As per recent tradition, I'm posting the next episode discussion thread the night before. Just remember to put all discussion about the new episode in this thread.

It's always tricky to start these without knowing what the episode is about besides the name, and Hearthbreakers could be about anything. So I think I'll just play some music...

[youtube=hMDjMKnf7WE]

--Sweetie Belle

Hearth's Warming Eve, perhaps?

My guess is that it's going to be about breaking hearths. But maybe I'm just being literal minded.

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Or Hearths and Hooves day?

--Sweetie Belle

Tis 12 AM and still excited...I'm so happy we get to see the Pie family, I just can't even. In a good way!

4803068 I wonder how the Pie family will be portrayed.
Hopefully I won't be forced to change my depiction of them in my fanfics.

Nice choice of song btw.

-Kirb.

4803068 Sounds along the lines of party A helps party B get a date with party C to have everything fall apart, barely averting disaster and parties B and C agreeing to just be good friends. It's just a matter of "filling in" the "values" of the "variables". It's the formula used in Hearts and Hooves Day.
For example, we could use the CMC as A, Rarity as B and Prince Blueblood as C.

4803068 Deck the halls with pies of Pinkie
Fa-la-la-la-la la-la la-la

Tis the season to watch ponies
Fa-la-la-la-la la-la la-la!

4803093 I looked it up. Don't worry, the description doesn't have any major spoilers. All I know is that it involves Hearthswarming Eve at the Pie house. We might get to see the Pies working on the Rock Farm.

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One of the things I've really enjoyed about Season 5 is how they've done some major work with the continuity from previous seasons. Almost every episode has had something based off of another episode.

This episode has potential ties to Hearthswarming Eve, Cutie Mark Chronicles, Maud Pie, and quite possibly even Pinky Apple Pie and Magic Duel.

It'll be fun to see how it plays out.

Almost? I'd say ALL of them!

The Cutie Map: Any Mane Six Cutie Mark related episode

Castle Sweet Castle: Winter Wrap Up/The Crystal Empire

Bloom and Gloom: Any CMC episode, esp. Call of the Cutie and One Bad Apple

Tanks for the Memories: Winter Wrap Up/May the Best Pet Win

Appleoosa's Most Wanted: The Last Roundup

Make New Friends But Keep Discord: The Best Night Ever

The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone: Griffon the Brush-off

Slice of Life: A Canterlot Wedding/ANY FAN STUFF EVER!!!!

Princess Spike: Spike at Your Service

Party Pooped: More than a few callbacks in this one, notably The Crystal Empire

Amending Fences: Friendship is Magic

Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep: Friendship is Magic

Canterlot Boutique: Suited for Success

Rarity Investigates: MMMMystery on the Friendship Express/Turnabout Storm

Made in Manehattan: Rarity Takes Manehattan

Brotherhooves Social: Sisterhooves Social

Crusaders of the Lost Mark: Magical Mystery Cure/Call of the Cutie

The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows: Baby Cakes

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Rarity Investigates: MMMMystery on the Friendship Express/Turnabout Storm

That one's stretching it a bit. The only relation between Rarity Investigates and Friendship Express is they both have a mystery in them. There isn't really a continuity connection between them. The second is not related at all. Seriously: not every mystery story is related to Turnabout Storm.
The episode does call back to both Wonderbolts Academy and Testing Testing 1, 2, 3 with Dash being a member of the Wonderbolts Reserve, and it also calls back to the previous episode, showing that the Canterlot Boutique does, in fact, continue to exist.

4803502 You get my point: It's more than almost.

4803502 Also, The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows has a G3 reference. (Rhyming clues for a scavenger hunt)

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That's something common to scavenger hunts in general. I'm not sure that counts.

…A few minutes younger? PInkie has a… Pinkie has a… Pinkie has a… I don't even…

Come to think of it, the three of them look pretty similar in age… Oh sweet Luna…

4803093 You mean Hearts and Hooves Day.

So, that episode was awkward. I kind of expected that. Important canon material:

1. Some Hearths Warming traditions include dolls put over the fireplace, a feast, and (of course) presents.
2. The Pie Family is weird. We knew that already, but they definitely one-upped my expectations. The candy rock wasn't a fluke. They actually eat rocks.
3. They also have a crystal mine of some sort.
4. Pinkie Pie is a twin! (triplet?!‽)
5. The Rock Farm has a giant boulder in the middle that looks suspiciously like an egg.
6. Big Mac x Marble Pie. (It certainly looked like they were being shipped.)

The more we learn about Pinkie's family, the more I want to see what life was like for Pinkie growing up with them (post cutie mark). Being the sole source of energy in a heavily stoic/introverted family is such a contrast to the dynamic of a lone introvert in a bubble family often seen in real life. I can see lots of potential there.

I really loved Limestone, I have no idea why. Maybe its her attidude, or maybe its her reactions. I just do. I also loved watching how the family acted with one another, how they tolerated Pinkie's...Pinkieness.

4803068 Not bad, Christmas is never suppose to be about presents anyway. But Pinkie's family was a tad bit one note for the most part, minus Maud.

I feel like this is another episode that is held back by being forced to have a happy ending for everyone. And I honestly think this episode could've been better if they'd gone the route of "We'll be friends again someday, but for right now we just don't get along." It send a message to kids that sometimes, you can try your hardest, and still not make new friends. But that's no reason to give up, you can always try again.

4803068 This episode was amazing. It filled in the gaps about Hearth's Warming perfectly, it had some great humour, and the overall Christmas feeling I got from this episode was one for the ages.

The characterizations for Limestone, Marble, Igneous, and Cloudy were, to say the least, interesting...

But overall, 10/10.

Looking forward to watching both Luna Eclipsed and Scare Master next week...

Something I found interesting, is that the crystal mine in the show looks a lot like the crystal mine seen in the My Little Pony mobile game, which is part of the pie rock farm there too, so cross continuity I guess.

I really like how Pinkie Pie's new-friendship calculation near the beginning was actually valid. Had to pause the video a couple times to verify, but clearly Pinkie Pie is best matheponician.

Edit: The background music in this episode was fantastic. In my opinion, possibly the best of any episode in the series so far. So many good parts, but I especially love how an organ plays whenever the Pie parents talk. And everything during and after the scene on the return train.

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I feel like this is another episode that is held back by being forced to have a happy ending for everyone.

I swear they were going down that route when they left on the train. It had that, "We f***ed up, maybe it'll be better next time," feel.Not that I'm complaining how it ended. I guess I watched too much Steven Universe and expected everyone to end up miserable for the rest of the episode.

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Thanks. It was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, it references rocks, and it kinda seems like a Scootaloo type song anyway. I liked it.

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The ending did kinda seem like there might've been another ending that got scrapped or something...

--Sweetie Belle

4803068 Marble Pie is even more shyer than Fluttershy and Limestone Pie is more grumpier than Sweet Sour. Interesting that Pinkie Pie's parents talk like Princess Luna

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Headcanon: Maud will go on to get a PhD in geology and marry a guy who also got a PhD in geology, but only so he could follow his destiny of building bridges and dams.

A Dr. Crane...

4803068 I thought it was a great episode.

Limestone Pie reminds me of Buttercup from Powerpuff Girls. Maybe it's the voice. And I genuinely ship Marble Pie and Big Mac. That's never happened to me before.

Some might argue that they're cousins, but they're so distantly related that it doesn't matter. They're way way beyond second cousin.

4803555 Twins: how do they work?

Flim and Flam are identical, the Cake twins are not, and Pinkie Pie and Marble??? I guess they're not identical, but if you look at them as fillies they have the same kind of mane.

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I liked it, but the ending could've been more fun.

Like, say, the crack runs up to the rock, and instead of the rock dropping down below, a crack runs up through it. It turns out to be an egg, and a monster hatches out of it. Then the Apple Family and the Pie family hafta fight the monster together. Afterwords, they've gotten closer from having to work together fighting it, and make up.

That woulda been entertaining, and it did come from a dragons nest.

--Sweetie Belle

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Twins: how do they work?

Wikipedia page on twins.