Directly quoted from the (now defunct) Quorum Thread post:

I would like to submit cheerilee's hearth's warming play for semi canon status.

Main characters - cheerilee, Trixie, snails, dinky

Secondary characters - diamond tiara, applebloom

I think the story advances dinky, snails and Trixie in small ways.

Dinky gets to recognise her pride and see that she can often try to take on to much by herself

Snails shows that he has hidden talents and can achieve things if he puts his mind to it, also that small hidden contributions can be just as important and more obvious ones.

Trixie learns that not everything is about her and that behind the scenes work, like her current job, can be important and rewarding.

Going forwards I'd like to see snips and snails interacting more, applebloom and diamond tiara being more friendly and maybe dinky being less trusted by some of the foals.

I can see a few problems with the time line if this story is canon, fitting in ice hearts is a bit tricky but not impossible, time may also be a bit tricky as it probably happens at the same time, not impossible to deal with and the two could even refer to each other (snowy could give the foals ideas of how school was hundreds of years ago, maybe heightening their fear of loosing cheerilee, she could even appear in the audience). Another issue may be carrot tops love life between here and contest, again not a major issue but here I suggest something is going on between her and written script where as in champion she has a one night stand with the elk prince, not unreconcilable the relationship might not go anywhere or be open or have a clause that either of the can sleep with royalty if they ask.

I may make a few changes to the story or the next week or so but I'm not expecting the underlying plot to change that much.

THE GOOD

1) I like the basic premise of foals putting on a pageant in general, and the Hearth Carol specifically. Although more so in regards to all the behind the scenes antics they can get up to, since the actual performance itself is something we're are already more or less familiar with from the show.

2) I also enjoy seeing DT and AB develop a relationship that has some aspects of familial rivalry, but in a way largely different form the straight bully/victim dynamic from the show, with both ponies giving as good as they get and ultimately coming to a mutual resolution. I'm not so sure they should be friends moving forward from this pre say, but they certainly shouldn't be enemies.

3) I especially, like seeing Snips+Snails interacting more, as that's a friendship we've definitely underutilized thus far and should see more of.

THE BAD

1) The fact that T&T openly acknowledge that there are problems potentially overlapping with the timelines of other stories without having done anything to resolve those contradictions should by itself already be a red-flag that this story is not ready for a canon review. Submissions should always try to avoid contradictions or at least account for them, not just ignore them with a hand wave.

2) I just find the whole story to be questionably conceived and even more poorly executed. Stylistically the story is just a thematic mess, with too many competing plot threads that lack narrative cohesion. The driving force is little more than a series of arbitrary plot contrivances with little to no regard for individual character motivations or personal agency. It makes the ponies feel less like people with any kind of vested interest in the events they're participating in, but more like walking exposition boxes.

3a) Specifically I think the above is most problematic in regards to Dinky's character arc in this, which feels clumsy and forced. The basic premise of attempting to show Dinky as less "perfect" is not in and of itself bad, but I find the implementation in this story insulting to those of us who already like her the way she is. Which is not to say I'm opposed to further fleshing her out as a character, including introducing flaws. The way it's done here, however, feels more like a half-hearted *Fix Fic*, and needs more work before inclusion in our official canon.

3b) Ideally a character's flaws should add depth, but here I find the opposite to be the case, as it only flattens her character by undermining her strengths rather than complimenting them. While pride is a good choice of flaw for Dinky, the way it comes into play in this story feels forced and arbitrary. It isn't ever really given sufficient screen-time to build and grow in anyway that feels natural, but is instead mostly handled by way of off-screen exposition. We never really get to see Dinky directly struggle with any kind of personal dilemma first hand, never really get a feel for the supposed stress that's causing her to turn into any kind of self-important diva, and so the end result comes across as more of an *Informed Attribute* that undermines the final resolution.

3c) I must also further object to the notion that the fallout of this story should in anyway lead to the other foals trusting Dinky less. She's still after all ostensibly our lead character for foal-centric stories, and more importantly such a trend would be the antitheses of her recently acquired cutie mark. Dinky's special talent is supposed to be FRIENDSHIP, that's her primary defining feature and by extension ostensibly her best virtue. It would be entirely counterintuitive to suddenly start implying that Dinky is in any way a "bad" friend.

4) To a lesser extent I dislike the way this story conversely seems to present Snails as some kind of hardworking underachiever. Not so much in and of itself, but rather in conjunction with my above problems with the Dinky arc. It just feels in poor taste to go building him up in such a way in a fic that is simultaneously tearing Dinky down. I'm still not really convinced that Dinky is any kind of Sue, but to be perfectly honest, I feel like between this and a few other stories as well as Brainstorming threads, that snails might be in greater danger of turning into one.

THE MIXED

1) Going back to one of my favorite parts, exploring underutilized friendships. I feel like the story could have been stronger if Twist had gotten more screen time working along side Apple Bloom to undermine Diamond Tiara, while conversely Silver Spoon should have been likewise with DT against AB.

2) Likewise more Pipsqueek, specifically interactions with Dinky would have been appreciated as well. They are ostensibly supposed to be best friends after all, and so any fic that is attempting to add to her character (especially insofar as it relates to other foals) should probably involve him in a notable capacity.

3) The entire adult plot is pretty much superfluous, and I feel as though most of the fault I found in this story could have been lessened if those parts been mostly cut in favor of more focus on interactions between the various foals. For example, much as I actually do like the pep talk Raindrops gives her little brother, I can't help but feel it would have helped tighten the theme and focus of this story if the scene were between Snails and Snips instead.

Overall, my opinion is that in it's current state this fic should be NON-CANON.

From various discussions with him both in the comments and by PM, I feel as if T&T was more concerned with rushing out a "Christmas" story to meet a self-imposed deadline and so didn't give this story sufficient development. Which isn't a necessarily a bad thing in so far as his own personal authorial intentions are concerned, but I feel it makes it a poor choice for inclusion in the Lunaverse at even the semi-canon level. Maybe if the fic was more self-contained my opinion would be different, but the way he seems to want to tie this into the larger ongoing narrative of the setting as a whole is something I feel requires more effort first.

That said, I do genuinely believe there is the underlying merit of a good story to be found here, and that T&T is an author fully capable of delivering on that potential. I'd love to see him rework and improve upon what he's written so far, then submit it again for reevaluation.