History VideoGame / EquestriaBound

** In addition, she makes a cupcake that's so spicy it causes those who eat it to ''breath fire'', dragon dentures so ponies can eat gems like dragons (even though it tastes like rocks to them), and a cobble that somehow tastes better the closer it is to Changelings. [[spoiler:The last of which is needed for locating the game's {{Bonus Boss}}es.]]

** Surprisingly, the superboss that gives Dinky her ultimate weapon [[spoiler:''isn't'' a Changeling. Rather, you end up fighting the ''real'' Princess Luna in Canterlot Royal Palace after you beat her Changeling counterpart guarding her original birthplace. Ironically, despite being able to nuke the group with Friend Omega, she's arguably the easiest of the bonus bosses. Defeating her gets you the [[LethalJokeWeapon Cardboard Tube]], which not only increases attack, but also gives a massive Guts boost in addition to letting Dinky finally get [[CriticalHit Smash Attacks]]]].

** This even extends to [[AvertedTrope averting]] things such as items. Almost ''nobody'' uses stuff like Secret Herbs or the Shield Killer or Neutralizer, mostly because PSI Healing easily covers the former and the latter is so rare and not particularly dangerous enough to be worth having on-hand. In this hack, you ''will'' need the former thanks to certain statuses appearing far earlier than ''[=EarthBound=]'', which includes up to ''diamondizing'' appearing mid-game when it normally doesn't until late-game, and the latter is useful since several bosses have shields they didn't in the original. The Neutralizer in particular is going to be needed for some of the {{Bonus Boss}}es in the game, as all but ''one'' of them have psychic shields to reflect your magic back at you.

* BonusBoss: The game has four which give out the playable cast's {{Infinity Plus One Sword}}s. According to the hack creator, they were added specifically so there could be a set drop for them, so as to prevent any [[RareRandomDrop Sword of Kings]] situations. In order to locate them, you need to use the Changeling Cobbler near a pony who's acting strange, with a few hints from [=NPCs=] in the area pointing you in the right direction. Note, though, that attempting to ''fight'' these bosses as soon as you get the Changeling Cobbler is [[NintendoHard not recommended unless you really know how to use the original game's battle mechanics]].
** The first Changeling is disguised as [[spoiler:Big Mac. Besides using Super Bombs, his charge attack, while not technically a OneHitKill, can very well one-shot a party member even with Power Shields up unless you're really high-leveled. He also takes ''[[DamageSpongeBoss four Roman Candles to the face]]'' [[note]](the game's equivalent to Multi-Bottle Rockets)[[/note]] before going down. Beating him gets you Apple Bloom's ultimate weapon, a [[ChainsawGood chainsaw]]]].
** The second Changeling is disguised as [[spoiler:Sapphire Shores, located in Manehattan. She has a wide variety of status inducers which range from paralysis to feeling strange, but thankfully her attacks will only likely one-shot Scootaloo. She's immune to Roman Candles, and has a Power Shield to reflect against magic attacks, so make sure to have the Neutralizer on Apple Bloom if you attempt to fight her. Beating her, naturally, gets Sweetie Belle's ultimate mic, which while it's actually weaker than what she likely has equipped by that point damage-wise, increases her Guts stat to an insane degree]].
** The third Changeling is disguised as [[spoiler:Rainbow Dash. Like Sapphire, she has a power shield to reflect magic, and this time ''doesn't'' telegraph when she's about to use the Sonic Rainboom, in addition to having ''several'' crowd hitting attacks that slam the entire party, essentially being the Kraken ''on steroids''. LifeUP Omega is pretty much needed if you don't want a TotalPartyKill, and expect to be casting it every turn. Beating her gets you Scootaloo's scooter, the game's equivalent to the Sword of Kings]].
** Surprisingly, the BonusBoss that gives Dinky her ultimate weapon [[spoiler:''isn't'' a Changeling. Rather, you end up fighting the ''real'' Princess Luna in Canterlot Royal Palace after you beat her Changeling counterpart guarding her original birthplace. Ironically, despite being able to nuke the group with Friend Omega, she's arguably the easiest of the bonus bosses. Defeating her gets you the [[LethalJokeWeapon Cardboard Tube]], which not only increases attack, but also gives a massive Guts boost in addition to letting Dinky finally get [[CriticalHit Smash Attacks]]]].

** {{Subverted|Trope}} then played straight. [[spoiler:The Celestia and Luna you fight guarding their birthplaces are actually Changelings in disguise. However, you ''do'' get to fight the ''actual'' Princess Luna as a BonusBoss for Dinky's InfinityPlusOneSword, and of course you also eventually punch out Nightmare Moon at the end of the game.]]

The plot kicks off when a meteor crash lands one night near Dinky Hooves' house. Setting out to figure out what's going on not unlike how Ness did in the original, she eventually goes through similar events where Diamond Tiara knocks on her door and asks her to find Silver Spoon, not unlike Pokey / [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Porky]] did to find his younger brother Picky in the original, and eventually encounters Princess Luna (who use the last of her magic to transform herself into a fly to escape from the evil threatening the future) who comes from the future where the evil spirit that possessed her has returned and took over Twilight Sparkle's body as its host to render the elements useless, eventually reducing the Element of Magic itself to a husk, with the others likely destroyed.

* WhatAnIdiot: InUniverse, Twilight herself [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] that teleporting her Element to a random location that even ''she'' isn't sure of where it went in hopes no future {{Big Bad}}s would steal it before they could get to it was, admittedly, a stupid move in hindsight. [[spoiler:Turns out to be an even ''bigger'' dumb move than she thought, since said location is '''the Changeling Hive!''']]

* RunningGag: Changelings disguised as Rainbow Dash. Over the course of the game, you end up fighting no less than [[spoiler:''three'']] of them at different points, with one of them being a reoccurring enemy in a late-game dungeon! [[spoiler:And another one as a BonusBoss, which also seems to imply that ''canon'' Rainbow Dash is a Changeling!]]

Things won't be that simple, though. After Discord and Chrysalis managed to get ahold of the Elements of Harmony before they could use it against them, they scattered them amongst the lands of Equestria and only they are aware of where they're at, with Twilight herself teleporting her element to a random location that even ''she's'' not sure where it is ([[LampshadeHanging which she admits]] [[WhatAnIdiot was a stupid move in hindsight]]).

* PinocchioSyndrome: The Happy Happists in the game have been replaced with a group of ponies who wish to bring humans to the world of Equestria. Take a wild guess as to who's leading the charge. This even extends to enemies, as the Happists enemies have been replaced with ''pony human {{Cosplay}}ers!''

While some areas remain the same like Onett being renamed Ponyville, completely new areas have also been added in based on locations from the show, and while some enemies may be ''[=EarthBound=]'' enemies by another name (the Parasprites being Spiteful Crows, for example) it also adds in a whole new slew of bosses, original enemies, and does quite a few minor tweaking to some aspects that were in ''[=EarthBound=]''. Additionally, while there's still lines from the original game present, there's also a lot of new, humorous dialogue added as well. The difficulty is also notably increased in comparison to ''[=EarthBound=]''. Not to ''Kaizo'' insanity lengths, but enough that it'll make you actually consider [[UselessUsefulSpell using certain PSI and items you normally wouldn't in the original]] - Paralysis, Flash, Shields, and even stuff like the Neutralizer and Secret Herbs.

** The game also has one, surprisingly, to ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings''. [[spoiler:In order to defeat Nightmare Moon, you need to use Dinky's sing command to sing the song the Elements of Harmony played when Dinky collected them, like how Ninten and friends had to do with Giegue after collecting all eight melodies.]]

** Spoiled Rich in this hack is portrayed as a parent who feels that her husband, Filthy Rich, is far too lenient with Diamond Tiara's behavior, and states that Tiara deserves a good hoof smack for her behavior. Considering [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E19CrusadersOfTheLostMark what'd we'd learn about]] [[RichBitch her personality later on]], this puts this comment, and a few of her other comments, in a [[AbusiveParent very different]] light...

* FloatingContinent: Like in the show, Cloudsdale. You eventually get to go there, and it's one of the new areas added.

** The end credits music is a CreditsMedley of several of the tunes from the show.

* ReadTheFinePrint: Vinyl Scratch replaces the Runaway Guys in this hack. While the Runaway Guys were suckered into the role by the manager, Vinyl ended up in the role because she's terrible at reading contracts, mentioning how she usually nods off a quarter of the way through. Later, when she preforms in the theater at Manehattan, it turns out to be a {{Subver|tedTrope}}sion. Yes, she's stuck there, but not because of a contract. [[ShockinglyExpensiveBill Rather, she racked up a million bits in room service.]]

** The description for the cupcake items makes mention that it's "[[Fanfic/{{Cupcakes}} 100% not made with anything questionable.]]"

[[quoteright:400:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/866e5fc581f5c51a6bbb2eed90da5642.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:400:The game's official "box art".]]

An ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' [[GameMod ROM hack]], similar to how ''VideoGame/PonyFantasyVI'' is one of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''. In the continuity of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', it seems to take place sometime mid-Season 3, as stuff like King Sombra is referenced but other things such as the Elements of Harmony still being a thing at this point and [[LateArrivalSpoiler Twilight Sparkle still being a unicorn instead of an alicorn, and Discord still being a villain]] are present and treated as normal.

* EarlyGameHell: {{Zig|ZaggingTrope}}-Zagged. In certain aspects, it's easier than in the instance of this in VideoGame/EarthBound, but in other aspects it's harder. Dinky can't get [[CriticalHit Smash Attacks]] with her weapons, and [[spoiler:the Changeling disguised as Pinkie Pie]] is also a notable step up from the Titanic Ant, which [[WakeUpCallBoss that alone should tell you something]]. However, you don't fight five Onett police officers in a row and then Officer Strong. Instead, you just fight [[spoiler:[[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere Tom]]]], who doesn't have anywhere near as devastating attacks as Strong did. Certain replacement enemies also don't seem to hit as hard or use their hard-hitting attacks as often, such as the Trixie fanboys in comparison to the Sharks.

** Notably, in the [[VideoGame/EarthBound original game]], there was a moment where in a tree house full of kids, one of boys slips a line that makes it sound like he has an implied crush on Ness. In this game, while the line is still there and most male characters either get GenderFlipped or replaced with a background pony from the show, the filly that delivers it in this game looks notably a lot more masculine than feminine...

** Spoiled Rich in this hack is portrayed as a parent who feels that her husband, Filthy Rich, is far too lenient with Diamond Tiara's behavior, and states that Tiara deserves a good hoof smack for her behavior. Considering [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E19CrusadersOfTheLostMark what'd we'd learn about]] [[RichBitch her personality later on]], this puts this comment, and a few of her other comments, in a [[FunnyAneurysmMoment very]] [[AbusiveParent different]] light...

** Vinyl was [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E9SliceOfLife also confirmed to be]] TheVoiceless in the episode focusing on the popular background ponies, yet has no problems speaking in this game. Granted, not as bad as some of the other characterizations that got {{Jossed}}, since many people often take liberties with TheVoiceless characters in fanworks [[note]](an example being Link from ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'')[[/note]], but still notable.

** Notably, in the [[VideoGame/EarthBound original game]], there was an epic instance of GettingCrapPastTheRadar where in a tree house full of kids, one of boys slips a line that makes it sound like he has an implied crush on Ness. In this game, while the line is still there and most male characters either get GenderFlipped or replaced with a background pony from the show, the filly that delivers it in this game looks notably a lot more masculine than feminine...
** {{Averted|Trope}} in regards to a certain someone in the original. Even though Tony has been replaced with Twist in the hack, she still has his rather [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar interesting subtext dialogue]] in regards to Apple Bloom.

** {{Subverted}} then played straight. [[spoiler:The Celestia and Luna you fight guarding their birthplaces are actually Changelings in disguise. However, you ''do'' get to fight the ''actual'' Princess Luna as a BonusBoss for Dinky's InfinityPlusOneSword, and of course you also eventually punch out Nightmare Moon at the end of the game.]]
** Of course, Dinky and Apple Bloom also [[spoiler:punch out Discord too]].

* EarlyGameHell: ZigZagged. In certain aspects, it's easier than in the instance of this in VideoGame/EarthBound, but in other aspects it's harder. Dinky can't get [[CriticalHit Smash Attacks]] with her weapons, and [[spoiler:the Changeling disguised as Pinkie Pie]] is also a notable step up from the Titanic Ant, which [[WakeUpCallBoss that alone should tell you something]]. However, you don't fight five Onett police officers in a row and then Officer Strong. Instead, you just fight [[spoiler:[[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere Tom]]]], who doesn't have anywhere near as devastating attacks as Strong did. Certain replacement enemies also don't seem to hit as hard or use their hard-hitting attacks as often, such as the Trixie fanboys in comparison to the Sharks.

** {{Averted}} in regards to a certain someone in the original. Even though Tony has been replaced with Twist in the hack, she still has his rather [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar interesting subtext dialogue]] in regards to Apple Bloom.
** Also averted in the fact that [[spoiler:despite the fact that the entire party is made up of girls, Sweetie still holds to Paula's original role in that she's implied to have deeper feelings for Dinky at the end of the game]].

* ReadTheFinePrint: Vinyl Scratch replaces the Runaway Guys in this hack. While the Runaway Guys were suckered into the role by the manager, Vinyl ended up in the role because she's terrible at reading contracts, mentioning how she usually nods off a quarter of the way through. Later, when she preforms in the theater at Manehattan, it turns out to be a {{Subversion}}. Yes, she stuck there, but not because of a contract. [[ShockinglyExpensiveBill Rather, she racked up a million bits in room service.]]

* SanitySlippage: [[spoiler:Nightmare Moon slowly starts losing her coherent thought process shortly after transforming into her pure nightmare form. Fitting, considering whose she's replacing...]]

** Similarly, this puts ''Diamond Tiara herself'' here. In the game, she's portrayed as a straight-up {{Jerkass}} with no redeeming qualities whatsoever and delights in taunting the Crusaders every chance she gets, albeit partly due to taking up Porky's role from the original. Then the above episode aired, and it now puts her characterization in this game in an [[IJustWantToHaveFriends equally]] [[HarsherInHindsight different]] [[JerkassFacade light]].

** For example, Cloudsdale takes place [[CaptainObvious on clouds]] and has a new building design there, but otherwise its layout is basically the same as Dalaam in the original.

** Among the many default naming options for Dinky, [[Fanfic/PastSins Nyx]] is one of them, as well as [[WesterAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends Bloo]]. Meanwhile, one of Sweetie's default names is [[WebVideo/FriendshipIsWitchcraft Bot]].