Friendship is Magicite? Let's Play Pony Fantasy 6!

Well, that too! But mostly if it were the SNES version, which the joke about the Blind Bug confirms.

Just remember that Blind DOES prevent you from learning lores/blue magic, assuming that's still in the game.

It also means that the delicious Evade Bug should still be in there. I wonder if they adjusted the stats at all in addition to moving the abilities around?

Can't a ROM be hacked to bypass those little quirks in the code like the evade bug, though?

Oh yeah, there's totally bug fix hacks out there. I just kind of figured since they make a "blind doesn't do anything" joke that this is probably a cosmetic hack only, so all the original bugs would still be in there.

You're assuming that the hacker knows half as much about FF6 as he does about MLP, which may not be true...

Yes. They were the Sabil Mountains, or the Sabre Mountains in FF6 Advance.

Really? Huh, the more you know I guess. I read it as a non-sequiter Simpsons reference.

It's possibly related to the fact that the Evade stat doesn't do anything either. All things that should reference it instead check MBlock, so cranking a characters MBlock up to 128 lets them dodge all magical or nonmagical attacks that can possibly miss.

Mind, I'm not sure the hacker actually knows this.

Ugh, I can't stand it when someone uses oldtimey talk when they don't know when it's appropriate to say thee/thou or thy/thine.

Apparently the ROM does have some bugfix patches in it, according to the website.

In the New Lunar Republic hideout, the team goes in to meet with the bosslady, Mayor Mare.



Mayor Mare is the mayor of Ponyville. Her name only recently became official, with the release of the My Little Pony trading card set. Yes there are now trading cards too. Her role in the show is mostly providing exposition and being a generic public official when needed. This seems like a decent character to match with Banon.



Mayor Mare: But there's one thing missing - magic!
Twilight Sparkle: ...!
Mayor Mare: We won't stand a chance without magic... And you are the key to unlocking it...

The conversation is largely unchanged except for that "horsepower" bit. Which is as terrible.



Twilight Sparkle: But I don't have any friends...
Apple Bloom: That's not true at all! Celestia wouldn't let you out of her sight, and don't forget I promised I'd protect you!

There's actually been a lot of mention of the cities on the Empire's continent, which is a nice addition, but I don't care about those punks so I didn't bother mentioning it. Funny how Apple Bloom's response to Twilight Sparkle's friendship doubt is to give examples of obsession and duty but not friendship.



Luna: BUT DO NOT LET HER CURIOSITY GET THE BETTER OF YOU! [laughs]

Trust my sister, but don't necessarily trust what my sister trusts? This dialog is awkward even for Luna.



Celestia: Is there anyone in the empire you could call a "friend"?

AMNESIA! I DON'T REMEMBER!

Ugh, just don't even introduce the amnesia storyline back in Neighshe if everypony's going to pretend Twilight Sparkle remembers her time with the Empire.



Same deal as normal. Say no three times, get a better relic. Say yes, get a longer story sequence. So to make the most of this segment, I say yes, take a bunch of screenshots, then restart and get the better relic.

Celestia: that might be.
Apple Bloom: It sure seems like they found something ancient though, maybe the remains of an esper?
Twilight Sparkle: You mean there's some connection between espers and Magitek?
Mayor Mare: I can only recall one thing linking espers with Magitek power...
Celestia: You don't mean...
Mayor Mare: Indeed! The ancient War of Chaos...
Somepony: No!
Some other pony: It can't be!
Apple Bloom: My granny used to tell me stories about magical machines... Could they have been true?
Celestia: This is all starting to sound familiar...
Mayor Mare: It's just an old mare's tale... But most legends are based on fact... They say unicorns can have their powers radically enhanced by espers, unleashing untold destruction...
Twilight Sparkle: Like that stone...!
Celestia: It seems my suspicions were well founded. Those ancient stones were most likely created by, or even FROM, an esper.
Mayor Mare: It's risky, but if we have Twilight Sparkle... speak with that esper, it might just wake up...
Celestia: There will be a risk, but I agree...
Mayor Mare: Right. Regardless, we need Twilight Sparkle's help.
Apple Bloom: Twilight...

This scene changes a bit since the party is already familiar with magicite, they just don't know the details yet.



Luna is the best pony ever.



Mayor Mare: What's going on? What happened?
Rebel: E... Empire... took Canterlot... Coming... this way... unnnh...
Mayor Mare: They've found us... I don't know how, but they found us!
Celestia: Apple Bloom!
Apple Bloom: I know... "Somepony" has to sneak into Canterlot City and slow the Empire down, right?
Celestia: THe fate of Canterlot is in your hooves, good luck!
Apple Bloom: Twilight... You'll have to trust Celestia in th' meantime... But... please... don't let her talk you into anything odd!
Celestia: Apple Bloom!
Luna: Haha Celestia, we see you still have a reputation!
[Apple Bloom leaves.]
Mayor Mare: What're we going to do?
Celestia: We'll escape down the Lete River, and make our way to Neighshe. I want to see that esper for myself...

Not a transcription error: Luna's "no indoor voice" shtick got dropped for that line. Maybe because she's "quietly" teasing her sister, maybe because the writing is lazy. Based on the number of typoes and inconcistancies I'm fixing as I go along, I'm leaning toward lazy.

No Lete River pun? For shame! I can't think of one either, but maybe someone can come up with something.



Genji Glove = Magnet Hoof
Gauntlet = Power Grip

It actually ends up on Twilight Sparkle, since I don't have two claws for Luna. That... sounds weird.



Mayor Mare is just like Banon, which is good because the Lete River would be a real pain without Health. As is, we have to suffer along without Autocrossbow, because Apple Bloom took that with her. I actually get a game over because a Pterodon fireballed the mayor to death. Luna does her Iron Hoof trick every round now because I don't want that to happen again.



Celestia still hasn't finished up Unicorn so she doesn't have Bolt, but she has Fire and Twilight Sparkle has both. Ultros has his little quips when he's about to tentacle someone, though I only got two before he fell.

Ultros: What's soaking wet and clueless?! Your FACE!! [attacks Twilight Sparkle]
Ultros: Hey! Princess Capslock! Think fast! [attacks Luna]



Ultros, by the way, is the same as always, which I find very disappointing. There are enough monsters in Friendship Is Magic to replace prominent ones and the monster sprites are already being swapped out at random. My suggestion: The sea serpent from the second episode. He's a minor roadblock disarmed by Rarity, but she's not here now is she?



Twilight Sparkle: What is this? It's sticky! Ahhh!
Celestia: Twilight! Come here!
Mayor Mare: It's all right now.
Luna: STAND AWAY, CITIZEN! WE SHALL DESTROY THE FOUL BEAST THUSLY!
Celestia: No! Luna!!
Luna: DO NOT DISTRACT ME, SISTER!!
[Luna dives in]
Celestia: She's always been very direct...
Twilight Sparkle: Luna...!!!
Mayor Mare: Don't worry about her!
Celestia: Mayor...
Mayor Mare: She's very strong, isn't she? That beast will be easy for her!
[Luna goes flying]
Mayor Mare: ...
Celestia: Mm, she certainly has energy! Ha...!
Twilight Sparkle: Luna!!!!!
Celestia: Luna!!! Meet us in Neighshe!

While Luna-Sabin completely skips out on any Nightmare Moon potential, I'm finding I like her this way. Luna can be enthusiastic but unwise, so Sabin's wreckless actions kind work. Fan-interpretation claims Luna spends all her time between episodes playing video games (I guess) so I suppose that's supposed to justify breaking the fourth wall with her experience points comment.



...how is Apple Bloom faring, after having penetrated the Empire's defenses in Canterlot City... Is all going according to plan...?



Choose a scenario... bak-ak!

Yes, "kupo" has been replaced with chicken noises. Scootaloo is a flightless pegasis so she is compared to flightless birds like chickens or dodos. Both in the show (rarely) and by really mean fans (commonly).

Anyway, which path should we take first? If we follow Apple Bloom we can find out who's taking on the role of Celes. If we follow Luna we can find out about Cyan, Gau, and I suppose General Leo, plus see a little more of Fluttershy, though this route will take multiple updates. Twilight Sparkle and Celestia don't add any new characters, but Celestia still has the Unicorn magicite so doing them first would let us transfer it to Luna and our Celes stand-in coming up.

I expect to resume play sometime Friday. You have until then to sort it out amongst yourselves which order I should go through these.

I say go for Twilight for Serious Esper Switching Tactics.

*snicker*

Luna is the only choice.

Esper switching! And to help justify, you can test the Summon command with an Esper, and see if you can spam summons multiple times a battle. If yes: awesome, and if not: lame.

Calling it now: Celes is Applejack.

eta: Actually, I'll go ahead and put money down on all the remaining cast. (Although I wouldn't have called Fluttershadow. That was truly inspired.)

Cyan = Cranky Doodle Donkey ("Doodle")
Gau = Pinkie Pie

This will make for an authentic "Mr. Thou" scene.

Setzer = Rainbow Dash ("Dash")
Strago/Relm = Rarity/Sweetie Belle ("Belle")

Gogo = That violin pony the fandom is so obsessed with.
Umaro = Vinyl Scratch

That would actually be very cool in the World of Ruin.

I'd prefer Big Macintosh.

Gonna go with Twilight/Celestia/Mayor Mare for Espernanigans. Also, damn this hack is lazy.

Is this hack considered 'finished'?

I vote Twi, then Apple Bloom, then Luna. Shortest scenario first, longest scenario last.

If you go to the site the version number is 0.98, so I guess not?

Personally, I'm a little disappointed that Ultros wasn't recast as Trixie.

Although the majority seems to want to see Twi's scenario, I'm going to vote for Princess Capslock.

Yeah. Do Twilight first, then Apple Bloom, then Luna. Or at least Twilight first so there can be a little Esper swappin'. The FFVI nerd in me cringes at the thought of going through Luna's scenario without her learning any magic when she totally could be. And of course, while there's no guarantee that Not Celes will even be able to learn magic, why take the risk?

So yeah, Twilight first.

At first I was certain this was a quote from episode 6 of Friendship is Witchcraft, but I just skimmed through the episode and it seems like Luna doesn't say that. But it IS something that version of Luna would say, so kind of a reference maybe?

I guess it depends on if the hack was intended to reference anything MLP related, fandom included, or just the actual show.

It's from the show.

Oh wow, talk about conflating fandom with canon. Oy. What do you mean Sweetie Bell isn't a robot?

It works doubly as a gag because bosses in FFVI never dole out any experience points. (And it's also Luna's first full boss battle, so she wouldn't necessarily know any better.)

Say what you will about this hack's overall sloppiness, the guy definitely has a knack for putting the right references in the right places.

I'm so glad I'm LPing this. I miss so many references without people pointing them out.

See, you people seem to assume that the guys who made this don't know anything about FF6 because OLOLOL PONIES, but I get the impression they're quite knowledgeable about both parts of their work.