Alright, it's that time again. I know it is a busy time for all, but I think we can handle one little summary, don't you? Now, who shall prompt us this time? Hmmm. I guess we will go with the standby of next poster, but with a twist. The third poster will select from the two posters ahead of him. This way I still have a fair chance. Sound good?

For no better reason than I hate myself, I will be the 2nd option. I've never come up with a writing prompt before, but surely it can't be that hard, right? Right? please...? OhCelestiawhathaveIdone...

OtterMatt, you're up.

Also, Fire:

>Posting a practice round before the main competition even has an entry

Shediggity

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU—yeah, okay then. Knew that was gonna happen. Well, I've never done this before, so let me know if I do well or not... Oh yeah, and isn't this practice number 7, not 8?

As we all know, honesty is one of the Elements of Harmony, for good reason. Even half-truths or misleading statements can disrupt an interpersonal dynamic, with consequences ranging from the hilarious to dramatic to tragic and back again—but more than that, they often build on themselves.

Your synopsis prompt for this month is The First Lie.

There's very few restrictions. It can be in any genre, style, or flavor (I see a LOT of potential for comedy here), but the sole limiting factor is that it has to be in a short-story format: that is to say, your idea must be able to be written, by you, in less than 8000 words. Think creatively, and if it helps you, describe how you might lay out your story in addition to the mere idea (e.g., beginning in medias res, or simply focusing on the results of the actions rather than the actions themselves).

532002

>The First Lie

Yeah... I'm out. I'm already writing an entire arc themed around the idea of "the first lie". I don't want any... narrative leakage.

Particularly given the first sentence of your second paragraph.

532051
Well... damn.

532002 Sorry it took so long to return, but my internet went out today. Gah! It looks like once again our contests were mixed up. My fault, since I didn't post the rules this time. As this is a practice SALT, all that needs to be written is the summary. It's designed to get some ideas flowing in our little author heads. 8k is just a little over the top, even if it's a maximum limit. (I say this because I think D.G.D. would probably take it upon himself to meet/ exceed that limit) Still, we have 3 days to get a decent idea together based on your prompt. Look forwards to mine, it should be... strange.

533167

I don't take it upon myself to exceed these limits. It's just that I'm so verbose I can't write anything under 12,000 words.

The first lie . . . well, besides being really curious to know about this arc Aquillo is working on, I've got my entry already: it's called Assassinate Princess Celestia, and I really, really need to update it in the worst way. The first lie is the princesses' claim to move the heavenly bodies.

But that's a little too obvious. I'll see if I can come up with something else.

533250 If only I had the same problem.

533167>>533250
DGD is part of the reason I put that in, yes.
Yeah, I know we're not writing it, but I thinking of short story ideas is rather different from epics or long-form stories, or at least it is for me.

533634

I must point out, though, that my last two stories were shorts and only clocked in at a little over 5,000 words.

But I'm now writing what's supposed to be a one-shot about Princess Celestia's unwise serial marriages, and that one's already about 5,000 and I think I've written less than half of it, so go figure.

On the other hand, since I don't know where I'm going with that, I think I'll put it away and tweak Derpsanddinks's nose by writing "Grooming Time for Ponies," which will be like his "Bathtime for Ponies," except with realistic horse-grooming, written in third-person, and starring Megan.

533634

“I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” ~ Mark Twain.

Short stories are complicated, man. You gotta speak paragraphs in a single line and that sort of stuff.

They're epic if you can pull them off, though. Same amount of punch as a novel in a fifth of the size. Like... wild strawberries versus the cultivated stuff.

533700 533634 533674 Don't forget, today's the day. Here, I'll even go first.

...

I lied.

Just kidding, here it is.
Genre: comedy, adventure
Daring Do and the First Lie

Daring comes across mention of an artifact inscribed with The First Lie, an artifact that could unmake life itself. With Auizotyl on her trail, and a deranged cult of narcoleptic llamas devoted to guarding the location of the artifact out to induct her by force, can Daring maintain her slight lead? The race is on, for The First Lie.

Basically a Daring Do story where she is chased around exotic locations and ends up finding the script for an episode of the show.

537057

>Yeah... I'm out.

The first lie? Okie-dokie-lokie, let's see...

Title: Pinkie Lie
Genre: Comedy, Slice of Life
Characters: Pinkie Pie, the Cakes, the Main 6
Plot: Pinkie has always been known to be truthful, if bluntly so, so who's to tell the difference when, after accidentally ruining a special batch of cupcakes, she stretches the truth a little for the first time? Having gotten a taste for what she can get away with, she starts telling little white (and not so white) lies all over the place, but can she keep it up forever? What can be the conclusion of this tirade of untruths?
(Could work for Applejack, but that'd be too obvious)

537258
Yeah, AJ does lie, just unbelievably badly.

Before about 10 minutes ago, I really didn't have any good ideas. I still don't know if this one's good, but it got a "woah" out of me when I thought of the title, so I'm gonna run with it.

Title: Deceptive Cadance (it's a pun!)
Genre: Drama, heartwarming-sort-of-Sad
Characters: Cadance, Shining Armor, Celestia, various extras
Plot Synopsis: It's widely accepted that Cadance is the rightful princess of the Crystal Empire. It's well known that she's a distant relation to Celestia herself. It's common knowledge that she's descended from a line of royalty and the throne is her birthright.
What isn't common knowledge is that all of that is a lie.
While Cadance did bring stability to a fledgling empire, and has ruled with wisdom and kindness, she gained the throne under false pretenses with the help of Celestia. However, a young Crystal Empire historian has just uncovered the truth—Cadance doesn't have a drop of royal blood in her body. When he comes before the throne to confront his sovereign, Cadance has a tough choice to make: will she come clean and potentially be forced to abdicate by her subjects, or will she cover up the lie for the good of all, whatever the cost?

Well, I think day 1 of reviewing is over, so let's begin day 2. 533674 533700 537280 don't forget to review 537258 today alright?
This one sounds like an episode that the show would take. Still, that Pinkie... what do we do with all of her delinquent behavior? Smashing (4th) walls, breaking the law(s of physics) and now lying? Tisk tisk. Well, for a story like this I could see it jumping one of two ways. First would be having Pinkie be pressured by the lies and fessing up when it gets too much for her. That would be best done in first person perspective The second is if you write it in third person and fake us out. Make it seem like Pinkie is lying, from an outside perspective, and at the end reveal that her most strange sounding lies were actually true, and have her apologize for the first lie once we find out the truth.

540084

See

537068

Edit: Oh, also how's everyone doing with the actual contest? Cos I'm nearly done.

540273
The actual contest? Hard to say. I'm having a hard time chipping away at the preliminary parts, and I don't know if I'll be able to get to the main reason for the story: the prompt image, but I'm doing what I can.

537057
So sorry, Firebird. I was kinda busy, so I didn't have a chance to review yours, but as always, you've got something that sounds both random and hilarious. The First Lie can unmake reality itself? I sense something almost biblical in that, so I find that undertone particularly clever. And Daring Do finding a script in the end? Ah, we're gonna need some more plaster for the 4th wall.

537057
I love the meta aspect to this. Daring Do stories are really about a dime a dozen by this point, but this is a great way to make it fresh and funny. Of course, why is a script from the show considered to be the first lie in the first place? Is it because they wrote Ditzy's name as Derpy on the script?!?!

537258
I like this idea for the sole reason that it really does sound like Pinkie. She's just the type to become enamored of a new skill or something and instantly take it too far in her enthusiasm.

537280
Oho, royal intrigue. Always a dramatic and touchy subject. This could go many places. Still, I think what's important is that even if Cadence isn't a princess, she won't lose the love her husband and sister-in-law have for her, unless that's necessary for the plot. Could work either way.

541846
I actually talked about the idea with my friend, and we ended up taking it WAY beyond the 8k word limit, but it would tell the story of Sombra's escalation from a nobody historian to a dark mage at the same time as this story unfolded. I'm seriously leaning towards having Cadance deposed at the end of the story, thus making the way clear for him to take over and the Empire to need to be rescued by Tia and Luna.

537280 it sounds ambitious. Also, quite dark, if you were to include a takeover. However, if you just throw in something about leading being part of who you are rather than who you were born to, Cadance (and by extension Shining) can get a happy ending. I can see a possible plot point where the citizens of the empire are forced to choose who to follow in battle, their rightful by birth ruler, or the one that makes their kingdom happy and prosperous. Hmmm... tough choice?

ok. I think I gave enough time to wrap this up. Anyone going to actually write a fic based off of the month's story prompt? Mine, I wouldn't mind doing. Though, I would need to wait a while first. I would want a better understanding of how to write the genre. I get how it works, but I want to work on building it up.

557637
I put it in my ideas list, because I can see how it COULD be a great story, but I dunno, man. I've got at least six months' worth of fics before I could get to another chapter fic, so I doubt it.