Update 4.1

Update 4.1 was released on 6^th December 2017 to once again celebrate Hearth's Warming Eve. The update introduces Pharynx the changeling and his metamorphosed counterpart, as well as new hippogriffs and ponies, plus two new events and several major changes.

What's New (Official announcement)

TWO TERRIFIC STORIES: To Change a Changeling: Last time, everyone in the Changeling Kingdom transformed into an amazing new (and less sinister) form. But as Starlight Glimmer and Trixie Lulamoon return to check on things, they discover a lone holdout who prefers the Hive’s old ways. Help Thorax figure out how to handle his out of control brother!
Lyra & Bon Bon Save Hearth's Warming Eve: Dr. Whooves has opened a portal to the past, to observe the Hearth's Warming Eve legend. But things went awry and he accidentally released the Windigos! Only Bon Bon and Lyra can come to the rescue and send back the Windigos before they ruin the holidays for everypony!
COOL NEW CHARACTERS: Give a warm welcome to Pharynx and other transformed Changelings in your Equestria. Pinkie Pie’s sisters Limestone Pie and Marble Pie are also coming in for the holidays, as well as legendary characters from the past including the Reformed Windigo!
MORE BUILDINGS: Build the Renovated Changeling Hive and Crystal Cave for your transformed Changeling friends, and check out the Windigo Trap, Changeling Arts and Crafts Station, The Feelings Forum and much more!
FRESH DECORATIONS: Deck the halls of your Equestria with the Hearth's Warming Fire, Snow-Discord, Verdant Throne, Ceremonial Dragon Fire, Hearth's Warming Carriage and more.
ALL PLAY AND NO WORK: Twilight and friends used their magic to make all shops produce goods independently! Now your pony pals can use their free time for grand adventures and cool tasks -- earning YOU awesome rewards!
STAR REWARDS: When your ponies gain stars, you'll earn cool rewards depending on how many stars they have altogether! Further info is available on your Profile page!

Changes

24 new characters added.
Star Mastery system added, which awards prizes to the player for reaching certain sums of character stars.
The cost to play mini-games has increased tremendously (up to 69000 or 20 ), but the multipliers has also been increased (up to 150x). These costs and multipliers also seem to scale with player level progression.
The shop system has been revamped:
- Shops no longer need to have ponies assigned and they automatically produce the cheaper item (this apparently cannot be changed). As a result, pony costumes that used to reward extra bits from shops now gives bonuses on pony tasks instead.
- Gem shops produced more gems overall during the first days of the update, but as of the first event patch on December 8^th, they were heavily nerfed to produce even less gems than before Update 4.1. This has been later reverted as of December 13^th.
A shop count is now available in the Profile page.
Starlight Glimmer, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo now live in Ponyville.
Several characters have their models improved, including Starlight Glimmer, Princess Celestia, Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker.
Some character names have changed to the ones seen in the mane series. (See the list below)