Competition » Ancestral Tribute Contest · 4:46pm Sep 7th, 2022
Ancestral Tribute
As the saying goes, everyone is someone’s child. Unfortunately, sometimes that means the parents don’t get much time in the spotlight. The latest contest from FanOfMostEverything (that’s me!) aims to correct that.
The prompt is fairly straightforward: Write a story starring one or more parents without their children. Now, this isn’t license to just write Pinkie because Li’l Cheese exists. “Parents” is here defined as those whose primary narrative role in pony canon was raising one or more other characters. (Note that biological parenthood is not required. If you have a Lofty and Holiday idea that missed the deadline for Bicyclette’s contest a few months ago, now’s your second chance for glory. Though the judging will be all the harsher given the longer prep time.)
For more in-depth discussion of the finer points of who qualifies for the prompt, along with the FAQ and greater details in general, please see and direct all questions to the announcement blog. For now, here’s the nitty-gritty:
Word limit: 18,000 or fewer.
Rating limit: Everyone or Teen
Submissions open: As you’re reading this! Be sure to add it to the contest group!
Submission deadline: 11:59 PM Eastern Time, October 16th (plus six or seven hours; I’ll be closing submissions first thing in the morning come the 17th.)
Results announced: TBD; I definitely can’t say before we know how many submissions come in.
Prize support:
1st: $100
2nd: $75
3rd: $50
Honorable Mentions: $20, one for each of the five judges.
Oooh
A clean, wholesome contest? For once?
...who are you?
You know it would be very interesting If the parents of the main six actually did meet each other before a long time
Does anyone remember else remember when Weird Al told folks he stole their waifu.
Ebony Gryphon remembers. Its the second greatest moment of Bronydom right behind the time Lauren Faust called some guy an asshole.
The key word here being raising, So Scootaloos out then? Do love Holidays accent though. Slid from a southern drawal to Australian near seemlessly
5684644
Actually, they're fine. From FoME's blog announcing the contest:
Obviously each edge case is best to ask FoME about, but I'd wager what edges it out for those two is that, while they are established to only be partly raising Scootaloo prior to their introduction, their onscreen narrative function is still incontestably dominated by that role. Whereas Filthy Rich (an example FoME cited as ineligible), both in his introduction and since, is defined either equally or more by being a big businesspony, even if many of us still think of him first and foremost as "Diamond Tiara's dad".
5684657
Oh, I know. I was being my usual loveable facetious self.
Seriously though. Bad lesbian horse aunts, rolled up newspaper.
Granny Smith should probably get some credit too considering she raised the AppleJack big Mac and AppleBloom after their parents died. All well dealing with her own grief of losing her son and daughter-in-law.
5684631
Hi, I'm FanOfMostEverything. I turn ponies into trading cards and demigods. Sometimes both at the same time!
5684663
Granny Smith is absolutely eligible. Like most Apples, her narrative role has been almost completely tied to her family. Even the times when we hear about her personal history, it's always been in the context of a challenge faced by one of her granddaughters. (Or Rainbow Dash really wanting to ride a roller coaster, and even then the specter of Applejack hung over proceedings like a wet blanket made of guilt and obligation.)
It would be cool to participate... It's a pity that I don't know the language.
Am I the only thinking it's strange that there are only same race families and that exactly the one couple of mixed races has a disabled child?
5684644
The interesting question there is which of them is related to Scootaloo's parents? Is Holiday Snap Shutter sister, or is Lofty Mane Allgood's? Either way, it seems a fetish for wings/lack thereof runs in the family...
5684671
I checked the transcript of their one episode, and Holiday calls Snap Shutter her little brother in one scene.
Until next time...
Anon e Mouse Jr.
Well, I can't write about Twilight Velvet and Night Light since I did that already... hmmm.
Will stories about pregnancy be permitted?
I believe you could've just written we can't base our fanfiction on other fanfiction, but the AU Policy makes this unclear. Is it only Josh Haber's fanfiction which is disqualified here?
5684671
A more relevant one might be why are they thinking leaving a kid alone like that. Sure, she has people popping in, but geez. Still, she seems pretty self reliant so they must have been doing something right.
Still though, as said, bad lesbian cuddle equine extended familial units, enfolded outdated form of information dispensation based corporal punitive measure upon them both
Count me in. Well, count me in once I've actually written something, but still...
5684667
From the same school of business strategy that brought us Quills and Sofas, the only store in the world that sells nothing but quills and sofas.
Can the children be mentioned in the story? Like..the parents are talking about their kids but the kids themselves don't appear in the story.
5684682
The issue with Pinkie isn't any fanon discontinuity associated with her motherhood, but that she's gotten plenty of canon stories that don't define her by that motherhood. Same reason Shining Armor and Cadence aren't eligible; they've gotten to do things that didn't involve Flurry Heart.
5684704
As noted in the main post, you can mention their kids. You can even give the kids a few lines. But they can't feature prominently enough that it would merit using their character tag. (Note that you're free to involve someone else's kids.)
5684724
I'm aware. I disregard the later seasons and wrote what I did to stress this point in a dismissive fashion.
Now, what of the other question I wrote? Would it be acceptable to write a story about, say, Night Light and Twilight Velvet while she's pregnant with Twilight Sparkle? It wouldn't be allowed, right?
5684729 The answer is probably “yes,” although the next question to consider would be “should I submit a story built around my barely disguised fetish for this contest?”
Personally, I don’t think such a story would be all that competitive, not after my Imposing Sovereigns entry, “The Tickle-Torture of Luna’s Sweaty Feetsies,” was raked over the coals for being “weird” and “distractingly focused on the sensory detail associated with the characters’ feet,” but you do you, lad.
5684729
Apologies, didn't mean to side-step that one.
The same standards apply when the child is in utero as anywhere else; the story can't be focused on them or their parents' role as their parents. The pregnancy can be mentioned in passing en route to the actual plot, but it can't be the central focus.
The moment you realize, Rarity is the only one with parents from two of the tribes.
5684740
Thank you for the answer.
5684733
I'm not disguising it. Regardless, you have a point. I probably won't enter.
5684745
No, she isn't. Hondo's horn is just hidden under that hat in his first couple of appearances. Here he is with it visible:
static.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/0/01/Sweetie_Belle_with_her_parents_S4E23.png
Until next time...
Anon e Mouse Jr.
5684724
Thanks for clarifying!
Well, I have an idea. Now I need to nail down the plot.
I wonder which parental pairing will be least popular... hmm... I'll just roll with Rainbow's parents.
5684762
Well alrighty then. The Cakes are the only multitribal family.
5685055
Eh... not the only one. Scootaloo's family counts (her dad and his sister are Earth Ponies, their spouses are pegasi), and so do Cadance and Shining Armor (one of the books states that Cadance used to be a pegasus before becoming an alicorn, and Shining Armor is, of course, a unicorn).
Now if only I could think of an idea for this... and was capable of writing it in a timely manner.
Until next time...
Anon e Mouse Jr.
Never entered a contest before. maybe i'll give it shot.
5684729
Why are you Faustfags like this?
5685214
I never noticed. Could that be why Scootaloo's wings are underdeveloped? Because she's half earth pony?
Can the children be mentioned in the story, like the parents talking about them, even if they aren't in the frame?
5685466
Nah... Pound Cake's parents are both Earth ponies, and he was flying around with no problem when he was just a month or two old. I'm not sure what Scoots' issue is, but one theory is that ponies have physical passages, akin to veins, inside them for their magic... and that Scootaloo's are just underdeveloped.
Until next time...
Anon e Mouse Jr.
5685533
Good point
5685533
unless as pound grows older his wings lift him less and less until he's earthbound like Scoots.
5684631
Check Bicyclette's blogs, she would feel sad that someone as active as you obviously overlooked her awesome contests.
Anyways, since the contest was posted here, it's bound to draw a bunch of attention, I hope we see some great stories!
5686931
Obviously, I know there are other contests. Just never paid them much attention.
Kinda moved to original writing and fishing for feedback here.
5686934
Fine then, I just thought that your comment is like saying that there is too much weird stuff around, so it is nice to see something normal for a change. It feels strange coming from someone as active as you.
Also, I don't know why are you here if you don't ever care much about contests. I am going to assume that you are interested in this contest and that you would check out the entries, not just because you want to come here to this blog and tell people that you're here(I mean, that first remark of yours doesn't exactly sound like supporting, I can't even tell what that was supposed to do). Wait, I remember you said that you don't read here...Oh, well. We will have good stories coming, I for one can't wait to see.
Scootaloo's family counts (her dad and his sister are Earth Ponies, their spouses are pegasi), and so do Cadance and Shining Armor (one of the books states that Cadance used to be a pegasus before becoming an alicorn
Darn cold kept me from writing my story in time. Oh Well. Hopefully there is next year!
ngl, Ima do this just for fun since I missed it-
Did I miss the results of the contest or have the winners not been announced yet?
5697128
For posterity: results are at this link.
(I had nothing to do with this contest)
Hey this was fun!
And even though I ended up as a weird uncle (like the only weird uncle I think... huh, am I really that bad at following directions? Maybe?
) my absolute congratulations to the winners, placers, and everyone who entered. Great stories, and glad you all shared them. 
I can't wait for another one of these. Maybe a contest about the parents being parents for dopes like me that are locked into that mindset. I could stage a contest for it myself, but I don't think my awesome collection of broken action figures is going to attract many contestants a prize.
Thanks for running this! It was loads of fun to enter and watch!