History VideoGame / MyLittlePonyGameloft

* AccidentalPun: Minor meta example. You can visit Sweet Apple Acres, a location known for apple products, in a game that can be played on [=iOS=] devices.

** It also takes some liberties with the ponies and their hometown. Many ponies can live in Ponyville that, in the show, live somewhere completely different. The Canterlot expansion is more accurate (not counting the ponies that were already added to Ponyville despite being from Canterlot), with only Minuette being somewhat questionable.

* AndYourRewardIsClothes: By collecting materials via spending five Gems per three materials or winning said materials via other methods (or just [[AdamSmithHatesYourGuts buying the outfits outright with several hundred Gems each]]), the Mane Six can be decked out in numerous different outfits. An entire update (released June 2016) was dedicated to this feature. The outfits each have different perks, though - a boost in collecting bits, bonus points in the mine cart game, or bonus points toward stars.

** Any ponies living in the village will not take note of clearable objects, swarms (regardless of their feared status in the show), or other hostile environments/objects: thorns, hollow trees, dead trees, wild rocks, piles of trash, garbage bins, Parasprites, Changelings, Vampire Fruit Bats, and Tirek. They mostly serve as an obstacle to the player and the player only, taking up space in the village where players would want to put own structures and scenery.
** Each pony uses the same exact model skeleton model (resized appropriately), and thus all are capable of doing the same actions/dances. Each of the Mane Six (and a few others) have their own actions exclusive only to them, and tall ponies/Alicorns (Celestia, Luna, King Sombra, and the Mane-iac) only have one animation when tapped.
** Granny Smith's model combines the movement of the Alicorns with the idle animations of any Earth Pony. When she shifts between her Alicorn movement and standard Pony animations, it's [[OffModel very noticable]].

** Celestia can be this; she periodically generates element shards after being purchased, but at a price of 430 gems, most players that opt to earn gems without paying for them (such as finding Derpy, playing the balloon pop minigame, defeating parasprites, Sombra shards, vampire fruit bats, & changelings, spending element shards on activated harmony stones, having the game running at midnight for the daily bonuses, playing the Equestria Girls dancing minigame, watching in-game ads, participating in certain special events, or leveling up) will likely have all the shards they need long before they can afford her.
** Several ponies who can be only unlocked after completing certain story quests; these include Princess Luna, Rara, King Sombra in the Crystal Empire and Detective Pony.

** The special limited-time events introduced throughout 2017 give huge advantages to players willing to spend real cash to bypass certain missions and unlock the characters necessary to collect tokens needed during the event more quickly.

** The human version of Vinyl Scratch can be seen in the background of the Equestria Girls' song selection screen.

** Early 2018 saw the addition of more characters from the IDW comics, specifically Well-To-Do the minotaur and the deer from issues 27 & 28 of the comic, the latter having a special limited-time story event involving them which was timed around St. Patrick's Day.

* CliffHanger: Following the community event to revive the Tree of Harmony inside Everfree Forest which lasted from early December 2014 to early January 2015, the Tree of Harmony chest appears infront of the restored Tree. A popup then appears revealing that the chest's mysteries will be revealed in the next update.
* CloneDegeneration: The Changelings that invade Canterlot in the form of any of the Mane Six; they are easy to tell apart from their real counterparts because they don't socialize with other ponies and usually spend all their time in shadowy areas of the town. On some devices, they even only show up as Twilight, which makes them even easier to spot.
* ConsoleCameo: The Android version has a statue of the Android mascot worth 50 gems.

** Cadance is the only alicorn who starts at 5 stars that can play the minecart minigame, possibly a nod to the ride she and Twilight took in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E26ACanterlotWeddingPart2 "A Canterlot Wedding"]].

** The description of the Café reads "A place for everypony to grab a quick bite to eat. Specials include [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E3TheTicketMaster daffodil and daisy sandwiches with a side of hay fries]]."

** Dr. Hooves' description mentions that he [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E15TheSuperSpeedyCiderSqueezy6000 sets the hourglasses for cider competitions]].

* DavidVersusGoliath: The climax of the September 2017 limited-time event has Tempest Shadow facing off against the Ursa Minor which is roughly twice as big as she is (albeit with optional help from other ponies).
** The December 2017 update likewise has [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E19ToChangeAChangeling Pharynx engaging the maulwurf]], and can face it either alone or with support from other characters.
** Another limited-time event had Fluttershy staring down the Sphinx.

** Discord as well, who only is present via the story introducing Everfree Forest, as well as the cutscene that plays when the player defeats Tirek for the final time. He eventually got his own in-game character, though, and he plays a big role in the Changeling Kingdom event.

* DoubleUnlock: During the various timed events that occurred from 2017 onward (which require collecting a certain number of a specific token to win a limited-time Pony), the advertisements that appear to notify that the next Pony in the event is available are captioned with "[Pony Name] has been unlocked!"- but the player must still bring them the required number of Tokens to win them and welcome them to Ponyville.
* DoWellButNotPerfect: Got a pony that's at maximum level? Hopefully that character doesn't have a quest to play any of the mini-games coming up. Once the level is maxed out, that pony can't play the level-up games anymore. However, this was fixed in an update: if the pony in question is maxed out, that part of the quest will already be checked off/completed.
** Can still apply with the social events, where the second or third tier rewards might actually be more desirable depending on your goals. For example, if, say, [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E8RarityTakesManehattan Prim Hemline]] is the top-tier reward, 30 Loyalty shards are the second-tier reward, and you still need shards to activate the Loyalty pedestal, you're probably only going to want to do just well enough to finish in the second tier and get those shards.
* EarlyBirdCameo: After being introduced as a pony in the Crystal Princess Celebration toyline, Sunset Shimmer from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'' makes her second pony appearance in this game, hinted at in [[https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=655940021090105 promotional]] [[https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=589421427765193 clue]] [[https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=589923807714955 images]] [[https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=590332691007400 for]] [[https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=658100214207419 the]] [[https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=591248240915845 game]] posted by official Website/{{Facebook}} pages.
* EvolvingCredits: Every major update has a title screen that coincides with the additions.

** The Royal Wedding update allows players to travel to and from Canterlot once they reach level 15 - later changed to 10, and Canterlot features its own set of ponies, shops, decor, and quests that mirror the Canterlot Wedding. You even "battle" the Changelings.
** The "Sweet Apple Acres" update allows you to visit Sweet Apple Acres, once you reach level 6. Sweet Apple Acres features its own set of ponies, shops, decor, and quests.
** December 2014 saw the Everfree Forest expansion which added the eponymous woodland to the playable location list and added a slew of new content. However, it's very limited in what can be done there, and therefore it doesn't qualify as a normal village.
** September 2016 brought the addition of the Crystal Empire, the first true village to be added since Sweet Apple Acres.
** May 2017 brought the Changeling Kingdom as well as a complete overhaul to the game's user interface.

** The August 2017 Friendship Festival event made to promote the [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie2017 movie]] has a particularly nasty case of this. The fourth to last mission "Encore!" forces to player to wait nearly ''a whole week'' for Spike to finish up his preparation for the show. It's Skip cost is also huge, raking it at nearly 400 gems, and it more seems to be a gimmick to force players to wait to give them less time (as low as only ''4 days'') to complete the final missions and win the event's ultimate prize in Songbird Serenade.

** A different crash related bug that seems to be non-device specific; when purchasing a pony, the game can crash before being able to place their house on the map. Should this this happen, the pony will still be removed from the store making it impossible to ever acquire them. If the pony is required to complete a checklist task (such as one of the mane-six), it becomes impossible to ever progress any further in the game.
** The game has also developed a nasty habit of randomly losing track of the player's progress. This can be especially frustrating when you've worked all week to level up or collect items for a quest grind, only to have it all be for nothing when the game sets you right back where you started at.
** In the minecart game, it's possible for your pony to just randomly drop through otherwise intact-looking tracks for no reason.
** In Version 1.9 (the Sweet Apple Acres update), the RNG that determines the color for what variety of Parasprite/Vampire Bat spawns was accidentally tweaked to spawn those of only one variety (the red color killed by Rainbow Dash's Loyality Shards). Thankfully it was fixed in the following build.

** In rare cases, when dealing with Tirek in Everfree Forest, Tirek may never respawn when his timer runs out .The update released immediately after Tirek's inclusion fixes this.

*** At least opening a service ticket with Gameloft can fix that problem. It'll take a few days to process, but they'll update your save state to make it possible to beat Tirek.

** In the update that introduced the (long since gone) Dragons, it is very possible that the game will crash upon trying to load another two that isn't the one you started up the game in.
** Whenever there's a timed event that requires players to get a certain amount of points in the Equestria Girls minigame, it's not uncommon for the game to randomly refuse to count a session of the game (and the points earned within) towards the player's score, so entire dances (even ones where you win a lot of points) could be for naught.
** Rarely, the game has a chance of re-playing the opening intro each time the game is started, severely increasing the wait time before the game properly starts.

** In the show, all the mane 6 except Rainbow Dash and the Cakes live where they work. In this game, that's not possible because their respective places of work are only considered houses.
** Many of the ponies you can buy don't live in their locations assigned in-game.

** Since the beginning, Derpy was a background element that could be found hiding in a cardboard box and tapped on to receive a small assortment of items. In March 2017, she got a playable incarnation in the form of Lazy Fan.

* CanonImmigrant: [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDWIssue5To8 Nightmare Rarity]], previously exclusive to the comics canon, was added to the game during the Nightmare Night 2017 update, making her the only comic character to do so.

* ArtEvolution: Some of the newer ponies added in recent updates have noticeably more detailed sprites than the older ponies in the game.

** Some of the characters have not had their sprites updated to reflect changes seen over the course of the show; Babs Seed doesn't have her new cutie mark, and the game uses the filly versions of Pinkie Pie's sisters Limestone and Marble Pie. Pipsqueak is also still wearing his Nightmare Night pirate costume despite having appeared without it since "Luna Eclipsed". Likewise, Starlight Glimmer's model has not undergone the ExpositoryHairstyleChange seen in season 6.

* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: If you want to, you could put that lazy Princess Celestia to grinding flour in the windmill, or Prince Blueblood selling ice cream...

** Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Princess Cadance, naturally.

** It's been estimated that it would either take 3 years of completely free playing to earn enough gems to buy the ''required ponies, buildings, and decorations'' to complete the game, or about $80 (USD) to buy the needed gems outright. This doesn't consider all the side ponies that you may want to get (some only available in the Balloon Pop minigame, which ''rarely'' gives out ponies on the Gold Tier level, which costs 10 gems per play[[note]]formely 25 gems[[/note]]), nor is it counting that some of the shops or items you'll need to complete the quests require payment in gems[[note]]Also barring mistakes that would accidentally make you use gems- and due to the lack of confirmation dialogs, these mistakes are easy to make[[/note]]. More infuriating when you realize that some of these objectives ''cannot be skipped''. All quests must be finished to complete the game, and so, this brings it up to a total of $200+, or 15 years or consecutive-day playing. The estimation may also be too low: one player actually abused the time travel glitch to complete the game and noted that he finished his last quest with the calendar in 2018. That's a little over 5 years! There are two unskippable missions near the end that require you to purchase two ponies and one building. Prior to the June 2013 update, the ponies (Shining Armor and Princess Cadance) were 650 apiece, and the building (the Town Hall) was 600. In total that's '''1,900''' gems!
*** The Christmas update thankfully amended the issue for the most part. Now, by watching a few minutes worth of ads via the "Pony Theater", you can make up to 10 gems per day, in addition to the ones you could get before. This still means around two years or so to get HundredPercentCompletion, but the main storyline is far from an issue. It also increased the chances of getting a free gem from certain actions (especially finding Derpy) It also lowered the prices for several ponies and shops required for the main quest or outright changed the price to bits in some cases. However, with the addition of new ponies bought for gems, the cost in total, if you wanted to get everything, remains roughly the same.

** Throughout 2016, several new ponies were added through updates that can cost between '''400 and 800''', in one case '''900''' gems alone. Even when on sale, their prices are still high when compared to other ponies, pricing in higher than ''Celestia'' herself post the update that nerfed her price. Some of the ponies added in the August 03, 2016 can be bought using "tokens" awarded by sending the Mane Six (and two other ponies acquired through said tokens- both required to advance in missions) off to do side-activities instead of gems, however these ponies require a large number of one token type, while the player can only grab a very small number a day... if the RandomNumberGod is on their side.
** 2017 saw the arrival of themed events with four tiers- each tier completed by collecting a special limited Token using two Ponies. However this process is painfully slow- To even have a chance of reaching the final tier in time and completing it, each tier has a premium Pony or a premium 5-Pony shop that can be unlocked for large amounts of gems or through special deals of $10 each through in-game advertisements, requiring around 40 dollars total to unlock all the ponies and shops to unlock tasks that can collect double the Tokens.
** September 2017 added Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon as purchasable Ponies for a ''whopping'' '''1,000''' gems each. They are also borderline required purchases for the Tempest Shadow limited event that launched alongside their inclusion. Princess Ember and the Earnest Klugetowner would join them in the 1,000 Gems club in the October 2017 update and likewise, are required for the limited-time event based on [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie2017 the movie]].

* BribingYourWayToVictory: You can choose to spend real money on in-game purchases for more bits and gems. This does not help you get heart crystals, and trust us, the game does its ''best'' to make you want to keep spending money.

** It goes without saying that the game is very resource-heavy and if connected to the Internet, the game can become incredibly taxing on even higher-end systems, especially for long-time players due to the sheer amount of 3d models and 2d sprites that have to be loaded and shown all at once. And since it's Ponyville which contains the highest number of ponies and shops, expect that location alone to cause many of these crashes and lengthen load times.
*** It can also get severe to the point where the game will ''crash'' before getting an opportunity to save the player's progress, invalidating minutes if not ''hours'' of rather important events that occur ingame such as placing down new Ponies and sending them off to do tasks. It can also crash while ''the game is left idle''.
** The infamous "White Advertisement", when an in-game notification that pops up upon entering a town doesn't load properly. It cannot be exited out of in-game due to the "X" button not loading in the upper right corner, and thus the app must be restarted.

* SuspiciousVideogameGenerosity: Sales occur with no warning and are decent way for players to stock up on large amounts of Gems if they have the cash to do so. Sometime after the sale ends, an event with high-price Ponies will launch.

* HeelFaceTurn: The Everfree Forest expansion added villain characters King Sombra, The Mane-iac, and The Shadowbolts as purchasable ponies. They interact quite amicably with the rest of the ponies once purchased, and Sombra even generates element shards like Luna and Celestia do. Discord and Starlight Glimmer don't apply as they went through Heel-Face Turns in the show, unlike the three characters described above. The September 2017 update adds Daybreaker, the SuperPoweredEvilSide of Celestia seen in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E10ARoyalProblem A Royal Problem]]" as a playable pony.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: In April 2015, the system of (very slowly) grinding Sapphires that act as a pseudo-replacement to Heart Gems by shooing off dragons in Ponyville was introduced, and never explicitly was called a "timed event". It did give hints that it was only temporary days before it was chopped off with a popup exclaiming "buy these ponies to keep them forever" but there were no indications that Sapphires and the things they'd unlock would become [[TemporaryOnlineContent lost for good]]. Starting from around the middle of May the same year, the mountains and lava pit the dragons resided in were cleared away, all the ponies and shops that once cost Sapphires were eliminated, returning those ponies to SecretCharacter status and the Silver tier Balloon Pop game went back to it's original pricing (30 Heart Gems).

* WithThisHerring: Nightmare Moon must be defeated! Twilight starts off with... Spike, her library, and enough resources to build a windmill. First pony to come and help her? ''Bon Bon'' (possibly [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in hindsight, since it been revealed [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E9SliceOfLife in the show]] that she's actually [[spoiler: part of a top-secret anti-monster organization in the Equestrian government]].

** Even after the player witnesses the events of [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E25ToWhereAndBackAgainPart1 To Where and]] [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E25ToWhereAndBackAgainPart2 Back Again]] and causes the Changelings to pull their HeelRaceTurn, evil Changelings (presumably remnants that remain loyal to Queen Chrysalis) will still attack Canterlot.

* CloneDegeneration: The Changelings that invade Canterlot in the form of any of the Mane Six; they are easy to tell apart from their real counterparts because they don't socialize with other ponies and usually spend all their time in shadowy areas of the town. On some devices, they even only show up as Twilight, which makes them even easier to spot. With the ''Equestria Girls'' update and Twilight becoming an alicorn, they're ''even easier'' to spot because they still take on unicorn Twilight's form.

* CliffHanger: Following the community event to revive the Tree of Harmony inside Everfree Forest which lasted from early December 2014 to early January 2015, the Tree of Harmony chest appears infront of the restored Tree. A popup then appears revealing that the chest's mysterious will be revealed in the next update.
* CloneDegeneration:
** The Changelings that invade Canterlot as a form of any of the mane-six; they are easier to tell apart to their real counterparts because they don't socialize with other ponies and usually spend all their time in shadowy areas of the town.
** On some devices, they even only show up as Twilight, which makes them even easier to spot. With the ''Equestria Girls'' update and Twilight becoming an alicorn, they're ''even easier'' to spot because they still take on unicorn Twilight's form.

** In the April 2015 update, there was a temporary type of currency introduced to replace Hearts: Sapphires. How were they won? By waiting for a dragon from the episode [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E21DragonQuest Dragon Quest]] to hop out of a pool of lava, and pay Elemental Shards to "damage" them until they escape back into the lava. Then, wait three hours for the next dragon to appear. How many Sapphires do you get from each dragon? ''A pathetically-low 10-20 sapphires per dragon''. How much do the items that can be purchased with Sapphires cost? '''Very''' high, with purchasable shops going into the 500-1000 range and ponies in the 1,000-'''2,000''' range. With this update, the currency used to play the Silver-tier Balloon Pop game was changed from 50 Heart Gems to ''500 Sapphires''.

** September 2017 added Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon as purchasable Ponies for a ''whopping'' '''1,000''' gems each. They are also borderline required purchases for the Tempest Shadow limited event that launched alongside their inclusion. Princess Ember would join them in the 1,000 Gems club in the October 2017 update and likewise, is required for the limited-time event based on [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie2017 the movie]].

** September 2017 added Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon as purchasable Ponies for a ''whopping'' '''1,000''' gems each. They are also borderline required purchases for the Tempest Shadow limited event that launched alongside their inclusion.

** Some of the characters have not had their sprites updated to reflect changes seen in the show's 5th season; the CMC and Babs Seed don't have their new cutie marks, and the game uses the filly versions of Pinkie Pie's sisters Limestone and Marble Pie. Pipsqueak is also still wearing his Nightmare Night pirate costume despite having appeared without it since "Luna Eclipsed". Likewise, Starlight Glimmer's model has not undergone the ExpositoryHairstyleChange seen in season 6.

** October 2017 added Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon as purchasable Ponies for a ''whopping'' '''1,000''' gems each. They are also borderline required purchases for the Tempest Shadow limited event that launched alongside their inclusion.

* AllegedlyFreeGame: If you want all of the ponies, you need over 3000 gems, worth 200 US dollars. Celestia alone requires 40 dollars worth at minimum, with other ponies worth double that amount. And then there's all the limited events with required purchases just to collect all the prizes. Pretty steep for a children's game.

* AllegedlyFreeGame: If you want all of the ponies, you need over 3000 gems, worth 200 US dollars. Celestia alone requires 40 dollars worth at minimum, with other ponies worth double that amount. Pretty steep for a children's game.

* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Sombra and the Shadowbolts seem to switch between being on good terms with your ponies and being their enemies, almost at the drop of a hat. The Shadowbolts can be added to your villages like other ponies and will get along just fine with them, yet they will actively oppose you every time you play the Clear the Skies or Crystal Mine minigames. Sombra similarly can be unlocked after acquiring the Mane Six and similarly gets along with the other ponies just fine (even generating element shards like Celestia & Luna), yet he acts as the main antagonist in the 2016 Crystal Empire update, and must be re-unlocked for players that have acquired him in the past.
* HeelFaceTurn: The Everfree Forest expansion added villain characters King Sombra, The Mane-iac, and The Shadowbolts as purchasable ponies. They interact quite amicably with the rest of the ponies once purchased, and Sombra even generates element shards like Luna and Celestia do. Discord and Starlight Glimmer don't apply as they went through Heel-Face Turns in the show, unlike the three characters described above.

*** It can also get severe to the point where the game will ''crash'' before getting an opportunity to save the player's progress, invalidating rather important events that occur ingame such as placing down new Ponies and sending them off to do tasks. It can also crash while ''the game is left idle''.

** The August 2017 Friendship Festival event made to promote the [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie2017 movie]] has a particularly nasty case of this. The fourth to last mission "Encore!" forces to player to wait nearly ''a whole week'' for Spike to finish up his preparation for the show. It's Skip cost is also huge, raking it at nearly 400 gems, and it more seems to be a gimmick to force players to wait to give them less time to complete the final missions and win the event's ultimate prize in Songbird Serenade.

* MovesetClone: ''Every single pony''. The only ponies with unique animations on the map are the Mane 6.