Hello Everypony! Thank you so much for your patience. Before I give you all the results, I'd like to thank this year's guest judge TexasStyleBrony. While he was unable to finish the full load of judging, I definitely appreciated his help on what he was able to complete! (Note that this year's other judge had to drop participation due to personal reasons).

First off, I'd like to let everyone know about our HONORABLE MENTIONS:

HONORABLE MENTION #1: Tell Me a Story by Synesisbassist

This is a beautiful and heartwarming tale about a janitor, a sick colt, and the Wonderbolts. I honestly cried a little bit reading it; it's a short and heartwrenching but truly beautiful little tale that's good for the soul. Truly, a great piece of literature. If you haven't read it, I'd highly recommend it; after all, it was only a half judge point away from tying our 2nd and 3rd place entries! Congratulations to Synesisbassist, who did an excellent job!

HONORABLE MENTION #2: Dragon Lord Ember Skips Work for an Hour by The Cloptimist

This was a really well-written story. The cuddling itself is middling, but this story is really to be appreciated for the excellent job it does getting us into Ember's mindset. The Cloptimist does a better job of going deeper into a character's thoughts and motivations than anyone I've seen write on this site in a long time, and does it all while remaining true to Ember's show portrayal. Great job!

Both of our honorable mentions will receive $5 USD via paypal or venmo! (Just slide into my site DMs with your paypal address). In addition, if you were crazy enough to use all my prompts and did not receive either an HM or placed finish, DM me too for a separate prize :D

Congrats!

Now, the big results, in ascending order of dankness:

THIRD PLACE FINISH: Snuggle for Survival by TangerineBlast

YAK BEST AT SNUGGLE PONY

Hm. 🤔 I'm starting to notice a pattern...Those of you that have been paying particularly close attention may have noticed that this is the SECOND TIME that TangerineBlast has managed a 3rd place finish in my contest (That's two for two, by the way- 100%). ALWAYS pay attention when an author is putting out consistent and quality material like TangerineBlast!

Onto the story itself- some good n hardcore Prince Rutherford/Pinkie Pie friendshipping, complete with hypothermia and many, many snuggles. There's nothing over-the-top notable about how the story is written, except that every element is done consistently; and not just consistently, but consistently well. This includes everything from environmental description, to character dialogue, and even to the cute little intricacies of yak society.

A wonderful little tale from a consistently good author! (By the way, TangerineBlast is also a phenomenal PMV maker of some renown; maybe check out their YouTube channel? :3c)

TangerineBlast will receive either an art commission or a short story of their choosing written by me (whichever is not picked by our second place winner, which, speaking of...)

SECOND PLACE FINISH: MLP 40k: Cold Comfort by Moosetasm

In the grim darkness of the far future, there are only cuddles..._UwU

Moosetasm is a solid lad that I know via our mutual buddy CoffeeMinion; had a blast hanging out with him at Ciderfest this year. That being said, there was no nepotism going on here, and this second place finish was a well-deserved one!

A word of warning to the uninitiated; the Warhammer 40k universe is a complex one, and I was only able to slog through Moosetasm's novelette because of another MLP con friend that got me into some of the backstory a while ago. If you aren't familiar with the universe before jumping into this story, expect to spend a lot of time either scratching your head or browsing fandom wikia pages to figure out what the hay the Adeptus Mechanicus (I'm sorry, Marechanicus is. Anyway...

This is a story that is written with great pains taken to describe the environment. Furthermore, Moosetasm does a great job of sprinkling just enough humor throughout the story to keep the reader on their toes. The tale's greatest asset, however, lies in the construction of the cast of original characters crafted for the microuniverse the author set this in; they each speak and act like their own beings, with individual quirks and their own set of thoughts about the others in the group. I was pleasantly charmed by how excellently this was all done, and I really hope that Moosetasm considers writing other one shots with this cadre!

For his work, Moosetasm will receive either an art commission from Probablydnon or a short story commission from me!

Now, for the moment you've all been waiting for...

FIRST/GRAND PRIZE FINISH: His Other Half by Duskhoof

Now, maybe it's just because I got to see my OC/Ponysona written by another person better than I could ever write him, but this story was a real standout. As soon as I read it, I had strong doubts that any other submission could match it, and I was right...

I'm biting my tongue on the summary because I don't want to spoil the different little threads that Duskhoof so masterfully wove together, but suffice it to say that Spike has a hospital stay supplemented with some wonderful snugs n' hugs. The characterization within is deep, complex, and beautiful, as is the manner in which interpersonal (-ponyal?) relationships are built and portrayed. Additionally, the less obvious elements to the story are crafted with skill; the natural way symbolism plays into the story-within-a-story element, the seamless integration of every prompt into the story, and the resolution of a conflict are all written with such depth and evidence of authorial intent. There isn't even a taste of faux-profundity, either; it's all genuine and natural.

This is a story absolutely worth your time to check out. Duskhoof is good. I wish I was that good.

Congratulations! Hit me up via DM to get your $50 grand prize!

Thanks to everypony for their submissions! There eleven great tales submitted, and every single one of them had something to be commended. Feel free to DM me if you would like my thoughts on your story, or feedback.

Let me know if you'd like me to run round 3 in the future! Remember to go hug your waifu today.

-CategoricalGrant

Congratulations to all the winners! Shame I didn't place, but oh well. hehehe maybe next time. Anyways, I've been holding out on reading any of the stories in this contest until the winners were announced, so I'll have to go and check some of these out now. Thank you so much for putting on this contest! It was a great deal of fun to write for!

2nd place for ma boy!!

Moose has definitely struck gold with his team of MLP 40K OCs. They originally began as a cast of redshirts in I Love The Smell Of Friendship In The Morning, but they built up enough chemistry and personality in there to start taking on a life of their own. Now Moose is working on a third story featuring them, which presents the crew with the very real possibility of losing several members of their tight-knit team...

Anyway, congrats to all the winners—but especially Moose.

I’m still a little bit shocked at this news! I’m not usually the guy who wins anything..!

I’d like to thank Synesisbassist for introducing me to the contest, EverFreePony for editing the story and CategoricalGrant for creating such a fun and entertaining concept. I really enjoyed writing ‘His Other Half’ and it gave me a chance to try a genre I hadn’t attempted before.

I would like to add that the other stories in the contest were all really smart and well written, it was great reading everyone’s hard work.

Thanks once more,
Look forward to the next one!

All good things,
Dusky

Well, first off, the right story won, I think - congratulations to Duskhoof! And well done to everyone else who entered, the entries here make up a really good collection of stories, a cracking little cuddle-anthology in its own right.

Secondly, thank you very much for the honorable mention for Dragon Lord Ember Skips Work for an Hour, what a nice surprise! As the newest writer in this contest, I honestly wasn't expecting anything to come of it, so this is a pretty big honour (and also a big encouragement for me to get to work writing some more stories). Thanks to CategoricalGrant for putting this together, and introducing me to a bunch of writers I might have taken ages to find otherwise.

(Oh, and also I should thank Kikio3000 who told me to submit my story here in the first place, but didn't manage to get their own entry in - I'm a bit sheepish about that, but still, thank you very much!)

Woooooooooo!

6795828
6795855
I may have one written that is in the editing process right now.

Congrats to Duskhoof on their win, that’s masterpiece material, there.

Congrats to all of the winners! They're very well deserved indeed! Knew you had it in you, Duskhoof! Ya silly Brit, keep up the hard work all and may more amazing work come in the future!

~Synesisbassist.

Thanks all the writers for creating a ton of adorable fics.

Oh my gosh! What a great thing to come home to! Thank you so much for giving me third place again! Everyone had such awesome and interesting stories. I thought for sure I'd come in last.

And thanks so much for all the kind words! You rock Whohoo!

6796792
OwO
(Your prize, btw, is the fic request. Feel free to DM me your requirements anytime...Or if you'd rather have something else, DM me about that too and we'll work something out).