Hey guys!

It's fast-approaching Christmas, which is a time that a lot of people enjoy. In the spirit of things, we wanted to run a Christmas contest, but, by scanning over DeviantArt and other groups, we saw that, naturally, a lot of other groups had the same idea. We don't much fancy running a contest that's almost identical to other contests on DA – a simple Christmas-themed pony contest is something that you can take part in elsewhere. We also realised that, if we did do yet another Christmas pony contest, we'd likely see a lot of people submitting a single contest entry to several similarly-themed contests. It would be the natural thing to do, and so we wouldn't necessarily blame anyone if that did happen, but, as always, we're interested in the pursuit of originality, as we know that you guys can be pretty darn original.

Our latest contest is, broadly speaking, called the Royalty Contest, primarily to make use of the pun on the word 'Royalty', as meaning both a representation of a monarchy and some sort of financial gain. We're not offering money as the prize, but, as was the case with our last contest, we will be offering a full year of Premium Membership as the top prize. Interested? Read on.




This contest is linked to the “Hearth's Warming Eve” episode of the show thematically. We fell in love with the concept of a Middle-Ages-esque Equestria, with its focus on different royal factions and the like. Equestria and “Friendship is Magic” in general has an extensive and interesting fantasy lore, and we really want to tap into the 'Old Equestria' aspect. It just so happens that, judging by the “Hearth's Warming Eve” episode that 'Old Equestria', with its winter-themed locations, has a very Christmas-sy feeling to it that should feel very festive.

We want you guys to explore the theme of Royalty in this contest. That means you could draw Princes and Princesses, Queens and Kings, or Knights, or Castles, or Wintery Scenes, or ponies taking shelter around a fire in an abandoned keep, or anything like that, really! As long as it has a fairly Medieval-feel to it, we're happy! It doesn't necessarily have to include 'royalty', as in Kings and Queens; that's just an all-encompassing title for a large variety of potential themes you could explore relating to the Medieval motif. However, that's not all:









•  Characters from the present-day show (Celestia; Fluttershy etc.)
•  Characters from the “Hearth's Warming Eve” episode envisioned as you like (Private Pansy; Starswirl the Bearded etc.)
•  Original Characters (If choosing this option, you're free to go into detail on their nation and monarchy and so on, if you feel the need – be creative!)

During the time that the contest will be running, we will have a new folder that you can submit to underneath 'Submission Box'. This will be called 'The Royalty Contest Entries'. Submit your entries there and we'll handle the rest. It's a good idea to specify in the title of the deviation, or the description, that it's for this contest, as well.

At the end of the time frame for submissions, the ten deviations that we feel best represent the feel of the contest will be selected by the admins and a poll will be run. You can then vote on this poll, which will be on the main page of the group, for the entry that you think best illustrates the use of the black silhouette pony in the context of the “Hearth's Warming Eve” setting. This poll will run for one week, and at the end the three deviations with the most votes will win 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. By us selecting the top ten, and then you guys having control over which of them win, we hope to strike a balance between moderator and member interaction, so that everyone gets a say.

What are the prizes?


• 1st prize = 12 months premium membership (thanks to SAB3600!)

• 2nd prize = 9 months premium membership (thanks to SAB3600!)

• 3rd prize = 6 month premium membership (thanks to SAB3600!)









Best of luck to everyone who takes part! Tell your friends, and let's make our second contest into a massive success, just like the first! Again, many thanks to SAB3600 - it's because of him that we're going ahead with another contest! Thanks so much!