"Rainbow!"

"Gah!" Rainbow Dash shot up, her copy of Daring Do and the Dread Tomb slipping from her hooves. "Rarity? What the heck was that for!?"

"Sorry darling," Rarity said, stepping into the room. She was dressed in her trenchcoat and hat. "I just had the most simply marvelous idea, and I had to share it with you."

Rainbow dusted off her book and set it on the couch she'd been lying on. "Hit me."

"You know how there's that other universe where strange ape-like creatures called humans write bizarre stories about us?"

Rainbow shrugged. "Well yeah, Rares, everyone does. That's just common knowledge."

Rarity smiled. "Well, I was reading one of my Shadow Spade novels again, and it occured to me that those humans clearly don't write enough detective fiction."

"Is that why you're wearing the trenchcoat?"

"Of course! It's my detecting outfit."

"Gotcha."

"And so," Rarity said, "What if we were to host some kind of friendly competition to get these humans to write their best whodunnits, starring us and our friends?"

"That sounds great Rarity," Rainbow replied. "Wait, why 'we'?"

Rarity blinked. "Because you're my sidekick of course."

"I'm no sidekick," Rainbow shot back. "I get top billing."

"We can share top billing, darling. My name goes first, though, since this was my idea and all."

"Fine."

"Excellent!" Rarity said. She tapped her forehooves together. "Oh, this will be so exciting! I can't wait to see all the fantastic entries. And you know what the best part is?"

"What?" Rainbow asked.

"Since we're fictional characters, we don't actually have to do any of the work!"

Rainbow smiled.

"Now you're talking!"

Hello folks! My name is RB, and I'll be the one actually doing the legwork for this little contest we're running. Without further ado, let's get right into it.

Rules

1. The story must be a fair play whodunnit. For those who don't know, a whodunnit is a mystery story where the goal is to solve a crime of some sort, the solution to which is revealed at the end. A fair play whodunnit is a mystery where the solution can be determined by the reader before it is revealed using the information provided to them in the text, a bit of know-how, and some clever deduction. The reader is given all the relevant information that the detective uses to solve the case. This is important! You will be disqualified if I feel you have not made your mystery solvable.
2. The story must in some way incorporate the prompt, which will be revealed a bit further down the page. It doesn't have to be a literal interpretation. If I don't think your entry fits, I will ask you to explain the connection and we can go from there.
3. The story must be under 20,000 words long.
4. The story may be rated mature, but may not include depictions of sexual acts. References to sex and other taboo topics are fine, but keep it off-screen.
5. Crossovers are not allowed. Keep it pony (or EqG, you know what I meant). Sequels are allowed but only if I can understand your story without reading the preceding stories.
6. Stories must be submitted to the contest folder before 11:59pm EST on October 10th 24th. If your story is still pending moderation at that time, PM me a screenshot of it, a link to the story, and its unpublished view password. You must do this before the deadline.

Judging Criteria

I will be judging your stories on a number of factors. The major ones are:

• The quality and cleverness of the mystery presented (this is a mystery writing contest, after all!)
• Creativity
• Use of the prompt
• Technical qualities, such as spelling and grammar
• Pizzazz!

...And a hundred other ephemeral things that can't be easily quantified.

Hope that helps!

Prizes

First Place: $30

Second Place: $15

Third Place: $5

There will also be as many honourable mentions as I see fit to include. All prizes are in USD and will be paid out via your choice of PayPal or Amazon gift card. I will not use any other method.

The Prompt

Drumroll please...

Not A Detective

And that's it!

If you have questions or need help, feel free to comment here or reach out via pm. Be sure to join the group for updates. And please, share this around to your friends! Best of luck to everyone; do your best and have fun!

Are OCs allowed, or is it canon characters only?

...you're right. I don't think I've ever even tried to write one.
I should change that.

7864596
OCs are perfectly fine!

7864603
Ooooh this is gonna be fun! I hope I'm able to make time for this.

7864603
To clarify, do Rainbow and Rarity have to be the protags?

7864627
Nope! It can be anyone you’d like.

Be ready to die at my god awful attempt at mystery :3

7864578
Ooh, so fun!! I've been meaning to test my mystery skills lately.. this sounds like an awesome opportunity!

7864578
Ooh, yes! Iʼve been working on a Detective Pinkie story for ages! Nowʼs my chance to finish it and get it published! Sign me up!

Oooooh, new genre time for me!

7864578
Could I possibly enter and then, if I recieve a prize (which isn't likely but there is always a chance), turn down the prize?

7864735
Of course. Don’t know why you’d want to, but I’m sure you have your reasons.

7864578
My friend sent me this and this is very interesting...

Might as well throw my hat into the ring. I haven't written these kinds of stories in a long time lol

7864578

Though the first was entered in a monster mare contest, much like its sequel, the third was engulfed within flames as the third monster mare contest was quietly forgotten. Now, much like the story's new monster mare, it burns in blue fire from the phosphorus associated with her.

I've kinda been wobbling about when it comes to writing lately (A sign of getting old? A foreshadow of declining focus?), but I'll try to enter with a story that'll twist the usual process of a traditional detective story.

What kind of mystery should it be? Like could it be something as mundane as a missing doll or does it need to be something elaborate?

7881009
It can be whatever you want as long as it's a mystery!