Good afternoon, bronies and pegasisters of Fimfiction. I don't know how spring is shaping up for the rest of you, but right now here in the grand ol' state of Michigan, things are simply lovely! The sun is shining, birds are chirping their lovely songs, and new life is all around us, in more ways than one, I might add. After all, we are in the midst of a still recently-started new season of MLP, one that is shaping up so far to be rather splendid indeed. With all that said, I'd say it's high time we had a new fanfiction contest to celebrate this new season of MLP, hosted, as always, by the Poniverse Fimfiction group. Unlike our previous fanfic contests, however, this one will NOT have a holiday theme, or even a seasonal theme. No, rather, the Poniverse Spring Has Sprung Contest will have a show-centric theme, in particular, one focused on a major theme of Season 5: cutie marks!

Yes, that's right, cutie marks! Below, you'll find everything that you need to know:

(1) Seeing as cutie marks seem to be a major theme of MLP this season, all entries must relate to cutie marks in some manner, whether they be comedy, slice of life, romance, horror, adventure, or some other genre. It can be about somepony getting their cutie mark, the meaning of a cutie mark, the cutie mark and one's self-identity, how cutie marks may relate to romance in Equestria, the role they've played in Equestria's history or the lives of major figures like the princesses, whatever, as long as cutie marks are involved in some way, your fic will qualify for our contest.

(2) Entries should be no longer than 20,000 words. We'd prefer that all entries be one-shot fics, but if the author requires multiple chapters for their fic, that's fine, so long as the fic does not exceed 20,000 words and is complete upon entry.

(3) Entries cannot exceed a Teen rating. We will not accept any Mature rated fics, whether they be Gore fics, Slash fics, Clop fics, etc. That's not to say that you can't enter scary or even sensual (to a certain extent) fics, but our group has a strict policy of not accepting Mature rated fics. If any Mature rated fics are entered, we will not read or review them.

(4) Fics can be submitted to the contest in the folder titled "Spring Has Sprung Contest Entries".

(5) Contestants can enter no more than 1 submission of their own work (and please, do not enter any other author's work into the contest, even if you're doing it for them; if they'd like to enter the contest, they can do so themselves).

(6) Entries will be accepted until May 31; after that date, we will accept no new submissions.

We hope to announce the contest winners in the beginning or middle of June, although that time-slot may change depending on whatever real life demands may arise in the next month. The fics that come in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place will be featured on our Fimfiction group, MLP Forums, and the Poniverse Newsletter, along with reviews published for each one. In addition, 1st place, 2nd place, and 3rd place will all receive a free art commission by the artists Midnight Scribbler (deviantART account ID: soultrip69), Smash-N-Dash, and SFyr (deviantART account ID: SapphireFyr). The 1st place piece will be a 1-2 character full art piece with a basic background by Midnight Scribbler, and may be whatever the 1st place winner desires, whether it be cover art for a fic, or just art of an OC. The 2nd place piece will be a 1-2 character piece with a basic background by Smash-N-Dash. The third place piece will be specified at a later date once SFyr has determined the extent of what he's willing to do, but rest assured 3rd place will receive an art piece no matter what. Check out some of Midnight Scribbler, Smash-N-Dash, and SFyr's lovely art on their deviantART pages by clicking on the links above!

We hope you all enjoy this contest as much as the last one, and hope to see some wonderful entries that help us to usher in both spring and the new season of MLP! So get to it writers, and show us what you've got up your sleeves! I'm sure many of you have some very interesting things to write about cutie marks, and can't wait to see your ideas in action. If you have any questions about the contest, do not hesitate to post them here or to PM me, and feel free to share this contest prompt with any friends of yours here on Fimfiction, MLP Forums, or any other pony site you can think of! Have a pleasant day, everypony, and happy writing one and all!

Sounds like a bag of laughs, Batbrony. The art piece is also really tempting. Sadly I really don't have time for anything other than Circumstellar at the moment. I really do hope to eventually get into some of the contests around here, but that probably won't be for another twenty weeks or so.

Best of luck to anyone participating! It's a great opportunity for all of you to be awesome.

4348692 Consider me in! I'm gonna write a Paper Scribbles OC cutie mark story

4348808
Woot, woot, go for it!

was already planning a cutie-mark story for one of my characters, so now I have an excuse to finish it!

4349943
Awesome-sauce!!!

4348692 As with all contests on Fimfiction, I'll promote this one on my user page.

4352121
Thanks very much, that's very kind of you.

4352145 It took me 3 hours to finish the rest, but I'm done!

4421923
Awesome, glad to hear it! Apologies that it'll be awhile before we get the results in since we extended the contest by two weeks (quite a few people informed me that they were having trouble meeting the deadline), but I just thought I'd let you know in case you got worried that the results were being delayed.

4421966 BUT THAT'S THE REASON I GOT PERMISSION TO USE THE LAPTOP! DANG. Guess I'll write the saga in the meantime...

4421976
Sorry, sorry, very sorry. Since it'll probably be awhile before I get to reading it, feel free to make whatever edits or additions you want to make to your entry in the meantime in case you want to polish it.

4422039 I don't need to edit it! ITS ALREADY ON THE POPULAR LIST!

4422068
Very good.

4422270 Wait, I'm working with an editor (VitalSpark) at the moment, so we can make it awesome before the time's up!

4422270 Is it over now?

4465016
It ends today at midnight. We might have a couple of last minute entries, and then the judging process will begin.

4465019 Good. That reminds me, I need to start judging my own contest!

(Btw, I'm on the Poniverse website )

4465028
Very good, glad to hear it!

Wow! I can;t believe I made it in time! lol.

I'm not gonna get anywhere near the top 3, cus my story sucks, like all my others.

Thanks for the constructive criticism, BatBrony. Means alot