The True Method of Hearth's Warming · 2:31am Dec 27th, 2019
Eh, Hanukkah's not over yet.
So let's talk about the 2019 holiday special before I have to go do something else.
The moral of course is that you shouldn't let your FOMO be the reason you're MO. Sometimes there's going to be more of interest going on than you have time for, and that sucks, but if you try to do participate in everything anyway you'll find that in your effort to be in multiple places at once you really haven't participated in anything at all. Just pick a lane and commit to it.
When do you think Twilight envisioned getting back to Applejack's for the proposed sleepover? How late does a royal Hearth's Warming gala run anyway? Obviously Twilight didn't forget that was tonight.
I can't help but think that a princess shouldn't actually be an essential part of party set-up. She's supposed to have ponies for that, with the effect that the set-up happens whether or not Twilight stays too long at AJ's.
Oh, yeah, the other moral is that Rarity should have business cards. Then she could have given one to Chiffon Ruffles while expressing a desire to talk some time she's not about to miss a train.
I mean, I don't have business cards, but they're clearly a necessity for somepony who actually engages in networking. (Which maybe I should, but I'm clearly not going to.)
The Poirot Pass where the train in stopped by an avalanche, by the way, is I presume a reference to The Mystery of the Blue Train (although I'm certainly not an expert on Agatha Christie novels).
And of course let's not forget the moral of the second story here: fear is the only way to motivate good behavior in adolescents.
Wait, maybe that wasn't it.
Maybe it was that emotionally scarring adolescents to control them is socially acceptable if you're the Princess of Friendship? You know Krumple Horn will be in their nightmares for quite some time to come.
In all seriousness, though, don't you think it's weird that they bought Ocellus's "abduction"? Surely even if she were called home suddenly she'd still let her friends know she was leaving. It wouldn't take long, and it's not like she'd be called home on leave-literally-right-this-minute-because-you're-our-only-hope business. She could spare ten minutes. And that's not to mention how she'd clearly be the last member of the Student Six to be taken by Krumple Horn. I'm not sure if she could make enough trouble to deserve that even if she tried.
I thought that the faculty had convinced her to play Krumple Horn, in fact. That would explain her disappearing without warning her friends.
I think Krumple horn was a good idea not because it actually was good for the students, but because it made Discord feel useful and included, and we have learned in great detail how bad it is when Discord does not feel useful and included.