And now, appropriately enough, it’s time for “Winter Wrapup”, which is by Cindy Morrow, second by her after “Griffin the Brushoff”,

This one, it’s really been a while, but I’ve listened to the song a bunch of times. So I mostly remember the catchy song and a holiday that’s blatantly discriminating against unicorns. Pretty close to Bridle Gossip in the lineup, too. Let’s Watch!

We start out with Twilight snoozing and Spike snoring. Her telescope’s really close to her bed, too. Wonder if she gets up at night and goes stargazing?

Twilight wakes up really excited about Winter Wrapup day… and Spike calls her “Mommy”. Of course, he follows it with “You’re not mommy.”. Who else was he expecting as his “mommy”?

So we find out that Canterlot is sensible and just uses magic to change seasons, but Ponyville has to do things the hard way and forbids magic and does everything by hoof.

Spike agrees with me.

That saddle Twilight pulls on is kinda silly, too. Maybe wear clothes that actually cover most of your body when going out into cold weather?

At least Twilight has Spike refusing to get up as one of the items on her checklist.

And it was too early. I guess she must have gone back in and grabbed Spike when going out the second time, since he’s now sleeping on her back, as Twilight talks to him anyways.

Rarity designed the vests ponies are wearing, naturally. Not sure if anypony asked her if she used magic when making them…

Mayor mare gives a speech to everypony. Well, she says everypony. I’m not there.

Why is up in the clouds one of the places Twilight looks at as someplace she could go for winter wrapup? She doesn’t have wings! Yet.

It’s song time! And, to be fair, this has always been a great song. Apples, carrots, and celery stalks! (I was going to put the music video here, but, you know, it messes with the scenes shown…)

Everything going on along to the song is great, too. I like Pinkie talking about keeping her hoofsies warm. Twilight sings about not fitting in without magic, and, again, magic is her thing. If no one is going to let you do what you’re good at when helping out, why help out?

Evreyone does sing about what they do during winter wrapup, though.

You get some scenes of pegasi doing bird herding and moving clouds around. “We move the clouds and melt the snow / When the sun comes up, it’s warmth and beauty will glow”. Great lyrics.

I love everyone singing and working to the music. Minuette and Berry Bunch rubbing heads is cute!

Then you get tiny adorable mice and squirrels being woken up by Twinkleshine ringing a bell. In fact, in that scene, it seems like most of the unicorns around went for waking up animals with bells. Along with Fluttershy nuzzling a bunny. Then Twinkleshine’s back, feeding ferrets veggies! Minuette doesn’t seem too pleased to be featherdusting some mice’s homes, though.

Then you get the scene with the bouncing hedgehogs and bunnies! So cute!

They seem to be carting off snow for some reason, and a bunch of snow plops on Twilight and Spike. Looks like Rainbow’s fault.

Applejack seems to be in charge of clearing the ground and planting seeds, of course, and we’re getting into PinkiePieSwear “Sunshine and Celery Stalks” territory.

And Dinky and another filly are bouncing with bunnies.Cuteness overload.

And we’re back to Twilight and what a tough task she faces without magic. Seriously, sit at home and drink hot cocoa. It’s what I do.

The flying afterwards is pretty neat, though.

So, now Twilight’s looking for a team to join, and first one’s Rainbows. I don’t think flying around in the air is really Twilight’s thing at this point…

Rainbow basically points this out. Can’t help but feel this is a bit of a double standard that one team requires wings, but there isn’t a similar one that requires magic, rather than excluding it.

And Rarity is making birds nests… and levitating things around? I thought this was no magic.

Twilight’s not that good at it. “That nest needs to be condemned!” “Oh, Spiiike. It’s not so bad. Maybe the birds can use it as a -” “an outhouse?”

On to Pinkie Pie, who is figure skating. “I’ve been doing this even since I was an itty-bitty little widdle twinkie-pinkie!” Let’s just take a moment to appreciate this line…

She’s scoring the lakes with lines so that the ice can break easily. Twilight’s going to try that too, naturally.

And she’s not great at skating. “I’m sure my first time was just as wobbly and bobbly and crasheriffic as yours!” “Really?” “No.” Really appreciating the Pinkie dialog.

Pinkie Pie does helpfully suggest helping Fluttershy.

Fluttershy is going around waking up hedgehogs and porcupines and such. The porcupines hug each other.

So Twilight tries it, and wakes up some snakes.

And then she meets some bats. I’m not sure what she’s so freaked out about. I like snakes and bats.

Getting a beehive on your head is another matter, tho’. And skunks are cute, but you don’t really want to charge into them like that.

Twilight’s bathing in tomato juice to get out the Skunk smell. Does that really work? She seems like she had an allergic reaction to something with all those bumps. Spike tries to convince her to use magic, but she’s being stubborn.

So we go over to Applejack, who is doing snow plowing. Or running it, anyways. The actual snow plowing is being done by multiple clones of the same three stallions or so. No Big Mac, for some reason. Haven’t even seen Granny Smith or Apple Bloom.

Applejack seems rather reluctant for her to try it. She must have heard about Twilight’s previous history earlier today, or thinks the work should all be done by stallion clones.

So Twilight decides to disregard her earlier convictions and play sorcerer's apprentice. I’m thinking just lifting or melting the snow with magic would be easier, but all right…

Applejack’s seeming mighty suspicious, though.

And naturally things get out of control and she winds up pushing Spike and Applejack around in a snowball.

And Applejack’s there yelling at her for using magic. “That’s just not how we do it in these parts! And especially not on my farm!” I swear, this holiday…

Twilight’s hiding in a bush. “I’m a winter messup.” Seriously, Twilight, just don’t participate in these screwed up rural holidays. Spend the next one in Canterlot. Spike’s not helping much…

Of course, now it turns out that everyone’s messed up the whole holiday anyways, as they are all messing up their jobs, arguing, and not coordinating very well. Bet all the sensible ones that could help them with it usually stay home instead. (I’m assuming Sparkler stayed home, who lives in Ponyville and actually good at organization?)

Big Mac did show up this time, at least, to say that Caramel lost the grass seeds. That whimper...

“Ditzy Do accidentally went north to get the southern birds!” “Oh that featherbrain. Didn't she learn her lesson last year when she went west?” Somehow, I’d missed that Ditzy Do was a canon name. It’s a fan name for Derpy, but I hadn’t realised it’d been said on the show…

So Twilight leaps into action and starts organizing.

And there’s Sparkler doing nests. Why wasn’t she organizing things? Montage time. Some of the background music’s pretty good, too.

And Winter’s all wrapped up, Twilight gets an award, and Spike’s sleeping on a piece of ice in a lake and is going to drown when it melts, which is funny, I guess?

Dear Princess Celestia,
Winter Wrap Up was one of the most special things I've ever been a part of here in Ponyville. It helped me to learn we all have hidden talents, and if we're patient and diligent, we're sure to find them, and as always, with good friendship and teamwork, ponies can accomplish anything. “How's that, Spike? Spike?” *snore*

Well, that’s a lukewarm moral. Organization and making checklists is not a hidden talent of Twilight’s, it’s an out in the open talent. I do like Spike’s robe and slippers.

Kinda a weird episode for me. I love the music, the storyboarding and actual scenes are great, and I’m not much into the premise. I enjoy it, but it’s a scowly kind of enjoyment.

Well, next episode is “Call of the Cutie”, where we get the founding of the CMC, and Twist gets the most lines she ever had in an episode!

So, what do people think about this episode, anyways? I’d spaced most of it, but watched videos of the song a million times…

--Sweetie Belle

7089420
That song always gives me chills, even after all these years.

And yes, this episode did bring out what seems to me to be a bit of racism..."Yew unicorns can help, but none o' yer fancy-schmancy magic, er else! That ain't how we do thangs in Ponyville!" You have to wonder if the unicorns feel a bit slighted every year around this time.

I believe this is one of those episodes that's best enjoyed if you don't overthink it and bring adult reasoning to what is supposed to be a cutesy segment. You have singing, dancing, and bunnies! Weapons-grade adorable!

7089420
Seriously, Twilight? Go have a pint and let them Mud Earth ponies have at it! That's what I would do.

7089424
Oh, I love the song, and the animators really did a good job! For season 1, this is great!

And there were bits of dialog I enjoyed, just... yeah, racist, and doesn't hold together the best. The bunnies and hedgehogs were great. I had plenty of losing myself in the cuteness. It was just punctuated by annoyance at the anti-magic sentiment.

It boggles my mind that they managed to do that two episodes after the anti-racism episode...

Oh well.

--Sweetie Belle

7089420
Just want to say that Twilight sleeping is absolutely adorable

7089424
To be fair, most of the show is like that. Thinking too hard can potentially turn the show into a dystopian nightmare of sorts

“Mommy” “You’re not mommy” nice cover their spike

He might be thinking Twilight Velvet at that time. If he was raised in the same house as Twilight Sparkle. It logic that he might see Velvet as “mommy”.

Another good write up SweetAI Belle.

7089432

Thinking too hard can potentially turn the show into a dystopian nightmare of sorts.

And that's where we got Triptych from folks!

7089420

So we find out that Canterlot is sensible and just uses magic to change seasons, but Ponyville has to do things the hard way and forbids magic and does everything by hoof.

The former is probably not practical without a boatload of unicorns. And also, what changing the seasons entails is likely different in an urban area to a rural one.

It’s song time! And, to be fair, this has always been a great song. Apples, carrots, and celery stalks! (I was going to put the music video here, but, you know, it messes with the scenes shown…)

Yeah, the show's graduation to full-blown musical numbers. Just 54 more eps till they take over completely!

You get some scenes of pegasi doing bird herding and moving clouds around. “We move the clouds and melt the snow / When the sun comes up, it’s warmth and beauty will glow”. Great lyrics.

And yet I once still failed to win an argument that sunlight in Equestria was warm, even after showing this.

Then you get tiny adorable mice and squirrels being woken up by Twinkleshine ringing a bell. In fact, in that scene, it seems like most of the unicorns around went for waking up animals with bells. Along with Fluttershy nuzzling a bunny.

it's interesting to note that while AJ and RD lead the teams that reflect their specialities, Fluttershy does not. It does help weaken the cast/NPC divide a bit, and it makes sense that at this point she's not suited for bossing others about.

On to Pinkie Pie, who is figure skating. “I’ve been doing this even since I was an itty-bitty little widdle twinkie-pinkie!” Let’s just take a moment to appreciate this line…

A much odder line now that we know her background.

So Twilight decides to disregard her earlier convictions and play sorcerer's apprentice. I’m thinking just lifting or melting the snow with magic would be easier, but all right…

A lot less subtle, though.

(I’m assuming Sparkler stayed home, who lives in Ponyville and actually good at organization?)

isn't she leading the animal team? I assumed that was why they gave her that schtick.

So, what do people think about this episode, anyways? I’d spaced most of it, but watched videos of the song a million times…

I like it, like most Season 1 eps. Great song, great worldbuilding, and winter eps have a rarity value. (If I could change two pieces of dialogue here, it would be the ones about time - "hundreds of years" and "three months".)

And yes, this episode did bring out what seems to me to be a bit of racism..."Yew unicorns can help, but none o' yer fancy-schmancy magic, er else! That ain't how we do thangs in Ponyville!" You have to wonder if the unicorns feel a bit slighted every year around this time.

These touchs of division do help give Equestria more... texture, say.

7089425
And reinforce the idea of her being a Canterlot snob?

7089424
And then just a month later we got this gem:

I still love the early music from this fandom.

7089430
If you really look at the show as a whole Twilight was basicaly the one to bring the ponies kicking and screaming from their old racist views.
just look at Chancellor Neighsay! The guy was hyper racist against anyone that wasn't a pony and was in a position of power! And that is years after the start of the show.

Twilight’s bathing in tomato juice to get out the Skunk smell. Does that really work?

Nope, it doesn’t. Except that afterwards, you don’t smell like a skunk. You smell like a skunk covered in tomato juice

7089420 Fantastic song in an otherwise average episode. And this isn't the last time the show will do this sort of thing either. It seems like the most otherwise forgettable episodes early in the show's run would get the biggest musical numbers.

I know I'll always remember Winter Wrapup.

There is no more iconic MLP song than Winter Wrapup. That's way I think it's one of the best episode.

7089706
I suppose from an anatomical POV, it does confirm that ponies have some kind of buttocks rather than their legs simply merging into a solid mass.

7089766 Indeed. The Urban dictionary is wrong!

7089443

So we find out that Canterlot is sensible and just uses magic to change seasons, but Ponyville has to do things the hard way and forbids magic and does everything by hoof.

The former is probably not practical without a boatload of unicorns. And also, what changing the seasons entails is likely different in an urban area to a rural one.

What I did with one of my stories, when Celestia was having Starlight and Sunset competing for the title of her "most gifted magic student." What Starlight did was fire a bolt of energy out of her horn, cleaning up winter in a second or two, with the exception of the dumb ass birds. It wouldn't take a boatload of unicorns, it could require just one with an extreme amount of magic and knowledge of how to cleanse winter.

7090158
Citation needed. I don't think even Twilight could solo Ponyville, let alone Canterlot.

7089420
Winter Wrapup is my favorite episode of MLP. I really love the song, and the way Twilight couldn't decide which team she'll join the same way as I did when I couldn't choose.

Why is up in the clouds one of the places Twilight looks at as someplace she could go for winter wrapup? She doesn’t have wings! Yet.

Not unless if I made a fixfic about dinosaurs!

I’m not sure what she’s so freaked out about. I like snakes and bats.

Uh... Twilight has Ophidiophobia (unless she was afraid of either quesadillas and ladybugs, but not snakes in the later episodes because of 'bad writing'). I like snakes too, but the reason why people are afraid of snakes because many snakes have venomous bites.

And she wasn't afraid of bats, the bats themselves swarmed her to tell her to get out of their home when Twilight disturbed their territory. I like bats too because they look cute.

I found myself singing 'Winter Wrap Up' today.

My memory hearkens back to the pre-new-episode marathon streams,
and the chat would go wild when it was SONG TIME!

I could not remember such a pure, unadulterated joy before.

I may yet never again.

For anyone first getting into the show, I would highly recommend you watch this episode first. I wouldn’t recommend watching the pilot episode because, as I said, it’s pretty much nothing but exposition. This episode showcases the ponies much better, especially Twilight. This episode is a much better introduction into her character, as well as the rest of the Mane Six, who all get to shine in this episode, as they did in “Dragonshy.”

Each of the Mane Six have a certain job that they’re assigned during Winter Wrap-Up. Applejack is in charge of plowing the fields and planting the seeds for the food. Rainbow Dash is in charge of the weather team. Fluttershy is left to take care of the hibernating animals. Rarity is busy making the nests for the southern birds. Finally, Pinkie Pie is left with the task of making sure the icy lakes melt evenly. Meanwhile, Twilight is left with trying to fit in and find out what job she would be good at during Winter Wrap-Up, while Spike is busy lazing about not doing much to help out.

What really makes this episode a good one is the fact that all of the Mane Six get a part and all of them are memorable. Twilight’s attempts at ice skating with Pinkie are reminiscent of the famous ice skating scene between Bambi and Thumper, while her attempts at trying to awaken the woodland critters from hibernation leads to some humorous results.

Like “Friendship is Magic, Part 2” we get a catchy tune in the middle of the episode in which all of the Mane Six get to sing a part. It does a good job of explaining what all of the different groups do. Meanwhile, Twilight struggles to find out where she would fit in.

With a catchy tune, some great character moments, and a relatable conflict, this is one of those episodes that was actually worth watching this season.

7155246 I don't know about that, this episode has a fantastic song but the majority of the episode is a great big dose of nothing happening. The most we get is Twilight trying to fit in without magic and being completely unable to do anything. Yeah, it makes for good comedy but it often makes the episode a chore to watch and feels very stretched out. It only gets worse when we learn that the town has never gotten winter wrapped up on time, yet they wanna cling to tradition despite the shame and embarrassment. And somehow all it took to resolve the issue was to just make Twilight overseer of it all. Suspension of disbelief can only go so far.

"Lesson Zero"'s a much better jumping on point if you ask me, especially with how much it lampshades its own cliches and characters and clears up what was the show's biggest problem at the time: The need to shoehorn Twilight into every episode for the sake of writing the moral.

7155276

The most we get is Twilight trying to fit in without magic and being completely unable to do anything.

Yes, but this makes for great conflict.

It only gets worse when we learn that the town has never gotten winter wrapped up on time, yet they wanna cling to tradition despite the shame and embarrassment.

Within the context of "Family Appreciation Day", this makes sense, seeing as how Ponyville was founded by earth ponies. It's only naturall that they would want to do everything without magic. There's something satisfying about doing something by hoof, such as hard labor, that you don't get by taking the easy way out.

And somehow all it took to resolve the issue was to just make Twilight overseer of it all. Suspension of disbelief can only go so far.

Again, this was never an issue for me personally. Sometimes all it takes is an outside observer for you to realize what you're doing wrong. This is why proofreaders and editors are great to have. As we saw throughout the episode, the town of Ponyville is disorganized, even if Amethyst Star with them.

"Lesson Zero"'s a much better jumping on point if you ask me, especially with how much it lampshades its own cliches and characters and clears up what was the show's biggest problem at the time: The need to shoehorn Twilight into every episode for the sake of writing the moral.

First and foremost, fuck that episode and second of all, that was never a problem with the show. Twilight is our window into the world of Eauestria. We are seeing the world through her eyes. From the very beginning of the first episode, we are asked to go on this journey with her. Therefore, it makes sense why she would be included in practically every episode, as her being included wasn't just about delivering the moral; it allowed us to become more familiar with the setting and characters. She's chronicling the magic of friendship as a mission from Celestia. Therefore, it makes sense that she would be the one to deliver the moral. However, the writers seemed to realize the potential with the other characters, hence why we got "Lesson Zero."

7155276
Depends what you mean by "happening".

And the things you recommend Lesson Zero for would have no meaning for someone who's not seen at least some of Season 1.

7155347
Huh, sometime you can be the voice of reason.

7155453

And the things you recommend Lesson Zero for would have no meaning for someone who's not seen at least some of Season 1.

Exactly! As terrible as season one was, it at least made a valiant attempt at establishing worldbuilding, characters, motivations of said characters, and so on and so forth. Without this vital information, "Lesson Zero" would make zero sense to any newcomers.

7155582

As terrible as season one was

I think I figured out why we're disagreeing so much.

7155598 And that's fine. I personally didn't much care for the first few seasons of the show.

7155605
Well, I loved it to begin with and have spent season after season growing more disappointed (aside for the surprisingly great 7).

7155609 I personally feel that the show got better as it went along, each season being better than the last. Even in seasons 8 and 9 we still had great episodes.

7155617
A few, yes - Frenemies is like top 10 material - but decreasingly few, while I like every single Season 1 ep. Not even my other favourite, 7, can match that claim.

7155624 There were very few episodes in the first couple of seasons that I actually liked. I hated most of them.

7155632
Inverse paths, I guess. How did you like 7?

7155635 Season seven was great!

7155642
I guess we're not actually opposites, then - which begs the question why we agree there, but mostly disagree on S1. In what ways would you say Season 7 is better then it?

7155647 Season seven simply had better writing and more memorable characters.

7155688
Well, not much I can say about that I guess. Who did you find so memorable?

7155713 It's a tie between Applejack's parents and Rainbow Dash's parents.

7155833
Ah - well I found one set annoying and the other cute but overrated, so maybe we are pretty opposite.

7155895 Perfectly understandable.

7090165
I mean she tried to fix Ponyvile solo in the Return of Harmony (granted that was different magic) but still it doesn't seem likely she would've attempted such a thing if she wasn't confident she could do it.

There's also the fact she's cast spells with pretty wide area effects before (The Hooffields and The McColts) so it is at least possible.

7271114
Dispelling weird magic is probably a lot different to ending winter. In particular, it looks like a very detailed job (or they wouldn't need so many ponies) and not easily brute-forced. Wrapping up in Canterlot is probably also easier, because they have no crops and fewer animals.

7271659
Possibly. I was referring to the weather aspect though, in relation to what the previous commentator said.

7271686
And I was replying to StormLuna, who was shilling Starlight Glimmer as usual.

In any case, if weather magic was that easy unicorns would never have needed pegasi.

7271694

who was shilling Starlight Glimmer as usual.

She is the most OP unicorn out there, I am not really surprised.

n any case, if weather magic was that easy unicorns would never have needed pegasi.

Well A there's only so many overpowered unicorns, I highly doubt they could've covered all the areas that need to be covered. And B even having magic that can manipulate the weather, doesn't necessarily give one the instinct for understanding how to manipulate it.

7271865
Yeah, and StormLuna still consistently manages to overblow her.

And exactly - even if a unicorn could cast on the right scale, without a suitable special talent they'd probably just make things worse.

7271949

And exactly - even if a unicorn could cast on the right scale, without a suitable special talent they'd probably just make things worse.

Depends on a lot of things, special talents aren't always so limited, but I could definitely see that happening. Rarity didn't make a good weather coordinator even with Rainbow Dash's mark, so it proberbly has more to do with the pony, than it does even the Cutie Mark and associated magic.

And while I could maybe see Starlight handling the thawing of a large environment, there are other factors to consider, proper time allowed for the evaporation of moisture for one, not to mention how that much hot air being introduced suddenly, might affect the weather's behavior on a long term basis.

7271983
So best to do things properly instead of just throwing around flashy magic. (But I still don't think even Starlight's that good.)

7271990

So best to do things properly instead of just throwing around flashy magic.

A universal rule of thumb on this show, or at least it used to be.

(But I still don't think even Starlight's that good.)

Depends on your take on the character honestly. I would have to make a size comparison before I ruled on her ability to affect Canterlot, but I wouldn't be completely surprised if she managed to cover a particularly large area.