Well, now we see what happens when a gamer has to contend with the monster that gamer helped create, or at least what I expect the monster Pinkie Pie would become, in the communication game "Hey Batter." In the next volume, Success, I will avoid that monster altogether, and show how good I imagine an earth pony can be, or at least I'll get Pinkie Pie started in that direction. Along the way, I hopefully demonstrate that I'm open to the possibility that other pony races in Equestria are capable of as much good as earth ponies, a capacity I plan to demonstrate in Pinkie Pie.

In the mean time, here are some game components that you might not be aware of.

Controls:

Use the up and down arrow keys to move your character forward and backward respectively. Use the right and left arrow keys to rotate your character in those directions. Hold down the <Shift> key while pressing either right or left to have your character strafe in those directions.

During game play, you can right-click on an item to direct your character's attention to it. This will also cause a menu to appear, and you can choose what you want your character to do to that item based on what's in that menu, and your character will automatically do that. If obstacles are in his way, he will maneuver around them. And, as has been demonstrated in this playthrough, if your character refuses your commands, it very likely means Pinkie Pie is getting too far of course.

The program is designed so that a game can use any audio input device as the primary for communicating with the characters in the game. However, if you don't have such a device, you may use the keyboard and type your messages to specific characters. Either way, you can click on specific characters to talk to them directly, or you can address them by name. Whichever way you choose, the other characters within range will hear the message; but they'll also be aware that the message is for the specific character.

Ingredients of Failure:

For those of you who want to try your hand at making your own variation of the first volume of my story, there are some basic elements you need to take into consideration.

First and foremost is the main object character. It can be one of the Mane Six, a family member of one of them, a background pony, or any other character you think may have a potentially murderous Achilles heel. I chose Pinkie Pie specifically because of the Cupcakes fanfic written about her. But, as I said, it can be about any character in the My Little Pony Friendship is Magic series. And, it doesn't have to be influenced by an existing fanfic. Do you see Derpy Hooves as having a murderous side you could exploit? Is there perhaps such a component to Snips, Snails, Button Mash, or any other known foals you think you could tap into? Do you think you could picture Princess Luna murdering at least one creature, and thus turning into Nightmare Moon? Perhaps you could even make up your own character, give him or her a murderous side, a way to demonstrate it, and explore the possibility and results. You know, come to think of it, there's no reason why a group couldn't be involved, such as the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Now, how is this murderous tendency triggered? Is there something that could be said to turn it off? This question is especially important for the next volume, in which the objective is to make the main object character(s) into the best he, she, or they can be; but, for the present time, we'll focus on the object character becoming his or her worst type. For my Pinkie Pie character, the trigger was an event where my main character talked to three stallions about how he was fed horse meat once, and that he liked it. That doesn't have to be the trigger. It could be a variation of the One Ring of Power from the Lord of the Rings, or it could be an abandoned factory haunted by evil spirits. It could be an order that was misunderstood. Whatever you can think of, if it sounds reasonable, or you can make it sound that way, go ahead and use it. There may also be a way of shutting down the tendency, or avoiding it altogether; but, we'll get into that in the conclusion of the next volume.

Now, how about the setting? I used a video game, but it doesn't have to be that way. It can be an alternate universe or a series of them, the start of a temporal loop, an interactive book, a puppet show, whatever works for you. And, if you want to twist your character in a completely friendly environment, please feel free to do so.

Now, what victims will you choose for your object character? Mine were Gilda, Derpy Hooves, and Rainbow Dash, which were based on variations of what I'd seen and heard of the Cupcakes fanfic. And, Pinkie Pie does not kill herself. That'd be too easy. And, besides, this was my story. There are, in fact, a lot of characters to choose from in My Little Pony Friendship is Magic.

Next, after all these deaths, how do you plan to stop your object character? Will you kill him or her directly? Maybe set up a trap for him or her to fall into? Will you do as I did with Pinkie Pie, and have your subject character apprehend him or her and then hand him or her to the police? There is much that can be done with this part of the story.

Finally, how will your object character die? As I stated before in my story, suicide was out of the question for Pinkie Pie. Instead, she was executed by beheading. You could choose some type of natural death for your character, like food poisoning or exposure to extreme temperatures. Or, maybe you'll want your character to be killed by a lynch mob. There is as much leeway for the intended death of your object character as for any other part of the story.

Now, let's get to your subject character, the main influence of the object character. Is the subject character a teacher? a businessman? a stranger? a hero? a close friend? a hated enemy? a confidence artist? a religious leader? It doesn't have to be any of these types, you can choose your own. Or, he or she can be a combination of these and/or other types you could think of. My subject character was the one that designed the Hey, Batter! video game, and his avatar, which he called his character, was a stranger that spawned in Ponyville and has a home on the opposite side of the Everfree forest. But, once again, there's a lot of liberties that can be taken with this component.

Now, you should have all the ingredients you need to make your own story of the downfall of your object character. Tune in to the conclusion of the next volume, when we'll discuss how to make your target character rise to his or her greatest strengths.

Game Secrets:

One thing I have programmed for pegasae is an erogenous zone along the spine between the hips and where the wings begin. A gamer wanting to keep Rainbow Dash from breaking down the door and flying off to her destruction could order their herbivorous dinosaur friend to touch her in this area, thus causing her wings to open involuntarily, a response known as a wing boner or wing erection.

While this would be effective in keeping Rainbow Dash from breaking down the door and flying away, it'd also cause her to resent the dinosaur, and likely the gamer who revealed the secret to the dinosaur and ordered him or her to use it. So, the question is what is more important to the gamer: Rainbow Dash's life, or her respect?

Alternate Endings

In these notes, I will not discuss the winning endings. Those will be for the conclusion of the next volume. But, I will mention more of the losing endings. And, for the information of the reader, there will be no random deaths for Pinkie Pie. She will not, she cannot, suicide herself. And, neither can she, nor will she, die in a random creature attack. Her death is strictly for the gamer to decide.

One of the losing endings, besides the one in the story, happens in the basement if the gamer decides to kill Pinkie Pie as Diane requests, after she has killed her first fellow pony. However she's fatally wounded, the gamer's character focuses on her head, and, as with the ending of this playthrough, except with Diane Pie, she says, "Now, try again, and this time win." And, once again, as she dies, the words "Game Over" appear at the top of the screen, followed by the words "You Lose" appearing at the bottom of the screen. This works the same way if Pinkamena's in control, in which case it's Pinkamena saying, "Now, try again, and this time win," followed by the losing game over text.

If the gamer chooses to kill Pinkie before she can kill Gilda, with the camera focusing on her head, she asks, "You couldn't have let me choose first?" After that, the losing game over text appears.

I never intended for the main subject character to join forces with an evil Pinkie Pie. So, if a gamer tries to pursue such an option, the game will most likely end with a fatal exception.

Also, there is the possibility of getting a bad ending while pursuing the good option. If, while in such a pursuit, the gamer kills Pinkie Pie, she will ask you, "Why did you kill me this time? We were headed in the right direction. Are you bored with the game? Why?" And, as she dies, once again you'll get the losing game over text.

Outtakes

One little known fact about Pinkie Pie is she likes tongue twisters. So, when she came across the line about the "proper Pinkie promise," she figured she was going to have some fun. And, so it seemed when she started trying to say the line normally, and "proper Pinkie promise" came out "proper peepee promise." At first, it didn't bother her too much when she misspoke the line, then wondered aloud why anyone would want to make a "peepee promise."

Then, when she found that, after so many takes, that was the only way she could read that line aloud, well, she started getting frustrated.

We decided there were two solutions available to us. Either cancel the line altogether, considering it wasn't really that important to that part of the story anyway, or just set it aside and give Pinkie Pie a chance to practice the line and see if she could finally read it right.

Pinkie Pie is one of those types that doesn't give up easily, especially in this case when she Pinkie promised herself that she would practice the line until she could read it correctly. The only problem was she was always reading it the same way, and it didn't help her make any progress. After a week, it became especially frustrating for her. So, she came to me for advice.

I gave her the idea to read the line robotically, that is in monotone without emotion, and slowly for a while until she was more comfortable with the line, then slowly speed up. Later on, she could add emotion to it, and hopefully she could read it as "proper Pinkie promise" instead of "proper peepee promise." Also, I encouraged her to take it slowly, and not rush the process.

As I remember, the pink pony did try to rush the process at first, but then realized that she wasn't getting any closer to success that way.

Ultimately it took, as I remember, about a month, until one day Pinkie Pie came in and was finally able to read the line, "Why couldn't I get a proper Pinkie promise out of him?" And, we all celebrated that success.

There were countless times when ponies would stumble and fall. For instance, when the main subject character first meets the three stallions, the first take involved Emerald Hill crash landing at the main subject character's feet.

Every pony who had to get up on a chair ended up falling off of that chair one way or another at least the first time.

Even the human character had his moments. Due to a collision-detection glitch, when the main subject character was first strapped to the cement bed on the wall, he'd fall out of the straps.

Those weren't the only problems. Because of a joke Pinkie Pie had told her, Rarity had the giggles when she first did that scene when she was being informed about the death of Rainbow Dash and the incarceration of Pinkie Pie. As I remember, a total of ten takes were needed before the white unicorn with the purple hair could go through the scene demonstrating appropriate emotion.