Written by Merriwether Williams

Fan Rating: 9.1 out of 10

This episode seems to be receiving mostly positive reactions, but mixed with a lot of “not what I was hoping for”.  Being that the Halloween special was such a classic, it’s not hard to see why folks got their hopes up.  As it was, we saw little in the way of Pony Holiday Cheer or even any winter fashions, Rarity’s hat excluded.

It should be pointed out that some went into this episode with a negative bias when the writing credit came up.  Yes, this is the second episode from Merriwether Williams, writer of the only pony episode I didn’t like, “That Time We Dressed Up As Superheros And A Lot Of Folks Nearly Died, But It’s Okay Because Dash Was Being Slightly More Boastful”.  That said though, I think she did a much better job this time around.  Mostly.

Apparently before Equestria and the rule of Celestia (and Luna) ponies of different types didn’t get along.  The unicorns controlled day and night, the pegasus controlled the weather, and the earth ponies worked the lands and gave some of their food as tribute to the other two as one would do as peasants to royalty, or business owners to mobseters, or you when you pay your taxes.  

Things worked fine (if not happily) like this for many generations until a unending blizzard hit the land and drastically reduced the food supply.  The three races react in the traditional way, blaming each other.  

Also, hey, what’s with the freaky ghost horses?

Probably not important.

With negotiations broken down, each of the three rulers come up with a different brilliant plan.  The plan is to leave and go somewhere else.  And it’s all the same plan.  And they all do it badly.

The three different races all come upon a new and untouched land that is perfect for their needs.  But it’s the same land.  And they all claim it as their own.  The bickering resumes.

Oh hey, it’s snowing and those ghost things are back.

The three leaders and their respective toadies take refuge in a nearby cave and begin to diplomatically divide up the cave and fight over rock ownership.  The three leaders promptly freeze to death solid.  Thus leaving their three assistants to bask in the peace and quiet.

Well they would if not for the friggin Windigos swirling around and eating their hate.  With the realization that they’re all kinds of doomed for hating each other, the three decide that now would be an excellent time to come to a common understanding.  That understanding is that they hate their leaders.  So their hatred leads to friendship which defeats hatred…

Anyway the magic of their friendship makes a big flaming heart that drive off the Windigos. They keep the firing burning long enough to thaw their new land and their leaders who all decide to be bros and form a new nation together.  That nation was Equestria.  Aaaaand /scene.

Then our audience and stage performers sing a neat little holiday song about friendship and what not.

Then we go back stage and the girls resume fighting over an open window.  They then remember the play that they just did and how they don’t want to die in ice so they close the window and laugh.  Pan up to great big flaming heart and THE END.

If this look back seemed short it’s because, well, this episode was really straight forward and the only things that really kept it going were the gags during the play.  That said, the play was friggin funny as heck.

The three rulers stole the show with their bossy attitudes, insane leaps of “logic”, and just being general jerks.  Naturally this has lead to people arguing that the girls were acting out of character which makes sense what with them playing different characters.  Although I loved how absolutely vain and whiny Platinum was and was endlessly amused by Hurricane’s militaristic attitude; it was Puddinghead who won my heart with antics that actually outdo Pinkie Pie.  She can think outside the box and inside the chimney.  Can you?

This actually brings up a bizzare trend I notice online with folks judging the characters based on how they remind them of folks like that.  As in, they don’t like characters they wouldn’t personally hang out with.  I find that to be utterly silly; yeah Hurricane would make for an incompetent leader, but she made me laugh and that’s all I care about.  Where as, the other three, Clover, Pansy, and Smart Cookie were rather boring to me unless they were interacting with their leader.  Pansy in particular came off as a passive aggressive jerk as soon as she was not doing prat falls for Hurricane.

We got some new creatures this week, those freaky ghost horsies, the Windigos.  Classically, Windigos are spirits of cold, greed, and cannibalism; all things one would have to worry about when living through harsh winters.  They are mythical creatures created to encourage cooperation among settlers in tough times when tempers can easily fray.  Also, they’re friggin scary.  Traditionally, a Windigo would look more humanoid, but as this is a pony world, their ghostly horse appearance works.

There was some fun little background and side characters running about this episode.  Derpy got three cameos (on the train, at the curtain, and backstage at the end) my favorite being when she peeked out the curtain and waved to the audience only to receive a scolding look and slink away (you’re still a star in my eyes!).  We got some familiar ones mucking about either in the audience or the show itself, including Carrot Top practicing her singing back stage and Lyra both heralding Platinum’s entrance and being in the audience at least four times at once.  The most notable new background was a grey stallion pegasus with a rainbow cutie mark that showed up frequently and even tried to eat his hat out of hunger.  For fun, I’m going to call him Stormy Skies due to his drab coat and mane coupled with his colourful cutie mark.

Now there have been two crazy big points of contention I’ve seen argued about around the fandom.  One, that the play contradicts the history of the world that we have been presented with thus far.  This is incorrect as the history we have been given up to this point has been about Equestria and this play showed its foundings, so it’s before Equestria.  The biggest part of their complaint is that the ponies raise a flag with the Royal Pony Sisters on it when they declare the land to be Equestria.  This can be explained easily in two ways, modern flag used much as they do in school plays for the founding of America or that Alicorns were things of legends back in the day and made for a good symbol of peace amongst the pony races.

The other thing, strangly enough, is the big flaming heart.  I mean, this is a world where friendship literally makes magical things happen up to and including defeating beings of pure chaos that obey no rules of physics; by comparison, making a big glowy heart isn’t that silly.  And at the end, maybe the play was designed with the intent to create pony camaraderie  thus reigniting the heart each year as a warming winter wonder.  Or maybe they were just trying to call the Powerpuff Girls.

There are a few things that bother me personally though.  The opening and the ending specifically were big ones.  The whole cold opening was just… dull and they played Eye Spy wrong.  I mean, sheesh.  As for the ending, we had the girls fighting over a window.  It worked before the play as it showed them all being a bit nervous in their own ways, but it was just such a weak ending.  They should have closed out with the play, song, pan up to heart and boom, show over.   Both scenes just seemed like wasted time that could have gone to something better, like Celestia and Luna cameo watching the play or Derpy the red nosed reindeer, two things I was very much hoping to see.

Another little complaint I have is the song.  It’s all well and good as a holiday hymn, but it didn’t feature that which I look forward to in all the songs, the girl’s voices.  This was just a big choir affair and as such, didn’t really strike a chord with me and isn’t one that’ll be stuck in my head a year later.

So, all in all, it was a fine enough episode that wasted some time and had a decent song.  For many it failed to deliver the world building or holiday-ness that was hoped for, but it did have many many many funny gags and some genuinely heart warming little touches throughout.  Happy holidays all, and we’ll see when you next there is new pony.

Also, which do you all think gives more accurate results?  Voting on the 5 point scale or 10 point scale?

Written by M. A. Larson

Fan Rating: 4.5 out of 5

The next morning Twilight goes to wake Spike only to find him under a hoard of junk he apparently swindled out of folks or outright stole.  Oh and he’s more than twice his usual size and generally looking like a gangly teenager.  As the pair freak out trying to find the cause of this sudden growth spurt, Spike is distracted by all this stuff that he notices isn’t yet his.  Twilight is not sure which is more unsettling, his new appearance or his grabby nature.

To discover the secret of this strange change in Spike, Twilight takes him to a doctor.  The doctor’s diagnosis, he’s a dragon, come back with a baby pony.  Moving on down, she goes a vet who’s diagnosis is he’s a dragon, come back with a puppy.  Finally she goes to the only other character who ever knows anything, Zecora.  Zecora’s diagnosis, he’s a dragon and that they have an ability tied into their natural greed to grow along with their hoard which increases their greed.  In other words, the bigger the haul, the bigger the Spike.  Cue him stealing everything not nailed down while they’re talking and running off.

Twilight takes off in hot pursuit and finds the not so little dragon try to wrestle away Scootaloo’s only known worlds possesion, her scooter.  Acting quickly, Twilight lures the greedy beast with a shiny new broom while he continues growing.  Twilight traps him the library and resolves that she won’t let him out until he stops being a greedy jerk.  That doesn’t work.

At Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack has found that some malicious character has stolen all her apples and the leaves from the trees.  Twilight runs up spouting some nonsense that cute little Spike is the wicked evil thief and enlists her aid in capturing the mad beast.  Applejack laughs at this rediculous claim.  Then Spike runs by with her apples and leaves in his greedy claws.  They get her rope.

Trying to rope Spike doesn’t go so well, as Rainbow Dash politely observes.  Rainbow is distracted from her mockery by the sound of Fluttershy shrieking and they all rush to the rescue.  Poor Fluttershy has gotten herself up in a tree because a big scary dragon stole her chicken coop, oh how awful!  No time for sorrows though, now Pinkie’s getting her scream on!

At Sugar Cube Corner Pinkie is fending off the dragon with a full on cake assault.  This grand plan hits a slight bump when he just snatches the cakes out of the air and adds them to his hoard causing him to grow.  Spike then grows to an even larger size and steals eight cakes with one one hand.  That’s as many as four two’s.  And that’s terrible.  Also he destroy’s Sugar Cube Corner and sends Pinkie’s bedroom flying over the horizon.  Let’s presume that Gummy and the Cake’s were elsewhere.

The air raid sirens blare and citizens are panicking in the streets as the great and terrible lizard stomps across town, roaring.  Well, now that Spike’s gone full Godzilla, time to add in a little King Kong as he spies that lovely Rarity in her boutique and adds her to his collection.  Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash try to negotiate for Rarity release; said negotiations consist of Fluttershy asking if he would please, maybe, you know, let her go, if that’s okay while Rainbow Dash makes threats of violence.  Unimpressed, he ties both of them up in Rarity’s cape and lets em fall in a stream.  Rarity is HORRIFIED, her cape is ruined.

BUT THERE’S NO NEED TO FEAR, THE WONDERBOLTS ARE HERE!  The trio of fancy flyers start dive bombing Spike and succeed in driving him out of town.  The trio are somewhat less successful at getting him down from a mountain as he captures them in the remains of a water tower.  Ah well, A for effort ladies.

Spike roars his triumph but is interrupted by Rarity’s condemnations.  Rarity lists the dragons many crimes, but says she can let all that slide, what with him being a dragon and all.  But, she says as she pulls off her ruined cape, a crime against fashion is just too much to forgive.  This succeeds in one thing, getting his attention on that purty fire ruby.

Rarity notices his attentions and declares that he will not be taking that as it was a gift from Spikey-wikey and it’s far too precious to her.  This awakens feelings from deep within the beast’s heart.  We are treated to a Spike-o-vision reremembering of his giving that ruby to Rarity, complete with first person kiss to the cheek.  That sound you just heard was all the Rarity fans jamming their face against their TV.  Anyway, this totally reawakens Spike’s sweet nature and causes him to revert to normal.

There’s a bit of a double edged sword to Spike coming back to normal.  On the one hand, Spike-wikey is back and won’t be stealing anyone’s stuff or destroying the town.  On the other hand, he and and Rarity are now falling to their death.  Fluttershy and Dash are flying to the rescue, but Spike decides that now would probably be the best time to unburden his soul to Rarity about his feelings.  She silences him and gives Spike a tearful smile.

The pair is rescued from out of the air by our two flyers using Rarity’s ruined cape.  By coincidence, the Wonderbolts also get loose and quickly depart before they make themselves look worse.  Back on the ground, Spike is feeling pretty bad about what he’s done.  Rarity comes up and tells him how proud she is of him for overcoming… um, himself.  She calls him her hero and favors him with another mwah.

Dear Princess Celestia, today Spike learned that it feels a lot better to give than receive.  Also the girls get capes!  The End!  Let’s just assume Twilight has a “Put Ponyville Back Together” spell.

This was a very awesome little episode that gave us grand action, cool set pieces, some pony fashion, and our first creature feature since Discord!  Last season by episode 10 we’d had a manitcore, a river serpent, a big ol’ dragon, a sexy griffon, a giant space bear, and a bunch of hungry flying mouths; this season’s been a little sparse in comparison.  Still, grown up Spike had a pretty cool design and I enjoyed the iguana kinda way he moved on his path of mindless destruction.  There’s actually been more than a little debate over his lack of wings, but oh well.  Who says all dragons need to have wings anyway?

The other big point of contention in this episode is, of course, Rarity.  Some folks are accusing her of swindling Spike out of his birthday dinner which he had spent months preparing.  The way I see it, she saw something and she wanted it, that’s normal.  Another thing to keep in mind is that to Spike gems are a delicious food while they are artistic inspiration for Rarity.  That said, she did pretty much stand over him pouting.  So yeah.  While this wasn’t, ya know, a good thing for her to do, it’s not that bad.  He most certainly enjoyed the kiss he got much more than a snack and Rarity really DID appreciate the ruby and Spike for his thoughtfulness.

This actually bring up the other BIG thing that folks are talking about and that’s Rarity/Spike OTP shipping.  Yup, he’s had a crush on Rarity since he laid eyes on her, but this is the first episode to do anything with that.  She kisses him twice and talks about how wonderful he is and when he’s confessing his wub she gets all teary.  Some folks are calling this the start of a proper romance, but I think that’s really unlikely, what with him being a baby dragon and her being a young adult pony.  I think it shows more that she’s aware of his feelings and appreciates them and, being Rarity, why wouldn’t she appreciate someone fawning over her and doing stuff for her?  That was a bit of a joke, but I seriously think we’ll see a memorial for the ponies killed in Spike’s rampage before we see an actual romance among the main characters.

For me though, the real show stealers are that much beloved pair, Lyra and Bon-Bon.  They show up for maybe seven seconds in the background after Spike gets his hat.  Bon-Bon’s making eyes at Lyra, the kinda eyes you usually find in screencaps of them mid blink to give them a “romantic” look.  They start to lean in and “HEY GUYS WHAT’S GOING ON HERE” Derpy pops out of the well and in between them.  In other words, the three, by all appearances, did an interrupted kiss gag.  I’m not saying there’s going to be a wedding episode or anything, but someone, somewhere on the line of production decided to make a shout out to a pairing of lesbian horses.  If I find that person, I’m buying them a drink.

This weekend, we got us a Christmas Holiday Hearthwarming Special.  I’ll try to be faster on the write up because it sounds like we’re going to find out for reals-ies how Equestria was made and that’s sure to shake a few fan hornet’s nests.