Rules Edit (01/06) - Deadline changed to January 20th.

We at the AppleDash group have noticed that we're seeing a lot of the same stories over and over again. We know there are great ideas out there for this ship, and we want to encourage people to write them. So group admins Tchernobog and bookplayer are holding a contest. We want to see your new, creative takes on AppleDash!

The challenge is to write a fic of at least 5,000 words (more is better) that tells a compelling romance story while skipping all the old tropes: Dash breaking her wings or running away to the Everfree Forest, ponies rejecting them for being fillyfoolers, stories where the only plot is one of them working up the courage to tell the other how they feel. . . unless you think you can really make this idea seem fresh and new, show us something different.

The contest deadline is January 20th. All valid entries will be included in blog posts by bookplayer and Tchernobog at the time the winner is announced. See below for rules, prizes, and guidelines.

The categories:

Fics about Applejack and Rainbow Dash falling in love/ getting together as a couple:
The plot of these stories will almost always be "will AJ and Dash get/stay together?" But it's the things around it that make it interesting. Show everyone why these two belong together, and give us those first steps of a relationship in a way we've never seen.

Prize: One commission piece of art by RatofDawn!

Fics about Applejack and Rainbow Dash in a relationship:
This type of story doesn't have an automatic plot, so you have more freedom to come up with something original. At the same time, more freedom can make it harder to think of a direction to go in. It could cover them right after getting together, or having kids, or old age. . . any time after their relationship is established. It should paint a picture of a realistic relationship that ponies have been living in for some amount of time, while at the same time giving us an interesting, plot driven story about them.

Prize: One commission piece of art by Jackie!

(Thank you to both RatofDawn and Jackie, who are generously donating their time and skill to the cause of AppleDash.)

The judges:
Tchernobog- Author of Those Blue Wings and Mood Wings (both featured on EqD), and admin of the AppleDash group. An AppleDash scholar extraordinaire, Tchernobog has read every story in the AppleDash group folders.

bookplayer- Author of The AppleDash Project and Somepony's Daughter, and co-founder of the AppleDash group. bookplayer also has more time, and ongoing fics, on her hands than is good for anyone.

Our final judges for each category were chosen because they aren’t typically AppleDash fans. They might be harder to impress:

Bad Horse- Our third judge for the getting together fics, Bad Horse is leader of the Evil League of Evil author of several EqD featured fics, including Sisters, The Detective and the Magician, and Mortality Report. He’s not particularly into shipping.

Garbo802- Organizer of the Great Shipping Collab, Garbo802 will be our third judge for the continuing relationship fics. He’s author of Flying With Angels and Crystal Empire: The Appendices. Garbo802 doesn’t mind AppleDash, but isn’t especially a fan.

Rules breakdown, for people who like lists:

Minimum word count is 5k, but more is better, and make sure you're taking as much room as you need to tell a complete story. We're looking for a story about a relationship, not a snippet of what that relationship looks like (however cute it might be!)

The main ship must be Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Any other ship is allowed in the background.

No clop. No humanized. All other tags are fair game.

Avoid older tropes: Dash breaking her wings, prejudice against fillyfoolers, and stories that are about admissions of love with no other plot are the ones we see the most. If you're not sure if your story has been done, take a look through the romance folder at the AppleDash group.

Stories must have been posted on or after November 25th. Incomplete stories will be judged, but they're discouraged.

All valid entries will be listed in blog posts by Tchernobog and bookplayer at the time the winners are announced.

Entries can be made by PMing bookplayer or Tchernobog, or posting the link in this thread with the text “contest entry” somewhere around it.

The deadline is January 20th, 2013.

If you have questions about the "originality" of your idea, and would like to check before writing, you can PM Tchernobog or bookplayer.

Also, the main socializing thread is home to lots of brainstorming, including some by the judges. Everyone is welcome to read and respond there.

More than a month to write this? I shall attempt an entry!

507392 I'm always out there trying to come up and to find if people who are actually putting fresh ideas into the AppleDash universe. Is it alright if I partially be a judge, too? I'd love to see what other people come up with.

507507
Well, all the stories will be published, so you'll be able to see them all. I can keep an updated list of what's been submitted, if you want.

Tcherno and I decided to make the third judges people who don't usually like AppleDash, because among those of us who love it there can sometimes be a tendency to overlook things because. . . AppleDash!

507516 Heh, I know whatcha mean But yeah, I want to see fresh ideas for AppleDash, not just plain lovey-dovey things you normally see in AppleDash stories, even if it is, well, AppleDash.

507392
I'll give it a shot

This is a great opportunity for me to write a "getting together" AppleDash fic!

508043
Every day is a great opportunity for you to write an AppleDash fic. You should say that each morning when you wake up.

508079 But this is an even better opportunity! Because I'm the judge.

508142
Nice try, but there are two other judges who might get a little suspicious of the unwavering praise you're heaping on that one story you wrote.

508043>>508142>>508180

508183 508142
Here, I can fix this. Amendment to the official rules:

If you write under the username "Bad Horse," you can't enter. The rest of the judges seem to have a working understanding of how contests are typically run.

Better, Tchernobog?

508180 508183
Nonsense. I heap unwavering praise on all my stories!
Anyway, you knew I was evil when you asked me to judge.

508359

DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN! I haven't finished OHAAF yet, but I wanna enter this one! I'm also entering an Appledash drawing contest, so many things, so little time! O-okay, I-I'll try to write something too. I hope I don't end up with two things unfinished and no contest entry... Ohh... but to be judged to tchernobog and bookplayer... I feel intimidated B-but the possibility of a RatofDrawn drawing is so good .

Okay, I've been trying to enter a contest for a long time now, so I'm game!

PS: You say "No clop" but... implying without actually explaining, is that cool? you know, something like:
*AJ undressed slowly and seductively. The cyan pegasus’s wings sprung wide open. Applejack giggled at the sight and continued undressing.
She then took a rope and walked to the bed, where Rainbow Dash was waiting.
"...Why the rope?"
"Ropes and lassos have many uses… interestin’ uses…N’ y’all are ‘bout to discover one or two of’em…”

Celestia’s sun rose, bathing everything under its warm glorious light. Two ponies rolled on a cloud bed, breathing heavily, resting from a very long and exciting night where they did everything but sleep. *

No clop just... insinuating... is that cool?

510486
Implying shouldn't be off limits, I'd say. We don't want anything explicit, however.

Bookplayer, what do you think?

510487
Don't I also get a say in this?

510497
You're not a judge!

510499
That's only because I don't have that high standards

510504
Exactly!

510507
Meh, I still have a say in stuff that goes on in our group, I would say

I say, yes, implied is okay, explicit isn't...

510487 510509

Thanks, both of you! and don't worry, I won't get explicit.

Another question for the judges now, (Nothing personal DbzOrDie )

If I play the "Both being rejected for being Filly-Foolers in a more plot-related and completely new way", or if I "Break Dashie's wings" but totally not related to the whole love part, which is the usual cliche. It's okay, isn't it?

510529
Nnnnot entirely. For the fillyfooling, it IS related to the love part. It would take something entirely unexpected to "detach" it from the relationship aspect of things.

Wings being broken aren't necessarily a relationship thing - as the relationship, or confessions, etc, tend to happen with Dash at the hospital, or recovering somewhere, etc.

The rules state you can ask the judges directly (send us both a PM or something) with the actual ideas, and we can take a look at it, and determine if it's original enough to go forward :)

510487
Let the innuendo fly. I figure if you can get away with it on a regular sitcom or action movie, it's within the teen rating. As long as you're "fading to black" and rating the thing teen, I think you're just fine.

510529
My advice with both of those would be to make sure you know you're doing it in a new way. Take a good look through the AppleDash stories in the folders. If any of them look like the kind of thing you were thinking about, don't use the idea.

The fillyfooler thing- if you're playing it straight, I don't think there are many ways you can go with it that haven't been done. And I'll admit it's not a plot I've ever liked much to start with. I think you'd have better luck turning this idea completely on it's head.

The wings breaking thing- this is a plot that's over-played with Dash even outside of shipping. It's the most obvious thing you can take from her to get an emotional reaction. On the other hand I wouldn't mind seeing a wing injury as an aside to set off a chain of events, the way it does in Read it and Weep. But to me, if it's permanent or Dash has to do any emoting about it, it's been done.

510537

The rules state you can ask the judges directly

They do?

Actually, they don't, but I don't mind if people do. I realized after they were written that with all the random brainstorming that goes on in the socializing thread, it was going to be impossible for you and I not to give opinions and ideas. Maybe I should change the rules to reflect that, and we should make blog posts letting people know (and probably also mentioning the brainstorming that often occurs in the socializing thread)? I hate for anyone to think the contest is rigged in favor of the folks who hang out there, even if it's just because they got to brainstorm with us a lot.

510639
I thought they did? o.o i must have been reading something else!

510640
So, think I should change it? I don't mind.

510646
Might be a good idea, methinks! That way, we can best judge whether or not the fics will fit if we get an idea of what they are.

I'm in.

Hold on, I gotta go get Bad Horse to write my story so I can steal it and put my name on it.

510731
Applejack and Rainbow Dash and Love and Cute Stuff
by Bad Horse Church

Yeah, I'm pretty sure every single part of that is not happening.

510731
Oooh, there's some serious competition up in these parts.

510811 In the words of a fabulous pony,

"It. is. ON!"

...hm. How about posting a post on http://www.reddit.com/r/mylittlefanfic/ ?

Would garner a lot of attention, I think...

512495
I know nothing about reddit, so that's all you. But go for it!

Depending on if I can get the time, and that's a pretty big 'If', I'd really like to join.

Chalk me up for the "in a relationship" category. I wanna do some totally new Appledash. Not another "Applejoy" sequel, not another TFY sequel, something new.

516875

^ my face when i read that!

Well... hi, I guess!
Yes, I'm the one with the story posting weirdness. Weird story.
I'm really here because Tchernobog posted a comment in my story thread inviting me to join this competition, and I really don't know anything at all about shipping fics, but he contended that maybe I could do some nice old AppleDash. So taking upon his generous, generous offer, I'm just here to say.. thanks! And this should be quite fun, if not challenging.

I'll probably be bothering you lot in the main discussion thread about ideas and guidance, if you all don't mind. I'm rubbish with this genre.

When I first got here, too, I was kind of surprised to see Bookplayer's name as well... I have heard of her from a mutual acquaintance, who from what I heard, forwarded her Magnet to read as well, but I actually have no idea what happened, between Bookplayer and TS. But that's how I know OF her.

Well either way, I'm just here introducing myself, since you all seem friendly and unlikely to eat my face.

So, hi!

517815
Nope, Twifight Sparkill doesn't usually hang out around here, so no one is likely to eat your face. And of course, Twifight will only eat your face in the most friendly of ways.

And I did talk to Twifight about your story! I actually read the first chapter, and I told Twifight that your story is wonderfully written, with great characterization. I just didn't see anything in it to explain why Dash liked Fluttersay, and as someone who really really really dislikes FlutterDash because I can't understand why Dash would love Fluttershy, I couldn't really get into the story.

I also told her I'd be happy to talk to you personally about it, and the offer still stands, though I've only read the first chapter.

517926
Ah, she actually did... go through with that then.
I actually was telling her not to worry or bother you so much, but I think she was just trying to help. I actually didn't really want for her to ask you for anything, really! I'm sure she had good intentions though, and I kind of lost track with what happened between us there. But hey, it's great to be able to talk to you in person, now!

Well, I appreciate the kind words, and at least your feedback currently does help. And if you hate FlutterDash, then who can say anything about that? So, don't worry at all about it. I hope that I can impress you with my contest entry!

And yes, I absolutely don't have that reason of why they love each other. But I actually tend to write like that a lot. I use a lot of guffins, and I always feel the story being told sometimes is more important than the reason behind it. To that end, Magnet was written in the way that focuses on Dash's personal journey of discovery, rather than the old 'oh hey, she's in love, she must gush about the hundred and one ways in which she does'. Rainbow has no idea why she loves Fluttershy either. But doesn't that usually happen in most relationships?

But I'm also super glad you think the story's well written. Gives me hope that I can actually do this genre justice. And of course, I wouldn't say no to any other points you can give based on what you've already read, but seeing how FlutterDash is not in your flavour, I definitely won't hold it against you to continue. Although there IS a bit of AppleDash in chapter 2.... Just sayin'!

I should admit, right now, that my favourite pairing is Celestia X Twist. So as you can see, my romantic notions are a little skewed.

Did anyone take care of this contest getting mentioned in the monthly events on fimfiction?

530813
I sent it in, then I PMed Wanderer D just this week. He said it's still going up. . . I don't know what his timeline is, though.

531413 530813
Announcement's up on the front page. Also, I spy a lot of biggie names here in the group.... Mmmhmm.

So I guess that fic about a crazy mob of anti-fillyfooling ponies breaking Rainbow Dash's wings, making her stay at the farm and painfully admit she's in love with Applejack won't fly, huh?

533084

Rupture an eardrum so she loses equilibrium instead and you have a deal.

533084
No, but I almost want to write a fic where Pinkie somehow gets it in her head that that happened, while AJ and Dash are going on a perfectly normal date.

533109
Okay, okay. So a fic where Rainbow Dash is crippled by anti-fillyfoolers and has to stay with Applejack who ruptures her eardrum and has to go into the Everfree Forest to get medicine for it which makes Rainbow Dash chase after her and get up enough courage to admit her feelings.

I charge by the hour for these ideas, you know. This is good stuff.

I joined this group for this competition. Sounds like fun.

533084
You forgot the part where Applejack runs off into the Everfree Forest.

So... just hypothetically...
Is one author allowed to make multiple entries? Or would you rather limit authors to only submitting one?
Just curious.