Video Game / Filly Fantasy VI

Filly Fantasy VI is a Romhack of Final Fantasy VI that replaces the game's cast with the characters of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. It is created by Fimfiction user DrakeyC (aka Drake Clawfang), RydelFox, and has contributions from other designers and programmers. The game is a remake of Pony Fantasy VI, but features significantly different gameplay and story elements along with a different cast.

1000 years ago, the Two Sisters defeated King Sombra in a conflict called the Crystal War. In the aftermath, the Crystal Ponies, also known as "Espers," vanished from the world. Now Sombra has returned; he's taken control of the Crystal Empire, released Discord from his petrification in exchange for servitude, and has begun his march to conquer Equestria. The heroes of the land come together to fight back and discover what the Espers have to do with Sombra's return and rise to power, and what Twilight Sparkle's connection to the ancient beings is.

Version 1.0 was released on October 14th 2016. Version 2.0, featuring further gameplay tweaks and a single playable character swap, released a full year later October 13th 2017. An Easy Mode patch of 2.0 was released October 2021 to mark the project's fifth anniversary. Aside from Easy Mode, the project is completed with no further updates save for bugfixes.

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This game provides examples of:

• Adaptational Badass:
  • The Espers, as played by the past generation ponies, are far more badass than their counterparts. It's even a plot point that they had a different type of magic that earth ponies and pegasi could all use.
  • The Founders - Commander Hurricane, Chancellor Puddinghead, and Princess Platinum - are filling in for the Warring Triad.
  • The Ursa Minor fills in for the Ultima Weapon as a being of nigh-unstoppable magical energy. Then comes the Ursa Major...
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • Gilda is working for King Sombra.
  • Being that Discord is cast as Kefka, he's far more vicious and bloodthirsty than in the canon.
  • Derpy, Button Mash, and Dinky Doo fill the roles of the Air Force and its attachments. Played for Laughs, though, as the encounter is a Big-Lipped Alligator Moment meant to be random and unexpected.
• Alternate Universe: With some Alternate History for good measure; the story's branching point from the canon is Season 3, starting with King Sombra's return, but as explained under Broad Strokes, events leading up to that point were a bit different already.
• Alliterative Title: Filly Fantasy VI.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • To prevent players from being locked out of Ultima until the endgame if they forego the Magic Coin Magicite, the counterparts for the two members of the Eight Dragons in Kefka's Tower were moved to other locations in the world, letting players beat all eight of them to get the Legacy Magicite before entering the final dungeon.
  • The party can sleep in the beds in Fort Appleloosa in the Dreamscape to heal themselves, as it is one of the longest, hardest dungeons in the game that players can't leave until they complete it.
  • A merchant and a healer were added to the airship in the World of Ruin to correspond to the ones available on the original airship and give the player easier access to such services.
• The Artifact: Early in development, Gogo's role was going to be filled by Mare-Do-Well, with hints that under the cloak it was Starlight Glimmer. As part of this, Mobliz was named "Starlight Village". The Mare-Do-Well and Starlight subplot was dropped, but the town kept its name. An NPC in the town says it got its name for star formations that are only visible in this region of Equestria, and then immediately lampshades "What, did you think it was something else?"
• Back from the Dead: In the backstory, Sombra's resurrection is the catalyst for the war.
• Balance Buff: Many gameplay aspects are reworked, which includes powering up mechanics that were lacking.
  • Applejack's Swdtech charges faster and she has a larger equipment draw that includes normal swords; Sweetie Belle's Sketch uses her own stats to determine the power of Sketched attacks instead of enemies; several less useful Lores were changed to elemental attacks for Rarity; Cadance doesn't need a compatible weapon equipped to use Runic; Umaro's replacement is fully controllable and equipable.
  • Espers were made more powerful; the offensive ones deal more damage, healing ones restore more HP, and supportive ones either inflict more status ailments on enemies, cast more status buffs on the party, or have some other additional effect to make them more useful. Celestia also has the Summon command to repeatedly summon her equipped Esper, averting Too Awesome to Use.
  • Desperation Attacks can occur much more often; Near Fatal kicks in at a higher HP threshold, the odds of a Desperation Attack occurring are higher, and there's no timer that prevents them from occurring early in battle.
  • Earth, Wind, and Water-elemental spells are added to the cast's spell list, and spells are generally learned faster and are available from more sources, including equipment. This is partially to expand the gameplay options, and partially to compensate for Ultima being much harder to learn, making other high-tier magics more useful in its place.
  • Several equipment pieces, particularly Relics, have elemental affinities to defend against elemental damage, giving players more means of defense against bosses who prominently use elemental attacks.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: King Sombra and Discord, with Sombra as the stronger of the two. Though if you've played the original Final Fantasy VI, you know how this one goes.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Invoked with the Air Force boss' replacement — Derpy in a "Muffin-2" biplane with Dinky Doo and Button Mash as her gunners. That the fight makes no sense and is completely unexpected is intentional as part of the humor of it.
• Broad Strokes: The central group of friends have mostly all met each other before the game begins, Twilight was formerly Celestia's student, and a couple of events from the show are directly referenced as having happened, such as "The Best Night Ever" and "A Canterlot Wedding." On the other hand Twilight and Shining Armor are only half-siblings thanks to Twilight's Esper heritage, Sunset Shimmer apparently never used the mirror portal to go to the other world, Rainbow Dash is a full member of the Wonderbolts, and Trixie doesn't recognize the cast during their encounters.
• The Cameo: Daring Do drops in via the Hero Cosplay armor, which allows party members to take on her appearance in battle.
• Character Name Limits: The game only lets you input up to six letters in a name, while most of the characters have names that are longer. To get around this, most of them have nicknames, such as "Cadie" for Princess Cadance.
• Composite Character: All characters combine elements of the canon with the Final Fantasy VI cast. Some Final Fantasy VI characters are also combined.
  • Gilda combines the roles of Vargas, Dadaluma, and Number 128.
  • Trixie combines Siegfried, Lone Wolf, and Gogo.
  • Zecora fills in for both Banon and Duncan.
  • The Crystal Ponies fill in for the Espers, but are also a combination with the ancient pony tribes and the past generation ponies.
• Continuity Cameo: The Espers are ponies from past generations; in place of Maduin, Twilight's mother is the G1 Twilight. The Eight Dragons in turn are prominent G1 villains.
• Cyborg: Sombra is starting to experiment with this idea, with the Imperials in the Crystal Manufactury having glowing red eyes and metallic blue armor instead of the normal green eyes and brown-ish armor of other Imperials. The boss of the factory, ProtoTroop, has quite certainly undergone cybernetic implantation.
• Crapsack World: Equestria is started to go down that road with Sombra and Discord leading The Empire in an attempt to Take Over the World. The numerous VI characters that died in the base game have their pony counterparts still die here, the southern continent around the Crystal Empire is already firmly in Sombra's grip, and even with the Princesses helping, the party has an uphill battle to push back the Empire's advance. Then Discord gets his hands on the magic of the Founders and causes The End of the World as We Know It.
• Darker and Edgier: Compared to Pony Fantasy VI, anyway. This version has far fewer in-jokes and references to memes, swaps out Gilda for King Sombra, and overall has a more serious tone to it than its predecessor.
• Death by Adaptation: A rundown of canon MLP characters who are killed off: Shining Armor, Granny Smith, Big Mac, Gilda, the Wonderbolts, Derpy, Button Mash, Dinky Doo, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, Sunset Shimmer, Tirek, Discord, King Sombra, Queen Chrysalis, and Screwball. Not to mention all the past generation characters that fade from existence at the end of the game. Radiant Hope and Fluttershy can also die depending on the player's actions.
• Decomposite Character: Siegfried's duties are split between Trixie (treasure hunter the party meets during the game) and the Mane-iac (Optional Boss that guards rare items in the Coliseum).
• Discard and Draw: As part of character mechanics being reworked, several had some aspects of their playstyle nerfed while others were improved.
  • Luna's Alicorn skills (the counterpart to Sabin's Blitzes) all deal physical damage, making them much weaker due to the different damage formulas for physical and magical attacks. However, her equivalent of Chakra is a normal healing spell that grants the party Regen, and her equivalent of Soul Spiral restores the party's MP and cures negative statuses.
  • Several of Gau's more overpowered Rages were nerfed for Scootaloo's Emulate. However, Emulate doesn't send Scootaloo into a berserk-like state, so she can change her skillset each turn, and while all of Gau's Rages had a chance to use a normal attack each turn, some of Scootaloo's can use special attacks for both their actions. Similarly, Pinkie Pie's Party themes don't berserk her like Mog's Dance, and the abilities associated with Party are reshuffled to give each one an elemental focus.
  • Celestia doesn't have Edgar's Tools command; instead she has Summon, letting her repeatedly call her equipped Esper into battle.
  • Level up bonuses from Espers are removed in 2.0, but on the whole characters have higher base stats than the Final Fantasy VI cast, and equipment offers stat bonuses to compensate for the lack of level up bonuses.
• The Dreaded: King Sombra, as in the canon, is universally feared by the Espers/Crystal Ponies. Considering what he's trying to do now that he's back, the rest of Equestria is starting to see him this way too.
• Elemental Crafting: Goes in order of Padded -> Iron -> Steel -> Silver -> Gold -> Adamant -> Crystal.
• Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: A major part of the new gameplay balance is the increased prevalence of weapons and armor with elemental properties, both as resistances and weaknesses. There are more Water, Earth, and Wind-elemental attacks than before, including two tiers of such spells the party can learn, and the addition of a third-tier Poison spell as well. Enemies also have access to more varied types of elemental attacks than before, particularly the Imperials who have elemental lasers and access to base magic like Fire and Ice, and all enemies have more elemental properties including resistances and immunities. This overall makes the elemental attributes of enemies and equipment more important than in the vanilla game.
• The Empire: Now that King Sombra has taken control of it, the Crystal Empire lives up to the darker connotations attached to its title.
• Even the Girls Want Her: Given that Applejack has taken Cyan's role, there's a bar floozy who hits on her, and Luna as well.
  Applejack: Stop that! Mah barn door don't swing that way, and neither does hers!
• Fighter, Mage, Thief: The three pony types are sorted into the roles by base stats and equipment that boosts specific stats. The earth ponies are Fighters with high HP and physical stats; the unicorns are Mages specializing in MP and magical stats; the pegasi are Thieves with high speed and evasive stats. The three alicorns in turn are each a Jack of All Stats but lean towards one of the three types (Celestia for unicorns, Luna for earth ponies, and Cadance for pegasi).
• Fusion Fic: It's My Little Pony characters and lore wrapped around a Final Fantasy VI center.
• Gameplay and Story Integration:
  • Imperial enemies actually do have magic spells they can cast thanks to magic infusions. Additionally, the Crystal Armor-type enemies have access to fire, lightning, and ice-elemental variants of the vanilla's games Magitek Laser, to reflect the elemental beams the player can use when riding the armor.
  • In accordance with their canonical abilities, unicorn-type party members have higher magic stats, earth ponies have higher physical stats, and pegasi are faster and more evasive.
• Hyperactive Metabolism: Healing items are replaced by apple-base foods, and MP recovery items with cider.
• Infinity +1 Sword: Everyone has a unique ultimate weapon, and there's also the weapons dropped by the Founders, the best weapon types for the three pony types.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  • The Mane-iac seems rather aware she's in a video game.
  Flash: Why are you even here?
  Mane-iac: Well, I was the only villain who fights with tentacles! Now! Prepare for the fight scene!
  • Pinkie Pie, in grand tradition.
  Pinkie: I wanted to join at the start of the game, but the hacker didn't know how to do that!
• Magic A Is Magic A: It's played with as a plot point; alicorn magic is not the same as unicorn magic is not the same as Esper magic. Different characters tap into and combine these three types of magic in different ways, justifying how a cast half-full of unicorns and alicorns can have radically different abilities.
• My Country, Right or Wrong: Flash Sentry, in the "if wrong to be put right" flavor. He's still loyal to the Crystal Empire, but not to Sombra.
• Mythology Gag: Many.
  • Pinkie claims that the various foodstuffs stashed in crates and clocks around Equestria are hers, and she hid them there "in case of emergency."
  • Discord cackles "Arrivederci, King Sombrero!" as he kicks Sombra to his death.
  • Sunset Shimmer fills in as the Rachel to Flash Sentry's Locke, which makes even more sense when you remember which Magicite Locke used to revive Rachel.
  • The Tantabus and the Shadowbolts fill in for Wrexsoul and the Dream Stooges as the demons plaguing Applejack with nightmares in the World of Ruin.
  • The Pinkie Pie clones serve as the hack's Moogle substitutes, shouting "Fun!" instead of "Kupo!"
  • The soldiers of the Empire are the same design seen in "The Cutie Re-Mark" where Sombra tried to conquer Equestria in a Bad Future.
  • Griffonstone fills the role of Zozo.
  • Lyra and Bon Bon replace the rich kid and his father at the auction, meaning Lyra excitedly jumps up and down when asking Bon Bon to buy her something.
  • The dancers utilize the basic color scheme of Coloratura. Which makes the scene of one of them hitting on Applejack even funnier.
  • Lots with the equipment.
    • Some of the various Infinity Plus One Swords reference the show; Twilight has the Twilicane, Pinkie has the Party Cannon, and Rarity has the Scale Saber. Fluttershy has the B-Fly Dagger, a recurring Final Fantasy weapon that takes on a new meaning for her. The ultimate weapon for the Princesses is named "Faustbane" in 2.0.
    • Armor pieces include: the Gala Dress (exclusive to the Mane Six), Joust Armor (exclusive to Rainbow and Fluttershy), Guard Armor (exclusive to Flash), Crusader Cape (exclusive to the CMC), the Farmer Frock (exclusive to Applejack, Pinkie, and Maud/Apple Bloom depending on the version), the Hero Cosplay (turns the wearer's sprite into Daring Do), and the Star Cloak (exclusive to Trixie).
    • The Relics include: the Magic Crown (exclusive to Twilight, allows usage of alicorn-exclusive equipment), the Crystal Heart (exclusive to Cadance), and the Twittermite Zapper (exclusive to Apple Bloom, changes Steal to Weapons). Sweetie Belle's Fake Moustache did not have its name changed from the base game, as it was decided that the name still worked as a wink to Button's Adventures. Each of the three races also have an exclusive Relic: earth ponies get Boulder for X-Fight, pegasi get the Flight Suit for X-Jump, and unicorns get the Alicorn Amulet for X-Magic.
  • The Espers provide many continuity nods to the G1 comics and cartoon.
    • Twilight Sparkle's mother is the G1 Twilight. The Valigarmanda Esper is replaced by Sparkler in reference to Twilight and Sparkler both making up half of Twilight's name and sharing a similar design; in the base game Valigarmanda acted like an "upgraded" Maduin.
    • Majesty replaces Phantom as the Esper that casts Vanish on the party; in the comics, Majesty had magic horseshoes that could turn her invisible.
    • Heart Throb, the lovesick pony, replaces Lakshmi as the beautiful mare the owner of the art gallery becomes obsessed with.
    • Bangles takes the place of Carbuncle. Carbuncle's recurring attack is named "Ruby Light", and Bangle's toy card describes her finding a ruby lost from Majesty's crown, so the attack name was unchanged.
    • While gender is a non-issue for most of the Espers, the subplot of the Ancient Queen and Odin was preserved with Princess Amore and the "Big Brother" pony Steamer. As Odin becomes Raiden, Steamer upgrades into Chief, another Big Brother pony.
    • Moondancer replaces Fenrir for the Lunacy pun.
    • Medley replaces Siren for the musical influences.
    • Since Bismarck's summon attack was a Bubble Gun, Fizzy gets to take his spot.
    • Surprise replaces Palidor as the flying Esper that lets the party members launch surprise jump attacks on enemies.
    • Bahamut is replaced by the G1 Spike, using a Palette Swap of G4 Spike's monstrous form.
    • Ifrit and Shiva are replaced by Firefly and Powder; while Powder's ice association is in-canon, Firefly's fire association is just for the sake of a Punny Name.
    • The Crusader replacement, Legacy, depicts six ponies attacking the enemy. While not named, they're visually based on the original six G1 toys. Further, the attack is named "Lux Iris," a Latin approximation for "Rainbow [of] Light", the G1 magical artifact the ponies had that was the basis for G4's Elements of Harmony.
    • The Eight Wraths replace the Eight Dragons as eight ancient evil monsters that were sealed away long ago. They're all G1 villains.
• Nerf: Some overpowered aspects were toned down from Final Fantasy VI.
  • Flash's Weapons are universally weaker than Edgar's Tools. The exception is the Drill, which has slightly higher power, but it's been moved to the World of Ruin.
  • Twilight's Ascend (Trance) costs MP to use and doesn't occur instantly.
  • Ultima is now only available from four sources, two of which are Twilight's exclusive weapon and the Armor of Invincibility won from the Optional Boss at the end of the game. The other ways to learn it are the Magicites Magic Coin and Legacy (read: Ragnarok and Crusader). Players who choose to take the sword instead of the Magicite with Magic Coin/Ragnarok will have to hunt down the Eight Wraths to get the Legacy Magicite for Ultima.
  • The Ragnarok's replacement sword, Good Fortune, is weaker (though still powerful) and the Lightbringer's replacement is almost as powerful as it, but is exclusive to alicorns. The Ancient Splint that replaces the Paladin's Shield is just as powerful defensively, but it no longer teaches Ultima.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: The Mane-iac takes Siegfried's place as the champion of the Coliseum, and guards the most powerful items in the game. You've spent the game kicking her flank, now watch her Magiburst deal a One-Hit KO to you.
• Optional Boss:
  • The Eight Wraths, counterparts of the Eight Dragons, are optional battles.
  • Three new bosses added to the hack act as optional bosses. The Dazzlings can be found in Canterlot after retrieving the airship, Squizard can be found in Fort Appleloosa after completing Applejack's nightmare, and King Sombra can be found in the art gallery after defeating the Founders in Discord's Tower.
• Shout-Out:
  • The Mane-iac says "Prepare for the fight scene!" before attacking the party in the third encounter with her.
  • In 1.0, Discord's secret treasure atop the Fanatics Tower is an Apple, making it a literal Apple of Discord.
• Shown Their Work:
  • A lot of references to the G1 ponies make sense if you're familiar with that series.
  • Armor pieces are named after actual parts of horse barding, including the shaffron, hoof splints, and sallongs.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Unlike the VI characters they substitute for, Zecora and Fluttershy don't die. A 2.0 update spares Fancy Pants as well, making him the pony in the weapon shop in Neighshe.
• Weapon-Based Characterization: One for each type of pony.
  • Unicorns use rods and staves, which raise their Magic and can cast spells when attacking or when used as items.
  • Earth ponies use claws, which raise their Strength. The 2.0 release gives them the ability to counter enemy attacks.
  • Pegasi use spears, which raise their Speed and Evade, are long ranged, and deal extra damage when used for Dive attacks.
  • Alicorns use throwing rings, which raise all three of the mentioned stats, are long ranged, and randomly deal extra damage when attacking.