History YMMV / PonyIsland

** For the former, special mention goes to [[spoiler:the ticket earned by not killing Jesus during Act 3, since so much as ''grazing'' the glitch butterflies flying around him sends you back to the start of the level... and with all of the butterflies swarming you in the second half of the level, this is ''incredibly'' easy to do. Some butterfly formations are straight-up ''impossible'' to survive because of this, basically turning the whole affair into a LuckBasedMission that, if the RNG particularly hates you, can take upwards of an ''hour'' to finally accomplish]].

* HilariousInHindsight: The devil is trying to woo and charm the protagonist, [[spoiler:Theodore, a battle-hardened, possibly blood-thirsty crusader, who has forsaken his own family to wage war... [[VideoGame/LunaGame with ponies]] [[TastesLikeDiabetes and video games aimed at very young audience demographics.]] Let that fact sink in for a minute.]]

* TastesLikeDiabetes: Deliberately invoked with the titular game-within-a-game itself when it's working properly, as ''Pony Island'' is a SugarBowl ClicheStorm (aside from the one off-putting note of Jesus attacking you, and the game calling you out if you defeat him). Though it masks a more sinister intent, Lucifer called it the "Cheerful Façade" mode for a reason.

* FriendlyFandoms: With {{VideoGame/Undertale}}, due both games having come out around a similar time as well as having plots that deal with a great deal of FourthWall-breaking regarding video game mechanics.

* MagnificentBastard: Asmodeus.exe describes himself as more sophisticated than the other daemon programs, and lives up to his boast very well. Asmodeus challenges the player to a simple game: Don't leave the game window, and answer his questions correctly. Once it starts, Asmodeus steadily begins to employ a series of clever, [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou fourth-wall breaking tricks]] to either ruin the player's focus or dupe them into tabbing out, ranging from taking the guise of somebody on their UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} friends list, to faking a game crash. Once beaten, Asmodeus congratulates the player for their performance, and [[FaceDeathWithDignity accepts his death with pride]].

* SimilarlyNamedWorks: There's a forum game that predates the game (having been created circa 2004) also called [[https://ponyisland.net/#!/?src=main&sub=welcome Pony Island]] about breeding virtual ponies.

* GoddamnedBats: The little devils (and butterflies) that fly and circle around you before going in for the kill. You better attack them ''quick''. Even worse, are the glitched butterflies which you must NOT attack. Accidentally firing upon them crashes the game and its straight back [[CheckPointStarvation to the beginning of the stage for you]]. [[spoiler: Trying ''not to kill'' Jesus is '''incredibly frustrating''' because there's two of these easy-to-hit things, constantly circling him, all while normal butterflies are homing in on you... that you NEED to attack.]]
* HilariousInHindsight: The devil is trying to woo and charm the protagonist, [[spoiler: Theodore, a battle-hardened, possibly blood-thirsty crusader, who has forsaken his own family to wage war... [[VideoGame/LunaGame with ponies]] [[TastesLikeDiabetes and video games aimed at a very young audience demographics.]] Let that fact sink in for a minute.]]

* ThatOneAchievement: For gamers, its either finding all 24 tickets and earning the title "Ticket Master". Or learning all the truths of your past from the demon Baphomet.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: [[spoiler: Hopeless Soul is on your side. But is he really who he says he is? He doesn't resemble a typical human disembodied spirit in the machine for starters. And then, there's all the Daemons calling him out to be a [[FridgeHorror "false prophet"]]. People have been messing around in Pony Island's code enough to realize [[AtrociousAlias Lucifer speaks in different voices]], and is [[TheChessmaster role-playing the sides of good and evil]], just to have [[CosmicPlaything fun with you.]] Curiously he begs you "not to tell father".]]

* AlasPoorScrappy: [[spoiler: You have to kill Louey to escape Pony Island, an act some find heartbreaking. Although a mascot created by Lucifer to steal your soul, he was just there to teach you how to play the game, with no intentions to directly harm you and have fun in spite of the game's reality falling apart. He just wanted you to learn how to play Pony Island. [[YouBastard Even his creator calls you out on it.]]]]

* CryForTheDevil: It's not hard to feel bad for Lucifer when you realize he's a more grandiose take on the "disheartened developer" story you usually see. He's legitimately more interested in making a good game than he is collecting souls for it, to the point where his bad mood only really surfaces if he catches you fixing his lackluster programming, but slowly got more desperate to keep up with the demand. [[spoiler: To quote the "Devil Island" credits:]]

* UglyCute: Louey.

* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments: If you actually go out of your way to [[spoiler: grind every single point of EXP during Adventure Mode to get the Pony Wings]], what Lucifer says to you is actually pretty sweet; he's clearly grateful that [[spoiler:you didn't cheat your way to 100 EXP to save time]].
-->'''Lucifer''': Wow... You actually [[spoiler: levelled up... Without cheating.]] This means...so much to me. You enjoyed my level so much you wanted to play it [[spoiler:100 times]]. You touched my cold heart. [[spoiler: Enjoy the wings!]]

* MomentOfAwesome: Acquiring Pony Lasers for the first time.
** [[spoiler:The final escape, as thousands of souls manifest as a pony stampede, while you lead them as their savior.]]

* MagnificentBastard: [[spoiler:Asmodeus. Instead of a puzzle or a standard boss fight like the other two guys, he challenges you to a battle of wits in which he uses your every weakness against you while asking you simple questions. He outright tells you a phrase to type while sending you fake steam messages of a random person in your friends list (and will kill you if you alt+tab away to check your messages), tries to distract you with a sparkling pony so you don't see another phrase to type in his next question, and will outright fake-crash your game while you're inputting a simple code.]]

* SimilaryNamedWorks: There's a forum game that predates the game (having been created circa 2004) also called [[https://ponyisland.net/#!/?src=main&sub=welcome Pony Island]] about breeding virtual ponies.

* HilariousInHindsight: The devil is trying to woo and charm the protagonist, [[spoiler: Theodore, a battle-hardened, possibly blood-thirsty crusader, who has forsaken his own family to wage war... [[VideoGame/LunaGame with ponies]] [[VideoGame/{{Undertale}} and video games aimed at a very young audience demographics.]] Let that fact sink in for a minute.]]

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: [[spoiler: Hopeless Soul is on your side. But is he who is really says he is? He doesn't resemble a typical human disembodied spirit in the machine for starters. And then, there's all the Daemons calling him out to be a [[FridgeHorror "false prophet"]]. People have been messing around in Pony Island's code enough to realize [[AtrociousAlias Lucifer speaks in different voices]], and is [[TheChessmaster role-playing the sides of good and evil]], just to have [[CosmicPlaything fun with you.]] Curiously he begs you "not to tell father".]]

* AffablyEvil: Asmodeus gets this treatment. He isn't as outright rude as Azazel or destructive like Beelzebub, he gives you genuine compliments at points, and concedes defeat when you win and seems to be satisfied with the game he played. Whilst most definitely an antagonist, he seems the most decent of the Daemons.
** Satan tries to invoke this, but fails rather hilariously due to having a short temper.

* AlasPoorScrappy: [[spoiler: You have to kill Louey to escape Pony Island. An act some find heartbreaking. Although a mascot created by Lucifer to steal your soul. He was just there to teach you how to play the game, with no intentions to directly harm you and have fun in spite of the game's reality falling apart. He just wanted you to learn how to play Pony Island. [[YouBastard Even his creator calls you out on it.]]]]

** Satan tries to invoke this but fails rather hilariously due to having a short temper.

* HilariousInHindsight: The devil is trying to woo and charm the protagonist, [[spoiler: Theodore, a battle-hardened, possibly blood-thirsty crusader, who has forsaken his own family to wage war... [[LunaGame with ponies]] [[Main/UnderTale and video games aimed at a very young audience demographics.]] Let that fact sink in for a minute.]]