History Fridge / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E13HearthsWarmingEve

** Most likely the ponies just used a modern flag or one from when Celestia and Luna took the throne after all we don't know the amount of time between hearts warming and when the royal sisters took down Discord.

* Despite Equestria being formed by the unicorns, pegasis and earth ponies before they were around, Celestia and Luna are still featured on the first flag of Equestria.

* Despite Equestria being formed by the unicorns, pegasis and earth ponies before they were around, Celestia and Luna are still featured on the first flag of Equestria.

** Maybe they're taking pot shots at real-life elected government officials. Or they know Puddinghead is a lot smarter than s/he looks and acts. Or quite simply, Puddinghead was elected for his/her hatred of the other two races, and was seen as somepony who could do something about them. There are a number of reasons why Puddinghead was elected. Puddinghead is creative (in a weird way).

* Princess Platinum inherited her position and Commander Hurricane probably gained hers through {{Klingon Promotion}}. [[{{TheDitz}} Chancellor Puddinghead]], however, got ''elected'' as a leader somehow. Think about that for a while.

* "The Earth is round. There is no up or down." Does this mean that their planet is called Earth? And that Smart Cookie proposed giving the new earth pony nation the same name as their own planet?

* At the end of the play, the mane six are standing in pairs as they sing: Applejack/Fluttershy, Twilight/Rarity, and Pinkie/Rainbow Dash. There doesn't seem to be much meaning to this arrangement, until you remember that Fluttershy was originally going to be an earth pony and Pinkie Pie a pegasus.

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!!FridgeBrilliance:
* Politically speaking: The play shows what components Equestria was made from. Twilight's intellectualism, Applejack's pragmatism, Fluttershy's pacifism, Rarity's pride, Rainbow's "agressertiveness" and Pinkie's...well...eccentricity (face it; it's Equestria after all!). Although the play depicts some of the traits are more morally objectionable than others, it never downplays the importance of any of them; if they did so, the advisors could have just as well easily discarded of their leaders. But ignoring the fact that all ''six'' of them are the mane cast, they still don't. Why? Because they are nevertheless dependent on their leaders in one way or another. Just imagine Twilight, Applejack and Fluttershy founding Equestria on their own. It would be a country that is neither strong or realistically complete. Because one can't build a country based on mere pragmatism, intellectualism and pacifism. A certain level of assertiveness is ''needed'' for any country (why do you think diplomats exist in the first place?) and pride and eccentricity are ''unavoidable'' side effects to any and all nations, resulting in nationalism and the general incompetence (i.e. of civil servants) respectively. So much for that. The play only says that all those traits are to be kept at a certain balance or else...Wendigos.
* When the Pegasi discover their new home...Pegasopolis...Private Pansy, Fluttershy's character, points at the ground and says "I can see my future house from here!" But surely as a Pegasus, Private Pansy made her home in the clouds like the rest? Perhaps but here Fluttershy is speaking as Fluttershy and pointing roughly at where her cottage in Ponyville would be. Yup; she's [[BreakingTheFourthWall breaking the (in-universe) fourth wall!]]
* When the Mane Six are on their way to Canterlot, everypony but Twilight acts like it is their first time there. This doesn't make sense until you realize that it ''is'' their first time there ''during Hearth's Warming Eve''. They're just excited about going to see the lights and decorations. This is backed up by noticing that Twilight though clearly enjoying herself isn't as excited as the others due to having lived there most of her life and having seen it all before.
* Using a chimney to enter a house is shrugged off as typical oddball behavior of Chancellor Puddinghead (and the actress playing her). Then at the end of the scene, she attempts to exit the house (through the door this time) and is immediately buried by the wall of snow that had built up behind it. Guess the chimney actually ''was'' easier...
* The style of armor worn by modern Equestrian guards is apparently an in-universe CallBack to the ancient Pegasi who were the best warriors of all the tribes.
* While it could be explained as simply for the viewer's benefit, the realistic looking scenes displayed throughout have another possible explanation. In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E14SuitedForSuccess Suited For Success]]", Rarity uses her magic to produce a large number of illusions and effects for her fashion show. It's quite possible that she or another Unicorn knowing the same spell could've produced the effects for the play. While certain things were presented via backdrops and the like, it'd probably be more effective and practical to do things like the ice and snow as well as more detailed settings with magic.
* Requires substantial knowledge on the subject but if one looks at it, the Wendigos aren't SadlyMythtaken at all; just re-purposed for ponies. Besides being humanoid, the mythic Wendigos represented the evils of an Algonquian taboo: cannibalism...especially when it isn't absolutely necessary. These Wendigos on the other hand represent the evils of a purely Equestrian taboo: hatred...especially between the races.
** And there's a second level of FridgeLogic and FridgeBrilliance involved if you think about it. The Wendigos are still encouraging cannibalism of a sort; they're encouraging the 3 pony tribes to devour themselves and each other through violence and hatred.
* The casting for the play works way better than I'd originally thought. The three leaders need to clash in order to create the central conflict...and which three ponies are picked to play the leaders? The ones with the ''strongest'' personalities! Rainbow Dash is aggressive, Rarity is melodramatic and Pinkie Pie is...[[CloudCuckooLander Pinkie Pie.]] On the other hand, the relatively mild personalities are chosen to play their respective advisers in order to temper them and to serve as foils. Fluttershy, the quiet conflict-shy personality is attached to the aggressive Rainbow Dash; the reasonable Twilight Sparkle is attached to the histrionic Rarity and the down-to-earth Applejack is attached to the crazy Pinkie Pie. Spike who is important to the show's dynamic but is often outside the action and occasionally provides commentary and pokes holes in certain character's logic is the narrator.
* It may appear weird that only the Pegasi got a distinct look from the other two tribes, being based on ancient Greece when others are both based on medieval Europe. But it actually makes sense: The Pegasi, living in the clouds, developed in isolation from Unicorns and Earth Ponies who in turn lived side by side which would naturally cause their cultures to meld to some degree. Furthermore unicorns appearing similar to nobility makes sense in that their part of the deal involved relatively cleaner and less exhausting spell-casting instead of working physically in the fields.
** Even better is that the three tribes still have remnants of their former cultures. Pegasi culture seems to favour bold, strong and fast. And they still have the advantage of flight over other tribes, making them great warriors. Unicorns favour bloodlines and standing, and they cultivate fashion, arcane studies and culture in general. And Earth Ponies still do work others can't do and seem content having simple jobs.
** Another thing, Pegasus is derived from GreekMythology. Another example of ShownTheirWork.
** The Pegasi still retain some of their warrior roots: the Royal Guard is predominantly pegasi.
* Rainbow Dash gloating about how the play should be all about her makes it seem like she [[AesopAmnesia forgot her lesson]] from "Mare Do Well". Then we see her character Commander Hurricane. She was probably just getting into character!
** Hey; part of the Aesop was that it's okay to celebrate your accomplishments. And if getting to play [[{{Badass}} Commander]] [[LargeHam Hurricane]] isn't an accomplishment worth celebrating, what is?
** Also remember that Rainbow Dash sometimes suffers from stage fright too...especially when she's afraid of public failure. So what better way to stop herself from ending up like Fluttershy than to convince herself everypony will be cheering for her?
* Why would a CompleteMonster species like the Wendigos engage in HarmlessFreezing? And just what is the connection between eating negative emotions and cold weather anyway? If you think about it, it kinda makes sense. You encourage the ponies to hate each other in order to feed upon their hatred. But sooner or later they will either a) put aside their differences, b) avoid each other or c) kill each other. No more food. Not a good survival trait. So instead you get them to the point where their hate is the strongest and then see to it that it will last forever. Freeze them while keeping them alive and they'll be stuck in an AndIMustScream scenario permanently without ever having the opportunity to get past their negative emotions. Those three pony leaders came this close to spending the rest of eternity trapped in the presence of those they hated, unable to either leave, destroy or make amends with them. Quite a feast for the Wendigos. Could very well be a BatmanGambit as well.
!!FridgeHorror:
* Living in harmony gives Wendigos nothing to eat; presumably they starve to death in times of peace.
** Not really true as the end implies they are still around. Which is a new FridgeHorror
** Given that they're spirits feeding probably isn't a matter of survival to them.
** The winter that the Wendigos cause was so strong that it cause a famine. If the ponies would be so desperate for food they might be force to eat each other. This hold some weight as {{Wendigo}}s in myths represents cannibalism.
** There's also the fact their winter got worse and worse as the hatred between the ponies grew. What would've happened if they ''hadn't'' be stopped?!
*** They all become a big block o' ice as demonstrated.
* Okay; so what about the villages of ponies we saw earlier? They're suddenly forgotten about. Maybe they're just seen as a minor plot point but did the rest of the inhabitants of the land starve?
** Presumably the defeat of the Wendigos freed them from the winter and the leaders went back to fetch the rest of their respective races so as to bring them to the newly formed Equestria.
** The disappearance of background ponies coincides with the introduction of Private Pansy, Clover the Clever and Smart Cookie...right before the journey to Equestria. Notice how Spike keeps talking about "the tribes" in his narration. Whoever directed the play probably decided that three anonymous masses in movement could as well be represented by three actors.
*** Thematically the leader and adviser of each tribe each represents each of the two forces at play in the conflict. There are the ponies that wallow in hate and distrust, and there are the ponies that are tired of fighting and just want to live their lives. Hence two ponies are all you need from each tribe in order to effectively outline the conflict.
* The ending heavily implies that if the races ever began fighting again, the Wendigo would return. Between them, discord and negative emotions apparently capable of transforming people into [[EvilOverlord Evil Overlords (i.e Nightmare Moon) ]], it seems that in the world of ponies, friendship isn't so much a voluntary virtue as it is a survival mechanism.
** Since the ending is very much played for laughs, it may be just that [[FridgeBrilliance someone accidentally used whatever made the Wendigo roar sounds during the play]].
*** [[TheEndOrIsIt I wouldn't be so sure.]]
* The events of the play take place before the rule of Celestia and Luna. Celestia and Luna came into power when they defeated Discord. And Luna knew Star Swirl the Bearded who was Clover the Clever's mentor. Which means that some time not too long after their happy ending, the newly-christened Equestria was set upon by Discord and plunged it into an unending nightmare of chaos and suffering.
** Luna Eclipsed showed Luna knew ''of'' Star Swirl...not necessarily that she ''knew'' him.
** She knew him well enough to know that Twilight had "even gotten the bells right". Of course Luna herself might only have seen pictures of him with his bells but I prefer to think that she met him herself.
** Maybe Star Swirl's robe is preserved somewhere in Canterlot...perhaps in a museum or the palace.
*** Like I said, "not necessarily". But the claim is not absolute proof either way
* If you think about it, Chancellor Puddinghead is not unlike TheCaligula. She is very much insane (that wasn't good-natured Pinkie's wackiness we've seen in the play), but also convinced she's the smartest person around and won't let anyone tell her otherwise. It's also she that escalates the final argument that makes the Wendigos freeze the cave. None of the pony leaders were exactly nice people, but Puddinghead's rule might have been quite nightmarish for the earth ponies.
** Gets even worse when you remember that [[EvilChancellor Chancellor]] Puddinghead in contrast with the other two leaders was ''[[DemocracyIsBad elected]]''.
** Well...guy wanted his horse in charge and this is what happens.
* Related to the FridgeBrilliance on Wendigos: it's also said of the mythical Wendigo that if one were to indulge in cannibalism, they'd become a Wendigo. What would've happened to those hateful ponies had they continued to indulge in animosity...?
** {{Fanfic/Cupcakes}}?
*** [[CompletelyMissingThePoint so sweet and tasty?]]
* So assuming that making friends is a survival tactic in the Equestria of yore, what happens to the social misfits who don't fit in?
** They wander the land until they find a place they ''do'' fit in. [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie Perhaps even as]] {{Wendigo}}s themselves.
* FridgeHorror: "The three leaders agreed to share the beautiful land and live in harmony ever after." And along came [[GodOfEvil Discord]]...[[SarcasmMode Yay]].
!!FridgeLogic:
* So where were the Alicorns; did they exist prior to these events?
** Considering Equestria isn't ruled by Discord when the ponies find it, it's possible the Princesses had already dealt with Discord and simply hadn't established their rule over what would become Equestria yet meaning the play is set between Discord's downfall and the establishment of Celestia and Luna's rule.
*** That creates a different problem however; the Pegasi, Unicorns and Earth Ponies founded Equestria on their own without the help of Alicorns; then Alicorns came out of nowhere and are now the rulers.
**** However if Celestia and Luna are really goddesses, then it's possible they started out as symbols of pony unity and then became [[PhysicalGod Physical Gods]] due to the ponies' [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve belief in them]].
**** [[TakeAThirdOption OR]] Alicorns are an odd interbreeding. [[WordOfGod Faust]] has claimed that Alicorns are a mix of all three. (LegoGenetics may be to blame.)
**** OR Discord turned two ponies into alicorns because he though the ideal of him enslaving the ponies' sybloms of unity was funny.
*** Alternatively Discord appeared after they founded Equestria. Still no explanation of the Alicorn race.
*** It's possible that there is no such thing as an "Alicorn race." Possibly Celestia and Luna are just very special ponies.
*** It is stated by Spike at the beginning of the play that it took place long before the Rule of Celestia.
*** Which gives a bit of FridgeHorror as it means after all this, Discord just showed up and conquered Equestria.
**** Just because the three races of ponies worked together to found Equestria doesn't mean years of disdain for each other suddenly evaporates. Makes perfect sense that Discord would be able to take advantage of that later.
*** Maybe I'm missing something but I don't see the problem here. The Alicorns are clearly considered deities in Equestria. The three tribes formed Equestria and their harmonious nature attracted Discord. He conquered the land and ruled over it until the Alicorns appeared (possibly from the heavens) and defeated him with the Elements of Harmony. Out of gratitude, the three pony tribes made the Alicorns their leaders. What's the issue?
** If the Unicorns were dealing with the whole day/night thing before Celestia and Luna came along, where did they even get the idea?
*** It's possible that it's been forgotten among the Unicorns since Princess Celestia and Luna have been doing it themselves for over 1000 years.
*** From the opening scene of ''Friendship is Magic's'' very first episode, Princess Celestia uses "Unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn." The Hearth's Warming Eve play implies that the pre-Princess Unicorns split the effort of the task amongst themselves.
*** The Unicorn's sun-raising magic might have been "divine magic" as they say in [[TabletopGames roleplaying games]]; they were a priest-class as well as a mage-class (social class...not character class) who invoked the Princesses to move the sun and moon. Priests, warriors and farmers also happen to be an old stereotypical division of society…Later, when Discord turned up, Luna and Celestia took physical form, descended to Dirtville and defeated him.
*** Considering that Luna knew Star Swirl the Bearded, Clover's mentor, it's possible that day/night powers originated with the princesses and passed to the historical Unicorns through Luna and Star Swirl's friendship.
*** Luna Eclipsed showed Luna knew ''of'' Star Swirl...not necessarily that she knew him. There is nothing to conclusively demonstrate that she knew him personally let alone they were friends.
*** Luna did tell Twilight that she had "even got the bells right". That implies firsthand knowledge.
*** Knowledge of Star Swirl's iconic apparel but not necessarily the pony himself.
** There are not really that many conflicting elements in what we know about Equestria. It was founded by the three races when the lands were discovered. Then Discord came along and started his reign of chaos. THEN Celestia and Luna fought against him and became the rulers. There's elements missing (how the Alicorns came to be being the most important one) but the larger parts of the story can coexist.
*** Still doesn't explain where Celestia and Luna come from however.
**** Well...it's not like we had any idea before this episode either. We know they exist and that they are literally the union of all three races thus deities. That's all.
*** The unified Equestria banner seen at the end indicates that they already existed at that time and were at least known of by the ponies even if they didn't live among them then. It's possible that they date back to before pony history began.
*** The flag itself might just be a modern prop for use in the play (i.e. a modern Equestrian flag to make it clear to the audience that Equestria was founded) rather than a historically accurate version of the flag that was actually planted. Note that in that scene, the backdrop is clearly painted. That whole scene is a part of the play...not a part of the history.
*** Luna and Celestia could have been there for this and similarly, Discord could have already been in charge of Equestria. Not knowing the time frame doesn't help, but it should be pointed out that the ponies seemed to be saved by unicorn magic acting out of order.
** About 95% of the above can pretty much be explained by the fact it's a play and thus some details of the actual events were likely left out for times sake. Everypony knows Celestia and Luna are the ruler, so that'd be a logical part to skip in the play if a part ''had'' to be skipped.
** Wait one cotton-pickin' minute. Wendigos feed on hostility and hatred, right? Then what good is a frozen pony to them? Why would they neutralize their only source of food? Further this just teaches the ponies to avoid hostility in future which is counterproductive for the Wendigos!
*** The Wendigos seem to be a force of nature. They don't plan for the future; they just freeze everything because that is what their instincts tell them to do. Even if it would end up harming them in the end, they are either not sentient enough to care or don't have enough free will to stop.
*** Another possibility is their goal like they did with the three leaders was to freeze them in a state of hatred, [[AndIMustScream never dying but constantly providing them with a limitless food supply.]] This is why ''not'' explaining their motives in detail makes them ''much'' scarier.
*** Alternatively the Wendigos could simply move on to other ponies once they've "finished" this meal. They might not expect to feed on the same one group's hatred forever any more than we expect to feed on the same one chicken forever.
*** The difference is that we literally can't feed on the same chicken forever while the Wendigos have the choice. Why wouldn't they just take the easiest path? Surely it's much easier to feed off the same group of ponies than to move around looking for fresh meat all the time.
*** See point 1 and 2.
* In the intro, Twilight points out an "8 foot tall candy cane" which is the first real measurement (outside of time) on the show and of course this has sent a few fans to figure out the heights of the various ponies now that we have this measurement. But a larger question to ask is: where did they get this word/measurement? Historically we had "foot" based on the measure of that part of a human body but of course ponies lack this. (Of course one has to recognize that it makes no sense for the writers to introduce a fact measurement term and try to force the young audience to understand that; "8 foot" is a easy measurement to understand.)
** [[EpilepticTrees The Diamond Dogs?]]
** TranslationConvention.
** They know what feet are despite not having them; I mean, in "Owl's Well That Ends Well", Twilight explicitly mentions "[Spike's] ketchup-covered feet" as to how Owlowiscious and she were able to find Spike after he ran away. So possibly they used another creature's feet as reference for their measurements?
** Horses have feet. They've got one big toe which we call a hoof. Their definition of a foot (the measurement of length) would probably be different to ours though.
* Princess Platinum seems to be wearing an ermine cape. Wonder what it is actually made of…
** Magic-made synthetics? Course they might've not been so nice to animals back then…
** Or they are pragmatic enough to for instance skin ermine that have died of natural causes, take whatever else is of utility to ponies from the body and feed the rest to the buzzing buzzards and other scavengers.
** Or being a ruler, an elitist enough to ride one of her subjects (and thus willing to have lots of magic wasted on her appearance) and an Unicorn, the cape may be made of living ermine in much the same way as [[spoiler: Luna]] wore a cloak made out of [[spoiler:bats]].
** May also be simple the prop that has it (and made by modern pony day synthetic fur) and thus that's how we see it in the "historical" parts.
* Considering the play depicts the events more than a thousand years before Twilight and her friends were born you'd expect the characters in it to speak a bit differently, using words like "thou" and "thee". It has already been established in Luna Eclipsed that the language ponies use wasn't always like modern English.
** [[TranslationConvention Perhaps for the audience's sake]]?
*** Could be true for the pony audience who just watch the actors playing on stage. However for us most of the play appears in some form of flashback meaning that using at least some of Old/Middle English words would seem logical.
*** The fan chronology suggests that Discord will rule sometime after the founding of Equestria followed by Celestia and Luna defeating him. The Royal Canterlot Voice-style may not have actually existed until the point that the sisters take over and formalize a monarchy-like system.
**** While it's true that The Royal Canterlot Voice may not have existed during the time of events depicted in play, the language could still be (and most likely was) very different. By logic it should have even more old words than the language Luna was speaking with in Luna Eclipsed.
**** By logic the language should be completely incomprehensible to anyone who isn't an English major. Both the show's writers and the Mane Six probably decided to use modern English to make it easier to follow for their respective audiences.
**** Exactly. In fact, one could also argue that three separate pony tribes would each have their own language...yet what language is used in ''JesusChristSuperstar''? 'Israel 4 BC had no mass communication ... '
* Hang on; Pinkie Pie openly calls attention to the fact that the world is round. So...how do the Unicorns (and later the Princesses) make the sun and moon "rise" and "set"?
** She says it's round. That doesn't mean it orbits the Sun.
*** It's not the Earth orbiting the Sun that creates day and night. It's the spinning of the Earth.
** Perhaps they raise the sun by rotating the planet.
** You do remember that we're talking about [[CloudCuckooLander somepony who was]] [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext wearing a hole-riddled map on her face]], right?
* So when Princess Platinum (Rarity) rides Clover the Clever (Twilight Sparkle) across the stream, why the hell was Clover wearing a bridle?
* Although possible, it seems odd that all three of the leaders at the time ''and'' all three of their assistants would be female. Might there have been some CrossCasting going on? 'Princess' Platinum is the only character who's explicitly female; the others are all variously gender-neutral. Commander Hurricane in particular seems mighty militaristic and aggressive, although perhaps no more so than Rainbow herself. And some of the interactions between Platinum and Clover take on a slightly different tone if you suppose Star Swirl the Bearded's apprentice may have been male.
** Fans have speculated that Equestria is a matriarchy by tradition. If that's true, then it would make sense for all the significant historical figures to be mares. If there was a real-world historical story with three political leaders and their immediate assistants and all of them were men, you wouldn't question it too much, would you? That's just how things were. Though I don't disagree that any of them could also be crossplaying, but there's no reason to assume.
** As pointed out above, it could also be that the characters in the play didn't represent just one person, but rather groups within the tribes. "Princess Platinum" could be short hand for the unicorn nobility, "Commander Hurricane" for the Pegasus Military Brass, and "Chancelor Puddinghead" as the Earth Pony Government, while Clever Clover, Smart Cookie, and Private Pansy were stand ins for the scholars, farmers, and soldiers respectively. Since they're just ideas, even if they're nameed after real people(as Clever Clover probably was), it doesn't exactly matter who was cast as them. The play wouldn't have been largely affected if Princess Platinum had been Prince Platinum.
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* Politically speaking: The play shows what components Equestria was made from. Twilight's intellectualism, Applejack's pragmatism, Fluttershy's pacifism, Rarity's pride, Rainbow's "agressertiveness" and Pinkie's...well...eccentricity (face it; it's Equestria after all!). Although the play depicts some of the traits are more morally objectionable than others, it never downplays the importance of any of them; if they did so, the advisors could have just as well easily discarded of their leaders. But ignoring the fact that all ''six'' of them are the mane cast, they still don't. Why? Because they are nevertheless dependent on their leaders in one way or another. Just imagine Twilight, Applejack and Fluttershy founding Equestria on their own. It would be a country that is neither strong or realistically complete. Because one can't build a country based on mere pragmatism, intellectualism and pacifism. A certain level of assertiveness is ''needed'' for any country (why do you think diplomats exist in the first place?) and pride and eccentricity are ''unavoidable'' side effects to any and all nations, resulting in nationalism and the general incompetence (i.e. of civil servants) respectively. So much for that. The play only says that all those traits are to be kept at a certain balance or else...windigos.

* Requires substantial knowledge on the subject but if one looks at it, the Windigos aren't SadlyMythtaken at all; just re-purposed for ponies. Besides being humanoid, the mythic Windigos represented the evils of an Algonquian taboo: cannibalism...especially when it isn't absolutely necessary. These Windigos on the other hand represent the evils of a purely Equestrian taboo: hatred...especially between the races.
** And there's a second level of FridgeLogic and FridgeBrilliance involved if you think about it. The Windigos are still encouraging cannibalism of a sort; they're encouraging the 3 pony tribes to devour themselves and each other through violence and hatred.

* Why would a CompleteMonster species like the windigos engage in HarmlessFreezing? And just what is the connection between eating negative emotions and cold weather anyway? If you think about it, it kinda makes sense. You encourage the ponies to hate each other in order to feed upon their hatred. But sooner or later they will either a) put aside their differences, b) avoid each other or c) kill each other. No more food. Not a good survival trait. So instead you get them to the point where their hate is the strongest and then see to it that it will last forever. Freeze them while keeping them alive and they'll be stuck in an AndIMustScream scenario permanently without ever having the opportunity to get past their negative emotions. Those three pony leaders came this close to spending the rest of eternity trapped in the presence of those they hated, unable to either leave, destroy or make amends with them. Quite a feast for the windigos. Could very well be a BatmanGambit as well.

* Living in harmony gives windigos nothing to eat; presumably they starve to death in times of peace.

** The winter that the Windigos cause was so strong that it cause a famine. If the ponies would be so desperate for food they might be force to eat each other. This hold some weight as {{Wendigo}}s in myths represents cannibalism.

** Presumably the defeat of the Windigos freed them from the winter and the leaders went back to fetch the rest of their respective races so as to bring them to the newly formed Equestria.

* The ending heavily implies that if the races ever began fighting again, the Windigo would return. Between them, discord and negative emotions apparently capable of transforming people into [[EvilOverlord Evil Overlords (i.e Nightmare Moon) ]], it seems that in the world of ponies, friendship isn't so much a voluntary virtue as it is a survival mechanism.
** Since the ending is very much played for laughs, it may be just that [[FridgeBrilliance someone accidentally used whatever made the windigo roar sounds during the play]].

* If you think about it, Chancellor Puddinghead is not unlike TheCaligula. She is very much insane (that wasn't good-natured Pinkie's wackiness we've seen in the play), but also convinced she's the smartest person around and won't let anyone tell her otherwise. It's also she that escalates the final argument that makes the windigos freeze the cave. None of the pony leaders were exactly nice people, but Puddinghead's rule might have been quite nightmarish for the earth ponies.

* Related to the FridgeBrilliance on Windigos: it's also said of the mythical Windigo that if one were to indulge in cannibalism, they'd become a Windigo. What would've happened to those hateful ponies had they continued to indulge in animosity...?

** They wander the land until they find a place they ''do'' fit in. [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie Perhaps even as]] [[{{Wendigo}} Windigo]] themselves.

** Wait one cotton-pickin' minute. Windigos feed on hostility and hatred, right? Then what good is a frozen pony to them? Why would they neutralize their only source of food? Further this just teaches the ponies to avoid hostility in future which is counterproductive for the windigos!
*** The Windigos seem to be a force of nature. They don't plan for the future; they just freeze everything because that is what their instincts tell them to do. Even if it would end up harming them in the end, they are either not sentient enough to care or don't have enough free will to stop.

*** Alternatively the Windigos could simply move on to other ponies once they've "finished" this meal. They might not expect to feed on the same one group's hatred forever any more than we expect to feed on the same one chicken forever.
*** The difference is that we literally can't feed on the same chicken forever while the windigos have the choice. Why wouldn't they just take the easiest path? Surely it's much easier to feed off the same group of ponies than to move around looking for fresh meat all the time.

** They wander the land until they find a place they ''do'' fit in. Perhaps even as [[{{Wendigo}} Windigo]] themselves.
* FridgeHorror: "The three leaders agreed to share the beautiful land and live in harmony ever after." And along came [[GodOfEvil Discord]]...[[SarcasmMode Yay]].

* When the pegasi discover their new home...Pegasopolis...Private Pansy, Fluttershy's character, points at the ground and says "I can see my future house from here!" But surely as a Pegasus, Private Pansy made her home in the clouds like the rest? Perhaps but here Fluttershy is speaking as Fluttershy and pointing roughly at where her cottage in Ponyville would be. Yup; she's [[BreakingTheFourthWall breaking the (in-universe) fourth wall!]]

* It may appear weird that only the Pegasi got a distinct look from the other two tribes, being based on ancient Greece when others are both based on medieval Europe. But it actually makes sense: The Pegasi, living in the clouds, developed in isolation from unicorns and earth ponies who in turn lived side by side which would naturally cause their cultures to meld to some degree. Furthermore unicorns appearing similar to nobility makes sense in that their part of the deal involved relatively cleaner and less exhausting spell-casting instead of working physically in the fields.
** Even better is that the three tribes still have remnants of their former cultures. Pegasi culture seems to favour bold, strong and fast. And they still have the advantage of flight over other tribes, making them great warriors. Unicorns favour bloodlines and standing, and they cultivate fashion, arcane studies and culture in general. And earth ponies still do work others can't do and seem content having simple jobs.

*** That creates a different problem however; the Pegasi, unicorns and earth ponies founded Equestria on their own without the help of Alicorns; then Alicorns came out of nowhere and are now the rulers.

** If the unicorns were dealing with the whole day/night thing before Celestia and Luna came along, where did they even get the idea?
*** It's possible that it's been forgotten among the unicorns since Princess Celestia and Luna have been doing it themselves for over 1000 years.
*** From the opening scene of ''Friendship is Magic's'' very first episode, Princess Celestia uses "unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn." The Hearth's Warming Eve play implies that the pre-Princess unicorns split the effort of the task amongst themselves.
*** The unicorn's sun-raising magic might have been "divine magic" as they say in [[TabletopGames roleplaying games]]; they were a priest-class as well as a mage-class (social class...not character class) who invoked the Princesses to move the sun and moon. Priests, warriors and farmers also happen to be an old stereotypical division of society…Later, when Discord turned up, Luna and Celestia took physical form, descended to Dirtville and defeated him.
*** Considering that Luna knew Star Swirl the Bearded, Clover's mentor, it's possible that day/night powers originated with the princesses and passed to the historical unicorns through Luna and Star Swirl's friendship.

** Or being a ruler, an elitist enough to ride one of her subjects (and thus willing to have lots of magic wasted on her appearance) and a unicorn, the cape may be made of living ermine in much the same way as [[spoiler: Luna]] wore a cloak made out of [[spoiler:bats]].

* Hang on; Pinkie Pie openly calls attention to the fact that the world is round. So...how do the unicorns (and later the Princesses) make the sun and moon "rise" and "set"?

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