History WesternAnimation / MyLittlePonyBestGiftEver

* MiracleGrowMonster: The Winter-Chilla grows into a Winter-Zilla after dark.

* ConversationalTroping: Discord describes the gift the reindeer gave her for Twilight as "a bit [[DeusExMachina reindeer ex machina]]."

* TheWeirdSisters: The three reindeer at the northern end of the world - Aurora, Bori, and Alice - are a trio of reindeer with magic, all of which is centered around gift-giving. They serve as Equestria's equivalents of SantaClaus.

** Fluttershy, along with a large crowd of market ponies, get suckered into Flim & Flam's latest product scam due to not thinking hard enough about what to get for their special ones.

* PunnyName: The three gift-giving reindeer ponies are named Aurora, Borey, and Alice - aurora borealis, the name for the Northern Lights.

* TheWeirdSisters: The three reindeer at the northern end of the world - Aurora, Borey, and Alice - are a trio of reindeer with magic, all of which is centered around gift-giving. They serve as Equestria's equivalents of SantaClaus.

** Spike is initially so focused on getting Rarity as his Hearth's Warming Helper that, when he finally gets Rarity's paper slip, he doesn't actually know what he's going to get her.

* SecretSanta: The main characters -- Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Applejack and Spike -- decide to avoid the stress of having to shop for and prepare a gift for every member of the group and instead each get one present for one friend, selecting who their present will go to by picking a name out of a hat. The complication is that, since each will give and get only one gift, the characters also feel the need to make their gift as special as they can -- if only one gift is given, then it needs to be the best gift ever.

** A stallion dressed as an elf is a ponified version of Buddy the Elf played by Creator/WillFerrell in ''Film/{{Elf}}''.

** Rarity's gift for Applejack, a custom hat, gets sent to the wrong place by Derpy/Muffins. The pony who actually gets the gift, Pistachio, loves it because he's an aspiring fashionista. Even though Pistachio figures out the gift wasn't for him, Rarity doesn't have the heart to take it away from him, letting him keep it. Applejack, once she finds out, is thoroughly touched by the gesture.

** Discord briefly takes a form of an animated candelabra, ala Lumiere from ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast]]''.

** The extended Apple-Pie family now includes Grand Pear, Sugar Belle, and Mudbriar. Marble is shown crushed when Big Mac and Sugar Belle are now thing, calling back to ''Hearthbreakers''
** The Student Six are shown heading off to their own lands to celebrate, and in line with their stories from ''The Hearthwarming Club'', we see the changedlings singing around a fake fire and under a upside down tree, and the yak smashing things.
** Starlight and Trixie are traveling in Trixie's wagon for the holiday, as from ''Road to Friendship''.
** The tea cozy Fluttershy knitted in ''Fake It 'Til You Make It'' is Fluttershy's gift to Discord.

* SecretSanta: The main characters -- Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Applejack and Spike -- decide to avoid the stress of having to shop for and prepare a gift for every member of the group and instead each get one present for one friend, selecting who their present will got to by picking a name out of a hat. The complication is that, since each will give and get only one gift, the characters also feel the need to make their gift as special as they can -- if only one gift is given, then it needs to be the best gift ever.

** A pony filly is dressed in so many layers of coats that she falls over and can't get up, similar to Randy from ''Film/AChristmasStory''

* TheWeirdSisters: The three reindeer at the northern end of the world - Aurora, Borey, and Alice - are a trio of reindeer with magic, all of which is centered around gift-giving. They serve as the pony world's equivalents of SantaClaus.

** A stallion dressed as an evil is a ponified version of Buddy the Elf played by Creator/WillFerrell in ''Film/{{Elf}}''.

** A stallion dressed as an evil is a ponified version of the title character played by Creator/WillFerrell in ''Film/{{Elf}}''.

** A colt and filly are trying to decorate a rather weak tree; the outfits and the tree borrow from ''WesternAnimation/ACharlieBrownChristmas''.

** The opening song contains a small colt decorating a tiny tree with a single red bulb in front of a red-headed filly, a reference to ''WesternAnimation/ACharlieBrownChristmas''.

* ShoutOut: Discord dresses Rainbow Dash and himself as [[{{Franchise/GIJoe}} Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes]], respectively.

** Discord fails to mention to Rainbow Dash that the Winter-Chilla turns into a Winter-Zilla after sunset, resulting in it chasing them all the way to Twilight's castle.

* ShoutOut: Discord dresses Rainbow Dash and himself as [[{{Franchise/GIJoe}}Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes]], respectively.

* ShoutOut:
** The three gift-giving reindeer ponies are named Aurora, Borey, and Alice - aurora borealis, the name for the Northern Lights. Also, they represent TheHecateSisters, with their dominion over the past, present, and future.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Spike is initially so focused on getting Rarity as his Hearth's Warming Helper that, when he finally gets Rarity's paper slip, he doesn't actually know what he's going to get her.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Flurry Heart adds too many things to the pudding recipe, causing it to turn into a living pudding monster. Flurry Heart only wanted to help Twilight with her cooking.

* SweetAndSourGrapes: The Mane Six don't all give each other gifts, but what they do give is the gift of friendship.

The special is scheduled to premiere on October 27th, 2018. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMgkGwnMvYg Official trailer here]].

* ChristmasEpisode: The fifth such special in the show's run, after "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E13HearthsWarmingEve Hearth's Warming Eve]]", "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E21Hearthbreakers Hearthbreakers]]" "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E8AHearthsWarmingTail A Hearth's Warming Tail]]" and [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E15TheHearthsWarmingClub The Hearth's Warming Club]] Unlike the previous four, this one takes the form of an hour-long special outside of the regular seasons' schedule rather than being a regular, if Christmas-themed, episode. Like three of the previous four, its premiere date is well outside of the actual Christmas season.

* ChristmasEpisode: The fourth such special in the show's run, after "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E13HearthsWarmingEve Hearth's Warming Eve]]", "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E21Hearthbreakers Hearthbreakers]]" and "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E8AHearthsWarmingTail A Hearth's Warming Tail]]". Unlike the previous three, this one takes the form of an hour-long special outside of the regular seasons' schedule rather than being a regular, if Christmas-themed, episode. Like the previous three, its premiere date is well outside of the actual Christmas season.