Western Animation / My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Holidays Unwrapped

A much happier Equestria Girls holiday season.

Applejack: Hey, y'all! Who's ready for a new holiday tradition?
Twilight Sparkle: Technically, it's not a tradition if it's new. Tradition implies something that's been done before and everyone expects it and—
Applejack: How do y'all feel about startin' a holiday tradition?

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Holidays Unwrapped is an animated cartoon special set in the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls series. It first aired on September 1, 2019 in Ukraine and September 22 in Poland, and had its Discovery Family premiere on November 2, 2019.

The series follows the exploits of the Equestria Girls during the holiday season. Unlike past specials which followed a continuous narrative during their runtime, Holidays Unwrapped is a series of six independent shorts.

With Word of God from DHX being that they produced no further content after Season 2 of the online series, this is the final Equestria Girls special to be made by them.

The online version can be found below:

• "Blizzard or Bust"
• "Saving Pinkie's Pie"
• "The Cider Louse Fools"
• "Winter Break-In"
• "Dashing Through the Mall"
• "O Come, All Ye Squashful"

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My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Holidays Unwrapped provides examples of:

General

• Ambiguous Time Period: The specials all take place in winter, but at an ambiguous time — sometimes there's snow around town and sometimes there isn't but the girls are still in winter clothing when outside.
• Breaking Old Trends: The first movie/special in the series to not reference Equestria or Princess Twilight at all, and the only Equestrian magic that appears is that contained in the girls' geodes. It's also the first without an overarching villain; with the only villains in any of the segments being the Flim-Flam brothers, it also marks the first time in all of Equestria Girls that the primary villains are male (excluding the remnants of the Storm King's magic in Spring Breakdown).
• Christmas Episode: The shorts are all set around the holidays. Several of the shorts focus on the holiday itself, while some focus just on winter.
• Episode Title Card: As aired on Discovery Family, only the entire special has one; the individual shorts do not, though they do have official names. The YouTube uploads of the shorts get their own title cards.
• Grand Finale: For the time being, it's one for the Equestria Girls series until further notice. Even if it does continue, DHX Media made it clear it's the final product of the series (as well as G4 of My Little Pony in general) made by them.

"Blizzard or Bust"

After falling asleep during an all-night study session, Rainbow Dash convinces the Equestria Girls to fake a snow day so they'll have more time to study.

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• All According to Plan: In the end, Rainbow Dash claims she set up the fake snow day so the Equestria Girls could learn hands-on how snow fits into the weather cycle.
• Call-Back:
  • Rainbow Dash mentions how the girls have saved a cruise ship and "broke the laws of time and space to see a concert".
  • Sunset's artistic prowess comes into play when she's the one to make a matte painting of the town covered in snow.
• Comically Missing the Point: When Rainbow reveals that they know how to pass the test because of their fake snow day attempt, Pinkie starts writing down how they made the fake snow. From potatoes.
• Didn't Think This Through: The girls manage to fool the principals by carrying out their plan right under Celestia's window... and only there. And it took them a fair amount of time to set up the ruse anyway. Of course someone would spot them and alert the principals to what they were doing.
• "Everybody Laughs" Ending: The short ends with the girls guffawing from Pinkie Pie's rather creative take on the test. Well, to be very specific, it ends with Rainbow Dash quipping "I need sleep."
• Exhausted Eye Bags: The girls sport them in the morning after being up late the previous night studying.
• Exhaustion-Induced Idiocy: The sleep deprivation from the night before might have impaired the girls' ability to properly judge Rainbow's idea. Doesn't explain why they stuck with it, though.
• Failed a Spot Check: Celestia and Luna are completely fooled by a matte painting of a snow-covered town a few feet outside their window, with a few piles of snow on the ground.
• Gaslighting: The girls attempt to fool Celestia and Luna into thinking it's snowing enough to cancel school.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Pinkie quips "I can't believe I almost slept through a montage!" as she wakes up and races after the girls.
• Loud Gulp: A collective one for the girls when Principal Celestia discovers their little hoax.
• Mundane Utility: After slipping and falling while shoveling their makeshift snow into place, Twilight remembers "oh yeah, I have Telekinesis" and pulls out her geode.
• "Oh, Crap!" Smile: Rainbow, Twilight and Pinkie give an awkward smile to Principal Celestia when she discovers them.
• Out-of-Character Moment: Twilight and Sunset, the academics of the group, are just as unprepared as the rest, and Twilight helps take part in the plan to fake a snow day despite being a Teacher's Pet in the past.
• Psychometry: Sunset uses her Touch Telepathy to read the history of a snowflake that fell onto her hand. She learns about the snowflake's long journey through the water cycle.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: The Equestria Girls try to fake a snow day to get out of a test they aren't prepared for, but Cranky alerts Celestia to what they're doing, foiling their plans and getting them detention on top of having to do the test. Downplayed in that Rainbow claims it was a ploy to get them to study for the test, though the validity of that claim is dubious.
• Spanner in the Works: Unlike Celestia and Luna, Cranky Doodle sees through the fake snow, leading to the girls getting detention.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The girls’ hastily-conceived and not-well-thought-out plan is a total failure and the girls wind up getting busted and punished.

"Saving Pinkie's Pie"

Pinkie is determined to make a soufflé for Rarity that doesn't collapse before she gets it to her, but she and Sunset Shimmer have to brave a snowball warzone to get there.

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• Ambiguous Situation: Pinkie mentions Adagio and Aria in her list of friends. Why she now considers them friends is not explained, leaving it unknown whether they reformed off screen or are simply in a Friendly Enemy relationship with her.
• Art Shift: As is usual for Pinkie's Imagine Spots, her description of the soufflé tradition is crudely animated with stick figures, drawn with pencils and crayons.
• Berserk Button: Sunset tries to keep herself and Pinkie Pie out of the snowball fight until Applejack calls Sunset's video games "silly." Sunset responds "Nobody calls Tickle Fruit 2 silly!" and throws a snowball straight into Applejack's torso.
• Butt-Monkey: Flash Sentry. Sunset calls him over to demand his help, cuts him off when he tries to express joy at being involved in "one of her adventures", and when they head out he throws two snowballs before he slips and falls. Lampshaded when he admits "Well, that was embarrassing."
• Conflict Ball: Sunset tries to talk her way through the warzone without her and Pinkie getting involved, but Granny Smith is having none of it and tells everyone else to aim at them.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Pinkie mentions several characters during her friend list, such as Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, Gloriosa Daisy, Juniper Montage, and Lily Pad.
  • Sunset being a Gamer Chick is referenced here with Applejack talking about the video games that Sunset plays.
• Endangered Soufflé: The premise of the plot. Pinkie baked a soufflé for Rarity, which she and Sunset Shimmer have to deliver before it goes flat. It would be easy, but a massive Snowball Fight in the neighborhood severely slows them down.
• The Ghost: Pinkie's list of friends includes Zecora and Zipporwhill, human versions of Equestrian characters who have never actually been seen in this world.
• Human Snowman: Rainbow Dash conceals herself this way to ambush Pinkie and Rarity. Unfortunately for her, Rainbow yells "SNEAK ATTACK!" at Rarity, who easily blocks it.
• Hypocritical Humor: Pinkie times her soufflé by the amount of time it takes to recite the names of all her friends, but when Sunset asks how many "friends" it takes to get from her house to Rarity's, Pinkie doesn't know and declares she should just set the timer.
• I'm Cold... So Cold...: As Trixie lies on the ground, she keeps muttering how cold she is. Played for Laughs, as the reason she's so cold is that she's covered with snowballs.
• I Resemble That Remark!: When Applejack calls Sunset's video games "silly", Sunset retorts that they're not... while using a game with a very silly name (Tickle Fruit 2) as an example.
• I Will Only Slow You Down: Parodied when Sunset has Pinkie abandon her after being hit in the eye by a snowball. Sunset speaks in pain at first, but the only reason that Sunset's speaking that way is because she fell on her keys. She then properly tells Pinkie to go on without her while Sunset gets revenge on whoever hit her in the face with that snowball.
• Lightmare Fuel: Sunset watches several of her friends pelted with snowballs during a montage. The sequence is played up like something out of Saving Private Ryan, with Twilight crawling in the snow, Bon Bon telling Lyra to Please Wake Up, a Big "NO!" from Apple Bloom after Winona is hit with a snowball, and Sunset shivering through it all while the sounds are heavily muffled. At one point, Sunset is knocked to the ground after struck in the head by snowballs, and the distribution of snow across her face makes it look as though she's been maimed and is missing an eye. And all of this over a bunch of neighborhood high-school students having a snowball fight.
• Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: Snails at one point loses his one of his boots during the snowball fight. He finds it just in time to get hit by a few snowballs.
• Mundane Utility: Pinkie times the cooking of her soufflé by reciting the names of all her friends in alphabetical order. She even adds the name of someone she barely knows in order to add an extra half-second and get the time exactly right.
• No-Sell:
  • Several snowballs pelt Maud as she stands in her doorway. She doesn't even flinch and just closes the door.
  • When Rainbow sneak attacks Pinkie and Rarity, an unamused Rarity creates a gem shield to block it.
• Overly Pre-Prepared Gag: Rainbow Dash says that she spent two days inside the snowman in preparation for her sneak attack.
• Rule of Funny: Rainbow Dash was hiding inside a snowman for two days to sneak attack Rarity and Pinkie. Two days straight without food or water, no going to the bathroom, and being exposed to the cold. But it makes for an amusing joke. Furthermore, this shows that the snowball fight was planned at least two days in advance... and yet Pinkie either forgot or was oblivious to it. (Though, this is the human counterpart of a pony who once forgot her own birthday.)
• Serious Business: The snowball fight is treated like an actual war as Sunset and Pinkie try to cross it.
• Shell-Shock Silence: Played for Laughs. Part of the snowball fight is treated like a gruesome war sequence, with muffled sound over Sunset's shivering.
• Ship Tease: Lyra and Bon Bon are seen huddling in the snow together.
• Shout-Out: Both the title of the short and the warzone parody scene are references to Saving Private Ryan.
• Skewed Priorities: Despite having a limited amount of time before her soufflé falls, Pinkie wastes time wrapping Sunset up in warm clothes.
• Snowball Fight: The focus of the short is on an epic one in the park, complete with Shell-Shock Silence, a Thousand-Yard Stare from a traumatized Fluttershy, Slow Motion Falls of struck students, and Sunset making a Heroic Sacrifice to save Pinkie (and her soufflé).
• Taking the Bullet: Parodied twice.
  • First, Winona takes a snowball aimed for Apple Bloom, eliciting a Big "NO!" from the latter. Winona then gets right back up.
  • The second time, Sunset gets hits in the eye by a snowball. Sunset speaks in pain at first, but the only reason that Sunset's speaking that way is because she fell on her keys. She then properly tells Pinkie to go on without her while Sunset gets revenge on whoever hit her in the face with that snowball.
• This Means Warpaint: Sunset draws two streaks of snow across her cheeks before making her big charge through the battle.
• With Catlike Tread: Rainbow Dash bursts out of a snowman to pelt Rarity with snowballs... by yelling first "SNEAK ATTACK... that you aren't expecting." Naturally, Rarity sees the snowballs coming and stops them with a diamond shield.

"The Cider Louse Fools"

The Apples are joined by Twilight, who has a plan to help them keep the Flim-Flam brothers from ruining their cider party.

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• Complexity Addiction: Twilight's plan to foil the Flim-Flam Brothers is ridiculously over-complicated, and she doesn't tell the Apples all the details about it until after the fact.
• Failed a Spot Check: The Apples don't notice that their "party guests" standing a few feet behind them are wooden cutouts.
• Feuding Families: The Apples and Flim Flams have a prank war over the cider harvest that has escalated to this level.
• Gambit Pileup: Twilight's plan involved a lot of gambits such as switching the cider with pepper water and hiding the real cider in a chest. When it's revealed that Flim and Flam were able to see through the gambit and steal the jug from the chest, she tells them that she knew it would happen and that they have tricked Flim and Flam into running into a net trap only to see that they didn't trigger the trap. After the brothers throw the pepper water back at them and drive off, Twilight reveals the pepper water to be the actual cider and that she never actually swapped them.
• Kansas City Shuffle: Twilight lets the Flim-Flam Brothers think the Apples switched their cider jug with one containing "pepper water", so they will steal what they think is the real cider. But it turns out those jugs had the pepper water, and the one the brothers refused to be "tricked" by contained the actual cider.
• Non-Malicious Monster: Played for laughs. Apple Bloom was given a frankly adorable worm as a pet by the Flim Flams, and there's a whole friendship montage for the two of them. Unfortunately it attracted the others...
• Police Are Useless: The Flim-Flam brothers have committed multiple counts of theft and break-in judging from Applejack's account alone, which is enough to send anyone to prison for quite a while. Somehow they have always gotten away with it.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: Twilight's glasses shine to the point her eyes can't be seen just after the Flim-Flam brothers take off, knowing that she's tricked them into falling for her plan.
• Series Continuity Error: The Flim-Flam Brothers are apparently long-time rivals of the Apple family. Back in the Rainbow Rocks shorts however, Applejack had clearly never met Flim and Flam before and they'd never met her, and Granny Smith mentioned their pawn shop had just opened, implying they were new in town.
• Shout-Out:
  • The short's title is a reference to the book The Cider House Rules.
  • Flim and Flam sing the opening riff of the Super Mario theme as they make their getaway.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: We see Twilight setting up individual pieces of her plan, but aren't told the details. Naturally, it works.

"Winter Break-In"

The Equestria Girls plan to give toys to kids at the mall, but they need to get the key to Sunset's storage locker from school, which is closed for winter break.

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• Air-Vent Passageway: Sunset's Imagine Spot involves her and Pinkie getting into the school by an air vent on the roof.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Applejack's plan to rip the whole school building off its foundations. If that wasn't a fantasy, that would sure have destroyed the entire building (assuming AJ's Super-Strength is that powerful to begin with).
• Chain of Deals: In-universe. Sunset gave the key to her storage locker to Pinkie, who gave the key to Rainbow, who gave it to Fluttershy, who gave it to an owl named Chad, who gave it to Rarity, who gave it back to Sunset... who left it in her locker at school.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Sunset and Pinkie don Spy Catsuits identical to the one Pinkie wore in the "Pinkie Spy" short for Friendship Games.
  • Applejack changes into her superhero outfit from Legend of Everfree during her Imagine Spot.
  • Several kids from previous Equestria Girls media appear in the mall during the toy handout.
• Cool Shades: The girls regularly wear these during the Imagine Spots, while Sunset, Pinkie and Applejack don them in real life.
• Delicious Distraction: Pinkie's idea on how to get into the school is to lure Principal Celestia out with a bunch of freshly baked cupcakes, then sneak inside behind her back. Whether or not it would actually work is left unclear, as the plan never made it outside Pinkie's Imagine Spot.
• Feathered Fiend: Chad the Owl serves this function in Sunset’s heist Imagine Spot, with Fluttershy using him to terrorize the school janitor as a distraction. Twilight objects strenuously to this idea, and the real Chad is just a Cute Owl.
• Heist Episode: The girls attempt to break into CHS to get a key to Sunset Shimmer's storage locker. Sunset's Imagine Spot is a stereotypical heist scenario, with her and Pinkie dressing as cat burglars to sneak in the school, Twilight in the role of The Cracker, Fluttershy providing distraction, etc. Even the music plays out like the theme of a Caper. Pinkie's continues the parody, although in a more quizzical way.
• Imagine Spot: The short is largely about the girls imagining various schemes to sneak into the high school.
• Laughing at Your Own Jokes: Twilight laughs at her own suggestion that Sunset's storage locker is like a gym membership since she never uses it.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: One problem Twilight has with Sunset's plan is that a young person might see them climb into the air vent and try to imitate them.
• Mundane Solution: After shooting down all of the ideas to break into the school, Twilight just calls Principal Celestia on the phone and asks her to let the girls in to get the key.
• My New Gift Is Lame: Discussed. Rarity notes that if they don't get the toys from Sunset's storage locker, then the kids at the toy drive will open empty boxes, which Rainbow Dash says is "worse than clothes". Rarity takes particular offense to that.
• Running Gag: The girls pulling out sunglasses and putting them on as they launch into their Imagine Spot.
• Split Screen: Both Sunset's and Pinkie's Imagine Spots profusely use split screens showing separate actions at the same time, or the same action from several angles, sometimes with freeze frames, again as a stylistic parody of The Caper.
• Super-Strength: While Applejack already has super strength because of her geode, her Imagine Spot sees her lifting the entire high school off of its foundation.
• Transformation Sequence: Applejack has a particularly lengthy and over-the-top transformation sequence in her Imagine Spot.
• Visible Odor: In Pinkie's Imagine Spot, her cupcakes emit a visible pink aroma that wafts into Principal Celestia's office.

"Dashing Through the Mall"

Realizing that she's forgotten to get Fluttershy a gift, Rainbow Dash desperately searches the mall for a last-minute idea.

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• Brick Joke: Rainbow asks Zephyr Breeze who would possibly want a plastic hand on an extendable handle for giving high fives. At the end of the short, Snips and Snails get one for each other and are overjoyed at them.
• The Cameo:
  • Juniper Montage is briefly seen walking through the mall at the beginning.
  • Gloriosa Daisy appears in the background in the mall, chatting with Timber Spruce. It's the first time she's been seen since Legend of Everfree.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The sunglasses stand Juniper Montage got her mirror at, and the video game store Sunset got Tirek's Revenge at, are two of the spots Rainbow visits in the mall.
  • A cardboard display of Chestnut Magnifico as Daring Do is in the store Zephyr works at.
  • Sunset's gift to Twilight is the parakeet they won back in Rollercoaster of Friendship. From the snickering as Twilight opens it, Sunset knew what she was doing.
  • Pinkie's gift to Sunset is a sequel to the video game she played with Fluttershy in the YouTube series. Fluttershy is enthused to see it; Sunset is not.
  • Twilight's gift to Rarity is a Shadow Spade novel.
• Foreshadowing: Zephyr mentions that Fluttershy's instant camera broke "around this time last year". Fluttershy later reveals that Zephyr got her a new one the previous year.
• Human Pack Mule: Bulk Biceps is seen carrying a lot of gifts for Derpy; unfortunately, that's when Rainbow Dash goes by at Super-Speed, sending them both sprawling.
• Iris Out: The short ends with an iris shaped like a heart closing on Snips and Snails as they high-five each other with their plastic hands.
• Logical Weakness: Sunset asks why Rainbow didn't use her Super-Speed to run to the mall. Rainbow comments she's learned the hard way that supersonic speed and icy sidewalks are a bad combination.
• Oh, Crap!: Rainbow has one when she realizes she forgot her gift for the girls' gift exchange. She gets another when she realizes her only hope is Zephyr Breeze.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: Subverted. Rainbow gets Fluttershy a camera, except she already has an identical one, but she's still happy to have two.
• Slippery Skid: Discussed. Rainbow Dash notes that she doesn't use her Super-Speed in the winter because she would slip on the icy roads and crash. From the tone of her voice, it sounds as if Rainbow found this out the hard way.
• Verbal Backspace: When Zephyr asks if Rainbow needs to cut in line, Rainbow, her back to him, says that she would do anything... and quickly takes it back once she realizes she’s talking to her Abhorrent Admirer.
• Who Would Be Stupid Enough?: Rainbow asks who would even want a plastic hand on an extendable handle for giving high fives. Snips is then shown with one, stating that Snails will "love it".

"O Come, All Ye Squashful"

Applejack ropes her friends into taking an embarrassing cornucopia picture, so Rarity resolves to make the best of a bad situation.

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• Cringe Comedy: A lot of the humor of the short, from the girls' uneasiness to go with Applejack's Cornucopia photo shoot, including Rarity panicking at the prospect of making the costumes, to the reveal of said costumes and finally, the girls' walk of shame among the laughing students of CHS.
• End-of-Series Awareness: If the final shot and name call of the characters is any indication, the short is very much aware this could (possibly) be the final animated Equestria Girls special due to Hasbro abruptly stopping DHX from continuing the spin-off. So DHX Media, at the least, wanted to go out with a final goodbye from the characters.
• Improbable Hairstyle: All of the Cornucopia costumes include an alternate hairstyle, but Rainbow Dash's takes the cake: she sports a pigtail with each knot a different color of the rainbow. No, we don't know how it works either.
• I Need to Go Iron My Dog: Sunset tries to get out of the picture by claiming she has a dinner scheduled with a Crystal Prep student. She later tries to make good on this trope by scheduling a last-minute appointment with several different doctors and her guitar teacher, but all of them are booked up.
• Letting the Air out of the Band: The montage of the girls putting on their costumes bit by bit is punctuated by an upbeat tune... which putters out when the camera zoom out out to show the final, not-so-great result.
• Logical Weakness: Rainbow Dash naturally needs to be free of her movements to reach Super-Speed, so as seen here an Impractically Fancy Outfit hampering her legs can slow her down considerably.
• Poor Communication Kills: Rarity thinks Applejack wants everyone to dress up as the fruits inside the cornucopia, so she goes all out in designing the outfits, not helped by the photos of her family Applejack shows which has them wearing theme costumes. Turns out Applejack just wanted to use the cornucopia as a backdrop and have everyone wear their normal clothes. Since everyone has already embarrassed themselves getting to the cornucopia, however, Applejack ends up in the outfit Rarity made for her.
• Pun:
  • When Rainbow complains about Twilight making the girls dress up as a quadratic equation last Halloween, Twilight tells her not to be a "square".
  • Pinkie makes several jokes about her corn costume.
• Running Gag: Rarity can't say the word "cornucopia," so Rainbow Dash fills it in for her.
• Ship Tease: Bulk Biceps and Derpy are seen walking in the halls together with Bulk's arm around her shoulders.
• Sting: Pinkie Pie provides the final Rimshot to the math puns, as to not disappoint Twilight.
  Rainbow Dash: Remember when you made us be the quadratic equation for Halloween?
  Fluttershy: I didn't mind that costume.
  Rainbow Dash: 'Cause you got to be a plus or minus. I could barely function. [gasps] Wait. Was that a math pun?! [groans] You're ruining me!
  Twilight Sparkle: Ah, don't be such a square.
  [awkward beat as Twilight is grinning]
  [rimshot]
• Wheel o' Feet: While trying to avoid being seen, Rainbow Dash running makes her legs looks like fast-spinning wheels, because her poofy skirt is hampering her usual Super-Speed.

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