Howdy!

It's once again May, and you know what that means: it's time to crackship!

What is the May Pairings Contest?

If you don’t know, the May Pairings contest is all about original, rare, or unique ships that aren’t afraid to explore unique dynamics between characters. This means that stories about Lyra and Bon Bon, Vinyl and Octavia, or Rarity and Twilight wouldn’t qualify. Rather, we want to see stories about Autumn Blaze and Lemon Hearts! Daring Do and Treehugger! Octavia and Applejack! You get the picture.

1. Your story should feature something that can be argued to be a rare, unique, or original pairing. The pairing does not need to be inherently romantic: student/teacher dynamics for example are fine! If the judges do not believe that your pairing qualifies it will be disqualified. If you aren’t sure, feel free to look around FimFic to get a feel of how popular/not popular a story is. If you still aren’t sure, don’t hesitate to ask!
2. No OC’s, anon stories, or self-inserts. Stories with unvoiced background ponies are fine.
3. Human AU’s, EQG, and Comics characters are allowed.
4. Crossovers are not allowed as we want to focus on MLP shippings. Any other genre is fair game.
5. Stories of all ratings are allowed: be aware that Mature-rated fics may not rate very highly and may even rate lower if not executed well!
6. Fetish fics of any kind will not be accepted. We reserve the right to disqualify any story that we feel violates this rule.
7. The contest period runs from MAY 1st TO MAY 31st! Stories must be newly published between these dates. If your fic gets stuck in a publication queue please contact the judges!
8. One submission is allowed per author. Stories must not be longer than 20k words. There is no minimum word count.
9. Collaborations are allowed, however these fics will count as one entry for both authors. It is up to the authors as to how they will split the money if they win.
10. Stories must be submitted to the contest folder found here by the deadline to qualify.

Remember to join the group for updates!

Q: Is [insert pairing here] rare enough?

A:

This year, because of the frequency which people ask, we're introducing a "Spirit of the Contest" clause. This clause defines the spirit of this contest as a contest celebrating creativity and unique connections. We are excited to read stories that explore new dynamics between characters whose relationships aren't always explored! Trying to find loopholes to submit a pairing that's been seen hundreds and hundreds of times goes against this spirit, even if it may not go against the letter of the rules. So if you're unsure if a pairing counts as rare, please keep this in mind! Below is the excerpt from last year, most of which still applies: We’ve fielded a lot of these already, and more are coming every day. The only way you will be disqualified is if you submit a ship that without question is against the spirit of the contest: AppleDash, RariTwi, OctaScratch, LyraBon, the likes. As long as you don’t do one of these ships (romantic or otherwise), then no matter the pairing, your story won’t be disqualified. However if it is still a fairly unoriginal pairing, it just might not score that high with our judges.

Below is a bit written for previous years which can still apply to this year's contest:

We’ve fielded a lot of these already, and more are coming every day. The only way you will be disqualified is if you submit a ship that without question is against the spirit of the contest: AppleDash, RariTwi, OctaScratch, LyraBon, the likes. As long as you don’t do one of these ships (romantic or otherwise), then no matter the pairing, your story won’t be disqualified. However if it is still a fairly unoriginal pairing, it just might not score that high with our judges.

Here are some quick self-check items that could help you narrow down whether or not you have a rare pairing, or just one that you personally have never read about before:

Do these characters exchange lines? If they have ever talked to each other, it’s probably not as rare as you think.

Have these characters shared a scene? If they’ve appeared in the same frame, you can possibly guess they’ve interacted offscreen.

Do these characters have an obvious connection? Two members of the Wonderbolts know one another. The pairing isn’t rare or spontaneous, it’s more just luck if you haven’t seen them before.

If these rules are still too squishy for you, please use the site search metrics to see if there exist stories starring the pairing you want to write about. Fimfic’s search function, both on desktop and on mobile, allows you to search by character tag. Punch in both your characters and see what pops up. If you get more than one page of hits, you might be up a tree.

Still not sure? It’s probably a “if you have to ask, it ain’t it” situation. Go back to the drawing board and challenge yourself to think creatively. Maybe check out the tag directory and look for characters who have very few stories to begin with.

Q: Is it okay for me to ship the pony version of [insert eqg character here] with a pony? How about the human version of [insert pony character here] with a human?

A: Of course! But the pairing still has to be rare! Pony Sunset X pony Twilight doesn’t get points just because twiset is most traditionally shipped with their human counterparts. Likewise, human SoarinDash is no better than pony SoarinDash. You came up with a unique premise, not a unique pairing. You’re not going to receive a good score for this (especially since the judges don’t like being punked).

Q: Is genderbending allowed?

A: Yes! But the pairing still has to be rare! Dusk Shine x Rainbow Blitz is not fundamentally different from twidash on the basis of originality - as above, the judges don’t like being punked! You won’t be disqualified per se, but you’re sure as sure not going to win anything by thinking you can cheat the rules.

Q: Are gen 5 characters allowed?

A: Yep! You can pair purely within gen 5, or pair across the generations for some truly unique and spicy combos.

This year we have a prize pool totaling at $250:

First place receives $100.

Second place receives $60.

Third place receives $40.

5 Judge's Picks will receive $10 each.

DaOtterGuy

Howdy, hi! I’m the otter gay guy. I write mostly Flash Sentry being gay with different stallions, pairings that no one would normally write. I have been a judge before on several contests and am excited to be a judge for this one! I look forward to everyone’s pairings entries and wish you all the best creative energy to write!

RedParade

Red Parade is a big fan of obscure shipping having created one of his own involving Fiddlesticks and Lightning Dust, the two most important characters in all of MLP.

Zontan

Hello, everypony! I’m Zon, and I mostly write stories that revolve around interesting characters and why they do the things they do. I’ve written a few crackships in my day, but I’m mostly going to be looking for characters who have chemistry with each other, and how they show that. I’ve been a judge for the May Pairings Contest last year, and that had some great entries, so I’m looking forward to seeing what you all come up with for this one.

Shaslan

There's no pairing like a rare one, and I love seeing the ways in which different characters' personalities can be explored by pairing them with different personalities. In this contest I'll be looking for writers who write the characters true to themselves while still finding a way to make crazy ships work. Can't wait to see what you all throw at us!

MushroomPone

Hey there, I’m Mushroom! I’ve been active in the rarepair scene and the contest-judging scene for a while now. There’s nothing I love more than an odd pairing that just works—romantic or otherwise. I’m super excited to see what you all bring to the table this year! Happy writing!

Good luck everyone! Make sure to join the group here to submit and contact us with any questions!

Aw yeah.

It's that time of the year again!

So to be clear...AUs, of any sort, ARE allowed? I ask because I have an idea that otherwise would be perfect for this contest (as well as get something else I've been meaning to do along with it), but it necessitates it being set in a version of the MLP universe that went a little differently from in canon (e.g. one key event went differently and affected how other events played out later down the line).

So before I commit to writing it for this contest, I obviously want to be absolutely clear it will be allowed first. You know how it is.

Alright! I've got a rarepair in mind and looking forward to seeing what I can do with it.

Aw yeah. Shadowbolts time.

7962789

Yes, AU's are allowed SO LONG AS the pairing is still rare. So please don't write a story in which Applejack the weather pony falls in love with farmer Rainbow Dash as that would not be considered original!

7962806
Oh, I'm pretty sure I'm covered there, don't worry.

Can I submit something completely unrelated to the competition, and if not, can I then go on an extended tirade about how Big Pony and the fatcat brony overlords are conspiring to keep my excellent work, “Gross Disgusting Ew Ew Ew Starring Scootaloo” from achieving critical acclaim?

It's Christmas in May!!!

Now to figure out how to do this on an island... after an apocalypse.

Or to have it be cyberpunk.

7962636
Kindly open the folder. Thankee!

7964484
It's open now, yay! First story plunked in.

Question regarding "mature allowed" vs "no fetish" - what mature themes does that leave that are allowed? Basically, a story in this contest can be violent and have swearing, but not describe sex - am I getting that right?

Plenty of love stories are very, very bloody - so as long as that isn't glorified or dwelled upon/described in sensual detail, the story will be accepted?

7964846

Mature rated stories that involve violence , sex, swearing are allowed. Stories that are very focused on a particular type of kink or fetish, say for example non-con/hypnosis, are not allowed for this contest. Hope that helps!

7964860
It does! Thanks so much. I've been rejected from a contest before (for a different reason) and because of my closeness to the deadline, I was unable to rectify it. Ill try to finish my story far in advance so you can personally approve it, even if it ends up falling into "mature" rating (I am trying to keep it Teen)! Thank you so much for taking the time to personally respond to me.