The eye-wrenching glow of eldritch magics cleared from the stone slab where Iron Will had been bound, to reveal a shining form, standing there free. The gathered crowd of masked and robed ponies gasped. It was Iron Will himself, and yet somehow more himself than he had ever been. He was even taller, even more muscular, his hide literally shining with health and strength, his hair suddenly long, flowing around him, streaked with shimmering silver and blue. The silver-gray wings that now flared behind him were huge and magnificent.

Admittedly the third horn between his other two was a bit silly, but nobody is perfect. Not even newly-made minotaur princesses.

"I do not understand!" he cried out in his characteristic bellow. He looked down at the High Priestess, standing beside the altar, and pointed. "You! You were going to sacrifice me to gain the powers of a princess! You wanted it! I was proud of how far you'd come! Nobody was going to stop you from getting what you wanted!"

The High Priestess threw back the cowl of her robe and tore her mask free, revealing what only Iron Will had known until that moment: the yellow coat and pink hair of Fluttershy. "I couldn't do it! I just couldn't! I was holding you prisoner and yet you were still cheering me on! I just couldn't do it. I love you, Iron Will!"

His wings, that had been flapping gently to hold him up all this time suddenly stuttered, and he dropped like a rock to the ground. "Wh-what?"

Fluttershy flung herself at him. "I love you, and I was about to sacrifice you anyway! But I couldn't do it, so I changed the ritual. You're the one who deserves to be a princess, and I'm the awful pony who deserves to have her soul bound to the Old Ones."

"Hey there, little pony." Iron Will's voice turned tender and he folded his arms around Fluttershy. "Why do you think I was cheering this whole crazy plan? I knew how it would end. Or I thought I did. And I didn't even care. 'Cause I love you too."

And then, in front of the crowd of stunned cultists, the pair kissed.

The Crackship Clopfic contest was a massive success, (and a heck of a lot of fun!) and yet I know a lot of people skipped on entering because they didn't want to write smut. Well, folks, now's your chance! Because we're doing it again, but this time it's shipfics, not clopfics.

So here's how this contest will work:

1. Reply to this post (so I get notified) telling me that you want to be in the contest.
2. I will shuffle the deck, draw two ponies and one ship, take a photo, and post it as a reply to you.
3. You then write a story using those characters and that situation.

If you get completely stuck and just cannot write the cards you get, I can redraw for you once.

The above bit of story is an example, made from the cards I drew for myself and pictured here. Hopefully that gives you some idea of how this is meant to work.

The contest will run until December 31.

Stories must be rated either E or T, no M rated stories allowed.

Although the contest is called "Crackships for Christmas" you do not need to use a holiday theme.

There are no length limits this time. Be as short or as long as you like.

Entries must be new for this contest, no submitting things that are already on the site.

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

The winner will be featured in our winners folder, and will also get a line art drawing of their choice by me!

Stories will be judged based on the following criteria:

1. Technical skill. Grammar, punctuation, etc.
2. The story as story. How the plot, characters, and overall storytelling hold together.
3. The story as a shipfic. Does it deliver any feels?
4. Use of prompt. Does it feature the characters and ship provided?
5. Bonus. Anything else good about it that doesn't fall into the above categories.

Feel free to ask if you have any questions.

6198230
Oh my gosh this sounds super fun. I wanna try!

6198230
Ruling out M rated non-sex fics too? Anywho, hit me up.

6198237

6198238

6198243
An easy one.

Actually makes it harder. Now I need to work out how to bring these two together such that their romance was always meant to be.

6198230
*sighs*
Deal me in, good brother

6198242
Is the middle card required in the story or can we interpret that in any way?

6198247
You need to do something that in some way uses it, but you can get creative.

6198245
I look forward to seeing what you do!

6198246

6198230 This is probably a terrible idea, but hit me.

6198257

Just to make it official.

6198261 I know this was entirely legitimate and by chance, but I still can't believe it. What're the freaking odds that the OC/changelingOC writer would get that, amirite?

6198262
Well, I think there are two changelings in the deck, so it ups the odds ever so slightly, but yeah...
Edit: I checked, there are three changelings in the deck, actually. But there's like 50 ponies total, so still...

6198267 Still though. Of all the people to get that combo.

Shit, I should've entered into the clop version at this rate and made you cringe/cackle at it XD

Count me in!

yooo this seems baller

can I try?

6198230
I'm in.

6198272

Holy shit... that could actually be fun

6198277

6198280

6198230
I'm up for it! Maybe this time I'll finish it on time.

6198293

6198230
i'll likely giv it a run XD

Eh, might as well give it a try.

6198295
Oh sweet Celestia, YES. I can do something with that!

6198303

6198305

6198312

6198319
Heee. Oh boy!

6198321
So I can change the race one is and then ship Vinyl and Fandom Gypsy Pie as I please? XD

6198230
Finishing this time would be good.

Hit me up.

6198330
The detailed text (about changing race) is for playing the game these cards were made for. You can do that if you want, or you can interpret "Time for an experiment!" any other way you like.

6198230
Well, might as well see what nonsense you throw at me.

6198333
Oooh Hehehe.
*evil grin*
I can see this working in a hundred ways.

I can't promise I'll win, but I will probably write it and love it simply because it will entertain me. XD

Good Luck, All

6198331

6198334

6198230
...Given my track record with these kind of things, I doubt I'll actually participate , but I do have one question I can't help but ask:

Despite this being a shipping/crackshipping contest, is there any chance we would be able to enter a non-romantic friendshipping story?

6198354
Well, you could. It might suffer a little bit in the judging, since delivering on the shipping feels is part of the criteria, though, so it would be unlikely to win unless it really stood out.

6198230
I'd like a go at this!

6198366

Oh Luna, this is tickling my competitive contest condition something fierce. I wanna enter but I don't have time but it looks so fun but I have so many other things I need to be working on but random shipping challenge but I really don't need to do this...

...

Screw it. Deal me some cards. I can't guarantee I'll actually enter, but I'd like to see what I get so that maybe I can participate if I find the time.

6198230

Okay, this could be fun.

6198381

6198389

6198390
...I can work with this.

6198230
I'd like to enter. This sounds like it might be fun.

6198429

An OC? That's a bit odd. If I had known there was OCs as a possibility in this I might not have gone for it.