I'm finally getting to posting the results. There was too much real life happening last week to really sit down and post it, so, here it is.

There are only four entries, but I will list them as I rate them with the last one being first place.

Spoilers.

Twilight Breaks a Pinkie Promise
By: RaylanKrios

Just like the title says, Twilight fails to follow through on a Pinkie promise.

My issue with this story is nothing happens. The conflict could've easily been avoided if Twilight just went to help Applejack at an earlier time, leaving her free to help Rainbow in the afternoon. Or, she could've gone back to Rainbow and asked her to reschedule.

The start of the story was building up to what could've been hilarious, but it ultimately falls flat. I guess the idea behind this story was to make an anti-joke, and it may have worked, if it showed Twilight more freaked out by what Pinkie would do to her—only for it to be nothing.

Noi and Bloo's Big Adventure
By: SweetAI Belle

When it comes to minimalism, this story's got it! The original story has exactly 100 words, and the longer version has exactly 1000 words. (Ignore Fimfiction's word counter, it's wrong).

I really liked the story, especially the 100 word original. The 1000 word version is really fast paced, and it jumps all over the place. Characters seem to appear out of nowhere—excluding Twilight who literally does appear out of nowhere. What makes the 100 word story, in my opinion, better, is it doesn't waste time explaining anything. It drops you right into the story and it somehow tells a more coherent story. And that is pretty impressive.

My issue with this story are the OCs. It's hard to bring an OC into a short story and pull it off well. The story, surprisingly, does a pretty decent job introducing the characters, but a little more about who they were would have been nice.

Accidents Happen
By: Majin Syeekoh

Okay, this story is something else. In a thousand words and some change, this crazy author tells a funny and bizarre story. I definitely had to rereads certain parts. It unforgivingly throws the reader for a few loops, and then leaves them slightly confused how to feel at the end. It was funny, awkward, and totally random.

My only issues with this story, and I don't really hold it against the story, is Twilight's musings. True, she is right, and poor Rainbow is stuck listening to it, just like the readers. But, the author very cleverly throws something interesting out of left field into the mix, and then more shenanigans happen.

I really like this story; I could read it again and again, because of its utter ridiculousness.

And now... for the winner.

Playing Second Fiddle
By: HMXTaylorLee

If you haven't read anything from this author yet, I highly recommend you do.

Playing Second fiddle is set in the same universe as The Play's the Thing, but it's not a sequel. It stands as its own story.

The story is Diamond Tiara having to deal with not being in the limelight, and, man, is it funny. I'm not sure what's funnier: when she finds out she gave up the lead role because she had to kiss another filly then finds out Sweetie Belle took the kiss out of the script. Or Diamond thinking she will be discovered as a talented actress from a school play. Either way, her characterization is perfect.

Another thing this story does quite well is the story within a story. The Play's the Thing goes into the whole story within a story, but Playing Second Fiddle gives the reader enough information to get an idea of a whole other story and conflicts within it. It's not much, but it helps bring the reader into the world the author created. For a short story, there's actually a lot going on here. It quickly builds the universe the story is set in, tells a complete story, has some jokes, has great characterization, and teaches a lesson. To make the most of what you've got, because even doing a small roll well can make an impact. Weather Diamond learned that lesson or not is up to the reader.

On a technical level the story is solid. I could nitpick at the use of hyphens instead of em dashes or en dashes with spaces, or the use of all caps for shouting, but... those don't take anything away from this story. The true crime is how underrated it is.

Thank you, everyone (all four of you) for participating in the contest. If you missed this one, there will be another mini fic contest soon.

-Twi-Fi

4247004

Wow, I can't believe that I won! Thank you!

I'm a sucker for time travel in stories, so I really loved Accidents Happen. After seeing the massive positive reception for it when it entered the folder (1000 likes? I'm still working on getting 100!), I was certain that one was going to take it. Heck, I thought that Twilight Breaks A Pinkie Promise was funnier than mine - I'm also a sucker for stories that play with the expectations of the reader.

Again, I'm really grateful for the praise. I've learned that I really, REALLY (or is it really?) need to invest in a keyboard with that extended hyphen, or at least learn when and where to use each of the different dashes, because all of my stories rely pretty heavily on abrupt interruptions with that Wright-esque "cutting/editing" style.

4247143 They were all really good. Accidents Happen is an awesome story full of Discord and Starswirl shenanigans. But, it isn't always about the upvotes or popularity. To paraphrase Aquaman from EQD: "Twilight sold millions of copies, that doesn't mean it is good." I'm not saying any of the fics entered into this contest were Twilight bad (because they aren't), but that is the best example I've heard.

As for the dashes. If you have a windows computer the dashes are going to be an ALT code. ALT 0151 is em dash I think... I don't use windows that much. On a Mac, it's shift, option, and the hyphen key at once. As for the differences, there are lots of ways to use them—it depends on the guide you use – and which style works best for you.

4247004

Yay, third place! Thanks!

I guess I should talk about it a little.

I do actually wish I could have expanded more on Noi and Bloo's characters in the story. They aren't actually OC's, either. Here, watch "Smile, Smile, Smile" again:

[youtube=bw7VLJT5mdA]

See the two fillies near the start, around when Pinkie sings "It doesn't matter much if you are sad or Bloo blue."? That's Noi and Bloo. The dragon might have been an OC, but then, it coulda been the dragon from "Owl's Well That Ends Well", only in a new cave. I was kinda thinking of him.

What made things really tricky was that I was trying to follow this:

The Heroes Journey
Act I: (50/5 words each)
1. THE ORDINARY WORLD.
2. THE CALL TO ADVENTURE.
3. REFUSAL OF THE CALL.
4. MEETING WITH THE MENTOR.
5. CROSSING THE THRESHOLD.

Act II: (125/13 words each)
6. TESTS, ALLIES AND ENEMIES.
7. APPROACH TO THE INNERMOST CAVE.
8. SUPREME ORDEAL.
9. REWARD.

Act III: (83+/8 words each)
10. THE ROAD BACK.
11. THE RESURRECTION.
12. RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR.

So, for example, in the 100 word version, the step "Supreme Ordeal" is this:

"Roar!!!" a dragon bellowed from the cave. Noi poked it with a stick.

If I ever try this again, I might drop the number of words per section thing, 'cause that made it really difficult.

I actually liked the 100 word version better too, but I couldn't have published it without writing the 1000 word version, and that version was fun, too. The 100 word version just somehow has a little more magic to it, though...

--Sweetie Belle

4249563

Following that outline actually explains quite a bit! I'll admit, my first reaction to the story was "That seemed really random, yet... not." It was actually almost frustrating!

Reading the story again, knowing the schema, I get a sense that virtually every line was placed exactly where it was for a reason. Nicely done!

4249678

Thanks. It was almost like writing haiku, or something like that, really. The thousand word version was frustrating, because I kept going a couple sentences over on sections and having to remove things even though I knew the story would've been more fleshed out if I kept them.

It did make me really look at what words can be removed and I you can make things shorter, or in some cases longer.

I'll admit having math homework as a "test" was kind of silly.

Oh, the reason why there is a "+" on the "83+" plus is that to make it a thousand words, you have to add an extra word to one of the sections. I think I added it to the last section on the thousand word version. I was confused for a minute when I finished and had a 999 word story...

--Sweetie Belle

4249788 Ah those two... well they may not be technically an OC, but if this is their only appearance in the show, they may as well be OCs. Super super background ponies.

That is a pretty interesting challenge. Yeah, the 100 word version is awesome.

4250977

Well... I'm not sure about Bloo, but Noi has kinda appeared in the show a lot.

She even had a line once...

You know, I wish you could publish things that were less than a thousand words. It seems kinda restrictive. Of course, I also think it should be possible to have more than one author on a story, where co-authors could directly edit things themselves...

--Sweetie Belle

4247004 Second place... not bad!

4253500 Wow she is everywhere, and she is super adorable. Is her cutie mark an ice cream cone?

She needs to have more lines! Or at least one episode where she does something important.

You can always cheat. You can publish a 100 word chapter as the actual story then make an author's notes section to get the word count up. Hmm, I wonder if the moderators will let you do that?

Two authors that have access to one story. It's a nice idea, but I can see things going horribly wrong with that too.

As for mini fics, have you ever tried the Writeoff Association? They do mini fic contests every so often, and their word cap is 750.