Hearth's Warming Eve

Dear Princess Luna...

Looks like a 'Christmas'-y episode. The 'Mane 6' are traveling to Canterlot aboard the train again. Snow is on the rooftops and some of the ground. 'Christmas' is apparently 'Hearth's Warming Eve' in the Ponyverse. 'Christmas trees' decorate the streets, and Rarity's hat.

Twilight decides they should play 'I spy'. I could have sworn the way that was played was one calls out something they 'spy' i.e. 'something green' then the others guess. In the Ponyverse, you just yell out whatever you see around you. Or in Pinkie Pie's case, you yell out your future actions.

Princess Celestia has selected them to put on 'the most important play of the season,' which is apparently considered a great honor.

The previously enthusiastic Fluttershy starts to freak out. (Look at the size of the crowd in the above pic) Also, check out Rarity's get up, that look suits her pretty well.

Rarity tries to console Fluttershy, but just makes things worse as she says 'maybe even thousands' will be watching since they are performing at Canterlot. Fluttershy ends up back in the box.

A window opens and Rarity had already adapted to her royalty role, barking out orders to Applejack to close it.

 As Applejack goes to the window, we see Rainbow Dash cheering for herself.

We learn that they are going to perform a reenactment of the founding of Equestria, and not the Rainbow Dash show. Rainbow proclaims herself the star, and that it should be the Rainbow Dash show. I believe this episode is after Mysterious Mare Do Well, so Rainbow obviously didn't take the lessons she learned there to heart.

Remember what happened last time you got on Applejack's bad side? All your friends conspired to make you feel lower than dirt. Tread carefully, Rainbow.

All hell does indeed seem to be breaking loose in the dressing room as Applejack and Rainbow clash over Rainbow's pride, Rarity's hair gets assaulted by the wintery gusts from the still-open window, and Twilight and Pinkie Pie try in vain to get Fluttershy out of the box. We learn an interesting thing about magic here. Twilight was using it to tug on Fluttershy's tail. Pinkie tries to help by grabbing and pulling Twilight backwards, the result is a rubber band effect that sends Twilight forwards into the box.

 

That looks like it hurt.

Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity all yell at Applejack and Rainbow to shut the damn window, as Applejack is still trying to explain what the event is about: friendship and harmony.

Rainbow thinks she is the star, and she doesn't even know what the story she is about to perform entails? Earlier it was mentioned this was a tradition, I think, so unless Rainbow has not payed attention or gone to any previous performances...

The show begins. Spike is giving the background, talking about some war torn, hate-filled era, long before Celestia ruled, and before the ponies had found the land of Equestria. There were the three tribes:

Pegasi.

 Unicorns.

 Earth ponies.

The three tribes cared only for themselves. The Pegasi have the power to control the weather.

The Pegasi of course used their powers for good, I mean, to extort food from the Earth ponies, the only ones able to grow food.

"Give us food! Or we'll make the rain never fall and you won't grow any more food! Wait, we eat that food..."

Come on Earth ponies, come and rise up! Give you liberty, or give you death!

"These better taste good. Or I'll be back...with a tornado to wreck your shit up."

Holy spades. The Unicorns also extort food from these poor dumb SoBs. Why? Because they use their magic to control the day and night cycle.  +1 Unicorns/Magic.

"Can you make the sun set, or the moon rise? No? Didn't think so, so hand it over, bub."

"Better keep that food coming, knaves. If not, hope you like eternal darkness."

I'm surprised the Earth ponies didn't flip out and have a revolution. Just look at the differences in their clothing there. You've got like Grecian/Roman dresses on the pegasi, pretty decent clothing on the Unicorn noble (not quite as good as on her servant) and then battered rags on the Earth ponies.

The three tribes kept their 'cold war' of mistrust festering until one day an event happened that sent it to a boil. A great blizzard came and started wrecking things up.

The normally industrious Earth ponies couldn't farm their land and were freezing.

That Earth pony's joy was sort lived as the harsh winds disintegrated it in her hoof.

The wind was so strong it was even able to blow away her, and that house she is standing in front of in the above shot, extinguishing their fire and leaving them exposed to the elements.

The Pegasi home fared no better, they were starving and eating their own helmet crests (weren't those things actually made from horse hair?). Note also that they were just 'starving' and not freezing, so they probably have innate immunities to weather effects.

The Pegasi city looks pretty badass.

Seen here is Scipio Pegasanicus, as he makes his first steps towards cannibalism.

The Unicorns were both starving and freezing. The Unicorns have power over day and night, and many other uses for magic as we have discovered, but this blizzard was too powerful for even them to combat.

Hmm, the Pegasi city is badass, but the Unicorns have castles. Who doesn't love castles?

Aww...

Each tribe blamed the others for their suffering, and the angrier every pony grew, the worse the blizzard became.

And so it was decided that a grand summit would be held to figure out a way to cope with the blizzard.

 Each tribe sent their leaders:

Daughter of the Unicorn King, Princess Platinum. (If they sent their leaders, why is she here and not the king?)

She's rockin' some handmaidens too.

 Ruler of the Pegasi, Commander Hurricane.

The Pegasi sent armed guards in.

 Leader of the Earth ponies, Chancellor Puddinghead.

The Earth ponies are in battered rags, and their leader is able to afford and upkeep an elaborate pudding hat, hmm..

Instead of blaming the Pegasi, who are 'stewards of the weather' and the Eath and Unicorns uniting against them, the three tribes decided to hold a summit and discuss the matter. The three representatives, Princess Platinum, Commander Hurricane, and Chancellor Puddinghead, immediately start arguing.

 

 

Hurricane blames the Earth ponies for hoarding food. 

 

 Puddinghead admits they are hoarding food, but only because the Pegasi are causing the blizzard.

 Hurricane denies responsibility and blames the Unicorns for doing it with their 'freaky magic.'

"Freaky???"

Now, wait a second, if Unicorns can manipulate weather with their magic, Earth ponies and Unicorns should unite, kill off the Pegasi, and then they would only have to split the food two ways.

 

Pegasi aren't very smart. If Unicorns have the power to conjure this massive blizzard, surely they have the power to kill you where you stand.

Princess Platinum is appalled and says they would never stoop to such a thing. Puddinghead blames them both for using their 'weirdo' powers to freeze them all, and is out of ideas. Hurricane seizes that opening and makes a racist statement implying Earth ponies are morons.

Princess Platinum actually defends the Earth pony, telling Hurricane to chill it with the insults, Hurricane snaps at her, telling her she ain't the boss. The Princess isn't going to take that kind of brutish behavior and prepares to leave.

Instead of trying to talk it out in what looked like a decently warm locale, the delegates decide to argue about who is leaving first and have a Three Stooges moment as they struggle to get out into the cold, and - what in the?

Their faces gaunt, their eyes were blurred, and shirts all soaked with sweat.
They're riding hard to catch that herd, but they ain't caught 'em yet,
'Cause they've got to ride forever on that range up in the sky,
On horses snortin' frost as they ride on, hear their cry.

Ghost horses are manifesting in this blizzard? Now things are starting to make sense. Some ponies murdered these horses, which are now enacting their terrible vengeance from beyond the grave, planning to freeze or starve to death their murderers.

Hurricane returns to his/her frozen homeland and rants about the summit. He/she seems to want to take military action against the other tribes to remind them that Pegasi are warriors. He/she seems oblivious to the fact that only one of his/her soldiers was there to greet him/her. Well, actually, I think they may have all gone to the summit? So I guess this would be a lone sentry that was trying to guard the place.

"My personal dictionary doesn't have 'sycophant' in it, but every one of my divisions does!"

"Pegasi, this stuff that some sources sling around about Pegasi wanting out of this war, not wanting to fight, is a crock of bullshit. Pegasi love to fight, traditionally. All real Pegasi love the sting and clash of battle. You are here today for three reasons. First, because you are here to defend your homes and your loved ones. Second, you are here for your own self respect, because you would not want to be anywhere else. Third, you are here because you are real Pegasi and all real Pegasi like to fight."

Platinum returns to the Unicorn castle and summons Clover the Clever, who appears to be the court wizard. Clover's prediction skills are lacking, as she apparently thought the summit would work. Platinum vows to no longer consort with the lower class tribes.

Look how nice Clover is, fetching her a blanket...

Closing the doors...

Getting her a tub of hot water to soak her hooves in.

Puddinghead returns to her home, entering through the chimney. After bloviating a bit to her assistant, Smart Cookie, Puddinghead decides that the Earth ponies should go it alone since they have all the food. Smart Cookie informs the chancellor they are out of food, and the chancellor comes up with the somewhat intelligent plan that maybe they should move someplace that isn't becoming a frozen wasteland.

"I don't believe it, the Chancellor just said something not entirely stupid?"

All three of the tribal leaders decide giving up and finding new homes is the way to go. Considering this a story about the founding of Equestria, and in the present-day episodes the three live in peace, in addition to having the 'royalty' breed of pony that is a combination of all 3 (or at least 2), it's probably safe to say they all try to settle the same area. =

"What if we take this blizzard, and push it someplace else?"

Commander Hurricane and Private Pansy set out, Hurricane threatening to 'conquer' the new land if need be. Now we know why that one soldier was left behind during the summit, she is afraid of lightning and clouds. Hurricane tells her that enemies could be lurking anywhere, sees a dragon shaped cloud, and attacks it.

"Oh, dear. Clouds, something my tribe swims in... I'm so scared!"

Meanwhile, Princess Platinum has set off with Clover to find a new land. The Princess is already complaining that her hooves hurt when they have only been out for 5 minutes. In a disturbing twist, the Princess decides to ride Clover, complete with bridle, so that her gown doesn't get wet or tattered.

That gown? Worth more than the books in Clover's library, and her dignity.

The Earth pony chancellor demonstrates her stupidity by 'reading a map' aka cutting eye and mouth holes in a map and attaching it to her face, upside down. She previously stated she was an elected official, so one must wonder how many rotten boroughs there must be in Earth pony ville.

I suppose this may not be so much a demonstration of the stupidity of the chancellor, but more of proving once again how awesome magic is. A Unicorn could simply use magic to hold the map aloft.

"Note to self, look up data on the chancellor's election. Either we're as dumb as the other tribes say, or something ain't right here."

Smart Cookie, confirmed to be the secretary of the chancellor, proceeds to trick Puddinghead into relinquishing the map. Puddinghead puts it into her mouth, spits it into Smart Cookie's face, and promptly walks off the side of the cliff.

All three leaders and their assistants finally arrive at a never-before-seen paradise. You'd think the pegasi at least would have found this place since they can fly, or the Earth ponies would have sent out explorers to try and find a place to escape from their oppressors. Which brings up a very good point, what the heck were the Pegasi and Unicorns going to do, since Earth ponies are the ones who can grow the food? Kidnap some to use as slaves in the new land? Secretly ally with them?

Hurricane declares the land Pegasopolis, while Pansy is already picking out the location of her new house, seemingly on the ground somewhere.

Princess Platinum has already collected a pile of gems, and it's shown that they are all over the place in this new land. She is 'double dazzled' and declares the new land Unicornia.

"I shall call this place... MINE ALL MINE THESE ARE MY GEMS!"

Puddinghead and Smart Cookie are reveling in the new land, marvelling at the air, the trees, and the fertile dirt. Puddinghead wants to call the place Dirtville, Smart Cookie recommends Earth instead, and the Chancellor steals credit for thinking of it.

The leaders all proclaim that they have found their new home.

The banners of Pegasopolis, Unicornia, and Earth.

Platinum at least is just the daughter of the king and perhaps not the actual ruler of the Unicorns, the others are the actual leaders, so their cluelessness is a little peculiar, as it is revealed they had all claimed parts of the land within direct sight of each other.

"Son of a..."

After a brief moment of confusion, they all begin arguing about who was there first and what the place's name should be.

Hurricane wants to settle it by combat, Platinum orders Clover to throw Hurricane into a dungeon. Clover, instead of taking the initiative and realizing the Princess wants her to use her magic and teleport Hurricane back to their castle's dungeon, tries to get them to all calm down. Smart Cookie and Pansy agree.

Again proving their cluelessness, the blizzard seems to start back up when Hurricane is yelling at people. Hmm, sure seems like it would be the 'steward of the weather' responsible, eh? The ghost horses have returned in force, quickly covering the grounds of this new paradise under a carpet of icy death.

 

So if the ghost horses are following the leaders, does that mean their old homes should be free from the blizzard now?

The leaders and co. all retreat into a cave, and instead of trying to find a way to exorcise the ghost horses, they quickly degrade into arguing once again.

"I will not die next to commoners. Give me my royal space!"

 Hurricane decides that Pegasopolis should have about half of the cave as their own territory.

Not letting the pegasi get the better of them, the Princess and Chancellor order their underlings to mark their own territory. Clover and Smart Cookie have an awkward moment where the lines they were digging to show their territory end up converging.

"Umm, hey there, wanna team up and take out those pegasi? No? Oh, okay then..."

I said before that the Unicorns and Earth ponies should have just allied against the Pegasi.This seems to be fate's way of giving them another hint, but it goes unheeded.

Pansy is still digging out the pegasi territorial lines, and goes around a rock. Hurricane rages about it, Platinum claims the rock is on their side of the line, hopeful that gems are in it. Hurricane states he/she is claiming it for Pegasopolis, Platinum demands it back, Puddinghead rushes in and steals it. All three start running around trying to get this rock.

The rock that started the Great Pony War III

 The ghost horses have found their prey once more, and manifest inside the cavern.

"I've got a bad feeling about this..."

The vengeful spirits ice over the entrance, then start freezing the leaders alive. The leaders manage to hurl out one final insult against each other's race before they get iced. Earth ponies are numbskulls. Pegasi are brutes. Unicorns are snobs.

"At least no one's yelling about rocks anymore..."

The three underlings cower together in the center of the cavern as the ice creeps towards them and the ghost horses' terrible moans echo off the walls.

Further proving that no one knows what the hell is going on here, they apparently see what is causing the blizzard for the first time.

Clover identifies them as windigos, winter spirits that feed off fighting and hatred. The more hate they feel, the colder things become.

Alright, so we can now blame this crisis in part on Clover, as you'd think she would have figured it out beforehand. Especially when the 'blizzard' suddenly followed them to the paradise.

"G-g-g-ghost horses?!?!?"

Smart Cookie laments that it is all their fault, the three tribes brought it upon themselves, and now they've brought it to this wonderful new land.

"Huh. Maybe we shoulda been working together, since we all have unique talents necessary to live."

Clover says now their bodies will become as cold as their hearts, all because they were foolish enough to hate. I can see where she's coming from with that, and a world without hate might be nice, but I doubt anyone expected freakin' ghost horses to come and freeze everyone to death for not getting along.

Pansy says she hates her own commander (who is confirmed to be a 'she') but likes the other underlings. She corrects herself, and says she just really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really dislikes her.

As they are frozen, Clover and Smart Cookie say that they don't hate the other two either, as they are all ponies. These 'death bed' confessions seem to injure the ghost horses.

Hail Mary, mother of God.

As I've been saying all along, magic is awesome. As Clover is almost fully frozen, she, or something, triggers her magical abilities and shatters the ice on her and the other two.The magical beam sets the ghost horses ablaze with arcane fury.

"Don't vape us! You remember we're your friends right?" "Yeah! Kill Hurricane instead, she's just awful!"

As for the windigos? They were banished! Back to the depths of hell, where they languished in torment for thousands of years, until one day, they would finally have their revenge.

The aftereffect of Clover's spell was a giant fiery heart that hovers in the air and provides light and warmth.

Clover decides that the magic (which only unicorns or royalty have as far as I know) that emanated from her, must have been because of her new friends and not just her.

Spike, the narrator for the play, proceeds to tell us that 'all through the night' the three new friends told stories to each other and sang songs. These songs became the carols that the ponies sing in the modern era.

The warmth, laughter, and singing eventually reached the frozen leaders, which melted both the ice and their hearts.

Thankful to even be alive, they finally start cooperating and decided to share the land, naming it Equestria.

That sure looks like a representation of Luna and Celestia on there. Which raises some questions.

They sing one of the carols their Founding Mares sang in the past for the finale to the play. After the show, Twilight says Celestia must have thought they exemplify what good friends are, and the windows in the dressing room burst open again. Rarity yells at Applejack, Applejack tries to delegate the task to Rainbow, Rainbow, the pony that loves to fly, whines that she always has to do the 'high up' chores just because she has wings and complains that Twilight should just use her magic. All the ponies start arguing until they hear the mournful cry of a ghost horse windigo, and Rainbow finally agrees to shut the windows.

"You're already flying, just close the damn windows."

 The episode ends with a shot of Canterlot with Clover's Flaming Friendship Heart spell soaring above it.

What I learned from this episode:

• All the pony tribes would have died during this crisis if it wasn't for Unicorns' magic. They figured out the blizzard was caused by windigos. They pulled off a last second magic spell that sent the evil spirits back to hell and saved the day, while the pegasus and Earth pony merely froze to death.
•  I believe Spike said towards the beginning of the show that this was an era 'long before the peaceful rule of Celestia' so it is really strange to see what certainly seems to be representations of her and Luna on the Equestria flag. Perhaps they already existed as some kind of deity ponies or were common icons to represent harmony. I'd imagine some other episodes go a little deeper into Celestia/Luna's back story. (Update: None really do so far) What it probably is though was just the modern Equestria flag, since at that point it transitions from flashback to modern times.
• So, what happened to the old area that they used to live in? Is it just some desolate wasteland or did it recover after the windigos were defeated. I'm thinking it is still frozen over. If you've seen that map they came out with, at the top is the Frozen North, and it seemed like the paradise wasn't too far away since two of the three tribes were traveling on foot.
• So, Celestia 'hoof-picked' them to participate in this play, probably assigned their roles as well. Did she do it because she wanted them to learn about friendship? Or, did she do it because the roles they played were all their ancestors? Assuming they acted like the real deals, Rainbow is brash like Hurricane, Rarity is kind of uppity like Platinum, Twilight is mild-mannered and level-headed like Clover, Fluttershy dislikes conflict and is fearful like Pansy, Pinkie is batshit insane and sort of 'dumb' like Puddinghead, and Applejack is supportive and honest like Smart Cookie.

Update -  This episode ended up being in my top 10 overall favorites, write-up copied from my Triumphant Return post:

A look back to the olden days of the Ponyverse, where the three pony tribes begrudgingly lived with each other, depending on every tribe's special talent just to keep food in their bellies. Their cold war literally turns cold as windigos, winter spirits that feed on hatred and fighting, plague the land with perpetual blizzards. Two heroes from each tribe set out to find a new home for their peoples, Princess Platinum and Clover the Clever, the unicorns, Commander Hurricane and Private Pansy, the pegasi, and Chancellor Puddinghead and Smart Cookie, the Earth ponies. Clover the Clever's magic, empowered by the miracle of love and friendship, saves the day and leads to the foundation of Equestria, where all the tribes live in harmony.