As we come to the closing of this Holiday Unwrapped Special (mostly because this would be the time where it would officially be late to take down holiday decorations) with something sweet and cringe inducing. There’s nothing like having traditions and making new ones with your friends, but what happens when you try to jazz up the tradition by making it worse? You get odd versions of Santa Claus that makes him a vampire. If there was amoral to this short, it would be to support your friend’s traditions and know that they’ll have your back no matter what. Either that or try not to put too much effort in costumes when even you can’t stand them. Let’s get the holidays wrapped up with some food puns and questionable fashion.
So like a lot of the specials, we get some information about what it might be able from various background characters. We got some of our rock stars along with some fan favorite ships like Vinyl with Octavia and Bulk with Derpy. Now you gotta look at this moment with Bulk Biceps and Derpy and tell me this isn’t something more. It’s just so sweet.
I have no idea when or where it started that Sci Twi had to be this overly literal character where she had to correct every little thing that’s said. I mean I can remember moments in the original show where Twilight would try to make sense of things but not over correct. Applejack asked to start a new holiday tradition and Twilight had to give a whole speech about what counts as a tradition. And pouts when Applejack corrects herself.
Now don’t get me wrong. I love the idea of friends being like family. They even talk about it in the original show, including Fame and Misfortune, but we don’t talk about that. But I probably would have some concern about dressing up for a campy holiday photo that would be shown through the whole school. I just love the faces of the rest of them when they are not really feeling the idea of possibly wearing a lame costume for a photo. Look on the bright side girls. You could say you’re dressed like ghosts and not show up.
So I guess the rule of thumb is to never let Twilight design wardrobe. Otherwise you’ll accidentally end up learning and using math puns. I do wish I could’ve seen exactly how someone would dress up as the quadratic equation, but I am staying away from math as much as humanly possible.
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| Twilight: “Ah don’t be such a square” |
Only Sci Twi could make this joke when discussing math puns. And only Pinkie Pie can at least add in a rimshot to make it a little more tolerable of a math pun. In all aspect, it’s a no on Twilight designing the costumes.
It was meant that Rarity would offer to do the costumes for the photoshoot and try her best to make it look somewhat decent. It really is that generous side of her that I like about Rarity even when she really didn’t want to do it. But if it’s for a friend, she has to.
So Rarity might have bitten off more than she can chew when one the red flags is the fact that she can’t even pronounce cornucopia. I think the other red flag is that I had to look up how to spell it for this segment and Google was not being helpful. So how can our fashion expert turn this assortment of fruits and veggies into something fashion forward?
So I did find it interesting that the only person still trying to get out of doing this photo shoot was Sunset. It kind of shows that she still wants to maintain her own image since when we first meet her, she was mean but popular. It’s more realistic that of course she would do anything for her friends, but there’s a limit to how far you can go with that. Even to the point of calling her dentist, doctor, dermatologist, guitar teacher and podiatrist (foot and ankle doctor). Yeah, again had to look that up. Stop making me learn EqG!
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| Rarity: “But we’re going to be the most fashionable kind of silly there is.” |
Rarity is truly the MVP of this short. She had to make something work and even if it’s not something she wanted to do, she can still try to put her all into a design. She at least understands that she’s doing it for a friend.
Yeah…there’s a limit to how much you can do for a friend. Hard to say which outfit I would attempt to try to move in. Sunset’s wasn’t so bad at a sort of glam rock Carrot Shimmer. We also have Pinkie Corn, Rainbow Orange, Eggplant Sparkle, Flutter Grapes and Squashity. Look I know I’m no Spike from “Bridle Gossip” with the inventive names, but I try. And trust me, the food puns will get worse. I do love Rarity’s face that says, “this is fine.”
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| Pinkie: “I was feeling a little HUSKY so I don’t want to EAR it. Sorry if that joke was…CORNY.” |
And Pinkie Pie comes flying out of the gates with a number of corn puns. And in the back we see Rainbow slowly dying of cringe. And again we will never understand or explain how Pinkie Pie is standing sideways like this.
What I need more explaining on is exactly why Fluttershy was so proud and happy being a bunch of grapes. This smile is giving me pondering thoughts that this was supposed to mean something. And she actually likes her costume so there’s got to be some meaning to this.
*10 minutes on Google later*
So…grapes symbolize joy, fertility and festive. I’d rather not think on those implications, but do with that as you will.
So another issue to note is that it’s probably not a good idea to wear something you can hardly move around in. Not to say large puffy dresses aren’t just as tricky to maneuver around in, but I’m pretty sure you can also walk in the shoes for them as well. And all while trying to hurry to the auditorium and not be seen by anyone.
Well then…nevermind. What’s the matter? Never seen a bedazzled squash before?
I can understand panicking and trying to flee the scene with as little damage as possible. But when you could barely walk in these costumes, what reason would Rainbow have of going full on Sonic the Hedgehog levels of running.
See, I commend these girls for still being nice and righteous. Because if this were to happen, guess who’s not getting saved from the next evil magic creature that shows up to prom? I know it’s just kids being kids, but I wouldn’t be laughing so hard at the girls with magic powers.
Well at least Pinkie isn’t shy from a good laugh. Also kind of a good moment for Pinkie as well. She knows she looks ridiculous and it’s giving everyone a good laugh and smile going on. So what’s best is to just embrace the silliness and make it work. Still might be a twinge of embarrassment, but you gotta just go with it.
And all the while the madness was going on, Applejack had no clue what was coming to greet her for the photo. At least we also get Photo Finish to take the picture and the set looks great, too. Applejack put in some great set design work.
So after that heartfelt speech about putting up with embarrassment and judgment all for the sake of a friend’s family tradition, we get Applejack practically busting a gut from laughing. And as it turns out, the dressing up thing was all Granny Smith’s idea and just wanted to take a picture with the cornucopia set. So all that sewing and work Rarity put in for the outfits was pretty much for nothing.
And just for the trouble, we even have Applejack looking even more apple than usual. How she has her hair standing up like this is amazing. And I don’t deny this was kind of cute on her in a Little Miss Pageant way with the puffy sleeves and the overall looking top.
And with this shot, we have a cornucopia fit for a fandom. Again hard to pick a favorite outfit out of all of them standing here (mostly because I wouldn’t wear any of these), but they really made it work. Always best to have your friends when putting on silly costumes for a holiday photoshoot.
And that was O Come All Ye Squashful, a cute and heartwarming end to a holiday special. This was fun to write about and with snow still on the ground where I live, it’s still quite fitting for the time. Out of all the shorts for the Holiday Unwrapped special, it’s hard to pick a favorite with so much variety. Might go with Saving Pinkie’s Pie with all the war movie references and special cameos. But this one might be a close second with how sweet and funny this was. I hope you all have a blast reading these as I did writing them so be sure to re-watch the holiday special again because why not? I’m Penny Wrights and I think I might make a salad for dinner tonight. Suddenly in the mood for veggies.
