Welcome to Ponyville is a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fan-game in the style of a Visual Novel. The player takes the role of a new pony moving in to Ponyville. Expecting a simple, easy move, they soon realize that everything is not what it seems in the little town.
The first act was released on September 21, 2012 and can be downloaded here
. There is an unofficial Flash port that can be found on Equestria Gaming's Arcade, but it lacks audio and was heavily criticized by the fans.
Not long after Act I was released, it was revealed that the member of the design team responsible for acquiring artwork from non-staff artists, was not getting permission for said art, and was also intentionally sabotaging the project, "he stated he had never intended on helping this team, but the opposite.". Overwhelming fan response convinced the makers to continue.
In February 2013 Filly Gamez announced that due to negative feedback and a renewed sabotage incident (which coincidentally occurred on the same day as the release of the aforementioned Flash port) Filly Gamez had put Act 2 on hold and closed their doors for an indefinite period of time (though a later edit to the announcement noted that they weren't dead, and that there may yet be a glimmer of hope for the project).
As of 5/20/15, the Fillygames domain is gone, taken over by a web squatter.
The visual novel provides examples of:
- Ascended Meme: One of the beds is called the "20% Cooler Bed". Sadly, you aren't able to obtain it due to its cost.
- Bait-and-Switch: After Rainbow Dash's crash, you have the option to say that you'll tell everypony in town about her messup... and follow up with a "Just kidding!" She'll actually congratulate you on pulling a decent prank on her, and seems to like you better for it than if you were just regularly nice.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall:
- When the PC meets Pinkie Pie, she manages to be positioned right in front of the Letter Box.
- The entirety of Sweetie Belle's tutorial.
- Brown Note: The creepy bells in the nightmare sequences can apparently pull this off in Real Life for noise sensitive people; the reviewer at Equestria Gaming mentions their having caused long-lasting pain (which may or may not have affected the low score given). Of course, most players have been unaffected.
- Continuity Nod:
- When the player meets Derpy, she explains her past leading her to becoming a delivery pony and recounts accidentally dropping a piano on somepony once or twice.
- When working at Sweet Apple Acres, the protagonist happens to notice the paint job Pinkie Pie gave Applejack's barn.
- In the Everfree Forest, the protagonist is attacked by a Manticore. The exact same one Fluttershy tamed as it turns out, and it quickly recognizes her.
- The reason Angel Bunny ran away from Fluttershy's house is because he had yet another disagreement with Fluttershy's diet for him.
- Rainbow Dash winds up meeting the protagonist for the first time after he/she wonders what fun things there are to do in town.
- Scootaloo repeatedly mentions how brave and dependable Fluttershy is, to the initial bafflement of the protagonist. After all, she's seen it for herself.
- The protagonist exclaims that the Apple family cider could make dirt taste good.
- Rainbow Dash says she has a fan club ran by a filly that might be a little too obsessed.
- Twilight mentions the time she and the main six formed the Elements of Harmony, and vanquished Nightmare Moon.
- Crash-Into Hello: The protagonist has a penchant for having this happen to him often.
- The Ditz: Derpy.
- Pinkie Pie as well.
- The Everypony: Regardless of race, the protagonist is fairly handy (hoofy?) with a wide variety of tasks, and ends up doing everything from applebucking to pet rescue to machine work. Twilight wonders if their cutie mark (which is never shown) is indicative of this.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": When meeting Roseluck, the PC says that, since something always happens to him whenever he tries to introduce himself, everyone should just call him "new pony".
- Everyone Is Bi: For romance plot purposes — for the sake of convenience, so as not to overcomplicate the game and because most ponies are female.
- Featureless Protagonist: In addition to being able to choose between male and female, the player can choose to make either a unicorn, pegasus, or earth pony. That's all.
- Genius Ditz: Derpy, judging by the fact that she reads books like "Non-Locality Hidden Variables and Quantum Entanglement: The Experts Guide Vol. III".
- Get Out!: Trixie's reaction, after a long-winded rant, if you tell her she doesn't deserve an audience.
- Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Surprisingly, in this game the Cutie Mark Crusaders are this. The protagonist doesn't have an official profession, and thus must take odd jobs in order to earn bits for necessities. Conveniently, the Cutie Mark Crusaders decide to become Cutie Mark Crusader Job Finders...and unlike their comedy episodes in the show, they don't screw it up, and thus the protagonist is able to get a lot more jobs thanks to them.
- Hypocritical Humor: If you're a jerk to the other ponies, the protagonist frequently ends the scene musing over what the heck is wrong with them. For example, if you're a jerk to Rainbow Dash by threatening to embarrass her in front of all of Ponyville, she'll get mad and eventually fly off, and the protagonist calls her a narcissist. For another example, if you're a jerk to Trixie, she'll get mad and order the protagonist to get out in an angry fit, and the protagonist will muse over whether or not Trixie will ever realize her issues, despite having provoked Trixie's outburst in the first place.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The protagonist, at worst.
- Jump Scare: This happens in the second nightmare the protagonist has.
- Karma Meter: One that measures how much of a jerk the protagonist are and one that measures how much others like the protagonist.
- Let's Play: Some exist on YouTube. One such let's play is being done by RLYoshi, the first part of which can be found here.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: The protagonist eventually insists on this when searching the Everfree Forest with Fluttershy. (S)he says it's to cover more ground looking for Angel Bunny, but since (s)he doesn't know his/her way around and has no delusions that the forest is not dangerous and was quite worried about that just previously, it seems like a case of the Idiot Ball. Naturally, it serves a plot purpose.
- Musical Nod: A remix of the 2005 Doctor Who theme plays at the beginning of "Deceptive Manners", hinting at which pony you'll be meeting next.
- Naïve Newcomer: The protagonist, who's unaware of all the zaniness Ponyville has to offer. Contrary to the usual setup, this actually makes them unlike the players, who are likely already fans of the show.
- Nice Guy/Girl: The protagonist, at best.
- Nightmare Sequence: The protagonist keeps having dreams with creepy bells, monsters, images of Ponyville in ruins, and a freaky shadowy pony figure. These seem to be foreshadowing something. Subverted at the end of Act 1: It turns out they're actually awake this time.
- Noodle Incident: The protagonist...doesn't really want to talk about what s/he was doing when getting that cutie mark.
- Only Sane Man: In a nod to Twilight's own first impression of the town, the PC often wonders if every single inhabitant is crazy.
- Pride: If the PC is a pegasus, he'll say that this is the reason a lot of pegasi don't pull sky chariots.
- Product Placement: There's an Equestria Daily newspaper in Trixie's wagon.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: The protagonist can dole one out to Trixie, which makes her so upset that she decides to leave Ponyville for good.You: Get over yourself. As far as I can tell, you're neither great or powerful. If you were great, you wouldn't behave like a foal. If you were powerful, you would have vanquished the Ursa Minor. As far as I can tell... You're just a petty little mare begging for attention and praise. And, until you realize that, your going to just get more and more pathetic.
- Rebellious Spirit: Vinyl Scratch. The protagonist's first meeting has her barging into the protagonist's home at night, asking if she can rent their bed, flirting with him or her, and optionally sleeping in the same bed as him or her.
- Romance Sidequest: Confirmed to become more available as future acts are released and the relationships with the other characters are developed. Reportedly, the player can romance most of the characters in the game, regardless of their playing as a stallion or a mare.
- Running Gag: The protagonist never gets to say his or her name.
- Lampshaded when the protagonist goes to say his/her name...and stops for a minute for something to interrupt. He/She mentions this tends to happen, and asks to just be called new pony.
- Shout-Out:
- An angry Seth dares the PC to "say 'what' again" although you only get this scene if you're a jerk to Trixie; if you treated Trixie with kindness, the Shout-Out is gone as instead you're treated to a warm-and-fuzzy scene of Twilight Sparkle thinking you're a good, special pony
- If the player maxes out their anti-hero points, when searching for Angel near the end of the Act the player can threaten to abandon him in the Everfree Forrest, ultimately finishing the threat off by telling him to come with them if he wants to live.
- In the tutorial, Sweetie Belle assures you there's no need to find any hidden typewriters to save your progress.
- At one point, Spike asks you to do a solid for him. You reply that he should not abuse the power of solids.
- Dr. Hooves pretty much acts exactly like the character he's based on, even going so far as to calling himself "the doctor".
- Sethiso's voice is an obvious parody of Batman.
- Right at the start of the game, there's a fake Entertainment Software Rating Board rating.
- Slasher Smile: The shadowy figure in the nightmares has quite a wide grin. It does not look friendly, however.
- Unreliable Narrator: After befriending Derpy, the game mentions that friends can give out quests, despite there not being any in the game.
- Video Game Caring Potential: Helping all these ponies out with their tasks and hearing their gushing thanks over it. If you're a fan of the show, this could lead to a lot of warm and fuzzy feelings about how wonderful you are. Especially if you get the "good" Act 1 ending where Twilight Sparkle praises you right before your last "not really a nightmare".
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: Seeing how all the other ponies react if you choose "jerk" options. Some you could probably see coming (Sweetie Belle will say you're not very nice, Scootaloo calls you a jerk, Fluttershy will stammer or cry, Spike will get huffy, etc.) but not all of them will recognize it as cruelty (Octavia apologizes for playing classical music too loud if you choose the jerk response to her, Fleur de Lis blames herself, Apple Bloom thinks you were just joking, etc.).
- What the Hell, Hero?: Considering you have the option of being a complete jerk, you can naturally wind up on the receiving end of this. The most notable case so far is if you threaten to humiliate Rainbow Dash by telling everypony how she royally screwed up the end of her latest practice session and you're the sole witness. She is understandably NOT happy about it.
