Merry Christmas everybody!

…Wait it’s May?

Well then, this is certainly awkward…

Buuuuuut regardless, this was a good episode. You just have to get over the fact it’s 7-8 months early. Cause I could easily see myself smiling along if I rewatched it at that time of the year.

This episode is also our fourth musical episode of the show. Now it’s neither a special occasion like MMC or Crusaders of the Lost Mark was. And nor would I say it’s near the level of Pinkie Pride given this is just a retelling of The Christmas Carol just with Ponies. But nonetheless for me, all the Musical episodes have provided a special flavor. It’s probably also the only way they could fit the Christmas Carol plot in less then 22 minutes to be frank.

At the start of the episode, Starlight says that the windigoes were mythical. Which brings up the possibility that the story shown in the play in the very first Hearth’s Warming episode was not entirely accurate. Of course this is a world where Daring Do proved to be real. So anything’s possible. I’ll get back to this point later on to express a possible headcanon I’ve picked up on all this.

Starting right off with the story’s own music the villain-esque song that Starlight/Snowfall is really well-done. And if it weren’t for a certain other song in this episode would be the top one of the entire episode. Snowfall is basically Scrooge with a little hint of The Grinch.

And HA the little burn that Spike replies to Starlight about when she thinks Snowfall’s plan is a little extreme is pretty much on point. Spike could of easily also pointed out the petty motivation behind the whole messing with time thing.

And with the first ghost, we have Applejack as the Ghost of Christmas/Hearth’s Warming Past. (For a little fun I made this edit of a certain screencap of this part. If you’re also an Undertale fan, you may get a good chuckle out of it).

Also while I actually haven’t seen too much of Harry Potter, I couldn’t help but get Snape Pony out of that professor pony that breaks Filly Snowglow’s heart for the holidays. I attended a panel at Trotcon that M.A. Larson hosted that explained that a lot of the staff behind FiM are big fans of the Harry Potter series. So it wouldn’t be a stretch to say this was intentional.

Then with a somewhat pun-filled sort of thing Pinkie is chosen for the Ghost of Christmas Present. Though given that ghost tended to be quite jolly it fits Pinkie a lot.

A fun fact about the Twilight’s Pinkie Voice scene is that Tara Strong originally auditioned for the role of Pinkie in Friendship is Magic. So in some ways, this could be considered somewhat meta. Either way it’s a very cute scene. Though this is also the 3rd main pony out of the remaing 5 aside from Pinkie herself to do a Pinkie impression. Rarity did one in Gift of the Maud Pie, Rainbow did one (Even if she did everyone else too) in Newbie Dash, and now Twilight did one in this episode. Will we see Fluttershy and Applejack do a Pinkie impression this season too?

And now onto Luna as the Ghost of Christmas Future. Though there’s a bit of a strangeness to her design cause it kinda looks like that cape is part of her body given there’s no wingholes, so it looks like the wings are part of the cape. We also don’t see her hindlegs whatsoever it could all be a shadowy void. Which would be admittedly very cool.

But seriously, I’m far from the biggest Luna fan. But I can’t resist in praising this song as the absolute best of the episode. And a definite contender for one of the best of the series thus far. Luna fans have a legitimate reason to fangasm over this song, it’s just really good.

With the windigoes appearing again this is what I was referring to getting back to that point when Starlight out of story was saying they’re not real. This seems to make things more muddles then ever if the play in Hearth’s Warming Eve was accurate. On one hand, this story is another Hearth’s Warming story that could also have been exaggerated. On another, again this is a world where a lot of fictional things are real even if the citizens of said world doubt their existence so it really would not be a stretch whatsoever for the Windigoes to exist. I however have a bit of a compromised headcanon: The windigoes WERE real, but they weren’t the sole cause of the harsh winter depicted in the play. Remember the Season 6 opener even had just a natural winter threaten to freeze the Crystal Empire with no windigoes in sight. Perhaps the Windigoes spread it faster, but it remains that even without them Equestria was in danger of being completely frozen over naturally kinda like an Ice Age. It was thanks to the Ponies finally uniting and learning to control the weather did Equestria became the place it is. I feel that’s a strong way to look at it, and may even come into play a little bit when appropriate for a future story in I Dream of Twilight Sparkle.

And from the Snowfall uses the chance to make amends to the other ponies. And Starlight when given the choice to join the festivities joins along with a reprise of the opening song. As should be expected for Christmas specials, there should be a cheery ending to give those in the holiday spirit, especially children a smile on their faces.

The only real issue you could say with this episode is again the time it aired. We’re a lot closer to last Christmas then we are with the next one. So some of us aren’t quite in that holiday spirit. But if you can get past that for a moment, you can certainly enjoy this episode a lot. It’s certainly the best of the three Hearth’s Warming Episodes we had. Some people may also point out the show has already done a A Christmas Carol type story given that was what When The Sweetie Belle Toils kinda covered. Only I think that’s unique in of itself enough because that wasn’t related to a holiday whatsoever, just the trope well-known for in A Christmas Carol being applied to something else. Which I’ve praised that episode on pulling off wonderfully.

If you’ve been overexposed to A Christmas Carol with all the different versions that have been made I could understand if any of you got bored or otherwise weren’t impressed. It’s a significant story in the history of the holiday though that sometimes when you have the chance you have to get your own spin on it somehow. If nothing else, enjoy the 2 really stand-out songs this episode provided. ^^