Hi everyone!

Last year around December, I wrote a gift fic about a romantic relationship between Somnambula and Meadowbrook. At the time I figured there were a ton of other stories about them already, but I was shocked to see that there was not a single fic on the site that shipped them. And in fact, there’s not many stories that ship the Pillars in general.

You can probably see where I’m going with this.

From July 1st to August 1st AUGUST 8TH, I will be hosting the Pillars Shipping Contest! The gist of the contest is what’s on the tin: submissions must include a romantic dynamic between a Pillar (Somnambula, Mistmane, Meadowbrook, Rockhoof, Flash Magnus, Starswirl, or Stygian) and any other character in the show. 

The rules for this contest are as follows:

1. All entries must have a romantic relationship between a Pillar and another character or characters. However, the use of other genres are allowed: you could for example write a horror story as long as it has Pillar shipping.
2. The Pillar you choose must be at least one of the following: Somnambula, Mistmane, Meadowbrook, Rockhoof, Flash Magnus, Starswirl, or Stygian. Writing an AU where the Main Six are the Pillars and shipping them with each other is not allowed; that defeats the purpose of getting the Pillars more stories.
3. Stories must be published on FimFiction between July 1st midnight Pacific and August 1st midnight Pacific. Fics published before or after this time will be disqualified. 
4. If you are a new writer and your fic ends up stuck in the moderation queue, CONTACT ME so you don’t get disqualified!
5. ONE SUBMISSION IS ALLOWED PER AUTHOR: this has been changed from two in anticipation of a bigger participation pool than originally anticipated.
6. Submissions will be sent through the Rare Pairings Pillars Shipping Contest folder. Make sure to join the group and submit!
7. Stories of any rating (E, T, or M) are allowed and the word cap is 15,000 words. Mature fics are allowed, but not required. Bear in mind that the contest is still about the story. Mature fics won't score extra points (and may score less if not well executed!). The story must be completed aby the deadline of August 1st.

Finally, on July 11th, 2:00 to 3:00 Pacific time, there will be a Pillars Shipping Speedwrite contest on the Quills and Sofas Speedwriting server! This is a fantastic opportunity to get work done on your fic as well as get it pre-read by a fantastic community. NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT REQUIRED FOR THIS CONTEST, but is a great tool nonetheless. You will need a discord account and a reddit if you wish to participate.

Now for the part everyone is waiting for: prizes!

I am pleased to announce that thanks to an anonymous donor, a total of $250 is available for the winners as follows:

1st place: $125
2nd place: $75
3rd place: $50

Judges:

For this contest I have recruited the best and brightest minds I could find (and who also still tolerate talking to me)! The judges will be myself, KrazyTheFox, Zontan, and wishcometrue!

Judge blurbs

“KrazyTheFox is an experienced contest host/judge, having run the past five AppleDash contests and one, large AppleDash writing event. He likes cute romance stories, sad romance stories, long walks in the park, slice of life romance stories, comedic romance stories (just feed him all the romance stories, honestly), and has, most recently, been bitten by the background/minor character shipping bug. Thanks, Red.” —KrazyTheFox

“wishcometrue is not an experienced contest judge, but it’s okay because she’s very cute. She loves romance stories, but also loves other genres too because she isn’t boring like Krazy. Red had to pay her to do this.”—wishcometrue

“The Red Parade is an experienced speedwriter and former reviewer but has yet to run a contest: they are however excited to do so! Red enjoys a variety of genres including fluffy slice of life, happy and sad romance, existential and eldritch horror stories, and is a huge fan of background ponies. He is known to constantly gush about these ponies to his alleged “friends,” who he pays exorbitant cash sums to be around. He also allegedly does not know the difference between Applejack and Sweetie Belle, much to the annoyance of Wish and Krazy.” --Red

"Zontan is the fearless leader of Quills and Sofas Speedwriting, and an experienced editor and reviewer. He enjoys character pieces about characters doing interesting things that characters do, which covers all genres pretty nicely. No one told him that there was the option of getting paid." --Zontan

And that’s pretty much all you need to know! Should you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me either on fimfic or through discord at @RedParade#0909. Hope to see y’all there! 

*Thinks up a pairing*

*Uses the search feature to see if anyone's done the pairing before*

*Sees that no one has done the pairing before*

Aw yeah, here we go bois!

7524921

Folder open for submissions! My story is just a placeholder to enable the quick add function and will be removed once we get an official entry.

7524921
How many stories can an author enter in the contest, by any chance?

7525868

2 submissions!

1. Two submissions are allowed per author: however, an author can only place once.

RULES AMENDMENTS:

I am going to attempt to secure a site post for this contest, which means a bigger participant pool than originally anticipated. The following rules have been amended:

EACH PARITCIPANT CAN ONLY SUBMIT 1 FIC.

THE WORDCAP FOR THIS CONTEST IS 15,000 WORDS.

7525868

I know I said yesterday that each author had 2 entries but after discussion this morning the judges and I elected to modify the requirements, sorry about that!

7526176
That’s alright. Thanks for the heads up.

7526176
The story doesn’t have to be exactly 15,000 words, right?

Can people stop at any number below that?

7526200

Absolutely, the 15,000 is the top limit meaning fics can be under or exactly 15,000 words but NOT over 15,000 words.

7526207
Thank you.

7524921
When I first heard about the contest, I was immediately wanting to make a story just for the occasion. However, the story I have in mind is going to take a lot longer than I thought to plan out and write, so I’m afraid I can’t make the deadline.

Will the contest be happening again next year?

7529532

Good question, I currently have no idea. Only time will tell I guess.

I've actually been working on something like this for a few months but haven't posted it yet but I think it will go to 20-30k words. Should I assume the story needs to be finished to be eligible and I can't post the first 5 chapters?

There is a one-shot spinoff/ prequel (a character in the larger story is telling to Daring Do), set from Sombra's perspective that mentions Sombulanna as his queen and a passing kiss but doesn't develop their relationship (the larger story does). I could expand it a little more. If I can't post the big story how much detail do you need on the romantic relationship to be eligible? Does the shipping need to be the central focus of the story?

7530566

I would highly encourage you to submit a completed story to the contest: incomplete entries are very very unlikely to perform well. Based on the theme of the contest I would suggest you focus the story on as much of the romantic aspect as possible, perhaps either through a side story or companion piece if necessary. Hope that helps!

One week left to submit!

IMPORTANT NOTICE: The deadline has now been updated to end on August 8th, 12:00 PST based on multiple requests for an extension!

7540091
Thank you for the extension! It gave me a chance to find this group, and enter this contest! I'm not sure if my story is the first ship of its kind (Rockhoof/Stygian), it seems hard to believe with all of the different people in the fandom! But it sure would be cool!!

7546716

No problem! Looking forwards to your story!

(Also omg Apple Split I love him)

2 days remain on the contest!

7546978
Is it midnight or noon on the 8th?

7547331

End of the day/midnight August 8th

7547475
So, who won the contest?

7549623

Still judging the entries~!

Writing for this group drove me to buy some of the official MLP comics, so I could read more about the Pillars adventures! And maybe look for more shipping fodder ohohohoho

7560235

I'm glad to hear that! That was honestly one of my goals with this contest too!