Hello everybody, I've discussed hosting and judging a Scootaloo fanfiction contest for a little while, so now that I can pony up some cash and have some free time again, here goes. Most of you know how it goes: we submit a prompt, you guys write stories, and the one that we feel hits the best notes in quality and theme wins. For this first contest, I'll be judging, and I have asked RuinQueenofOblivion and RaylanKrios to help judge.

So without further ado...

The Rules

1. No Mature ratings. Ratings should be either Teen or Everyone.

2. Has to be related to the prompt. This should go without saying.

3. No stories that are already complete or incomplete and posted.

4. Any word count goes.

5. All stories should be submitted by Sunday, May 7, at 12pm Pacific Standard Time/8pm GMT, posted on FIMFiction.

The Prizes

First place will be $40 to Steam, Amazon, or towards an art commission if you want that. $20 for second place. If you want a gift card to something else, that can possibly be arranged.

The Prompt

'Scootaloo has achieved flight, and the sky has become her domain. However, Scootaloo soon finds there are heavier burdens than being grounded.'

Wow, looking forwards to seeing the stories that get written for this!

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How far do the possibilities of "burdens" go?

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3. No stories that are already complete or incomplete and posted.

4. Any word count goes.

I'm only asking this hypothetically, but does this mean it has to be at least 1,000 words to be able to be published on Fimfiction as a standalone story, or can it be fewer than 1,000 words if it's published as a new standalone chapter in an already published anthology?

(That makes sense, right?)

5907431 Hence the ambiguity in the prompt. It could be about her running into heavy responsibilities of growing up, or into a comedic hazing ritual where now that she can fly she has to go to Cloudsdale every day to pick up baked goods for the team

5907508 That'll be allowable.

5907230 Is it possible to win and not get the prize money?

(...) or towards an art commission if you want that.

Er, that's a yes, right?

5907797 Yes. I'm flexible on what you want money towards, Steam/Amazon GC is simply the most convenient.

Why must you tempt me so?

Also, what will the stories be judged on? Originality, impact, enjoyment from the judges? Levels of anteater?

5907230 I've pinned the thread and theirs a question above this but they didn't click the reply button

Scootaloo has achieved flight

This is the hardest writing prompt I've ever seen D:

5907842 Writing, mostly, though of course original ideas implemented well is big.

5908431 Scootaloo always went around doing things the hard way. Instead of learning to fly by using her wings, she did it through anti-gravitational fields

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Now you're talkin' :D

5911091 So will you be reviewing the stories entered?

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Unlikely. :B I'm still working on Imposing Sovereigns.

5916709 That's a shame. But fair enough

5916709 Certainly won't stop you from writing for the contest though. Something worth of your avatar's facehoof, even

So where would you put the story up? Would it be here in the comments section? That is, if I can get my act together and write another one-shot for another contest?

5919070 Yeah, put a link to your story here.

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'Scootaloo has achieved flight, and the sky has become her domain. However, Scootaloo soon finds there are heavier burdens than being grounded.'

Ooh, this is gonna be tough!

'Scootaloo has achieved flight, and the sky has become her domain. However, Scootaloo soon finds there are heavier burdens than being grounded.'

oooooh what an interesting prompt! Will be tough, but if I finish my finals with enough time to spare think I might try to write something up for that.

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3. No stories that are… incomplete and posted.

Does this mean no pre-written stories (as in, I can't add a story posted to the site before the contest opened), or that I can't submit an incomplete story?

5919173 If it's completed, you can't post it. If it's something you've already gotten some work done on and could rejig to fit the contest, then you can use that as long as it's not something that has already been posted on-site as an Incomplete.

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More like, what if I don't finish by the deadline? Are incomplete stories accepted?

Submission:

https://www.fimfiction.net/story/371233/missed-opportunity

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Literally the only Scootaloo fic idea I've ever had requires her to be unable to fly, so... Yeah, probably not happening either. :B

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*cough*AU*cough*

~Twi

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As a person that actually organised a competition of its own, you might also want to tell people to attach a link as a reply in this thread. It makes it easier to keep tabs on things as well as opening the opportunity for other people to read it as well.

With that said, good luck with the submissions!

~Twi

5907230 I'm always raring to give a contest a go. Just a question, are you saying we have to write about Scootaloo achieving flight without wings? I guess some kind of gadget could manage the job, still I would love to waste a few paragraphs of excited Scootaloo actually spreading her wings.

5919800 No. The prompt says Scootaloo can fly. She just finds some things are heavier than the burden of not being able to fly before she learned how to.

5920473 I'll enter sounds like a fun prompt.

5907230
Sign me up!
(Finally! I can finally use that old idea of magic has a price!)

Well... I've got something. It's very rough, though, so...

Gotta prepare for some irl stuff, but I'll try to edit it into fit for publishing form soon. The first draft is done, at least. There may be donuts involved.

5930648 Good to hear!

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Don't forget everybody, you have until tomorrow to get your submissions in!

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I decided to just do the story when I have more time. I hope others have fun doing this though.

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Putting the final touches on mine tonight, will upload and post once done.

Been working on mine all week.

Will be posted a bit later tonight.

5936655
The Tragedy on Lookout Lane

Here's my entry. Hope y'all enjoy it. Some stuff I'm not sure of, so it'll be interesting to see if the judges have the same remarks.

5936655 I forgot about this contest. We had two weeks to write something and submit it, right? Oh, well. No point in writing something now.

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Gah! Knew I was forgetting something! it has been insane lately. Ah well might still try to write out the idea I had when I have more time.

Tagging in as number three who isn't done and probably won't be.

5936655
Here goes nothing!
The Flight of Destiny

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Lol my story is like the shortest of all the entries.

It's not the word count that counts right?

When You Fly.

I wish everypony luck-a-doodles!

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One hundred percent planned out.

Here is the story: Catch Me If You Can!

One hundred percent did not make it up on the spot.

And two hundred percent did not write it an hour and thirty-five minutes before the deadline.

No siree.

Alright, so we have:

Missed Opportunity - TheBritishPony
The Tragedy on Lookout Lane - Wise Cracker
The Flight of Destiny - Mr Allan
When You Fly - Undyne Devotion
Catch Me If You Can! - Doctor Disco

So that's a good turnout of five fics, and another one I think the author meant to submit here but neglected to (it's been up on FIMFic for a few weeks), which I will let slide if she posts here soon. I'll be talking to my fellow contest judges shortly here.

5938633 Just curious.

Even though only two will win prizes.

Will all the stories recive a rank?

Like who came in 3rd, 4th and 5th?

lol seems dumb, but i always find listing stuff like that interesting.

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Are we allowed to edit in the meantime, btw? Because I noticed a few small errors in mine and corrected them. Not sure if more editing passes are allowed.

5948999 Sure

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Just making sure everyone else knows it for the sake of fairness: editing is allowed after publishing. So any spellchecking that requires a few days' rest to get fresh eyes on it, or little tweaks... it's allowed.

Totally not posting this while I'm overhauling my entry on a second pass.