• Nightmare Night 2013: Spooky Harder

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    You thought it was over. But you were wrong. You were all so, so wrong.


    You can't begin to understand the things I've sacrificed to accomplish this once more. The loss of life, the property damage, and the restraining orders I now hold in twelve different states (a personal record, might I add).

    Yes, I've conquered time, space, and most laws on public decency to be able to be here to play my secret games with all of you. And what shall we be doing, you may ask?

    We're going to be getting spooky.

    Hello once again, fine viewing audience of Equestria Daily. We meet yet again, and how coincidental that it be in October once more. Allow me to put on my spooky face. 


    I even scare myself sometimes.

    Some of you fine gentlefolk may remember me from last year's first annual October fanfiction contest, in which we unleashed totally unreasonable amounts of horror fiction onto the world, terrified small children with party poppers, and generally started a ruckus.

    I also might have tried to take over EqD through a portal of unspeakable eldritch annihilation. But bygones and such, right? Right?

    But I'm totally not soured by that at all, despite the identity-defiling punishment inflicted upon me by my employers. Not at all. In fact, I've even volunteered to intern at EqD as atonement. So Seth knows I'm here. No need to tell him. It's all legit.

    In fact, it's so clearly legit that I won't waste any more time boring you with needless details. Ladies and gents, our goal is the same as it is every year, try and take over the world write horror-themed MLP fanfiction. Rules are as follows:



    1. All entries must abide by content standards enforced by Equestria Daily's pre-reader staff. This means no excessive gore and no sexual content. Such entries will be rejected outright. And remember that it isn't gore that makes a story scary. You know what I'm talking about.
    2. You may only submit one story.
    3. All entries must be submitted by 11:59 PM EST on October 14th. No stories will be accepted past this date.
    4. Stories must be written solely for this event. That means no submitting stories you've written in the past!
    5. Stories must be between 2,500 and 10,000 words in length. No more, no less. Stories that do not meet this criteria will be rejected outright.
    6. I cannot stress this enough, but this is not a "comedy horror" competition. We're not aiming to hear about how Pinkie Pie is terrified of broccoli, or about the horrors of Gen 3.5. Don't be that guy. Fics such as these will also be rejected outright.
    7. Your story must be complete. Aim for that one-shot!
    8. Remember, any questions or inquiries can also be sent to [email protected]!

    Any and all story entries must be submitted via the GoogleForm linked below! Otherwise, your story will not be accepted or received.

    SUBMISSION FORM

    Just like last time, stories will be received and graded by myself and a completely and totally arbitrary scale of what I think makes a better horror story both in terms of content, writing, and general spookiness. And there's nothing you can do to stop me. Neener neener neener. Once that has passed, the top 10 stories will be presented to you, the audience, for voting on which is the most terrifying. The top 3 contestants shall be selected by audience and judge choice, and win the grand prize of absolutely nothing! And I don't know, bragging rights or something.

    Now go forth, children of pony. Go forth and spread shadows across this innocent land in the guise of mildly unsettling horse fiction. I look forward to seeing your products in the coming future. It's going to be a blast. But until then...