Ask Littlepip

Pony, I am disappoint.
You may have heard that recently someone on the Mane Six QA team leaked a prototype of Fighting is Magic, which caused them to disband the testing group entirely, and we’ll now have significantly less public updates until the game is completed.
Now, leaks happen all the time. I understand that, and indeed, almost expect it to happen with big-budget commercial projects. The Half-Life games have had their share of leaks, and many suspect that’s why details about Episode 3 have been so scarce, as they want to avoid a repeat of that. So even a well-loved company like Valve can have their data swiped and released onto the Internet..
.. but that doesn’t mean I’m not disappointed in this turn of events. Up until this point, one could say that the brony fandom has been better than any other, in virtually every way. Yeah, there’s the usual Rule 34 and trolling and other aspects, but you get that in ANY fandom. It’s why they’re considered rules of the Internet. But this? This was a betrayal of the trust the Mane 6 developers gave you, the beta tester(s).
This isn’t some faceless mega corporation that’s answering to a bunch of stone monoliths in a pitch-black room, plotting against those whose lives are beneath them. These are fans, just like you, whom are working their asses off to produce a game of immensely-high quality, entirely for the love of the show.
There’s something which defines bronies besides an interest in MLP:FiM, and that’s a desire to be good, and act upon that good, towards others. If you don’t agree with that, that’s fine, but you don’t get to call yourself a brony either, since the entire message of the show is Friendship is Magic. And numerous examples within the series, like Gilda, Trixie and Diamond Tiara, also demonstrate that you can face adversity without becoming a jerk yourself, if you stick to your principles.
Whomever it was who leaked the game, I say, come forward and admit it. The sooner, the better. That’s the only way you’ll redeem yourself; not just in the eyes of us onlookers, but to yourself, for breaking the trust that was given to you.
You may just be surprised by how many will be willing to forgive, if you truly have learned a lesson from all of this..
(Art by Toaster Repairpony)
EDIT: There’s been a followup by EqD and Mane 6 on this, which you can read here.

You may have heard that recently someone on the Mane Six QA team leaked a prototype of Fighting is Magic, which caused them to disband the testing group entirely, and we’ll now have significantly less public updates until the game is completed.

Now, leaks happen all the time. I understand that, and indeed, almost expect it to happen with big-budget commercial projects. The Half-Life games have had their share of leaks, and many suspect that’s why details about Episode 3 have been so scarce, as they want to avoid a repeat of that. So even a well-loved company like Valve can have their data swiped and released onto the Internet..

.. but that doesn’t mean I’m not disappointed in this turn of events. Up until this point, one could say that the brony fandom has been better than any other, in virtually every way. Yeah, there’s the usual Rule 34 and trolling and other aspects, but you get that in ANY fandom. It’s why they’re considered rules of the Internet. But this? This was a betrayal of the trust the Mane 6 developers gave you, the beta tester(s).

This isn’t some faceless mega corporation that’s answering to a bunch of stone monoliths in a pitch-black room, plotting against those whose lives are beneath them. These are fans, just like you, whom are working their asses off to produce a game of immensely-high quality, entirely for the love of the show.

There’s something which defines bronies besides an interest in MLP:FiM, and that’s a desire to be good, and act upon that good, towards others. If you don’t agree with that, that’s fine, but you don’t get to call yourself a brony either, since the entire message of the show is Friendship is Magic. And numerous examples within the series, like Gilda, Trixie and Diamond Tiara, also demonstrate that you can face adversity without becoming a jerk yourself, if you stick to your principles.

Whomever it was who leaked the game, I say, come forward and admit it. The sooner, the better. That’s the only way you’ll redeem yourself; not just in the eyes of us onlookers, but to yourself, for breaking the trust that was given to you.

You may just be surprised by how many will be willing to forgive, if you truly have learned a lesson from all of this..

(Art by Toaster Repairpony)

EDIT: There’s been a followup by EqD and Mane 6 on this, which you can read here.