Video Game / Luna Game

"The past cannot be changed."

Image featured on the old site.

Luna Game is a series of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fangames, each featuring the eponymous Princess Luna as the protagonist.

The most noteworthy is the main Creepypasta series—created by an anonymous programmer—which each start out as a seemingly innocent, 2D platformer. (That is, until the horror shows up.)

The series contains five linear installments, a prequel, and two fan-made sequels.

If you are curious and wish to play the games yourself, a website set up by the creator in 2021 hosts all entries, both the original versions and new builds made with the intent of running better on modern systems.

It has inspired many Spiritual Successor series, such as Dreamy Rainbow.

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Tropes that apply to the entire series:

• Beautiful Void: The periods before the Dark World sequences.
• Character Title: The game stars Princess Luna, and it is named after her.
• Corrupt the Cutie: Princess Luna and/or Pinkie Pie.
• Creepypasta: A scary story in game form.
• Dark and Troubled Past: About a thousand years of it for Luna.
• Dark World: The hell worlds in all games except the first. They're generic red bloody places.
  • Also function as Psychological Torment Zones
• Dead to Begin With: This is revealed to be the case at the end of Luna Game 0 and its demo: Luna in the demo and Pinkie Pie in the full game.
• Disguised Horror Story: The games tend to start with cheerful tones, then descend into creepiness.
• Easter Egg:
  • Many times, the series makes use of edited versions of original My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic songs, sometimes obvious, sometimes not.
    • "Giggle at the Ghostly" remixes have been used particularly often.
    • In addition, the third and fifth games apparently used a very heavy remix of a short piece of background music from "Sonic Rainboom" and "The Cutie Mark Chronicles".
  • Each game in the series has 6.6.6 in the version number.
• Excessive Evil Eyeshadow: Luna, apparently.^note Though, she is not explicitly to have been evil—or show any real traits—until Luna Game 0
• Face–Monster Turn: Pinkie Pie.
• Failure Is the Only Option:
  • In Luna Game 2, there's no way to win. After the screamer appears and you go to the hell world, you're forced to throw yourself into a pit.
  • Similar to the third game, albeit more subtly. The game just continues indefinitely until you fall into one of the pits.
  • In addition, the fourth game forces you to jump off of a cliff right at the beginning.
  • The fifth game gets darker and darker as you make your way to the bottom of the room^note (being the only option you are left with), leading to YOUR doom.
  • Luna Game 5 may also be an example.
• Lighter and Softer: The series, after Luna Game 3, has become a lot less scary and with more actual gameplay. The screamer in Luna Game 0 only pops up once at the end.
• Jump Scare: Oh so many — One in each of the six games, with the exclusion of the Luna Game 0 Demo.^note Unless you count the scary noises that play if you play it in between 11PM and 5AM.
• Mood Whiplash: Naturally in each game, the mood almost always turns in an instant from a happy, cheery, joyful tone to a grim, dark, and desolate one.
• Numbered Sequels: Each sequel is called "Luna Game" with the order of release.
• Ontological Mystery: The reason behind Luna's imprisonment in her series of strange, happy-to-hell worlds was a complete mystery until the addition of Luna Game 0.
• Platform Game: All the games involve platform gameplay, and not much more.
• "Psycho" Strings: Some of the scary sound effects, including a few borrowed from Amnesia, are these.
• Recurring Element:
  • Super Ponybeat tracks are featured in the beginning of the first three games, as well as the fan-made fifth game.
  • Occasionally, the games feature pony Fan Art^note (especially by CrappyUnicorn).
  • The use of the Comic Sans font in the later games.
• Shout-Out: The games feature Zalgo-style effects and themes on multiple occasions.
• Subverted Kids' Show: Obviously, these games are much darker than the source material.
• Unwinnable Joke Game: Every single Luna Game. You're always going to lead Luna to her doom.
  • Subverted in Luna Game End, which does have a good ending.
• Updated Re-release: In 2021, due to the games being mostly incompatible with modern computers, the creator made new builds that will run better on such systems, though with some of the more meta elements missing due to Game Maker Studio 2 not including such functions.

Canon Series

Luna Game

• Black Eyes of Evil: Pinkie Pie, possibly.
• Evil Laugh: If the player happens to end with the "Giggle at the Ghostly" remix.
• Madness Mantra: If the immense amount of text files created in the game's aftermath is taken into consideration—each with "The End is Neigh" as the only text—then it counts.
• Multiple Endings: The game has a possibility of ending with either of four different sinister remixes of original My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic songs, and two different jumpscare images of Pinkie Pie or Applebloom.
• Sensory Abuse: The "Evil Enchantress" remix... Be warned!
• Screamer Prank: Often the way it's compared to the Scary Maze Game.
• Slasher Smile: Apple Bloom.

Luna Game 2^note (Aka Luna 2)

• Art Evolution: LG2 had begun the use of the improved, WindowPonies Luna sprite instead of the homemade sprite used in the first game, which had then stuck for the rest of the series.
• Bottomless Chasm: Luna falls into a very long one, leading to her death.
• Death Is Dramatic: Accompanied by an edited picture of Luna falling, covered in red.
  YOU DIED

Luna Game 3

• Easter Egg: After the white noise sounds and the soundtrack changes, very subtle chattering of ponies can be heard.
• Endless Game: Once you get to a certain point, there are only two things to do: continue running forever, or allow yourself to fall into a pit.
• Eye Awaken: At the end of the game, you get a creepy picture of Luna's mutilated corpse whose eyes suddenly open and shrieks.
• Fake Longevity: Apparently, a majority of the game is just spent wandering around—waiting for the background music to slow down.
• Letting the Air out of the Band: The initial music, "At The Gala(Finale Mix)", slows down as you journey into the darkness, before cutting to a static noise and creepy drone.
• Scare Chord: The first hole in the ground you jump over causes a distorted version of Fluttershy's "COME OUT" to play, and jumping in to any hole causes her distorted "LOVE ME!!" to play (complete with scare-image).

Luna Game 4

• Driven to Suicide: This is implied when Luna is forced to jump off of the cliff, possibly to escape her traumatic visions/nightmares
• Easter Egg: On the chance the player is not able to outrun the darkness in Hell and falls into the abyss below, a series of grimdark Fan Art images will flash before the player before the game closes.
  • Additionally, one of the images happens to be another one of CrappyUnicorn works. Though, the image is too dark to fully be seen in the game; there is an inscription which reads:
    Vengeance taken — Will often tear the heart — And torment the conscience
• Fire and Brimstone Hell: This is what the hell Luna enters looks like.
• Interface Screw: Glitched out text is displayed as Luna enters the last dark world.
• Non-Standard Game Over: If at any time you let the darkness catch you, you will be greeted with a flurry of creepy images and a loud scream (in a game that is otherwise not a screamer).
• Outrun the Fireball: Darkness quickly closes in on Luna twice, which she has to outrun.
• Phantom Zone: A true, nightmarish hell-of-a-world unlike any other to which Luna arrives at after falling into the darkness of Hell. Once the end of this area/the game is found, it is strongly implied Luna is truly Killed Off for Real when/(if) the player attempts to reopen the game; only to be presented with the text:
  Your fate has already been sealed.
• Shout-Out:
  "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

Luna Game 0

Demo

• The Aloner: This is strongly hinted for Luna towards the end.
• Easter Egg: If you play between 11PM and 5AM, a track from the white chamber will play an hour after the game finishes.
• End Title Sequence
• Never Trust a Trailer: The demo was nothing at all what the full version came out as.
• No Theme Tune: Not only is there no theme tune — No sound at all!^note (Not until the end, that is)
• Sudden Downer Ending

Main Game

• Arc Words: The phrase "Pinkie Pie was just looking for you, you should probably go find her" and its variations is said by five of the mane six near the end of the game.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • Luna is requested by the mane six to collect a series of seemingly boring, monotonous items, until the last one she collects commands her to kill Pinkie Pie.^note It may also fall under Notice This since it would not appear until the rest have been collected, plus the fact that is mostly void of color
• The Corruption: It is implied near the end that Nightmare Moon had began to call Luna into darkness again.
• Cruel Twist Ending: It is strongly implied that Luna had went insane and brutally murdered Pinkie Pie. Pinkie, in turn, had since then been tormenting her out of revenge. i.e. Luna had inadvertently caused her own hellish nightmare and eventual death.
• Easter Egg:
  • After the Nightmare Moon scene, the player can choose to go back to where they collected the items instead of going back to the main area. Here, the player will find all the items in their original spots and if Luna touches one of them; thunder will sound, the game will glitch out—showing an image of a moment earlier in the game—and prematurely close.
  • The game's featured quote is a possible shoutout to Mary Pickford's:
  "The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power."
• Enemy Within: Princess Luna & Nightmare Moon
• Fetch Quest: Depending on the player's choice, Luna will have to gather/collect/retrieve a series of items^note books (for Twilight), apples (Applejack), carrots (Fluttershy), snowflakes (Rainbow Dash), candies (Pinkie Pie), or gems (Rarity), each with their own unique stage.
• Kick the Dog: Luna killing Pinkie Pie when she offered to throw her a party. (Even though Nightmare Moon's influence over her made her do it.)
• Prequel
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
  Princess Celestia: It's your first day back in the kingdom, so why don't you go make some friends?
• Wham Line:
  ...THIS ISN'T OVER

Luna Game End

• All Just a Dream: The good ending. Or so it seems.
• Multiple Endings: It's not a choice in the game itself that decides if you get the good ending; rather, it's whether or not you've completed Luna Game 4 and 0, and have kept the files that prevent you from playing those games again.
• Last Note Nightmare: In the good ending, Luna wakes up surrounded by the Mane Six, who tell her that she passed out after helping Pinkie collect some items and ask her if she's feeling alright. Pinkie offers to cheer her up with a party. Luna still feels that something still feels off, but decides it's nothing. Then, in a Freeze-Frame Bonus, Pinkie turns into Pinkamena so fast that you'll miss it if you're not looking directly at her, followed by a low-pitched boom.
• The End... Or Is It?: In the good ending, milliseconds before the game closes, Pinkie Pie turns into Pinkamena.

Fan-sequels

Luna Game 5

Can be found here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/9umid7fp95e56s9/

• Auto-Scrolling Level: During the third stage.
• Continuity Nod/Homage: A lot of elements used in the previous games are again featured in the Fan Sequel.^note such as a Super Ponybeat track being used in the game's beginning, several of the ominous tracks were reused, etc. Also note that a lot of the content in Luna Game 5 was actually just reused from the other Luna Games, next to nothing was actually originally made.
  • Additionally, a Continuity Nod is made to the show:
  Nightmare Moon: You once told me you liked being scared
• Dying Dream: The game concludes with Luna's slashed-up body at the exact location where the game started turning creepy.
• Easter Egg:
  • Setting your computer's system time to Friday the 13th before playing brings up a cutscene hinting at the backstory. It is heavily implied that the Luna you have been controlling was really Pinkie Pie^note (and the Pinkie Pie you've been seeing all along was really Luna/Nightmare Moon) in some kind of elaborate illusion carried out by Nightmare Moon as a punishment or for revenge.
  • A hidden Pinkie Pie can be found shortly after the shadow ponies.^note The static that pops up when you enter the third stage appears randomly. If you run to the first raised ground after the shadows when it happens, you'll see Pinkie staring straight at you. It ties in perfectly with the ending.
  • If you hold down the keys "I" "T" and "K" before the game turns creepy, you will be greeted with a Pinkie screamer. If you hold them down in the room with the red sky, the static will run again^note If you are standing just before the chase event the first time you press them, you will see the monster presumed to be chasing you. The keys do nothing in the later rooms.
• Fan Sequel: Was created before "End".
• Fetch Quest: You can't progress to the creepy part of the game until you've collected 9 bunnies.
• Get Out!: The Friday the 13th cutscene ends with a Jump Scare of a loud blaring noise and a scary, bloody image of Scootaloo with the words "Leave This Place!"
• Killer Rabbit: Possibly. Luna's corpse at the end of the game is found in the former location of the red bunny.
• Multiple Endings: If you are caught by the camera during the third stage, Pinkie will pop up on your screen as a loud screech plays just before crashing.
• Shout-Out:
  • In the first stage, approaching Angel Bunny will cause the Metal Gear Solid alert sound to play.
  • In the early part of the third stage, the crying of a witch can be heard in the background.
  • One of the shadow ponies, a filly, drops a line from Poltergeist III:
  "Mommy? Where are you? I can't see."
  • As an Homage, the end sequence uses an almost perfect port of Giygas's Lair from EarthBound (1994).
• The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: Just before the game crashes, the words "You're Next" appear on the screen before a Zalgofied Pinkie is shown staring straight at you. To add insult to injury, your CD tray pops open at that exact moment.
• Thwarted Escape:
  • Pressing Alt+F4 once the game takes a turn for the darker will close it down. A few seconds later it will come back with Pinkie Pie laughing at your failure.
  • Subverted with Ctrl+Alt+Del. While the game will yell at you, it won't actually stop you.^note You still won't be able to move your mouse cursor.
  • Pressing Escape after the game turns creepy won't end the game, but another laughing sound will play.
  • Inverted in that pressing Escape or Alt+F4 will end the game if you haven't progressed to the creepy part yet.
• Womb Level: Though Giygas's Lair is really a cave, the scene leading up to it involves jumping into Pinkie's mouth, followed by chewing/swallowing sounds, and ending with heartbeat sounds that continue subtly in the background until you leave the level.
  • This trope can be taken literally by a controversy over a belief that The Devil's Machine (i.e. Giygas's Lair) is a representation of a giant female reproductive system.

Luna Game X

• Eye Awaken: Pinkie does this at the end of a cutscene, just before she charges at you.
• Failure Is the Only Option: It is impossible to outrun Pinkie during the first chase.
• Not Quite Dead: In the final area of the Game, you crush Pinkie under a block, but she comes back to chase you out of the area.
• Self-Duplication: Pinkie does this multiple times in one area.
• The End... Or Is It?: After beating the game and escaping Pinkie, she reappears for a split second.

Parodies

Lona's Goem 48

A short, spinoff-parody game, created by SkippyElectrochomp. Can be downloaded here.

• Affectionate Parody: Created out of enjoyment for the canon games.
• Continuity Nod: Super Ponybeat's "Winter Wrap Up" is used as the game's soundtrack.
• Character Title: Downplayed and Parodied. Luna's name is misspelled.
• Shout-Out: The “screamer" sound effect is taken from Sonic Adventure. ^note  Specifically, the infamous “Watch out! You’re gonna crash! Ahh!” scene
• Stylistic Suck: Purposfully awful for laughs.

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