So I will assume the obvious default assumption, you will assume this crazy thing.

So... do we know if Rainbow Dash is Applejack's mom? They haven't mentioned it one way or another, and I can site some shows where there were surprises about parents, even some where the mother was the same age or younger, so it's just as likely that she is as she isn't ...

Pretty good episode but I found it a little too derivative of "Party of One". I'm a little dissapointed the lesson wasn't that Twilight was completely overreacting. She created conflict for her own selfish purposes. There's no lesson to be learned here?

<insert riposte here, then lather, rinse, repeat>

Ponyville's windmill was ticking along like a second hand, too. It was pretty amusing; but I think just another symptom of Twilight's semi-delusional state.

Hopefully I don't have to go over this again with you or Sobana, since it's starting to get tiresome.

Twilight learns a lesson about taking things into her own hands hooves, taking things too far, trying to manipulate things to her own "needs", when not to use mind-manipulation spells...
The others learn a lesson about how just because a problem seems small and trivial to you, it could be monstrously large and important to them, so at least take the time to listen to them and not judge them for having a different order of priorities than you.

And Twilight did learn she was overreacting, but it's not the first time she's had that experience.

Btw, I wish they explained the Bakers Dozen. Not everybody is familiar with the 12 items in a box when arranged in a specific way can leave space for an extra item to make 13.

You know, one thing I especially liked about this episode was the way the sun shifted across the sky in increments like a clock. I realize it was just meant to be a gag, but it actually makes sense that it would move that way. Celestia wouldn't want to have to keep slowly pushing it all day long, but if she has it enchanted to move on its own then she wouldn't be needed to raise it every morning. I'd like to think she has some sort of timer that goes off every hour or so to remind her to give it another little shove.

I know we've all seen this, but some of these poses are really funny. I especially love Big Mac and Bonbon

Hm.. I never realized this. I thought it was just a nice incentive some people did. Interesting...

Looking at it closely, I notice how neither Berry Punch nor Colgate seem to have an idea on how to pull guard. Getting mounted way too easily~

Really? We just got past plot-shots, now you're going on to something even worse.

Yeah... I don't really agree with that lesson either. They were properly gaging the severity of the problem. No harm, no fowl. Maybe they could have been more understanding or try to talk their friend off a ledge, but having themselves think a silly problem is a big deal seems like the wrong approach.

lol, I don't think Rezo was making an allusion to what it may appear he was at first glance. The "pull guard" thing indicates he was just talking about how neither of them seem to be aware of that particular tactic when you're in the inferior position in a fight on the ground. Damn that Ask Berry Punch tumblr for making people think the worst when things involve Berry!

Using the word "mounted" didn't help, of course. Even my mind jumped there, at first; and I've never considered my mind to be particularly inclined in that direction.

Looking at it closely, I notice how neither Berry Punch nor Colgate seem to have an idea on how to pull guard. Getting mounted way too easily~

I suspect that Twi's been through a lot, and she may have been as much driven into study (and away from having friends) through rejection by others as it being a genuine passion. Certainly, having seen her raw magic at work, her early career as a magic user may have been marked by a number of embarrassing incidents.

Well, there's the chance she was ostracized for being the teacher's pet, but that doesn't seem right for there, and how the ponies were trying to be friendly to her in the opening scenes of the first episode.

Clarifications, but not necessarily agreeing with your conclusions:
Nightmare Night and it's the Autumnal Equinox- when day and night are equal. The Winter Solstice is the 22nd of December this year IIRC and is the longest night of the year.

I'm surprised that nobody's mentioned the rather blatant "24" shout-out. Pocket only just mentioned the countdown effect with the sun/windmill, but not in context of the reference.

Though, really, the Winter Solstice would be a more logical place for a celebration of the night --Hallowe'en started out as a harvest festival (combined with a remembrance for the dead). The Equinox was the point by which all the crops needed to be in (because the temperature's dropping). The local Hallowe'en analogue would be somewhere between "Applebuck Season" and "Fall Weather Friends."

And then there'd be the insincere sycophants who try to "befriend" her so they can score karma points with Celestia. . .

Like so. Were they trying to be friendly to Twilight Sparkle, or to the Apprentice of the God-Queen?

Christians don't move holidays.

Though, to be fair, the Solstices/Equinoxes are universal to every culture on the planet, and older than sin itself. Christians just get a bad wrap for giving them 'meaning'.

I thought Halloween originated from someone constantly causing mischief and was originally in the spring, but then the Christians or whoever, on a religious crusade, decided to move it to the fall, something to do with another date.
There was a documentary on it's origins last year on History channel, so I can't remember all the details, just that it originated from someone who liked to cause pranks and tricks, then was caught and executed, and to mock him, they dressed-up in his mask every year.
The change of date may have been something to do with St. Patrick's day, but I doubt it. I just know something was changed for religious reasons.

Maybe they'll have it on again this year, as the wiki only has references believing to link it to Irish, Scottish, Welsh, etc lore.

Nothing says that it's 1 thousand years to the day...just on the solstice of the thousandth year.

I thought Halloween originated from someone constantly causing mischief and was originally in the spring, but then the Christians or whoever, on a religious crusade, decided to move it to the fall, something to do with another date.

Right, but is that to the day?

Halloween isn't a Christian holiday. Why would Christians move something they're openly hostile towards and have no control over?

It had to either have been that day or passed it already, otherwise, she would have said 'nearly a thousand years'.

Right. I guess also it was 1000 years to the day. Why would Luna have stayed in the moon a second longer than possible?

According to the online tv guide, it will be on History Channel again on the 27th at 8p EST, The Real Story of Halloween. And the description off-hoof calls it a Pagan holiday.

Apparently, it's arguable. It's definitely a Christian holiday, first and foremost.

Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. ... Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.

Apparently, it's arguable. It's definitely a Christian holiday, first and foremost.

Apparently, it's arguable. It's definitely a Christian holiday, first and foremost.

ChristianityChristian attitudes towards Halloween are diverse. In the Anglican Church, some dioceses have chosen to emphasize the Christian traditions of All Saints’ Day,[42][43] while some other Protestants celebrate the holiday as Reformation Day, a day to remember the Protestant Reformation.[44][45] Father Gabriele Amorth, a Vatican-appointed exorcist in Rome, has said, "if English and American children like to dress up as witches and devils on one night of the year that is not a problem. If it is just a game, there is no harm in that."[46] In more recent years, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has organized a "Saint Fest" on the holiday.[47] Similarly, many contemporary Protestant churches view Halloween as a fun event for children, holding events in their churches where children and their parents can dress up, play games, and get candy for free.

Many Christians ascribe no negative significance to Halloween, treating it as a purely secular holiday devoted to celebrating "imaginary spooks" and handing out candy. To these Christians, Halloween holds no threat to the spiritual lives of children: being taught about death and mortality, and the ways of the Celtic ancestors actually being a valuable life lesson and a part of many of their parishioners' heritage.[48] In the Roman Catholic Church, Halloween is viewed as having a Christian connection,[49] and Halloween celebrations are common in Catholic parochial schools throughout North America and in Ireland.

Some Christians feel concerned about Halloween, and reject the holiday because they feel it trivializes – or celebrates – paganism, the occult, or other practices and cultural phenomena deemed incompatible with their beliefs.[50] A response among some fundamentalist and conservative evangelical churches in recent years has been the use of "Hell houses", themed pamphlets, or comic-style tracts such as those created by Jack T. Chick in order to make use of Halloween's popularity as an opportunity for evangelism.[47] Some consider Halloween to be completely incompatible with the Christian faith[51] believing it to have originated as a pagan "Festival of the Dead".

I mean, seriously, arguments are popping up over the most inconsequential of minutia recently and it's starting to annoy at least me, and probably others here.

Uh oh. Someone should see if the Royal Garden is missing a statue...

Empty pedestal surrounded by barbed wire and signs that say 'Keep Away'?

Nope, nothing missing here.

How can you read that and think anything but "Not a Christian holiday"?

Certainly Samhain was a time for festive gatherings, and medieval Irish texts and later Irish, Welsh, and Scottish folklore use it as a setting for supernatural encounters, but there is no evidence that it was connected with the dead in pre-Christian times, or that pagan religious ceremonies were held.

Dude it's the Internet. I thought this is what it was for.