I don’t really consider myself a gamer, or at least not a true gamer. Most of the games I play are from my phone when I’m bored or ‘taking care of business’ in the bathroom. Still, I can get addicted rather quickly when a game is engaging enough, especially when it’s based on something I truly enjoy. In this case, that would be “My Little Pony: Friendship Quest” based on the television show “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.” I've been a fan of the show for nearly seven years now, and a few pastel horses can be found around my apartment.
You can imagine my joy when I learned that True Blue Games was creating an interactive phone app game based on the show. I downloaded it the first day it came out, and was impressed by the detail. The game takes place in Ponyville, and you play as the show’s main protagonist Twilight Sparkle. She had been sent there to make friends on the order of Princess Celestia, and it was up to you, the user, to help guide her along the path of friendship. The more friends you made, the more Friendship Coins you earned. Friendship coins could be exchanged for outfits, home decor, and rare presents.
There was a meter under the pony that indicated how far along in the friendship you were, and once you hit the little marker about ¾ of the way through the bar, you were considered friends. To make friends, every day you were allowed to give a pony two compliments and a gift. Some compliments worked better than others for certain ponies, and each pony had preferences for gifts. Give a pony a gift they disliked or hated, and the friendship bar would lower, so you had to be very careful what you gave to whom. If they liked you enough, they would give you gifts in return that you could then re-use on another pony to raise their friendship bar; the higher the bar, the better the gifts and rewards. Plus, once you reached the "friendship" marker, you unlocked that pony's mini game, yet another source of friendship coin collecting.
In fact, I've only unlocked one mini game so far called "Cake Decorating" with Pinkie Pie. It had only taken me two days to become friends with Pinkie Pie, the first pony you meet in the game, which came as no surprise. When you find her around Ponyville and select her to see more detailed information, the little description of the types of presents she enjoyed were cheap and plentiful, making it almost impossible not to become her best friend quickly. Pinkie Pie was one of the main characters of the game, so naturally she was a good source of Friendship Coins and rare gifts. I was maxed out on her friendship bar, so the label underneath her said “best friend”, which came with even more perks.
For those that weren’t familiar with the show, there was a description of the pony next to their name, and for Pinkie Pie it read “She is always there when ponies are blue to turn those frowns upside down.”
As the game grew in popularity, more ponies from the show were added with more unique gifts and compliments. On the anniversary of the first generation of My Little Pony airing back in the 80’s, the first 6 ponies that were created by Bonnie Zacherle, or the “Collector Ponies” were released. These 6 earth ponies were the first to become toys, but only Cotton Candy was ever included in the G1 show. When they were introduced in the game, they received updated designs/artwork, so that they would fit in seamlessly with the other ponies in Ponyville.
I found the one called Snuzzle first when I was roaming around Ponyville. I thought it was strange that I didn’t select her but her description window popped up with her speech bubble reading:
“Hi there, wanna be friends?”
I also noticed that other than by name and appearance, her description and gift preferences were identical to Pinkie Pie’s. I know game devs can sometimes get lazy and reuse assets, so I really didn’t mind, considering I became her friend in only 24 hours.
The next day, though, I began to notice what seemed to be small glitches in the game. Whenever I would open up the app, Snuzzle would be right outside my door. Usually you have to select the pony to see their description and appearance up close, but Snuzzle’s opened up on its own. I would give her a compliment and be on my way. For a while, that seemed to work, but I soon noticed that Snuzzle would pop up all over town. I couldn’t talk to two ponies without her description box opening on my screen, and although I had given her the maximum amount of friendship actions already, it just seemed to reset. I think I gave Snuzzle three gifts before I gave up and chalked it up to a game glitch.
It wasn’t until a week had passed that I noticed Snuzzle’s glitch wasn’t random. She would most often show up when Pinkie Pie was near. I had to give her a compliment just to get her to leave me alone long enough to talk to Pinkie Pie; something you weren’t required to do to any other pony. When I could open her description box at last, I noticed that Pinkie Pie’s friendship bar had inexplicably lowered to just under the ‘friendship’ marker. Usually, that only happens if you give a pony a rotten gift, something I had never done to Pinkie Pie before. I went to open the mini game with Pinkie Pie when Snuzzle’s description box opened again, causing the game to freeze. I begrudgingly restarted the game and went to find Pinkie Pie again. Snuzzle was right outside my spawn point, of course, but rather than give her a compliment I tried to exit out of her description box, and it wouldn’t let me. Eventually I picked a generic ‘You look beautiful!’ compliment and she responded ‘Thank you!’ before the description box closed. I went looking for Pinkie Pie, but by the time I had found her, her friendship bar was only at 25% capacity. I didn’t know how I could have lost so much progress in such a short amount of time. I tried to select the gift button, but before I even had a chance to, Snuzzle’s description box popped up again. Frustrated, I gave her a compliment and tried to close it, but it remained. I gave her another one and she replied ‘You’re too kind!’ but still didn’t close. I gave her a third compliment, something you weren’t supposed to be able to do, and she replied ‘You’re my best friend!’. Finally, she left me be. By the time she did, however, Pinkie Pie was gone.
The next day was even worse. I opened the app and as expected, Snuzzle was there to greet me and demand compliments and gifts. I gave her one of the cheap gifts, a flower, and usually she would respond with ‘This is beautiful!’ but instead replied with ‘This is a gift? Oh, okay.’ One of the messages you received if a pony didn’t like the gift you gave. I closed the description box and saw a notification in my messages. Snuzzle had given me a balloon, despite her negative reaction. It was odd, but I simply continued on my way.
As I talked to other ponies and exchanged gifts, I saw Pinkie Pie wandering around alone. Her usual bouncy pink mane and tail had deflated, and she dragged her hooves as she walked. From watching the show I knew that this was something that happened when Pinkie Pie was depressed, so I selected her to see what had happened. Her description box had totally changed, the bright happy smile that was usually on her face was glitching in and out and her actual description had changed as well, it now read: “All she wants is to be your friend, won’t you brighten her spirits?” Her friendship bar was completely empty, and her suggested list of gifts had drastically altered; now she only liked the really expensive items, and hated everything she used to love. I gave her the balloon that Snuzzle had given me just to see what would happen and her image glitched again, becoming more pixelated and corrupted. Her response was even more disturbing: “Why did you give me this? Do you hate me? I’m sorry I’m such a rotten friend!” Before I could pay her a compliment, Snuzzle’s box popped up yet again.
This was getting ridiculous. Whatever this glitch was, I figured it had corrupted my game file, and as much as I didn’t want to lose my progress, I knew I had to uninstall and reinstall it to make it work again. I uninstalled the app and restarted my phone, just in case. When it turned on, I reinstalled the game and opened it. I was shocked when the loading screen appeared, it was completely different from when I first downloaded it. Instead of the main 6 ponies from the show gathered together in a hug, it was just Twilight and Snuzzle, who was hugging her tightly, almost uncomfortably. When it had loaded, the screen glitched again and Snuzzle’s face appeared taking up the entire screen.
“WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME? WE’RE SUPPOSED TO BE BEST FRIENDS!”
I screamed and dropped my phone. None of the ponies ever talked before, they only communicated in speech bubbles. I stared at my phone in disbelief and Snuzzle disappeared. The intro animation for new players started playing. Hesitantly, I picked up my phone and watched, ignoring the ‘skip’ button, too afraid to mess something up. Twilight was arriving at Ponyville for the first time, and Pinkie was going to be the first pony she interacted with. Instead, however, it was Snuzzle who first approached Twilight. The second scene was supposed to show the pony called Fluttershy, but once again it was Snuzzle in her place. At that point, I skipped the animation. I didn’t know what the hell was going on. Once the main screen loaded, I went to Town Hall, expecting to be greeted by Pinkie Pie. Instead, I was horrified to find the streets completely empty. Empty, except for Snuzzle. Her description box popped up and an eerily quiet and digitally corrupted voice whispered:
“They’re all gone. I’m your only friend now.”
I scrambled to hold down the power button. My hands trembled as the screen went black, her piercing eyes the last thing to fade to black. I won’t lie, my heart was racing and my palms were beginning to sweat. I raced to my laptop and pulled up the internet browser, searching for other instances of this happening. No matter where I looked, I couldn’t find any similar situations on forums or webpages. I researched the game, and the update where Snuzzle was introduced, and everything seemed normal. It was then that my phone started ringing. I jumped, since I knew I had turned it off. The number read: 555-768-9953. I don’t know what possessed me to answer it, maybe I just wanted this insanity to end. I swiped to accept the call and put the phone to my ear.
“I was here first. I’ll be here last. I’m all you have left.”
I hung up, shaking. When the call ended, my phone started to sizzle and smoke. I dropped it to the floor, panicking. Maybe the battery fried? I don’t know what the hell is going on, but all I know is--
My computer started ringing suddenly; a call was coming in from Skype. The name of the person calling wasn’t visible. By this point, I was terrified. I had Skype open on my phone when all this happened… so did some sort of virus infect my computer? Everything is connected, my phone, my computer, my Google drive. What if all my devices were compromised? What if that… thing is everywhere now?!
I slowly made my way to my desk, and answered the call. Static blared through my speakers, causing me to fall back onto the floor. The noise grew more intense, almost deafening, as I sat there, trying to make sense of what I was seeing. From behind me, an eerily familiar voice whispers in my ear.
“Hi there, wanna be friends?”