This image was assembled by RayneTheSkunk.

I’ve noticed that there’s a surprising lack of roleswap fanfics on this site. Which is a shame, because they’re one of my favourite kinds of AU. As a result, I’ve decided to start a contest to encourage people to write more.

But what is a roleswap?
A roleswap is a fanfic that takes place in an alternate universe where canon characters have always had each other’s roles, but are still otherwise themselves. For example, a fanfic where Spike is the Element of Magic and Twilight Sparkle is his assistant - but Spike is still a plucky, young dragon and Twilight is still a bookish, older pony - would count as a roleswap.

Roleswaps are not to be confused with other kinds of swaps, such as gender (Spike is a dragoness and Twilight is a stallion), personality (Spike is bookish and Twilight is plucky), species (Spike is a pony and Twilight is a dragon), age (Spike is older and Twilight is younger), or body (Twilight screws up a spell that makes her switch bodies with Spike for a day). However, these can overlap with roleswaps.

You can focus on only one swapped character if you want. For example, a fanfic where Fluttershy rules Equestria doesn’t need to show what Celestia is doing.

If you’re unsure if your idea counts as a roleswap, PM me.

Rules

• No M-rated entries.
• No reimaginings of the “Friendship is Magic” two-parter. They’re overdone.
• Entries must be written specifically for the contest, and published no earlier than the starting date, on Fimfiction. Please add your entry to the relevant folder in this group, and mention it’s part of this contest in the description.
• Your entry must be standalone. It can’t be a sequel or part of a pre-established ‘verse, such as the Lunaverse. The point of this contest is to encourage people to come up with new roleswaps.
• No crossovers.
• There’s no word limit, but please make sure you’ll be able to finish your entry by the deadline.
• Only one entry per person.
• The main characters of your entry can’t be OCs. They don’t have pre-established roles to be swapped with. This includes popular OCs such as Nyx and Anonfilly.
• No humans in Equestria, ponies on Earth, or anthros. Equestria Girls is allowed, though. This contest is about how roleswaps would affect the canon MLP universe.

Prizes
Winner: US$30 (£24.55) This will be paid through PayPal.
Runner-up: A reading on my YouTube channel. (This is why I don’t want M-rated entries.)

Judges
Nitro Indigo
RainbowDoubleDash

7226587
You might wanna check some of the stories in the folders. Not all of them qualify under the rules. Either that, or this is a load of horseapples. I'm hoping it's not.

7255430
Only the stories in the "June 2020 contest" folder are entries.

7255492
Then the rules are conflicting. They say the stories must have been written for the conest. Makes sense. But a lot of them haven't been. Either it wasn't put into the post by accident that other stories could be added.

Or something fishy is going on here.

7255754
This group isn’t just for the contest. Everything outside of the “June 2020 contest” folder is not an entry.