Sunset Shipping Contest: Endings Results · 3:21am Nov 28th, 2019
Sunset Shipping Contest - Endings Results!
Sorry for taking so long! Life gets in the way sometimes, and this particular batch of stories was rather heavy.
But it’s over and done with, and ready to give you what you’ve been waiting for. We’ve read through 57 different stories about relationships ending, and now here are the best of them.
Fifth Place
By DrugOverlord
Oroboro
Coming in at fifth place, we have a story from an author with only a handful of published stories and a smattering of followers. It’s nice to see a new name place here, and I look forward to seeing what the author can do in the future, after a story this good.
Small Insignificant Things deals a powerful, melancholic aesthetic in a story about two people that are so codependent on each other they hurt everyone else around them, and the slow crash and burn this story inevitably reaches is definitely worth a read.
R5h
I think that of all the finalists, this story was by far the most experimental. Scenes are out of order, events scattered in a way that seems random at first, but which is certainly purposeful—and the non-linear narrative really works well, too! It forces the reader to engage with the story in an interesting way.
And what a story it is: melancholy throughout, powerful in its depiction of a broken relationship, and criminally underviewed. Go check it out!
Majin Syeekoh
The thing that stood out to me about this story is the stream-of-consciousness, nearly Joycean formation of the narrative. Each sentence begs the next one as it slips down the descent of awfulness which ends with a painful choice that should have been made long ago, but still hurt.
Heartshine
I think what I loved about this was how well it fit into the issues of co-dependence. There’s a difficulty that comes from being the partner without the problem, and it lends itself to this deep, internal struggle of holding on or letting go. I also am a sucker for Fluttershy POV stories, and her quiet struggle really shined in this story.
Ebon Quill
Sometimes we can’t help those we love. Sometimes we love those we shouldn’t. Sometimes it just doesn’t work. Sometimes it’s the small things. C’est bon.
Fourth Place
By Posh
Oroboro
Posh, our old friend, here again. Posh has placed in every contest I’ve held, and for a good reason. This story is no exception.
Starring fandom maligned charmer Flash Sentry, Arrhythmia delivers a low key, atmospheric story about what happens to romance once high school ends, and delivers it in a very grounded and realistic way, brought to life by lots of great character moments.
R5h
What do I need to say at this point? If you’ve been following these contests, you’ll know that Posh knocks it out of the park every time, and the fact that he ‘only’ placed fourth in this contest is a testament to how strong the final pool ended up being.
In particular, no one does Flash Sentry (or Timber Spruce, for that matter) quite as well as Posh does, letting him be a fully realized and very relatable character. He’s trying to figure out what he wants to do in his life, in a crazy world where his girlfriend is a horse. In some small way, aren’t we all?
Majin Syeekoh
This is an incredibly comfy story about a good relationship that ends by not being on the same wavelength. Someone wants to move forwards and the other is idling in neutral. It wasn’t painful so much as inevitable.
Heartshine
Posh does an excellent job bringing out the awkwardness of adolescence. There’s a certain struggle that we go through when we realise we need to say something important, and have a hard time to find the words for it. One of the things I think people underestimate about adolescents is how much they are thinking, and how anxious they are. The attention to this detail in the story is on point, and made me really enjoy it. I think while we see the end coming, there’s a grace in which Flash and Sunset handle themselves in the story that feels very high school, and I mean that in a good way. This could have been a bit of drama that your friends went through when you were 17-18 and trying to figure out what the hell you were doing with your life, and I love that.
Ebon Quill
All growth is pain. Posh shows he knows that pretty well here. Excellent story. I love how much Sunset is chewing at the edges of it, trying to escape it’s focus. Poor Flash, though.
Third Place
By Aragon
Oroboro
When I asked Aragon if he would be a judge again this year, he laughed in my face. Probably for the best, since we got this story out of it.
Hidden behind its unwieldy comedic title is a fantastic story about how breakups affect everyone around you, how friends have to pick sides, and about group chats. It’s delivered with that trademark wit and banter Aragon is so adept at delivering, and contains a lot of heart to tie it all together.
R5h
Aragon’s got a really interesting story in here. I feel like saying that it’s going to be funny is kind of unnecessary, but I’ll say it anyway: it’s very funny. And with that comes a story that’s not afraid to look at how messy and ugly breakups can get, and how sometimes you have to do painful sucky things to people if you want your life to get better.
(And sometimes you need to brain a tiger made of paint with a crowbar. Such is life.)
Majin Syeekoh
I carried Aragon like a princess for two minutes at Bronycon and almost dropped him on his head. I’m glad I didn’t because he gave us a good story about bad shit going down because people can’t just get over themselves, and deftly portrays how it affects everyone around them.
Heartshine
Aragon has this thing about making one liners that kill me. There were lots of little moments in this story where I was laughing out loud, which, hopefully that didn’t piss off my neighbours because I was often judging at 2am while on shift for work.
Ebon Quill
What can you say, except “It’s Aragon”? I would have preferred a little more focus on the actual emotions of the break-up, rather than the aftermath, but that doesn’t diminish it as a story.
Second Place
Oroboro
Last year, King of Beggars blew our minds and our hearts with his sordid tale of glory hole romance. Now, he’s opted to tear our hearts out instead.
It takes a lot of skill to make a story about death land without coming off as melodramatic or cheap, and its pulled off here in spades. The emotional anguish is handled beautifully, and it touches on a particular favorite subject of mine: The differences found between ponies and their EQG counterparts.
R5h
I’m very glad that King of Beggars wrote for the contest all three years, because he came out with a really good story every time, and this is no exception.
Perhaps uniquely among the finalists (and I say ‘perhaps’ because the ages in Small, Insignificant Things aren’t precisely clear), this is a story that deals not with the end of young love, but the death of a relationship that lasted decades—but still not long enough. There’s a real level of maturity to the proceedings here, and you can feel the weight of years throughout as Sunset fulfills her dead wife’s last request. It’s powerful stuff.
Majin Syeekoh
This isn’t a story about death. This is a story about reflecting on life, on what could have been, and how to continue from what once was into what will be.
Heartshine
I was tempted to post my initial review of this story. But then Oroboro said to be nice. And my initial review was nice! I was just angry that I was made to feel feels. So I’ll say this made me go through a box of tissues, and leave it at that.
Ebon Quill
It was a very narrow thing. The Kay Oh Bee does a fantastic job with this entry. Thank you for submitting it.
First Place
By Aquaman
Oroboro
And here we are. The winner of the final Sunset Shipping Contest. Aquaman delivers us an in-depth, gut wrenching punch of a funeral. It’s raw, unabashed pain, and doesn’t hold back.
Both of our front runners here focus on death, both are excellent stories, but in the end, we had to give the edge to one over the other, and Aquaman definitely deserves his win. Congratulations. I’m taking the cost of tissues out of your prize money.
R5h
Based on the way that some of the previous contests have gone, I definitely wasn’t surprised when Aragon, Posh, and King of Beggars placed so highly. However, to the best of my knowledge, this is the only Sunset Shipping contest that Aquaman has entered, so I didn’t know what to expect.
I’d say I’m glad of that, because this story knocked my socks off. After a slow first chapter that lets tension build in the background, the story explodes into an incredibly gripping and powerful second chapter, and reaches ultimate catharsis at the end. It’s kind of perfect in its execution, and when you combine that with its powerful premise, you end up with a story that absolutely deserves its first place.
Majin Syeekoh
This, on the other hand, is a story about death and the shockwave it sends through everyone it affects. I got vertigo while reading this.
Heartshine
I… goddesses. This story made me go lay in bed and stare at my ceiling for two hours at 3 in the morning. I hate funerals, and yet Aquaman managed to bring every freaking thing that I hate about them together into this beautiful story about trying to be strong for everyone else. The interaction between Sunset and Shining Armor is painfully real, and I think what I enjoyed about it was how much it made me think, feel, and honestly? Struggle a bit. But I feel better for having read it in the end.
Ebon Quill
The final scene lingered like cigarette smoke in an old coat. I’d find myself catching hints of it on the wind for days after, always bringing me back in to look at it again. That room. The echoes. The awkward conversation. Life, as always, goes on, but we are better for this story’s existence.
Honorable Mentions
Hey wait! We’re not done!
In addition to the top three prizes, each judge has decided to do an honorable mention for a story that tickled their fancy in some way. Each honorable mention will be awarded a prize of $30.
Oroboro Honorable Mention
A well executed, engaging story of two people who are only pretending to love each other. The mystery unfolds nicely, and while it could probably use a bit of trimming to tighten up the pacing, it all comes to a satisfying climax.
R5h Honorable Mention
So here’s the thing: this story looks like a shitpost. I mean, look at the title. And cover art. And short description. And long description. And to add to that, it was written just before the contest ended, and probably didn’t get an editing pass.
But there’s two things you should know about this entry. Firstly, that it is a shitpost, and a really really funny one, which features Sunset perpetrating break-ups (with varying levels of success) upon everyone from Maud Pie to Sweetie Belle. And secondly, that it is also a really poignant story about how hard it is to break up with someone you still like, and how intimidating it can be to try to make sure you get it right. It was a surprise standout entry from my initial slate, and I’m proud to choose it as my honorable mention.
Majin Syeekoh Honorable Mention
I liked this story a lot. I liked how it started off a game of Spy vs Spy, which them second guessing each other down to the very actions they took, which unraveled as the story went on and Adagio realized what she lost. If this level of wordcraft continues from this author, I expect to see great things.
AKA KEEP WRITING OR I WILL COME INTO YOUR HOUSE AND STEAL ALL OF YOUR CEREAL
Heartshine Honorable Mention
I really enjoyed this. Like holy crap. The focus on Sunset's anger, and her difficulty balancing things made the setup of the eventual, slow death of the relationship all the more painful to work through. It wasn't that we couldn't see this coming. But... at the same time, it was hard to watch/read because there's just the slow... gradual, inevitable death of the relationship. Sunset doing her best to toss her problems away to deal with later just... builds and builds and builds. While it may seem out of character, it... made her feel very human. Despite her insistence upon being a unicorn in human form. We make... mistakes in life. They start out as small, and then gradually grow until we've put so much distance between each other that we don't know how we were able to be together, or how we got so far apart. It's like learning that we're moving apart, slowly, at 5mm per hour. It doesn't seem like much at first, but eventually, what we had is... gone. And we're left to sit in the remains of what was, watching the embers die, like the slow death of a neutron star.
Ebon Quill Honorable Mention
If nothing else comes of this story, it would be a shame. This is such a good beginning to something grander. The relationship in the story was almost incidental to the rest of the cool things going on. Please revisit this world, Norm. I’d be interested in a longer stay.
And that’s it people! This is the end. It’s been three years, and while these contests were fun, they were a lot of work. I’m happy with the results, but at some point you gotta close the door and say “yeah, that’s good.”
I may decide to run other events in the future, but they will likely be smaller in scale, and won’t be about shipping Sunset with anyone. Poor girl needs a break.
Also seriously, go read the winners, and any other story on the contest that catches your attention. The authors worked really hard on these, and deserve your eyeballs.
Congratulations again to all of the winners, and a big thanks to all of the judges who agreed to help me out with this lunacy. And thanks to everyone who donated prizes that these talented winners can now enjoy.
If you didn’t win, and wanted to hear some feedback on your story, feel free to PM me. If you’re upset about the results, feel free to PM me. If you have other stories you want to recommend from the contest, feel free to do so in the comments!
Glad to help judge again, and congratulations to all contestants! Enjoy your prize money, winners!
Congrats to all of the winners!
SERIOUSLY
ALL OF YOUR CEREAL
Congrats to all the winners. Well-deserved victories, and a wonderful turnout in general.
Now that these have been filtered and the scum has risen to the surface, I can float along, wafting off the fumes.
Which is a horrible way of saying I'm going to read these when the pain of my own break up is somewhere closer to manageable.
Congrats to the winners! Although I admit I'm disappointed that Fifteen Pages didn't get at least a mention, the framing device for that story, as well as the complexity of the relationship between Sunset and Rarity on that one was absolutely brilliant.
Loving the top two.
But where's Naiad? D:
Congrats to all winners. Sad this is the last Sunset Shipping Contest, it's been a fun ride.
Good work to everyone that entered and congrats to everyone who took home a win!
Congratulations to one and all! I'm not sure if I should say that Sunny would be proud of you... because, well... you know. But yeah!
Congratulations to everyone who placed! You couldn't ask for a stronger lineup.
Glad I managed to sneak something into one of these, even if it's the last one.
5161229
I’m so sorry. Please feel free to hit me up if you need someone to vent to.
Huh. I admit, I didn't read nearly as many of these as last year, given the subject matter. But I somehow managed to miss every story mentioned here, aside from Aragón's. Well, it's more for the Read Later list. Congratulations to all the winners and thank you for three years of competitive Sunset shipping.
Not officially, anyway...
5161219
I'll do my best to write more in order to preserve my cereal, then!
Also, thanks for the honorable mention! I hadn't particularly expected to get one, and it was a nice surprise to wake up to.
5161368
Posh, KoB, and Aquaman should always be read more often. I'm quite smug about the fact that I called the four stories that would place from the get-go -- if you go this comment I made when PP reviewed all the stories I literally singled out the other three and went 'shout out to these guys for having the best stories in the contest by far'. I'm so good. I'm just too good sometimes. I scare myself with the utter magnificience of my MASSIVE BRAIN.
Nah but yeah, this contest was harsh on the views and likes, IMO due to stuff that I mentioned in the comment I just linked. Shame, but hey, let's hope the official recognition makes these stories more known. And I didn't read the fifth place yet either! I'll get to that as soon as I get any free time whatsoever, every story in the contest deserves more love.
Anyway, congrats to all the other people who placed, and also woo, I got third place. Go us, hell yeah.
I like how Heartshine's comment in literally every other story is this thoughtful musing on the emotions every story evokes or the themes they explore, and then mine is just "Hahah, I LOL'd." Keeping it on brand over here, heyo.
5161370
It's important to keep your cereal safe, and you earned that honorable mention.
Thanks a ton for running this contest, and of course for the honor of winning it. I don’t know that I’d necessarily say I had “fun” writing my entry, but it was much more cathartic than I was expecting to get some of its details written out, even years after the personal events that I cribbed them from. Ultimately, I think it was important for me to write this just for myself, and I’m very happy to hear it resonated so deeply with y’all as well.
Now to buy a new video game and $440 worth of Twix bars.
Congrats to the winners! This was fun! :)