Hello all :D

A month ago, Kaidan and I announced the Balloon Ponies holiday contest.

Sadly, the turnout wasn't as large as was expected. Ah well, participation was key, and three works created in the name of balloon ponies is quite the achievement in itself!

So, for the contest participants, we have Wise Cracker, with Night of the Krampus, a tale about the European tradition of the Krampus - and its squeaky curse.

SoothingCoffee, with To remember, one about Twilight, for a change.

And Zubric, with Rainbow Squeaker Dash, a Mature entry (I'm interested :D) about what I'm guessing is Dash and 'toys' wink wink.

I would have loved to write something, but judges can't submit their own work. Maybe next time though.

Reading/judging for the fics will be completed by tomorrow night, so expect a winner's list (more like a list of who'll get what :V) in the next day or so. I do have the prizes as follows:
First Place: Your choice of either a 20$ gaming card or a Funko vinyl pony figure (shipping will be handled); You'll also get a short story (4k or under) commission through Kaidan. Finally, a feature on the group's front page. :O

Second Place:Your choice of either a 10$ gaming card/Two packs of MLP:TCG cards or a starter deck/Five random blind bag ponies (still in bag :D); You'll also get a free commission on a pair of shoes, painted with your favorite pony, done by yours truly. (will work out in PM)

Third Place: Your choice of either two packs of MLP:TCG or a small (8-10 inch) pony plushie (Selection options will be given after judging); You'll also get an in-depth editing session on a fic of your choice, by me. I'll push aside all projects and devote an entire day to the fixing up of your work :D

In addition to these, all three fics will be plugged in a blog for exposure. I'd like to thank everyone who participated, and everyone who consulted about ideas/helped these fine gentlemen with their fics. If you haven't read them yet, go give a check to the Holiday contest folder, and see what squeaky good came about from this. Feel free to discuss what you felt was the best, and what you liked about each fic, it couldn't hurt the judging process ;)

I'll be contacting winners after judging for prize support. To everyone else, thanks for reading! :D

Till next time!

I try to be a positive guy, but there's only really one possible winner, here. You'll see what I mean soon.

As usual, I completely miss the deadline. That is quite literally the story of my life. Oh, well. I'll still attempt to finish what I started.

(Two years on this site, and this is the first time I've commented in a group. Can you believe it?)

Oh my gosh, I'm psyched. Surprised there weren't more entries, but then this is the Balloon Pony group: competition is stiff *ducks underneath the rotten tomatoes*

If I have to be totally honest, I think I overdid it a little bit on mine, and not just on the word count. It's a bad habit, and a reflex action to stuff any story I start writing with as many references and obscure stuff as possible. Flight Camp was like that, too. Just the reslt of doing things on short notice, I guess. Thesis is delivered, btw, awaiting defense and results. Here's hoping.

I just read Rainbow Squeaker Dash, and what I liked about it is that it's a different angle: not a gift for a pony, but a gift for a pet. Just goes to show that it's not always sex toys. It does bring up the question regarding how they feed their pets if they are herbivores themselves, but we've seen ponies fishing on the show before, and you do kinda need those unsaturated fatty acids. Anyway, that as a side note.

I read To Remember a while back, and if I recall correctly, it was more based on nostalgia and emotional attachment to toys than anything else, which again is a nice angle to work from, especially given the holiday theme.