Rainleaf: “Calling all Herd Nerds!”
Starleaf: “My sister and I came up with an awesome idea for a contest, and can’t wait to share it with you guys! (This our first attempt at doing a contest…)”
Rainleaf: “Okay, drumroll, please!”
Starleaf: “You should do the drumroll, and I can announce the contest.”
Rainleaf: “I’m older, so I should announce it.”
Starleaf: *Huffs, annoyed* “Fine." *Stomps her hooves rapidly, a little off rhythm. *
Rainleaf: *Clears her throat excitedly* “We, for the first time in Guardian Herd Message Board History (hopefully, we didn’t actually check...), declare a Short Story Showdown!!!”
Starleaf: “Basically, all you have to do is come up with a three-paragraph “legend” concerning one of your OCs (a.k.a Original Character, for all you new Nerds.)”
Rainleaf: “You can’t use a story you have already posted or have come up with. (Sorry!)”
Starleaf: “Also, you have to create a picture to go with it. (Again, it cannot be a picture you have already posted or drawn.)”
Rainleaf: “Together, Starleaf and I came out with an example to show you, which will be shown below.”
Starleaf: “I can’t wait to hear what you guys think!”
Rainleaf: *Nudges her sister.* “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
Starleaf: “Nope, I think I covered it all.”
Rainleaf: *Whispers, “The prizes and rules.”*
Starleaf: *Beats her wings up and down, embarrassed.* “Whoops, almost forgot to add that. You need to have a minimum of 250 words and there is no maximum. The picture can be anything from the landscape you imagined there, to the characters in your story. If your story has a human, you even draw them!”
Rainleaf: “Don’t forget to mark on your calendars that this contest ends March 31st.”
Starleaf: “And now… the prizes!”
Rainleaf: “For first place, you have the choice of either a headshot of a human or pegasus, or a full body drawing of a pegasus of your choice. (Just warning you all, Starleaf and I are not the best artists! =) We will try our best, though.)
Starleaf: “For second place, you get your favorite Guardian Herd character drawn as an animal.”
Rainleaf: “And for third place you will get a feather drawing consisting of two colors.”
Starleaf: “So get to it! On your mark…”
Rainleaf: “Get set…”
Together: “Go!”
-Story Example-
Dawn crept upon the asleep pegasi, while rays of sunshine danced on the now awakening herd. Manes of all colors; midnight black, mouse brown, snow white, soft blond, and fiery red swished in the warm, spring breeze. Wings like gems in every color of the rainbow and more flowed softly. For all but two foals, the world was perfect and needn’t ever change.
“Cherryfeather!” Rainbowsprinkle whispered excitedly, while she nuzzled him. “Hurry and wake up! The other foals want to play with us!”
Wriggling with joy, Rainbowsprinkle kept nudging her older twin. Rainbowsprinkle was fine with being left out sometimes, but when she was asked to play, she was all over it.
“No!” Cherryfeather whispered fiercely. “I can’t, I just can’t!” Cherryfeather was so shy that no foals besides Rainbowsprinkle even knew his name. “I’m sorry.”
Sadly, she trotted away her older (by 3 minutes) brother. Though they were inseparable, they could not be more different. She was outgoing, mischievous, funny, and friendly, whereas he was shy, bashful, and smart. While she had her mother’s pattern (Shadepeddle’s) and he had his father’s pattern (Bumblewind’s) their colors differed immensely from their parents.
“Sweetie,” Shadepebble smiled sweetly to her son. “Why didn’t you go with your sister?”
“I don’t want to,” he told her.
“Why not?” Concerned, Shadepebble looked straight into her son’s eyes.
“I don’t really want to talk about it right now.” Doubt filled Cherryfeather’s eyes as he asked his mother a question that had been nagging him. “Mama, would Papa be proud of me?”
Startled by the question, Shadepebble beat her wings softly and quietly answered, “The proudest. And I am too.” Sorrow sang in her heart as Shadepebble thought about her sire-less children. She knew Bumblewind would want Cherryfeather and Rainbowsprinkle to stick together. So, gently, she nudged her colt forward to play with the others.
“Don’t worry, my sweet boy. Someday you and your sibling will lead an adventure on your own.”
-Drawing Example-
(Story created by Starleaf, edited by Rainleaf. Drawing created by Rainleaf, colored by Starleaf.)
all of these r GREAT
Hi! School has been crazy busy, etc. We will post the results as soon as we can!
I love it, but just one thing....
your sister ships SHADEWIND/BUMBLEPEBBLE??
I mean, she can have her own opinion of course, but I peronsally disagree XD sorry if that sounded rude
You're Welcome! :D
Dang it I can't join.. .Oh well! Good luck to all who entered! :D
Can I still enter for this? I didn't even know it existed XD.
Sorry I got to busy this month I wish i could get it in but now its Sunday and its 8:00 PM and now I just want to spend time with my family
Don't forget, today is the last day to upload your entry! (Please have it done before or by midnight!)
(Just so you all know, I edited the post so there is no maximum on words. I hope that helps!)
Here's the link to Stormflower's entry: https://www.theguardianherd.com/messageboard/fan-ficton/the-blood-river-short-story
WOW! This is great
I painted a wing next to her but I hated it so I cut it out*hehe* And because of this you can now see my desk, that's great! This is Riverfrost:
Yay, another fuzzy photo! *sarcastically* My camera has great quality! Can you tell?
Riverfrost trotted through the trees and into a wide meadow filled with bright flowers and bustling pegasi. New born foals were laughing and nickering in delight as they playfully rammed each other. Spring in Sun herd was the best time ever. She galloped over to where her yearling friends were dozing under the grandmother tree.
"Hey who wants to play water tag!" she asked excitedly.
Her friends all whinnied in agreement and flew over to feather lake.
As they neared the lake, Hazelblaze, her best friend, offered a challenge, "Last one in has to eat a bird egg!"
"Yuck" gagged her friend Starlight as she sped up.
They played for hours in the lake and one by one her friends went back to dawn meadow, till it only left Riverfrost and Hazelblaze.
"We should probably start heading back" nickered Hazelblaze shaking like a dog and sending water everywhere.
"Hey watch it" Neighed Riverfrost as the water splashed against her flank.
"Autumnwind's face was so hilarious when he ate that egg." Laughed Hazelblaze.
Riverfrost was about to comment when she heard a snap. They both froze and spread their wings, ready to fly at a moments notice. Then from the trees stepped a hansom red roan yearling with green feathers. They folded their wings relieved to see it was only Stormleaf.
"Hey Riverfrost. It's a little late isn't it? Do you want me to walk home with you and keep you safe?" asked the yearling, Stormleaf, while trying his best to look strong. Everyone knew he had a MAJOR crush on Riverfrost.
Riverfrost let out a small laugh but stuffed it down and tried to look sincere. "Thank you for the offer but I'm good." she explained hopeful that she looked thankful, so that it wouldn't hurt the roan's feelings.
Stormleaf sighed and unpuffed his chest. He took one last look at her sleek grey body and bright blue feathers which matched her eyes, then watched her and Hazelblaze fly away. As soon as they were in the air Riverfrost let down her loving look and replaced it with a annoyed look.
"Ack, why wont he pick on another mare." she wondered out loud as she cringed at the thought of him flirting.
"I dunno," replied Hazelblaze as he watched Stormleaf gaze at them flying away. " ya know he still watching you" he said as he raised his eyebrows a few times in a playful manner.
"Shut up." She said as she smacked him in the head with her wing playfully.
This caused him to fall from the sky and Riverfrost nickered as he tried to regain his balance. By the time they got back to dawn meadow It was already dark and the stars were shining above them. They gazed at the stars for a long time and wondered about many things. Riverfrost wondered about the future and what it would bring. Who would be her mate? What wars would come? But she set those aside and focused on now. She focused of living her life as a yearling and making it as fun as possible. Little did she know that in a few short years the black foal of Anok would be born to her herd and change her life forever.
I don't think I'll participate because I'm not good at writing, or drawing
Did she just ship Bumblewind with Shadepebble?
I'm in!! This is my first competition!! (And no I am not her sister. Hey Rainleaf, tell your sis that I like her name.)
Then i Will join!
I don’t know how to draw stapms hooves in ground “ for Søren da også.” Tho i love to write a short story and i’m already have to draw a picture for Dragon and for Starwater.
Lilacdrop's Foal-
Lilacdrop breathed in the fresh spring air, enjoying the sweetness of it's smell. This had always been the young mare's favorite season because, after the long cold dark winters of Anok's most northern territory, the bright colors of leaves and wild flowers just seemed to explode in a vibrant verity of colors all at once. And this year was no exception, the trees had already began to bud, and the snow had melted enough that a few stems were just starting to peek up above the dirt. It wouldn't be long now before Snow Herd was ablaze of color.
But this year, wile Lilacdrop was quite excided for the flowers, there was something else that was occupying most of her energy, or rather, someone else. That someone else was the unborn foal that had been growing in her belly for almost a year, and was, at most, a few days away from being born. And Lilacdrop was quite ready for this foal to be born, because he or she had been very restless for the last month or so and had been moving around a lot, and had caused the new dam a considerable amount of discomfort. In fact, as Lilacdrop was thinking about it, she felt a twinge as yet again the foal changed positions.
"Oof." she weised .
"Is that foal of your on the move again?" asked Sunnyglow, who was another dam-to-be. Lilacdrop nodded, and the other mare huffed, "That foal is going to be a spirited one."
"I hope so." replied Lilacdrop, envisioning playing chase with her foal in a field full of spring flowers.
Later that night...
The foal had been kicking around so much that Lilacdrop had been struggling to fall asleep, but finally, close to moon high, she was able to shut her eyes and drift off. But barely had anytime passed, then a sharp pain, much sharper then any of the pain before, woke the mare. And then sudden a realization hit her... the foal was coming, and fast.
Quickly, Lilacdrop moved as fast as she dared towards the medicine mare cave, and was lucky to find that Pineroot, Snow Herd's medicine mare, was outside her cave sorting herbs by moonlight. "My foal, it's coming!" gasped Lilacdrop, as she trotted up.
"Quickly, come inside." said Pineroot, abandoning her work and rushing in ahead.
It wasn't long before the medicine mare had arranged a pile of moss for Lilacdrop, and not a moment to soon because it was only a few more minuets before the foal was well under way to being born. And after a few more intense minuets, Lilacdrop heaved a sigh as she gassed down at her newborn colt.
He was small, with a solid gray coat and white wings, but his dark brown eyes were burning with a fierce intelligence that Lilacdrop was instantly in love with. But her joy was short lived when Pineroot asked who the colt's sire was, and Lilacdrop could almost feel her heart sink.
The truth was, no one could know who his father was in fear of what would happen. The stallion's name was Icewing, over-stallion of Snow Herd, and the thing was, Lilacdrop was not his lead mare, and therefore was not supposed to have sired a foal with her. But Icewing's real mate, Snow Herd's lead mare, had been unable to carry a foal since she had given away her first one, and because of the herd's long tradition of passing the role of over-stallion from sire to colt, Icewing had chosen to sire a foal with another mare. There had been another mare before Lilacdrop, but Icewing's mate had found out about it and had driven her, and her newborn foal from the herd.
Lilacdrop was going to be Icewing's last attempt to sire a foal that would be raised in his herd, and luckily, no one had yet to suspect him being the father of her foal, but now that the colt had actually been born, she woundered if she could keep it up.
"Umm...." said Lilacdrop, in response to Pineroot's question, "He, uh... isn't around any more." the new mother prayed that the medicine mare would buy the explanation. And to Lilacdrop's relief, she did.
"That's to bad." said Pineroot, "But do you have a name for this little one?"
Lilacdrop looked down at her colt, "I think I'm going to call him Snow... frost." she said.
"I like it." replyed the medicine mare, heading out of the cave to finish sorting her herbs.
Now that they were alone, Lilacdrop let out a sigh, and looked down at Snowfrost. Pineroot may have believed her story about his sire, but what would happen when he was older? What if the truth came out? The mare shuttered at the idea of what might happen, but knew what would happen would happen, and there was much she could do about it. All she could do was enjoy every moment before then, and hope for the best.
Okay, so this is my short story, I have no idea how many words are in it, but I think it's long enough. Anyways, here's my drawing of Lilacdrop and a newborn Snowfrost in the medicine mare cave: