin

1. Technical writing skill. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.

This has some typos, you're/your and their/they're problems, and some past tense/present tense switches that I'm pretty sure aren't intentional. And a few punctuation errors as well. Nothing really horrible, but it could use a once-over by a good editor.

2. Basic Storytelling. Are the characters interesting? Does the plot hold together? Is it enjoyable to read?

Pinkie is decently in character. The plot is a little bit contrived, but it works well enough. There were some good stabs at mood and characterization that will be pretty nice if it gets some of those errors cleaned up.

3. Use of the theme. Does it really use the theme? Does it do so in interesting ways?

Yep, it's a good birthday sort of story.

4. Creativity and enjoyment. Is the story interesting, unique, or fun?

I found it a mixed bag, enjoyment-wise. I was interested in what was happening, so the story holds together on that front, but I also found it all just a bit too easy, a bit too trite. Pinkie just gets given the ability to keep her Pinkie Promise, through some cosmic loophole Death presents to her. I'd find it more interesting either if Pinkie earned, it or if the story was from the Cake's point of view and it's just more mysterious "it's Pinkie, she just does these things" stuff. The first would make for a better story, the second would fit the show better. What we have, with her just getting this handed to her apparently because she's famous... it's a bit unsatisfying, really.

Final verdict: okay, could be quite good with a little work

Forever
by Comrade Bagel Muffin

1. Technical writing skill. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.

This also has numerous small errors and would benefit from a good editing.

2. Basic Storytelling. Are the characters interesting? Does the plot hold together? Is it enjoyable to read?

The plot unfolds nicely, I felt that was well done. The contents of it are well-trodden ground, though. Many stories have had an immortal Twilight saying goodbye to various friends, and this doesn't cover any new ground there.

3. Use of the theme. Does it really use the theme? Does it do so in interesting ways?

It's probably the furthest departure in not using either birthdays or "one year", but it's still close enough to count.

4. Creativity and enjoyment. Is the story interesting, unique, or fun?

I'm afraid this one fell flat for me. In going for maximum feels, I think it went a little too far. Not only was it a little bit gratuitous , but confessing that Twi was a mother figure after thousands of years just felt odd. Spike *beyond* ancient at this point, "mommy" sounds very strange coming from somebody dying of old age. And surely if he'd felt that way all this time, he would have said so at some point in all those centuries?

5. Bonus points. A catch all for any good things the story did that don't fit the other categories.

The "action figures" were a nice touch, that was very Spike.

Final verdict: okay

Importance
by Razor Blade the Unicorn

1. Technical writing skill. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.

I didn't spot any errors.

2. Basic Storytelling. Are the characters interesting? Does the plot hold together? Is it enjoyable to read?

The intro felt a bit redundant. Explaining Twilight's position of privilege felt relevant, but going on to cover all the mane six just got repetitive, we all know who they are and what they're famous for already, after all. I realize it's a bit weird to suggest cutting down a story that's barely 1400 words, but sometimes less is more. Once over that hump, though, the story itself was very nicely told. Although I think the writing could be polished up a bit in general. It feels very stilted, and I recognize that's an attempt at using Octavia's "voice", but I think it could use a little bit of work, because in places it's less fancy and formal and more just weird and awkward. I completely approve of making the attempt, though.

3. Use of the theme. Does it really use the theme? Does it do so in interesting ways?

Absolutely. It's probably the truest to what I was expecting when I picked the theme.

4. Creativity and enjoyment. Is the story interesting, unique, or fun?

I have to say, that though I think the execution could use work, I did find the story itself quite enjoyable. It's short, it's simple, but it's also very sweet. I absolutely enjoyed it.

5. Bonus points. A catch all for any good things the story did that don't fit the other categories.

I feel like this one has some personal feeling in it. Certainly I know that feeling of being overshadowed by somebody more "important". (And I sometimes lately think I need to watch my ego a bit, and not become a Rainbow Dash and act like I'm more important just because of some small measure of fame.) So I appreciated the personal feel of this story. I think putting one's own personal frustrations into a story often makes for the best storytelling. That's actually how I started writing fanfiction, way back when, so it resonates with me when somebody does that.

Final verdict: good, with a little work could be excellent.

Thank you very much to everyone who participated! I apologize for taking so long to do the judging. Life happens sometimes. Hopefully next contest I'll be a little more on the ball, though with the longer format the judging will still probably take a while.

6020619
I’ll try to write an actually story for one of these darn contests... eventually.

But no, I’m incredibly insecure with doing beginnings and endings, so most of my fics have been more like singular moments than stories. Mood/Character over plot, I guess.

Also, Woven Tales’s fic got way less attention than it deserved. Hopefully the contest outcome will get it some much-needed upvotes. Congratulations to everyone who managed to participate last month, of course.