A long time ago, a yak was sent out by his leader on a quest to search for the best gift ever. After days of traveling and experiencing nothing but snowstorms, he's tired beyond belief, muscles sore and each step a pound heavier to take. When all seemed lost, he saw a lodge in the distance. With every ounce of his strength, he reached the lonely house, hoping that an ordinary caretaker would bring him in and help him in his adventure.
However, what he found was no ordinary caretaker; instead, what he found was more than he bargained for.
Thanks to Azure Drache for this story's brainstorming sessions.
Chapters (9)
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
9349462
Humans in Equestria? Surely you jest.
These three are from the Christmas special. If you haven't seen it yet, well, you should.
So, what if the Fates were reindeer, and one day decided to get into the gift-giving business? How very interesting.
9349666
They're actually canon characters, go find the Christmas special.
"Don" does not mean "wear". It means "put on". It is literally a truncated version of the old phrase "do on", just like its counterpart, "doff", is short for "do off". Super common mistake, but easy to avoid once you know the etymology.
9349948
Well, thank you for pointing it out! I'll keep that in mind.
9349442
Have a merry Christmas and a happy new year, too!
9349462
Considering who the Gift Givers are, they're pretty much this Equestria's version of Santa Claus.
9349666
The comparison to the Fates is quite fitting... although I'm dry in mythology in general, so I may just be spouting hot air for all I know.
9349722
Perhaps a link to a playlist of the special would be helpful? The channel's even claimed by or networked with Hasbro UGC and is also verified; seems valid.
9350501
Ah, didn't know it was available on Youtube. I figured it would have been caught in the regular takedowns.
9350529
Letupita725 and Flutter525 somehow got verified and have some kind of agreement with Hasbro UGC. Sure, the clips are split up into five-minutes-or-less segments, but it's there.
Perhaps Hasbro or whoever's handling Hasbro's shows is adopting a lenient stance on Friendship is Magic. It's a strange thing, really: Having clips of the special and episodes makes the show more accessible to the public, and it could also have the effect of them wanting to buy some merch.
I haven't observed if ads are on, but if they are, that's more power to Hasbro since they get the ad revenue, too, I think.
9350550
Wow, something that long broken up into tiny segments is freaking obnoxious. Here's a copy of it in one piece.
Edit: I googled 'mlp best gift ever' then switched to video search and that was the second result.
9350714
It may be strange to hear, but I prefer the clipped style of the two channels I mentioned. It feels more natural to me, probably because I'm more used to it.
Interesting premise. Can't wait to see where this goes.
Truth is always stranger than fiction, yes?
Looking forward to seeing their backstory here
What a fun time they are having.
Some times ya just gotta do the thing.
Nice alliteration with The Caribou Carnival.
Can't wait to see how these three find out their new condition.
Well that's just all kinds of inconvenient.
Heres to hoping the next chapter features all three coming together and discussing their powers and what to do with them.
And the plot thickens...
Ooh, cliffhanger!
Wise deer my hooves.
It's kinda obvious what happens from here but that makes me wonder what had become of the village in their absence
I'm impressed that you are able to give an explanation for how the deers got their powers that I wouldn't mind being cannon
A good ending to a good story. Well done!
This really was a very good story, I'm sad to see how little attention it has received. Only 14 votes total, and only 20 people tracking it.
9439081
In a way, I'm very much fine with this one flying under the radar. After the public mess-up of Curiosity, it was a relief to be back to normal. Of course, the egotistic part of me wants views, but I don't want to think about that for now.
Another factor is that it's overstayed its holiday welcome. More than half of the story was written and published long after the Christmas hype departed; Gift wasn't and isn't in season anymore.
Everything looks good so far.
So, have Aurora and Alice always had their abilities?
9460854
No, they haven't. This chapter shows them using those abilities for the first time.
So, Cervidi is like a reindeer version of Neighsay, huh? Interesting.
Wait. So the lodge was just there waiting for them?
This makes so much sense.
9461304
I know that now.
Great story. How did you come up with it?
9461879
Well, it wasn't just me. Azure Drache helped a lot with ironing out the general idea of a Gift Givers' origin story of sorts. We wanted to see how the Gift Givers got their abilities, how they got their roles, how they got to the lodge... a very distant prequel to the Best Gift Ever special, if you will. I also just wanted to write a Christmas story, and the Gift Givers were a nice excuse to base it off on!
And thank you for thinking this story was worth your time! This story could've only been done by God's grace.