OK, sure, not sure what you need the football gear for but please, continue. First of all, I want to apologize for taking almost a week to get this posted on Fimfiction after posting about it on MLP Forums last Saturday (just had trouble making time for it with the new grad school year starting up). Yes, after an extensive judging period (and seriously, thank you all for your patience), I and the other judges have finally reached a consensus on the winning fics. There was some stiff competition to be sure, but we are confident that the fics we have chosen are the best of the bunch, and (for the most part) perfect for Poniverse canon! Before I continue, as always, I want to thank everyone who took the time to write and submit entries for this; we enjoyed all of these fics and really appreciate the effort it took to put them together, and ended up with a very fair number of fics as well.

Without further ado, here are the winners of the Poniverse Mascot Summerpalooza Contest!

Winners

Terms and Conditions by Fahrenheit

Our best overall entry by far, Terms and Conditions is a wonderful ensemble fic featuring all of the Poniverse mascots (with the exception of Wordplay and his siblings) as they meet each other for the first time and embark on a nutty adventure together. As with Fahrenheit's past work, the group interactions are splendidly written, with characters bouncing off of each other smoothly and interacting with each other in a realistic manner, the setting and story itself wonderfully inventive, unique, original, and creative, and chock full of splendid humor through and through. It's most definitely a fun read worth anyone's time to sit down and read, a very clear-cut winner and wonderful origin story for the mascots as a group itself, and the best written fic for not one but two Poniverse mascots, Equestria.tv's Viridian Meadows and Poniarcade's Nova Blast. Thank you very, very much for the wonderful read Fahrenheit and congratulations on your double win, you most certainly earned it!

Summers of Change by Silver Letter

Winning for Poniverse's alicorn Princess of the Internet herself, Pixel Wavelength, Silver Letter's Summers of Change is both the longest entry of the contest overall and provides us with a backstory most suitable for Poniverse's leader. While admittedly it will need to undergo some revisions in order to more smoothly fit into Poniverse canon, as is it's already a very solid fic which gives the reader a wonderful idea of just how somepony like Pixel could come to play such an incremental role in building and running something like the Internet in Equestria. It also provides her with some nice characterization and personal history, even adding ponies from her background important to her besides any of the Poniverse mascot themselves, who do not actually make an appearance. This is a Pixel Wavelength backstory through and through, and its focus on her and her alone is exactly what a character like her needed in our canon. Wonderful work Silver Letter, congratulations, and if you haven't checked his fic out yet, do so, it's most definitely worthy of a read!

Setting the Rift by Taialin

Compared to the other winning entries on this list, Setting the Rift is very different from the others in its feel, with the possible exception of Summers of Change. Winning for Pony.fm's musician mascot Viola, Taialin's entry gives more of a look into the origins of her personality more than her special talent itself, and it works very, very well. It's a sad and somber fic that I'm sure most readers will agree actually has some real-world parallels even, but also a hopeful one that gives the reader an idea of how a pony as reserved as Viola could come to join a group as sociable and interactive with online communities as Poniverse. Definitely worth your time, this fic was the clear-cut winner for Viola, and we at Poniverse all thank you very, very much for writing and entering it, Taialin.

Ogres and Oubliettes by Kolth

Our sole entry starring Pony Roleplay's mascot Wordplay (along with his older brother Road Map and twin sister Fair Dice) was thankfully a wonderful fic in its own right and probably would have one for the character even if other entries had been added for him. Given that roleplaying itself is very different compared to some of the other Poniverse mascots' areas of interest, the fic actually does a great job of not just giving Wordplay a solid backstory but also giving the reader an idea of where exactly he fits into Poniverse and how his joining it comes to be. It's also got some very entertaining roleplay segments to boot that even non-roleplayers will be able to understand and enjoy, as well as some very humorous commentary about roleplaying through the characters' interactions with each other. A winning entry through and through, Ogres and Oubliettes is a fun read anytime and most definitely worthy of Poniverse canon.

Creation of a Mediaverse by SFyr

Our final winning entry is distinguished in one very odd regard; it actually cannot be accepted into Poniverse canon. This was something that I and the other judges struggled over very much, but given Terms and Conditions acceptance into Poniverse canon already, there was simply no way we could make this one work alongside that one. However, that does not take away from its quality in the slightest! Winning for MLP Forums' very own lovable mascot Buffy, SFyr's Creation of a Mediaverse was another ensemble fic just like Fahrenheit's Terms and Conditions, and is an origin story for the Poniverse group. While it is not the canon origin story, it's a delightful read all the same; the characters' personalities are spot on, their interactions with each other are delightful, believable, and entertaining, and Buffy, its primary star, especially stands out, her characterization is spot on and exactly what we want out of her. I cannot emphasize enough how much this fic deserves to be read despite not fitting into our canon, and hope as many of you as possible will do so (as you should with all of these entries). Thank you very much for your winning entry, SFyr, and many congratulations!

Well, that's all the winning entries folks! We've finally got some canon established for our lovely Poniverse mascots, which means that we'll be able to continue to build upon them throughout different areas of Poniverse as well as incorporate into future contests, both on Fimfiction and elsewhere. Once again a big thank you on behalf of all of Poniverse and its staff to all the authors who took the time to write and enter fics; they were all enjoyable to read, and we hope you will all continue to write and improve your craft so that we might see you all in future fanfic contests.

Also, don't forget to join us this Saturday on MLP Forums from 8:00 - 11:00 pm CT (9:00 pm - 12:00 am ET) when we will be having an open Q&A with the wonderful fanfic author and creator of the Winningverse Chengar Qordath, along with his Winningverse colleague authors and editors Ponibius and Comma-Kazie. You'll have three hours to ask them all sorts of questions, so don't miss out on this exciting chance to chat with some great pony writers!