History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E8AHearthsWarmingTail

* SurpriseCreepy: You'd be forgiven if you think a generally lighthearted show such as this would tone down the future sequence or play it for laughs, but no: the shift from bright and hopeful to dark and bleak remains, and it and the slow, mournful song accompanying it rank among the darkest moments in the series.

** Flutterholly worrying about the eggnog ("I knew I put in too much cinnamon...") echoes Sonata Dusk wondering if there's a problem with the fruit punch ("I knew I used too much grape juice...") in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks''.

** Twilight sings the last part of the Spirit of Hearth's Warming Presents' song in her "Pinkie Pie voice", despite denying it afterward in embarrassment.

* ActorAllusion: Derpy's accident with the Hearth's Warming ornament is a clear reference to Minty's accident with the Here Comes Christmas Candy Cane in ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyG3 A Very Minty Christmas]]''. Minty and Derpy are both voiced by Creator/TabithaStGermain.

* RecordNeedleScratch: Snowfall Frost's arrival at the party causes this sound as the background music stops. Might be happening in-universe, as we saw [[StealthPun Vinyl Scratch]] working a phonograph earlier.

* AudienceSurrogate: Starlight serves as one for the book when she says that Snowfall magically erasing Hearth's Warming because she doesn't like it is a tad extreme. Spike serves as one for the audience of the episode itself, when he points out that critique is a bit hypocritical coming from ''Starlight.''
-->'' Says the pony who tried to make everypony the same by replacing their cutie marks with equal signs.''

* BaitAndSwitch: ''A Hearth's Warming Tale'' begins with Snowfall Frost attempting to [[HowTheCharacterStoleChristmas ruin Hearth's Warming for everypony]] by removing all memory and record of it, but quickly shifts to YetAnotherChristmasCarol.

* TheCorruptor: Professor Flintheart became this to Snowfall Frost when she was a child, filling her head with a cynical ideal that Hearth's Warming Eve isn't anything special. When Snowfall Frost herself tried to fill her employee Snowdash's head with the same ideals, Snowdash isn't as weak-minded.

* CluelessAesop: Due to the show [[NeverSayDie aversion to acknowledging death]], the consequences are changed from the Scrooge {{expy}} dying unloved to causing TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt by Windigos. This undercuts the TrueMeaningOfChristmas Aesop by making it less about the moral value of the holiday than [[SpaceWhaleAesop it being necessary to ward off extinction]].

* 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.]]

* {{Disneyfication}}: Unlike the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, who simply stood silent and imposing, directing Scrooge through a possible future if he didn't change his ways, the Spirit of Hearth's Warming Yet to Come introduces herself speaking with PowerEchoes and sings a song about what would become of Equestria if Snowfall completed her spell. This makes the spirit's message easier for young children to understand and is less likely to give them nightmares of silent shadows.

** To a lesser extent with the Ghost of Hearth's Warming Presents. The original spirit from ended their section to reveal the spirits of Ignorance and Want, two sickly children who clung to the Ghost of Christmas Present and represented the societal ills for which they are named. This was certainly cut for both time and thematic relevance but we can't blame the cut because the image is pretty scary regardless.

** To a lesser extent with The Ghost of Hearrhswarming Presents. The original spirit from ended their section to reveal the spirits of Ignorance and Want, two sickly children who clung to the Ghost of Christmas Present and represented the societal ills for which they are named. This was certainly cut for both time and thematic relevance but we can't blame the cut because the image is pretty scary regardless.

* IdiosyncraticWipes: The scene change of the Spirit of Hearth's Warming Presents announcing a song inside Snowfall's house, and then starting it outside is Pinkie Pie... sorry, the Spirit grabbing the top of the screen and pulling it down like a shutter.

* FrothyMugsOfWater: Once again, everypony drinks apple cider as though it were hard cider or wassail.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: One of the first ponies shown getting a mug of cider is Berry Punch, whom writers and fans alike consider TheAlcoholic. Just to hammer it home, her mug fills to the lyric "making merry".

** Snowfall crafting a spell by throwing things into a cauldron while singing a VillainSong brings to mind Ursula from ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989''.

*** Not to mention he's ''Flintheart'' talking to the Equestria version of Ebenezer ''[[WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987 Scrooge]]''...

** Snowfall crafting a spell by throwing things into a cauldron while singing a VillainSong brings to mind Ursula from ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid''.

* MusicalEpisode: The fourth after "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E13MagicalMysteryCure Magical Mystery Cure]]", "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E12PinkiePride Pinkie Pride]]", and "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E19CrusadersOfTheLostMark Crusaders of the Lost Mark]]". Unlike the others, this one doesn't feature [[NothingIsTheSameAnymore major changes to the show]] or [[Music/WeirdAlYankovic a guest star who happens to be a famous musician]], but the musical take does fit a ChristmasEpisode quite well.

* CluelessAesop: Due to the show [[NeverSayDieDie aversion to acknowledging death]], the consequences are changed from the Scrooge {{expy}} dying unloved to causing TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt by Windigos. This undercuts TheTrueMeaningOfChristmas Aesop by making it less about the moral value of the holiday than [[SpaceWhaleAesop it being necessary to ward off extinction]].

* 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 Hearth's Warming 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.

* AnAesop: Holidays aren’t about what you get and what you want, it’s about spending time with the ones you love.