Drum rolls, please! ... Pinkie? Pinkie, need that drum roll. She totally went to raid the staff cupcake table again

First place goes to With His Fingers. This was on every judges top 2 for the contest. It has a pretty amazing story that goes as far as actually lamenting Rarity and Spike's relationship so far in a song, and yet it finishes on this very happy note, essentially setting the entire pace and foreshadowing for the story. You really get to glimpse into what's changed in their lives and what's brought them to this night, this moment. This one is a clop, an I can honestly say that the clop very much enhanced the story. I honestly feel as if this is one of the best clops I've ever read, right up their with Like Fine Wine. Bico, should be really proud of this piece.

Second up, we have In His Own Way. In His Own Way is a human fic, everyday humans at that. However, that's what makes this one quite the gem, Merc the Jerk perfectly characterizes every one of the mane six and Spike, while managing to infuse the modern world into it. Once he gets Rarity into the MMO game world he created, he begins using little things from video games and what gamers would like to see in future video games, but he keeps Rarity's internal, (and sometimes external), dialogue genuinely Rarity. The story has some amusing and touching moments, and watching as he tied it all to a Sparity ending even the most human fic hating Sparity readers would be unable to deny their enjoyment.

Our third place is Unspoken by OleGrayMane. This is not the most romantic story, lovey-dovey, happy story. No, it's a story that focuses on some very real relationship issues between our two protagonist. Spike's a little fed up, but he can't truly bring himself to boil over because Rarity and his thoughts for her seem to soothe his annoyance. Rarity is being a bit bitchy and is pretty agitated with Spike herself. So you end up with this very real feeling of a couple mad at each other, but who deep down still loves each other. This ends with a very sad, very deep conversation about, well, things unspoken that has a very bright silver lining at the same time This one truly plays with your emotions and takes you on a rollercoaster called relationships.

Normally, a contest has honorable mentions, but the honest to goodness fact is that almost every single story submitted was amazing, fantastic, and really pushed the envelope of what Sparity is. Seeing stories like these brings a certain level of pride and joy to me, knowing how many talented and amazing writers we have in our group. All of these stories can be found in the contest folder, and I heavily suggest you take the time to enjoy them all.

Thank you all who participated, you've honored us with your hard work and creativity. The winners will be PM'd in order about prizes. Feel free to discuss which ones you thought should win and why in the comments section below.

I'm going to go deal with Pinkie and her cupcake issue...

Congrats to the winners!

please choose me as an artist guys i've improved really here have an example of my most recent piece

pls

Anyways, congrats to the winners~

Oh, snap. Congrats to Merc the Jerk and OleGrayMane. I'm really happy to see Unspoken in there. That was a genuinely bittersweet romantic story. In His Own Way was kind of cute, too, though I think I personally liked Barbra's Birthday Wish by FlimFlamBros (natch). It was a nice R63 humanized take and I thought it handled the beginning of a mature but fun romance really well. Draconian Soul's R63 was very good, too, though I felt a little put off by the focus on Barb's looks. It actually might have worked better for me if it weren't R63. As Much As I Hate To Say it by Sparx definitely was a good one, too. Yeah, definitely too many good fics in there.

2847139
Yeah, congrats to you too bud. You did great. I'm not a big clop guy, but you backed it up with some really good stuff aside from the clop, so props there.

Well it was fun to be a part of this, maybe my luck will be better next time.

2848060 Hey, it was a great read. Gibbs would be proud of Spike following his gut

2848465 Glad to know, well I'll keep an eye out for the next contest.

I may say, all stories really liked me.

Aww, sad thing for me this one. Congratulations to the winner. But I don't read clopfics :(

Congratulations, you three! It was an honor and a pleasure competing with you.

2846913
So, no big deal either way, but has anyone received their prizes from this contest yet?