There is no such thing as late. Just missed deadlines. Shut up.

Well, it's been six weeks since the launch of the Make Rarity Not Garbage contest. I thought it would be a wonderful way to give back to the fandom for all the wonderful things that have happened to The Barcast over the last year to two years.

I never would have guessed that the contest would have developed and ended this way.

First of all, we recieved no troll entries. Which was what the "Last Place" Prize was about. Now that I've reviewed all of the entries, and saw how much work and care was put into each entry, we agree that it would be a case of punching down to mark something as "Last Place." As such, the prize is being revoked. (Unless someone was gunning for it. PM Me.)

The reality of the situation is that there were a ton of wonderful entries. Heck, if you've watched my favorites recently (Some of you have... My PM's prove it.) I've added A LOT of these stories to my favorites. And it feels good to finally watch the feature box without fear of biasing an entry in the contest.

First and foremost I want to name some Honorable Mentions. These are stories that didn't make the top three, but stood out amoung the competition, and I feel deserves some extra praise.

Honorable Mention #1 : The Price of Happily Ever After by Mr. Numbers.

Yes. A Disqualified Entry is getting an honorable mention.

The rules of the contest clearly state 5k words was the limit. It's a soft word limit, mind you, but OH MY GOD. Twenty Thousand Words. How? Why? WHAATTTT?! I personally have not had the chance to read the entirety of this entry yet. But, I believe Mono has, and she only has praise for it. I'm humbled that Mr. Numbers put so much work into this competition. The least I can do is say "Go give this a read." He's a magnificent writer, a great person, and a wonderful friend.

Honorable Mention #2 : Pieces of Me by Dwarvish Pony

By our numbers, this little piece -just- missed the top three. However, I still want to take some time to gush about this piece a little bit. This is a sci-fi pony story. On top of that, a Sci-Fi Eqg Alternate Universe story. The sheer creativity that went into this idea and execution alone is phenomenal. I found myself still thinking about this entry as we continued into the entries and I fought for as we determined who and wasn't going to make the list. There's a difference between a favorite story and a best written story, which is what is winning out in the top three, but consider this my personal recommendation for the stories to jump into after you've read the top three.

Now then. Let's dish some prizes, shall we?

#3 - Winner of $5 - After a Fashion by FanOfMostEverything

This one was another personal favorite of mine and a very high ranker of Mono's. The amount of Polish and care that was put into this story was stunning to say the least. This work was extremely heartwarming, and I found myself smiling throughout the entire fic. The flow of the story created constant engagement and the prompt did a really good job at subverting the 'flaws' of Rarity's Character into a wonderful message and character dissection. Great show, FOME. PM me some Paypal information, and I'll get your prize squared away.

#2 - Winner of $10 - Study of Generosity by PaulAsaran

Another extremely surprising element of this contest was seeing a sort of... 'Fic Series' come into life thanks to the prompt. Study of Generosity is the Second submission by Paul and the sequel to his first. While we were judging these entries, I wanted to ensure that going into the second entry, that it was strong independently, and not simply stronger because it had a 5k word headstart of background from the other stories. At the end of the day, the story needs to be about Rarity. not Scootaloo.

And He Nailed it. This one was an extremely high ranker from Mono. We both agreed that the decision to characterize Rarity through the eyes of her friends, rather than through her interactions, shows way more about her character and more about who she is in private than if she were standing there, interacting with a character. Paul, PM me some paypal deetz, and I'll square you away.

Last but not least #1 - Winner of $20, a Full Narration of their story by the Barcast, and a Rarity Plushie shipped right to their door.Why She Looks So Good by Aragon

I was made aware that this story was high on the feature list for nearly a week once it was released, and I have a lot of private feelings about the feature box and having quality stories. It suffices to say that this story deserved every minute of it.

This story has an extremely well developed sense of voice, deep polish on every ounce of the technicals, a intimate sense on how comedy works and how to subvert reader expectations. I found myself having to pause myself while reading to ensure I continued to look at the story critically, and one particular line had me fall off of my chair laughing. No other story on Fimfiction has done that to me, personally. This story has ended up becoming one of my favorite stories on this website, period, and I have zero qualms saying that. And I feel so strongly about that, I have no qualms trying to get a My Little Pony Plushie through customs, and right to the window of Aragon. Hopefully there are no dogs under it too.

I'm blown away by the number of entries that were submitted into the contest. I think many of the writers had a lot of fun with their entries, and that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I really hope you guys enjoyed participating int this contest, be sure to stay tuned... we've already got another contest in the works with some sweet prizes.

Thank you everyone for supporting the Barcast.

Congrats to all the winners and bravo to the judges for such a hard set of choices.

Congrats to everyone. I hope there is another contest coming soon.

Congrats to all those who entered, and the winners. Nice to read there weren't any troll entries, actually.

Even though I'm a little bummed I didn't win, I certainly don't regret entering in this contest. It was a fun prompt to try, the pairing was unique, and I'm really happy with how my story came out. Plus, given my recent trend, it was refreshingly nice to write a story rated 'E' for a change.

Huge congrats to the winners and honorable mentions. They certainly deserve the praise and placements.

The outcome of this is perfect for me

I won just for showing up, with pure intimidation and networking power, so I didn't actually have to fight with Aragon. This is like my wish list.

Also, because I helped edit Dwarven's story, I obviously win the prize of being the most honourable. My prize is everyone's honour. Mwa ha ha.

There were a lot of excellent entries, and while I’m not surprised that my entry wasn't going to place, I’m glad we got a bunch of great stories about a wonderful pony. Congratulations to all the entries and the aforementioned winners. I’ll try to read more of them as soon as possible.

Congrats to all the winners! And to Numbers for winning so hard he got disqualified.

I had a blast writing my story, and I hope everyone enjoyed writing their entries. I'll see you all in the next contest, whenever it is (there's been so many lately holy shit I just want to work on my multi-chapter shipfic and not get pulled into these wonderful contests with wonderful people).

Congrats to the winners and the honorable mentions! I'll admit it, I wasn't going to read Why She Looks So Good, specifically because it had been featured and I have a low opinion of... well, public opinion. I didn't know it was written by Aragon, but if I had it would have tied my hands anyway since I've already got an Aragon story in my RiL. Buuut this forces me to change my plans and add the story to one of my shortlists, because far be it for me to lose to another story and not find out why/learn from the experience.

Also, thanks to all the judges for the placement of Study! I really enjoyed writing about Best Mane 6 Pone through the view of Best Filly and look forward to expanding upon what's already been established. Now, I have a PM to write and a much earlier question to answer. That $10 will be going straight into my cover art commissions fund!

I'm happy with these results. The top three really deserved it and Numbers' story is an absolutely fantastic read. Seriously, go read it immediately.

Congrats to the winners and everyone else who entered.

Congrats everyone!

6161656
Alright Zuko, calm down.

In all seriousness, well done by everyone, this was a fun contest to follow.

Haaah. There will be dogs, Priest. There will be dogs.

Well, this is a neat birthday present, if I say so. Thanks to the judges, everybody who entered, and especially congrats to FoME and Paul. You're both cool guys, so I'm glad to see you stuck the landing, folks.

6161656
I won the battle, you won the war, let's just say we won this together. As a family.

(Whenever we can't get any gayer, stuff like this happens, mate. Here's hoping my father gives you his blessing and we can get married already, fingers crossed.)

For all that's worth--if you hadn't DQ'd yourself, I'm sure you would've won by a lanslide. Your story was incredible, and you reserve all the recognition you can get, man. Congrats. I really mean it.

6161681

I wasn't going to read Why She Looks So Good.

Aaaw. That's bad.

I didn't know it was written by Aragon

Oh! That's good!

but if I had it would have tied my hands anyway

Wait shit that's bad again what's wrong with--

since I've already got an Aragon story in my RiL.

Oh. Okay. Good again?

Man, your comment was a fucking rollercoaster of emotions, wasn't it.

6161726
Hah! Just me being a slave to my highly organized brain. It is always frustrating to have a "one story per author" rule and watch as a preferred one produces interesting concept after interesting concept. It's simply impossible to keep up and be fair to others at the same time. Oh well, I'll get to you... eventually.

6161618
Well, this is a wonderful surprise! Thank you to the judges; I'm glad you found it so enjoyable. I'll get my Paypal info to you this evening.

And congrats to the other winners! At this point, it seems like Aragon entering a contest means that the rest of us are all racing for silver.

6161771

At this point, it seems like Aragon entering a contest means that the rest of us are all racing for silver.

*trying very hard to ignore his competitive side*

Kudos to the winners, and a hearty thank you to all the judges and organizers!

I don't care that I-... yeah, okay, I do care a little bit that I didn't win (Although I ended up in Flutterpriest's Fav list, which makes for a very nice consolation prize, so thank you, it means a lot to me! ), but my entry was fairly last-minute, and Rarity is really not a character I found it easy to write for.

And another, very special thank-you to the team (and the competition!) for FINALLY MAKING ME GET OFF MY LAZY BUTT AND WRITE AGAIN. The contest forced me to spend a lot of time writing that normally would have been idled away, and it made me develop new routines and habits which I'm currently trying to nurture into a more reliable rhythm.

Congratulations to the winners.

I still have to finish digging through all the entries, but what I saw til now was time well spent.

I really love Aragon's entry: it absolutely deserved first place for many reasons, including the incredibly original in the way it was told!

Fun fact: I was actually trying something similar, with one of Rarity's friends talking directly to the audience about something amazing and generous Rarity did.

But one of the editors I hired expressed very strongly to me that he didnt like that narrative device, so I changed it. I'll always wonder whether my story could have come close to Aragon's in style and quality if I had stuck to my guns.

As soon as I read Why She Looks So Good I knew it was going to win. It was funny, witty, made fun of rich pones (I am always down for that), and showed the cunning and skill of an entrepreneur.

Kinda like when DWK pointed out Rarity in a hard hat with a bow showing exactly who she is. A mare who has worked hard to get where she is and always looks good doing it.

Bravo to the winners! I bow to your superior skill in the arts of storycraft and wordsmithing. Well played, indeed.

Congrats~

It was fun finding an excuse to write after having not put anything out in a few years. Thanks for the contest, and congrats to the winners.

Congratulations to the winners, and many thanks to the organisers of this little competition. It's been lovely reading the entries, I must say

Congratulations, everyone! There's some real quality here — not just in the winners — and it's great to see the depth of excellence that the contest inspired.