History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E8AHearthsWarmingTail

* AdaptedOut: There is no Jacob Marley equivalent in this story. According to Jim Miller, this is because there was [[https://twitter.com/TheBiggestJim/status/731567001231982592 "Not enough time to cover everything."]] However, a [[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j_ZfUlVcfck/Vzmsx5s76XI/AAAAAAACky8/TrWil1f8T2Q4U3Gkf3xKBP8icaiq0oRQgCLcB/s1600/Capture.JPG tweet]] revealed that [[WhatCouldHaveBeen had Marley made the cut, he would've been portrayed by Discord]].

* BookEnds: The episode opens with the song "Hearth's Warming Eve Is Here Once Again", to put the audience in a holiday mood. It is reprised at the end, with Starlight Glimmer joining the singers.

* {{Bookends}}: The episode opens with the song "Hearth's Warming Eve Is Here Once Again", to put the audience in a holiday mood. It is reprised at the end, with Starlight Glimmer joining the singers.

** An in episode example: During "Say Goodbye To The Holiday", Snowfall Frost causes the ethereal presents and decorations to vanish like wind. During Luna's Future, the Spirit of Hearth's Warming Future causes the ethereal dancing ponies to vanish in the same wind like manner.

* {{Narrator}}: Twilight Sparkle fulfills this role for the episode, as she's reading ''A Hearth's Warming Tale'' to Starlight and Spike. Not too {{Lemony|Narrator}}, save for the one time she starts gushing about Star Swirl the Bearded.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: Not surprisingly, the verse where the Spirit of Hearth's Warming Presents' mentions cider and drinks a sip is taken out of the UK airing.

* BrokenAesop: This episode presents a SpaceWhaleAesop and then breaks it. The Scrooge expy of the story isn't confronted with the idea of her own lonely death at the end, she instead finds out that the folk story of togetherness driving away the monsters of endless winter is completely and literally true, and celebrating on Hearthswarming Eve is more or less an elaborate ritual that keeps them from returning. If she erases the day from the calendar, they'll return. This convinces her, and the pony hearing the story, about the true meaning of the holiday being about showing love for your friends, but the true meaning is not getting killed by monster-driven winter. It undercuts the idea of sincerely celebrating your friends and family to have all of pony-kind being forced to celebrate on a specific day, lest their civilization be destroyed.

* CharacterOverlap: Within the fictional context of the "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E13HearthsWarmingEve Hearth's Warming Eve]]" pageant and ''A Hearth's Warming Tale'', the Windigos are characters featured in both. Of course, it is strongly implied they are not mythical at all, which would make them an example of HistoricalDomainCharacter for Equestria.

* CirclingMonologue: Well, there is no monologue since the Windigos are silent, but the way they circle around Snowfall Frost is very creepy, especially since it is the moment where the realization of what she was about to do crash on her, and she starts sinking into despair.

** The Spirit of Hearth's Warming Presents "echos" the word "ever" four times when calling this year's Hearth's Warming the last one ever; and thanks to "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E18AFriendInDeed A Friend in Deed]]", we know that "four evers" equals "forever".

* ByTheLightsOfTheirEyes: Snowfall Frost's solo VillainSong concludes with the light dimming until only her eyes stay visible. Then we go to a commercial break.

* FramingDevice: The main story is framed by Twilight telling the story to Starlight on Hearth’s Warming Eve.

* MagicMusic: It may or may not be literal but it is part of the general holiday, as seen in the lyrics for "Hearth's Warming Eve is Here Once Again!". "We're so busy making merry/Windgos should all be wary/As our mighty voices carry...."

%%* FramingDevice

* MagicMusic: It may or may not be literal but it is part of the general holiday, as seen in the lyrics for "Hearth's Warming Eve is Here Once Again!". "We're busy making merry/Windgos should all be wary/As our mighty voices carry...."

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The Spirit of Hearth's Warming Yet To Come shows Snowfall the future were she succeeded in her desire to erase Hearth's Warming. While she was successful in erasing the holiday, ponies aren't exactly able to work towards a brighter future when Equestria is covered in an EndlessWinter.

* DarkerAndEdgier: If anything, the vision that the Spirit of Hearth's Warming Yet to Come shows Snowfall is not only much grimmer than nearly anything seen in the show, it is even darker than the original Dickens tale. There, it focuses on the unmourned death of an unloved man; here, it shows ''[[ApocalypseHow the complete desolation of life as we know it]]''.

* RitualMagic: Harth's Warming Even is not just a holiday. It is a yearly ritual that utilizes the Magic of Friendship to keep Windigos away and prevent an EndlessWinter. Although the exact nature of the ritual (activities, presents, etc.) can change with the family or culture, the purpose is the same. It's ambiguous whether this is the case in the show's real life, but within Snowfall's story, it is true.

* WhatTheHellHero: Not said directly, but the Spirits of Hearth's Warming all tell Snowfall that her plan to erase Hearth's Warming Eve is bad. Past says that she has lost her way and is guided by past pain, Presents shows her all the fun she's missing, and Yet To Come straight up condemns her for the danger she's about to inflict.

* DarkIsNotEvil: The Spirit of Hearth's Warming Yet to Come is a dark and imposing figure with a booming voice. Her looks and scary presence could easily make plenty of straight villains envious. Yet her purpose is entirely [[TheSacredDarkness benevolent]], aiming at discouraging Snowfall Frost to cast the spell by showing her the dire consequences that would result. She's simply not afraid of using ScareEmStraight as a tactic.

* OffscreenTeleportation: Predictable since the character is portrayed by Pinkie Pie. The Spirit of Hearth's Warming Presents disappears after sliding down a pile of gift boxes and pops out of another box moments later. She also uses bursts of SuperSpeed for pretty much the same effect.

* PowersThatBe: As the Spirit of Hearth's Warming Past explains, Snowfall Frost attempting to cast a spell erasing Hearth's Warming Eve attracted the attention of "powerful forces". She stays vague on their exact nature, however.

* SpaceWhaleAesop: If you destroy a holiday, your homeland will be devastated by evil spirits.

* UsedToBeASweetKid: Snowfall loved the holiday as a filly just like anyone else. But then [[SadistTeacher Professor Flintheart]]'s cruel words about the meaninglessness of the holiday got to her, and she took them to heart just to stop the pain.

* VillainSong: "Say Goodbye to the Holiday" sung by Snowfall Frost (portrayed in-universe by Starlight Glimmer), where she announces her plan to make Hearth's Warming Eve disappear from the ponies' memories.
* WhatTheHellHero: Not said directly, but the Spirits of Hearth's Warming all pretty much tell this to Snowfall concerning her plan to erase Hearth's Warming Eve.

* YouMeanXmas: While previous depictions of Hearth's Warming Eve have generally avoided making this holiday look too much like Christmas, this one turns the pony holiday into a Christmas ersatz. Although "Christmas trees" were visible as background decorations in Canterlot in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E13HearthsWarmingEve Hearth's Warming Eve]]", "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E21Hearthbreakers Hearthbreakers]]" established that the focus of the celebration was raising an Equestrian flagpole. This episode puts a lot of emphasis on decorating the tree and doesn't show any patriotic aspects to Hearth's Warming at all.

* {{Narrator}}: Twilight Sparkle fulfills this role for the episode, as she's reading ''A Hearth's Warming Tale'' to Starlight and Spike. Not too {{Lemony|Narrator}}, save for the one time she starts gushing about Starswirl the Bearded.

* NotSoDifferent: Starlight and Snowfall are this. Both started out as sweet kids but a traumatic experience made them change for the worse. They both grow up to be bitter and angry at a concept (Cutie Marks for Starlight and Hearth's Warming for Snowfall) that causes them to [[DisproportionateRetribution act against it drastically.]] They eventually change for the better when they see how [[ApocalypseHow badly the future will end up if they succeed.]]

->''Everypony loves this cursed holiday''
->''But would they be better off with it out of the way?''
-->--'''Snowfall Frost'''[[note]]As portrayed by Starlight Glimmer[[/note]]

** Professor Flintheart has [[ShapedLikeItself a flinty personality]]. It's also a highly appropriate name for someone [[WesternAnimation/DuckTales connected to a Scrooge]].

** Professor Flintheart has [[ShapedLikeItself a flinty personality]]. It's also a highly appropriate name for someone [[WesternAnimation/DuckTales connected to a scrooge]].

** Professor Flintheart has [[ShapedLikeItself a flinty personality]].

* AnthropomorphicZigZag: Luna, as The Spirit of Hearth's Warming Yet to Come, appears to be standing on her hind legs the entire time.

[[caption-width-right:350:Enjoy Hearth's Warming Eve [[HappinessIsMandatory or else...]]]]

As she reappears back in her own chamber, Snowfall is greeted by the Spirit of Hearth's Warming Present, who shows how happy and joyful that her assistant Snow Dash is, along with how much everypony is enjoying the holiday. The spirit says that the holiday isn't about gifts; it's about being with your friends. As the spirit leaves, Snowfall is surrounded by an ominous coat of ice, greeted by a taller, dark spirit; the Spirit of Hearth's Warming Yet to Come. That spirit shows Snowfall that forgetting Hearth's Warming Eve will cause all of Equestria to be overtaken by the Windigos, covering the land in eternal frost. Seeing the error of her ways, Snowfall Frost says that she hasn't yet cast the spell, and promises to understand the holiday better. She reappears in her chamber, and takes several gifts down to the same party that Snow Dash and her friends were holding. Snowfall admits that she was wrong, saying that what matters most in the holiday isn't the gifts, but the thought behind them. The ponies of the town welcome her to the party, with Snowfall Frost becoming the most charitable of all ponies around the holiday from that day forward.

As she reappears back in her own chamber, Snowfall is greeted by the Spirit of Hearth's Warming Presents, who shows how happy and joyful that her assistant Snow Dash is, along with how much everypony is enjoying the holiday. The spirit says that the holiday isn't about gifts; it's about being with your friends. As the spirit leaves, Snowfall is surrounded by an ominous coat of ice, greeted by a taller, dark spirit; the Spirit of Hearth's Warming Yet to Come. That spirit shows Snowfall that forgetting Hearth's Warming Eve will cause all of Equestria to be overtaken by the Windigos, covering the land in eternal frost. Seeing the error of her ways, Snowfall Frost says that she hasn't yet cast the spell, and promises to understand the holiday better. She reappears in her chamber, and takes several gifts down to the same party that Snow Dash and her friends were holding. Snowfall admits that she was wrong, saying that what matters most in the holiday isn't the gifts, but the thought behind them. The ponies of the town welcome her to the party, with Snowfall Frost becoming the most charitable of all ponies around the holiday from that day forward.

* {{Intermission}}: {{Invoked}} by Spike, who asks for a break to refill his mug of cocoa.