Argh! This has been a long night… mostly for the nurses who kept trying to get me to sleep (hint: they failed :P )

Pregnancy, as marvelous as it is, is pretty exhausting. To think I had to spend half of the day dozing, feeling drained like a squeezed orange. Right now I feel I’ve been born again! I have so much energy I don’t know what to do with it! :D

Anyway, back to the competition. (again, I say you girls are crazy!) Forty nine new entries! (and I’m only talking about the ones that passed curation! And just to be fair, I accepted stories that were submitted before the midnight deadline, regardless when they passed curation (Yes, I poked Light, RRBB, and Played to rush all contest stories for me O :) )

So, without further ado, let’s get to it! As usual I’ll start with a few honorable mentions, then go right to the top three.

Keep your fingers crossed! :P

LyraHands

The tyrant woke me up at half past two to ask me how the curation was going :/ The things I do for this community…

LightSparkle

Phew! I almost didn’t make it! Reading some of the other stories I don’t think I have a chance, though. So many good writers… including jade who will win again, I am sure :/

I hope I get an honorable mention, though :)

DarkSparkle

I don’t know. I think I did pretty well

@LightSparkle: Those centaur dragons… tsk tsk tsk. I mean, really?

EverSpike

HONORABLE MENTIONS

How did I end up here? by EverSpike
When Spike said he was going to do a self-insert he wasn’t kidding. The story is about… SPIKE! Literally. He’s on his way to a MC convention (hmm… I see certain similarities here :P ) when he’s literally thrown to Earth via a portal created by Discord for no apparent reason. Once there, Spike gets finds himself in a fight between Megan and the Felina corp. Naturally he uses his powers to send the weapons of the Felina corp to Princess Celestia (nice way of using that as a weapon) and saves the day… becoming a friend of the grand9.

I’m oversimplifying things, of course. It’s actually a nice story and I see a lot of Dark’s influence in the words and constructions used :) If there weren’t so many mistakes… It probably still wouldn’t have made top 3. (Sorry, the competition was fierce!)

---

The Door by Simile
The only reason this isn’t among the winders is because it’s incredibly dark. It’s nothing like any of the other fics she’s done and as such caught me entirely unprepared.

So, this is the story of Megan, Danny, and Molly finding a door in the basement of their house (a door that wasn’t there before) and going through only to be trapped in a world of dragons, in which humans are regarded as “slave-food” (i.e. they do whatever their dragon masters command, and if they don’t they become food).

Since the trio are blessed (interesting take that Megan is blessed by Hades) they have powers and defend themselves. Attracting the attention of Dragon (and human) bounty hunters, they find some dragon rebels (outcasts) who agree to help them to get home if they topple the current ruler (who’s a mysterious figure that no one has seen in ages). One of the dragons has a crush on Danny and later confesses that the offer for help is made up and the group just wants to be the ones to rule over the land. She they helps the three escape from to the door (leading to the basement) and reveals she was the ruler of all dragons, but saw a prophecy that she would find love one day so made the portal for him to go through it (for which she disappeared from power centuries ago).

Dark, scary, sad, borderline disturbing, but very impactful and well written

---

With that I go to the top 3 (The results might surprise you!)

LyraHands

I think jade has this. (I had to approve twenty of the stories so I went ahead and read the rest.)

@Jade: buck, you’re good! One day Squishy will get you, thought! Just wait and see! :P

RRBB

No mention? :( And I tried so hard…

DarkSparkle

@DarkSparkle: Yet in the end it didn’t really matter… I feel you. I’m like that all the time! I sent five entries to this contest and none made it past curation! At one point RRBB even came here in person (early in the morning) and forced me to read out loud one of my stories…

Let’s say it could have been better. O :)

MightyDragon

And here are our glorious winners!

THIRD PLACE
Dragon Syndrome by Celestia

What can I say… the fact story is as surprising as the author sending it (although this isn’t the first time our Princess has secretly participated in contests :) )

The story revolves around a new virus that slowly transforms humans into dragons. (Not horror, not even scary, rather comic.) People seems to slowly get used to it and start living that way. The corporations create glass bubbles :D in which non infected people live and use magic elementals to do their bidding. The story is how the grand9 transform into dragons, then find a way to transform back (stealing the secret from the corporations).

It’s hilarious and you should read it! :D

---

SECOND PLACE
Dragon Hiccups by Quarters

It’s been a while since I’ve seen someone from Quarters and this fic doesn’t disappoint :) (it’s also notable that both Twist and RRBB edited it and it shows!)

The fic is about a new classmate to arrive in Molly’s school (and class). At first it’s a normal sweet slice of life romance until Molly suddenly notices that the boy has a tail. Curious she starts to investigate (and gets into some funny and awkward situations) but fails to find any proof… until Gem (the boy) hiccups and changes into a dragon (read human with dragon features). It is then revealed that he and his family are in fact changeling-dragons (changelings that have a dragon primary form). From there on it follows the familiar Quarters formula: social light romance with the occasional hiding from the corporations (and keeping the secret from everyone else).

Good job! :)

---

FIRST PLACE
Adventure Bureau Corporate Dragon by Jade
Yep… no surprises here. :P Seriously, we need to ban jade from participating in contests!

The very interesting thing is that the fic doesn’t start on Earth! It starts in the Crystal Empire, where Princess Jennifer goes in search of a secretary. She picks a clueless dragon who’s only passing through there because of the food, and opens up an Adventure Bureau where ponies hire her to go on adventures. And since the dragon is her only employee he becomes the Corporate Dragon, responsible for “everything other than adventuring”.

First, I have no idea when Jade found the time to write so much, but I love it! :D

Second... thanks for participating, everyone! This truly was a great contest and brought a lot of cheer in my life (and yours as well I hope :) )

Also, do not despair! I’ll be starting a COMEDY contest soon! So better start thinking up those ideas :D

LyraHands

And since I didn’t win, I’m locking the thread!

EDIT: Seriously, I need to lock the thread to test something, as HopHop will attest. PM and thread creation won’t be available for a short while, but you can still read and submit fics.

Oh, and Congrats, @Jade! (my nemesis) :)

MightyDragon