As we start this episode off, I find myself in the comfiest opening scene so far, if not the comfiest scene period. It’s the first day of the new year, early in the morning at the Golden Oaks Library, and the curtains are drawn with Twilight and Spike both tucked up cozy and warm in bed. This moment, more than those that preceded it in previous episodes, makes me want very much to be right there in the scene, just to experience the sheer comfyness of it all. And Twilight’s excitement is infectious too, so it all mixes together into just, one of my favourite things. Spike mumbles “Mommy? Oh. You’re not mommy.” When Twilight wakes him, which I get is a joke but I wonder if at this stage Spike being hatched by Twilight was in the show bible yet or not. I notice that Twilight even has a spare scarf, as well. I love the way she jumps into her boots all at once, I love the worldbuilding seamlessly incorporated with Spike mentioning how Canterlot just does it by magic, I love how Twilight tries to put on all her gear without using magic as if she’s already gearing up to do things Earth-pony style, I love how the solution to the problem in this episode is set up by Twilight saying how organised she is and having a checklist (I knew this bit in advance because like with Swarm of the Century, I just couldn’t resist watching this episode twice), I just love this whole intro to bits. And as she steps out into the darkness of the early hours the morning, I feel a warmth that reminds me of why I like to get up as early in the morning as I can. Nothing’s better than a walk in the dark at 4am when everyone’s in bed and everything’s quiet and silent. 

And relatively soon into the episode, we have what I think (?) is our first major setpiece song in an episode. Winter Wrap-Up is just so catchy and so well choreographed that there’s little I can add, except to say that I noticed there’s a gloomier tone when Twilight has her solo lines, which I think makes the song a lot better than just a simple happy exposition song. It does a great job of building up the conflict, illustrating Twilight’s feelings, setting up the premise and expanding the world, and it even takes time to characterise the characters, like at the beginning when each of the ponies mentions how winter ending affects them personally, each in a way that fits their personality. It’s just absolutely perfect. It’s easily one of my favourite songs in the entire show, and not just because of the music itself (though that’s obviously great) but because all this great story is packed and condensed down into this song, and relistening to it on it’s own is almost like an audible mini-version of the episode. 

I also noted Applejack saying that the food that’s been stored is running out, which was making me think about how, with human seasons, we eat food according to season (at least in the past) out of necessity, but the ponies could abuse the seasons if they wanted – whilst there probably would be negative environmental consequences, magic could probably overcome those. As such, another neat difference between Pony and human society in this sense is that ponies aren’t really faced with necessity as much, and yet they choose to continue to live in a way that brings them in harmony with their countryside and with eachother. In this sense, not only does Ponyville represent pony values as contrasted to human ones, but also pony values contrasted to Canterlot! I wonder if maybe that’s another element of why Celestia sent Twilight here. It’s never explored much in the show to my recollection, but it would be interesting to think of urban pony life as having degraded from the harmony that kept Equestria together in the past, and so from Celestia’s perspective, all this fun slice-of-life stuff is essential training for her protege to go through. I kind of like the idea that the fate of the world rests on this slightly neurotic socially awkward purple horse managing to make friends and fit in.