Contest! Ancestral Tribute (Deadline October 16th) · 4:34pm Sep 7th, 2022
SirNotAppearingInThisFic pointed out an interesting pattern I hadn’t noticed before. For the past four years, I’ve hosted a contest in September.
No reason to stop now!
Mind you, after the highly subjective criteria of Imposing Sovereigns III, let’s turn the esoteric prompt dial back a bit. This time around, I’d just like to see a story featuring parents without their children.
Uh…
Yes, hypothetical FAQ asker?
Define “parent.”
More of a request than a question, but I’ll allow it.
“Parent” in this case means “A character whose primary canon narrative role is raising and/or being the ancestor of one or more other characters.” All of the Mane Six’s parents qualify, for example, but Cadence and Shining Armor don’t. Spoiled Rich counts, but Filthy doesn’t. (However, his own father Stinking does.) Pinkie Pie is right out.
Note that parenthood need not be biological. Lofty and Holiday are both eligible, especially if you still have an unpublished draft for Bicyclette’s contest that missed the deadline.
There are admittedly some characters who are on the cusp. In theory, Haven’s role as queen of Zephyr Heights could have greater narrative significance than being the mother of Zipp and Pipp, but in practice, the two have had roughly equal importance in G5 thus far. Feel free to ask in the comments if you’re not sure about a given character.
(Side note: I don’t want to write an exhaustive list for fear that I’ll forget someone.)
Okay, so what about the “without their children” part?
You don’t have to completely exclude the character’s kids from the story. A story featuring Cloudy Quartz won’t be disqualified on suspicion of Marble sitting in the same room and not saying anything. But those children shouldn’t be a major factor in the story. They can be in the background or instigate the plot—Twilight arranging another airship cruise for her parents that she sadly can’t attend, for example—but they shouldn’t have more than a few lines of dialogue, and definitely shouldn’t get involved enough to merit the use of their character tags.
To be brief, the point here is to give the parents a chance to step out of their kids' shadows.
What about Luster Dawn? Lots of characters could be her parents.
Between Pinkie being ineligible and Luster’s ambiguous parentage, I’m going to have to rule out any of her potential progenitors, regardless of headcanon.
Do I need to reserve a character?
No, everyone’s free to follow their muse on this one, even if they end up intersecting.
What else?
Fairly standard additional requirements for my contests:
Rating: Everyone or Teen
Word Count: Hard cap of 18,000. Bear in mind that Fimfic’s word counter doesn’t always sync up with, say, GDocs’s.
Publication Date: Between the moment this blog went up and October 16th, 11:59 EST (though you do technically have a bit of wiggle room on October 17th before I wake up and close submissions.)
Multiple Submissions: Permitted, but you can’t win more than one prize.
Prizes: On that note:
1st Place: $100
2nd Place: $75
3rd Place: $50
Honorable Mentions: $20, one per judge
PayPal will be the default payment method. We can discuss alternate methods or charitable donations when I PM you with the happy news.
Judges: Myself, SirNotApparingInThisFic (the squeaky wheel gets the hot seat,) MarvelandPonder (a hoopy frood who I owe for an earlier snub,) Jake the Army Guy (who loves stories involving the previous generation,) and Mike Cartoon Pony (who's garnered plenty of experience in reviewing stories.)
Judging Criteria: Completely subjective, as is typical for my contests. Good luck!
AU Policy: AUs are permitted, including pre-established ones. The focus character(s) needs to fit the contest’s criteria in canon… but they don’t need to in the story setting. This also means you can write about the characters before they become parents, even in conventional Equestria.
Additionally, if you set your story in a pre-established setting, the story must stand on its own. No required reading allowed; you’ll need to cram the background info in along with the story itself. (Writing something in the Oversaturated World is appreciated, but will not grant any bonus points for pandering to the judges. 
) Sequels are technically permitted, though they also need to stand on their own. Likewise crossovers; you can do them, but you need to introduce the nonpony concepts in the story in addition to the narrative.
OC Policy: You’re welcome to use OCs in the story, but the focus has to be on a canon character. Note that this character can be from Friendship is Magic, Equestria Girls, A New Generation… Heck, if you want to write about Megan’s mother watching her children get whisked away to Ponyland, you can (assuming she ever showed up in G1.) If the source is relatively obscure, citing it in the author's note is advised. Also, if a parent is canonically established but their spouse isn't, feel free to create one for them.
Anthology Policy: You can submit a single chapter of an anthology to the contest provided that chapter meets all of the requirements (18k words or fewer, T or E, etc.) Be sure to indicate which chapter is the entry (e.g. “(AT Entry)" in the chapter title.)
Story Description: Be sure to include something along these lines in the long description:
An entry in the Ancestral Tribute contest.
Story Submission: Be sure to submit your story to the contest group before the deadline!
Feel free to ask about anything I’ve left unclear. And most importantly, have fun!
Sounds fun. But I do have a few questions.
As a side note, this is the first contest I’m going to enter, so wish me luck!
5684630
1. Yes. All genres welcome.
2. Yes. If they exist in one world, you can write about their counterparts in the other.
3. Yes. The point of the contest is to explore who they are, not just who they're related to.
4. Interesting questions here. I'm going to rule that the Cakes don't, but the rest do. (Granny's in an interesting position where she does have a fairly major role in the story, but since that role is family matriarch, she still counts.)
5684632
Thank you, FoME.
See you on 10/16!
Oh. My. Glob. I have. The BEST idea.
Note to self: write story focusing on Granny Smith. Have the entire extended Apple family in the room, silently staring at her the entire time.
e: But more seriously, an actual question. What about Principal Celestia/VP Luna? Unlike the main continuity, they serve primarily as teachers/caretakers rather than as demigoddesses/plot devices. I'm expecting this is an edge case, but just for clarification.
5684646
This is definitely an interesting angle on it, but I'm going to have to decline. A teacher is a mentor and caretaker, but not in the same way as a parent. That said, don't let me stop you from exploring the princessipals outside of the contest.
Ah, I love the ponymoms but gonna have to pass this time. I do look forward to reading what comes out, though.
I just realized that Dragonlord Torch qualifies and that's a big OH moment
This looks excellent. Who wouldn't want to give the parents some love and a chance to shine on their own? Let's see... that means the deadline's roughly 39 days from now excluding today, or five weeks plus a rough half of a week. I think I can work with that!
Lucky number seven!
(For those who don't get the - for want of a better word - "joke", may I draw your attention to the "sept" in "September"?)
Given their prominence around Scootaloo in their debut, where do Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles stand in relation to her? Would that be treated the same as if they were put in the same fic as Rainbow Dash? Scootaloo might be associated strongly enough with them both to be disqualified on the grounds of acting like a surrogate daughter to them. Want to be sure, though.
"Multiple submissions", my two favourite words!
Also, I'm stating this ahead of time: I don't want the money. The next runner-up can have my prize, should I ever get one. Me, I'm competing purely for the fun of it.
Excellent. I was hoping you'd say this. More options have suddenly become available to me. 😈
Right, time to get cracking...
One more thing!
Just so someone asks the obvious question: that means fanon parents like Derpy don't count, right?
5684652
... not to flog the dead pony, but if we're including AUs in my AU Principals Celestia and Luna adopted Sunset... so... still a no then? Just asking.
Hey I've got a great idea! Say as a teenager, Cloudy Quartz goes on a roam-springa and —
Dammit.
Real question, though: would that concept count? She is a parent, but it's taking place at a time when she wasn't.
5684698
He absolutely does! I look forward seeing what, if anything, you do with that realization.
5684703
I was considering making that very exception, but decided against it. That feels like bending the rules a bit too far.
5684705
As per the AU Policy:
Roam-Springa would absolutely qualify if it hadn't already been written.
5684699
Ooh, good question. While I do love the idea of Scootaloo collecting parental figures the same way some people collect bottle caps, I'm going to say that she can be in Bow- and Windy-centric stories. Given later revelations regarding Scootaloo's family structure, Bow and Windy are probably more like a cool aunt and uncle who run the Rainbow Dash Museum. (As opposed to Lofty and Holiday, who've had much more of a hoof in raising everyone's favorite chicken.
)
Should you win, I'll also happily donate it to the charity of your choice if you'd like.
They don't. By definition, any stories told in canon for families that don't exist in it can't focus on that familial bond.
5684726
Ah, sorry, I skipped the AU section since I wasn't considering writing an AU.
5684726
Drat, so that's out. Was going to expand on the story of what Human Luna did to her Human sister Celestia and her subsequent 1000 days of incarceration. Neyt. And the other story I had in mind for my AU involved the priest and nun that raised her in the shelter for the first few years she was through the portal. It was how they met, but it's a hard M because they met at a porn shoot, he was the talent and she the guest starlet. But also out because drat neither are anything close to cannon.
So.... one more question. The children in question have to be PONY children, yes? So for example a story about Human Trixie's mom and dad does not qualify? Thanks for the patience...
5684728
Yeah, kind of buried the lede on that one.
5684741
Actually, that's fine... assuming you're going for Jack Pot (and, for bonus points, Sunflower Spectacle.) You're welcome to write about the human analogues of parents we've only seen on the pony side of the mirror, but you do still need to star canon characters. (See the OC Policy.)
5684742
Target Acquired
What about characters like Spike, who have no parents? Could I write a story about them?
5684747
His mother just barely qualifies as canon. It's not entirely clear whether that sequence even happened, but I've done more with less.
Very interesting, I also think it's interesting that you mention that one of the judges is a fan of the previous generation of ponies! But did we have any notable parents in there...? I'll do some investigation! A very fun idea for a contest!
I suddenly feel like I now want to write a story about Cloudy with Marble sitting silently in the room...
5684747
Using your example, it depends on how you're defining Spike's parent(s). Twilight and Celestia are both out, as both have had plenty of episodes featuring them in non-parental roles. Twilight Velvet and Night Light are explicitly called out as eligible. And as for his biological parents, I need to ask 5684749 what they're talking about. If one or both showed up in secondary material I'm unfamiliar with (or primary material I forgot about,) then citing the sources can make a story about them work.
Technically I suppose you could argue that Sludge counts, but he's Worst Dragon.
As for whether Spike can show up in a Velvet/Night story, since the show's official stance is that he's Twilight's brother, best to leave him out of it. (Don't worry. He's used to it.) But characters with even more ambiguous parentage can be used pretty much with impunity. They just can't be the stars.
5684753
Ah, didn't think about the potential ambiguity. I meant "generation" in the genealogical sense there, not the toyline one. Sorry.
5684774
I was referring to Sludge's episode, and Sludge's story. She has an official design and basically nothing else, and also Sludge was lying.
I was also referring to Princess Erroria, who was even more explicitly imaginary, an animation error, and still manages to be my Alicorn of Death under the name Moonlight Pearl.
5684774 Hm... Technically, I've done a story on Spike's mother and I've always mused about doing Cadet Shining Armor's Royal Command where he picks up the egg that his sister later hatches. Dragons are complicated creatures:
5684744
Bringing it! 
Lol! Indeed, I have Human her and Jack Pot in my sights as well.
Does this mean that I can do a spoiled rich story giving her backstory?
What about Granny Smith?
Can it be pony or human.
5684774
Ohhh I thought you meant like G1, G2 from the toyline! Ha ha, good thing I asked!
So, here's an interesting edge case for you:
What is the definition of canon for EQG parentage?
Canonically Windy and Bow are pony Rainbow Dash's parents, but does that automatically mean that EQG Rainbow's mom can't be Daring Do?
5685218
Assume that families are consistent on both sides of the mirror. We see that siblings carry over (see Zephyr, Shining, etc.) so there's no reason to think that parents wouldn't.
(Also, Dash did meet human A. K. Yearling in one of the comics, so that'd be extra weird.)
5685078
Spoiled and Granny are both eligible choices. Moreover, the setting can use ponies, humans, EqG humanoids... Heck, I'll even take anthros as long as you keep it Teen or lower.
5685245
What if Spoiled rich is telling diamond about her past?
Also why not filfthy rich?
Also can it be many chapters as long as it is not past the word count.
5685453
Spoilled telling Diamond about her own history can certainly work. That's a case of the children facilitating the main plot.
Filthy got several chances to demonstrate who he is when not being Diamond Tiara's father. Spoiled has no narrative purpose beyond contextualizing her daughter's awfulness. Even in her later appearances, she's basically what Diamond would have become without the events of "Crusaders of the Lost Mark."
And you can separate the story into as many chapters as you want,* but bear in mind that exceedingly short chapters run the risk of feeling disjointed.
* Technically speaking, Fimfiction has a limit of 1,000 chapters per story, but that should still give you plenty to work with.
5685531
In the past my chapters tend to be between 5k and 10 k words.
Two questions:
1) How much prominence are friends & non-offspring family of the parents allowed to have? Do the parents have to essentially be the only one/two characters in a story, or could a story a story centered around, say, Hondo Flanks have him talking with a brother in several scenes?
B) Characters who have been given a storyline outside of "being parents" have been repeatedly established to be disqualified. Does that mean that Bright Mac & Pear Butter are actually technically disqualified, since they basically had zero scenes with them acting as parents?
So question, would the most famous, relevant Apple family mother Apple Leaves (who, per the wiki, has SEVEN unnamed children) qualify for this?
What about some of the more vague characters like Chief Thunderhooves, who per the wiki is identified as the father of Little Strongheart in "some, but not all media,"
5685671
What little actual data we have on Apple Leaves focuses on her fecundity, so she certainly qualifies. You may want to provide a bit of the relevant transcript in the author's note to cite your source.
Chief Thunderhooves, however, suffers from the opposite problem as the eligible characters. We never really see him as a father to begin with. If you're not sure whether a character even is a parent, they don't qualify. (This, sadly, is part of why Best Pony is ineligible.)
5685660
A. The only characters who can't have a prominent role in the story are the main characters' children. Hondo could be one face in the crowd at the Annual Equestrian Mustache-Growers Convention and as long as the story focused on him, it'd still be eligible.
2. Technically speaking, yes, but I'm making a special exception for the Apple parents because as a Magic: the Gathering player, incomplete cycles hurt my soul. Leaving out one set of the main characters' parents just because they're dead didn't sit right.
5685710
Thanks for the info.
That said on the Apple parents though, would that mean it would still be preferable to not utilize them in favor of other parents?
5685708
Excellent!
To clarify something else, what's the verdict on assigning a random pony to be her spouse given we don't know who canonically the other parent is?
5685746
Feel free to use them if that's how inspiration struck.
5685749
Go ahead. In fact, that's such a widely applicable point that I'll update the OC Policy to reflect it.
5685752
https://cdn.discordapp.com/emojis/815429211518926908.webp?size=96&quality=lossless
Fantastic, thank you! I'm not actually sure where the wiki got the "seven children" from but she canonically has at least one per the transcript so that's enough to work with!
5685754
That would leave seven unnamed foals.
5685755
…that’d do it!
Can the main character of the story think about someone? Like Grampa Pear thinking about Apple Jack?
Also if I do the Spoiled Rich story. Can the story not even include Diamond in it? What if the story is before Diamond gets out of School so Spoiled is in a Rush to get something done?
...Ok terribly sorry, but I've got another one for you.
The MLP fan wiki states that in the episode Mysterious Mare Do Well, Rainbow Dash returns the foal Cream Puff to the background pony Millie. Would she qualify for this contest? I'm torn because I could probably argue that she fits the bill as either a parent or a caretaker, but I am also aware that this feels like an absolute extreme stretch.
Cream Puff's page says that they appeared in this episode being returned to Millie and in another being pushed by the background pony Apple Brown Betty with no other description as to a canonical parent.
(I am aware that I could easily navigate around this issue by writing literally anyone with more concrete story behind them but I want my background ponies damnit.)
(Millie and Cream Puff don't have pages so I go off the blurbs they have listed on the "list of x pony" page:
https://mlp.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_ponies/Earth_ponies
https://mlp.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_ponies/Foals
The easiest way I've found is to use the ctrl+f function and enter their name.)
5685807
This is explained in the main post. The focus character's children can be mentioned, they just can't play a pivotal role in the plot. Please actually read the main post before asking anything else.
5685834
There's not enough to go on there. Or, more accurately, not enough in one direction or the other. Cream Puff ends up in the same boat as Dinky, with parentage too ambiguous to use in the contest.
Maybe I'm missing it:
But do Rarity's parents even have agreed-upon names in show canon? The MLP wiki seems to say that they were never named in the show and that other sources differ...
Mike, Currently Contemplating Something
5686171
It's definitely shaky ground. Not sure what you plan on doing with that ambiguity, but I look forward to finding out.
So, question based off of two different rules. OCs are allowed, but they aren't allowed to outshine the parents. That's pretty clear. I might have a few ideas for a one shot in an anthology of mine that could work, but the anthology is first person and meant to have the narrators in it be from a select group of OCs plus Diamond Tiara. My first instinct would be that wouldn't work just because of how first person works. Usually it's the narrator that's the focus in first person stories, but I think I have a few ways to work around that if I really get into the brainstorming. My goal would be a 50/50 split of importance at minimum, and ideally more important for the parental character with any luck. I'm specifically thinking of a story with escapism in mind--two old friends meeting up and heading out to be about as un-parenty as they can be and reliving the 'glory' days. Ideally this would have the first person narrator feeding into the story of the parent in question, with the narrator being a catalyst to put the parent distinctly out of that parent mindset. I can't exactly tell where the chips will fall until I write it though...
Anyways, almost started rambling the brainstorming process. I just wanted to check if going first person with somepony other than the parent in question would automatically disqualify.