And here we are at the end of 2021. In the UK, at least, it's been a less miserable year overall than 2020, although still with more than enough unhappiness to be going on with. Thankfully, Pony has been here throughout. This is the last contest of the year (yay, Logan can calendars) and there's a potentially festive theme to the prompt. Of course, you do not have to make your story at all festive. As long as it's clearly inspired by the prompt, that's good enough!

Here are the full rules.

You'll note that Rule 6 still explicitly disallows any G5 content. I'm still keeping that rule for now; we'll see about the future in the future. Remember, there's a rules, Q&A and suggestions thread if you want to weigh in on this or any other relevant issue.

Remember, there is no prize, as such, for this contest -- but if you win, you will be able to choose the prompt for the next contest. You'll also get a mention on the group's front page. As for how to win... well, as always, remember that the judge is me. Not some experienced, brilliant-minded professional reviewer. Me. I do like to chuckle at a fic, so that might not hurt -- but then again, smiling at a really clever twist is something I love, too. In the end, it's just what strikes me that will get the non-prize.

Prompt: "It's a Gift!" (selected by last month's winner, KwirkyJ)
Rating: E or T
Word limit: 150
Closing date: Tuesday 21st December 2021, 11:59 pm UK time (world clock)

Please reply to this post with your entry. This makes it easier for me to keep track. Please do not leave feedback until after the closing date.

Entries are now open! Have fun!

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Author's Note

I was so eager to get started on this story, I wrote it in late November!

Gift Exchange (Pranks of the Magi)

by Mockingbirb

The stylist glanced at the gift certificate, and stared at the customer. "Are you serious?"

"You style manes and tails here, right?"

"Yes...but not for just ANY pony. If you know what I mean."

Princess Celestia nodded, shaking her ethereal mane. "Is there anything you COULD do for me?"

"This would be a special exception...but do you have a dog?"

***

Using a can opener (just because), Discord opened his envelope. "A gift certificate for up to three hours of assistance from Prim Pencil's Home and Office Organizing Service. 'We make chaos a thing of the past.' VERY funny, Celestia."

He shrugged. "Time to regift. And I know just the pony to give this to."

A few days later, Twilight Sparkle opened her mail and gasped.

"Does somepony have a REASON to send this to me? What am I doing wrong?" she wailed. "Spike! Fetch me a blank checklist!"

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Rainbow Dash in her blue furtight bodysuit swooped in the main chamber with a swarm of changelings behind her trying to keep up. “I have a message for Chrysalis from the Princess!” she mumbled with open mouth.

Chrysalis looked from atop of her throne and levitated the scroll from Rainbow Dash’s mouth. “An actual Wonderbolt delivering a message to me? I’m honored.”

She spread it out and read aloud, “We found posters of Wonderbolts in your room after you invaded Canterlot.”

Chrysalis blushed.

“I know what your ultimate goal is and that you are willing to invade us just to get what you want. I hope this gift to you can mend the fences and dissuade you from further aggression.”

“A gift?” Rainbow dash scratched her head with a hoof. “The Princess only gave me the scroll.”

“Don’t you get it, my little pony?” Chrysalis giggled. “You are the gift.”

Edit: 16 - Intimate Gift

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Probably against one of the rules, so I’ll get to work on a more official entry, but with a prompt like that… Parody was the only way to go.

Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom sat together, joined by Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara. At the center of them lay the cause for their meeting.

“This is why we’re gathered.” Applebloom declared, “Dark forces stir in the north, and Guards March from the Empire.”

“And what must be done?” Silver asked.

Applebloom’s mouth was a tight line. “It must be destroyed.”

“What are we waiting for? Let’s be done with it!” Scootaloo turned, ready to buck.

“Wait, no-!”

Sweetie’s warning came too late. As Scootaloo’s hooves connected, a magic blast throwing her upside down back into her chair.

“It can’t be destroyed by simply hitting it!” Applebloom growled, “It can only be destroyed where it was made, in the Crystal Empire.”

“One does not simply walk into the Empire.” Diamond stated, “But instead, let us keep it. For this… This is a gift.”

Flurry yawned. “Can I go home, now?”

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In my philosophy, gifts and curses tend to work as one.

"Your academic level is quite impressive for a filly your age, but..." Twilight studies the sole pony across the desk, "that doesn't give way for you to be here without your parents. They should be present if you're planning to enroll here, Cozy Glow."

"It's okay, they're invested in too many things to come."

"More invested than their daughter's future?"

"They're a bit neglecting. I may've had to crack down at attending toward my own needs, but it allowed me to mature much faster because of that. I'm completely independent because of them, something every foal dreams of having. Lucky me, right?"

Concern befalls Twilight, "She has no true parental figures in her growth? No one to teach her about kindness and mercy, right from wrong, or the joy and comfort amongst love ones? Her intelligent umbrellas those missing stages. Hopefully, the School of Friendship might fill in those parts."

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Bit of a dour one, this; I've wandered into that general emotional territory lately. Although the alternative interpretation of the prompt was the initial spark, it's also been fed by my gloomy ruminations of certain parts of canon. If nothing else, I do have some intellectual curiosity about how this one will be received.

Insofar as the sad genre makes it possible, I hope this fic makes people happily miserable.

It was a gift, seeing Destiny’s secret glow. Celestia had learned the language of Fate and followed Her instructions without question. Without daring to ask, long since expecting no answer.

“Nine hundred and eighty-eight years,” she murmured, staring up at the Mare in the Moon.

Silence.

“Why did it need nine hundred and eighty-eight years?” she demanded.

The moon, the stars, the void – all remained silent. Cold as Destiny.

Yet Celestia smiled. Young Twilight Sparkle had leaped with joy. “YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES!” sparked over and over in the princess’s memory.

Her smile held.

Collapsed.

For young Sunset Shimmer had also glowed once with promise. So had lovely young Twilight Velvet, and Twilight Candle her mother, and Twilight Pie her mother, and long before that bloodline had proved itself, there had been dozens of unicorns, generations of good friends.

Only Twilight Sparkle glowed with Destiny’s mark.

“Why?” pleaded Celestia.

Destiny’s distant silence…

OF all days rd didn't need discord's cryptic nonsense, + there were nonother fast creatures that where fast but herself.. "hay I'm not smol" the tiny horse yelled. she flew to the mail room "derpy i need the larges box for shipping something", the grey mare look in perplexed nature as she quickly sussed rd. was trying to send her self and pointed to a very tiny box.

RD was getting angry "I'm not smol, need a crate or something large for a large pony like my self", after the crowed giggled at the idea but derpy found a large create and labelled it to flutershys as rd flew inside the box as it was sealed up.

flutershy waited but was unhappy 4 of her 5 friends where here, spike was upset by this, discord appeared "a silly pony left this" a tiny box with sleeping rd inside, the best gift

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Now for my real entry,

Scootaloo walked through the town, her body covered in clothing, the barest hint of her orange coat visible. At least she had the excuse of winter for her odd apparel.

How many towns had it been, now? She could hardly keep track as she passed through, trying to avoid the ponies around her.

“Look out!” She heard, before a group of boxes fell on her, knocking her down and dislodging clothing.

Shaking her head, she looked up to see a worried Colt’s face looking down.

“Are you alright?”

Scootaloo rubbed her head. “I’ve had worse.”

The colt offered a hoof to pick her up, and too late did Scootaloo realize she grabbed it with an unmittened one.

Her eyes rolled back, a number running through her head, and she heard the colt call out as she fell to the ground, the words haunting her.

Three days, Twenty-Two Minutes, Forty-Five Seconds.

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I have no idea where this came from.

A brief burst of magic to haul open the grand doors and Starlight Glimmer peered out into the gathering gloom of Hearths warming.

“I could have sworn I heard a knock”

She squinted into the dark and wind driven snow and as she was about to close the door the covered basket caught her eye.

Stout and heavy, Starlight placed the container on the floor and extracted the note she had spotted tucked into the cover.

A Gift fit for a Princess.

Frowning, Starlight tore open the envelope.

Dear Princess Twilight, please help me in my most desperate hour.

A faint noise from the basket and the cover was ripped off.

I have no family to turn too.

“Oh no!”

I have put so much into carrying and birthing her.

A tiny foal shivered.

Now I’m dying, I can not look after her.

“STARBURST!”

I have named her Luster Dawn.

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"Oh, and in case you even thought we were anywhere near done yet..."

Santa sighed. He was deep into the fifth consecutive hour of a stupendous tirade from dimensional immigrant Sunset Shimmer, who had snuck into his workshop, broken his security elves' resolve with some sort of empathy power, hijacked the reindeer and flown directly into his penthouse. All while wearing the lightest of winter jackets in the arctic -- it seems hot-blooded rage was enough to stave off hypothermia.

"...And you made her cry! On Christmas! I know she nearly broke the universe once, but-"

"Oh, for heaven's sake, Miss Shimmer, I agree with you! Miss Sparkle was indeed on my nice list! But there are regulations to consider; even I can't go casually dispensing samples of uranium-238!"

Just under three days left, everyone!

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This one morphed a lot while writing, and there was a lot cut to fit under the word ceiling. Not my best work, as a result. Not an eligible entry, but have some mellow, complex flavor of FlutterCord.

Fluttershy withdrew her snout from beneath the running spigot, fully aware it dripped surgery blood, and turned to face Discord fully.

"It's not as though I don't trust you. But you're Discord. I know how you think, sometimes, and sometimes your help is... unhelpful. And if you're helping me, then I can't miss what I never had."

"You don't know what you're missing," he scoffed, eyes rolling (and rolling and rolling) along his shrugging arms. All twelve eyes squinted at her. Fingers snapped.

The red in her field of view vanished. The mirror confirmed the blood was all gone, and no explosion of confetti.

"Bubbles," she observed. "That must have hurt."

"Please. The universe is my playground."

She gave a sly grin and flew over close as if to kiss his cheek.

"Ugh, gag!" he protested. "Can't miss what I never had!"

She sighed wistfully. "I appreciate the offer, though."

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Dumb idea I got when I first saw the prompt, so why not? Certain people will spot the ending a long way off.

Fast Acting

Ledger deMane’s ears perked as the doorbell rang. But the maid had already answered it. Still, he pressed his ear to the wall. He’d paid good money for her, yet she’d been little but trouble and had somehow picked up much of the fashion trade disturbingly quickly. He’d even brought to his new boutique opening in her homeland, though she wasn’t allowed out of the condo.

“Danke,” her muffled voice said. “Es ist Gift?”

When the door closed, he stepped into the hall. “What’s that, Photo Finish?”

The teenager cast her eyes down and handed it to him. A box of chocolates. She’d finally warmed up to him.

“‘Gift’ must be the same in both languages!” He tasted a cherry cordial. Quite good! He shoved three more in his mouth, but… the room rippled and turned dreadfully hot.

Finish loomed over him. “Nein, Herr deMane. In Germaney, ‘Gift’ means ‘poison.’”

7610722
Don't forget to make your post a reply to the OP. It's easier for Logan to track it that way, and it's what he's asked people to do.

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I really, really wanted to do something centered around the Gift Givers, but the ideas just refused to come. Instead, here's a comparatively last-minute backup plan. I'm concerned that it's too derivative of my previous offerings, but I'd like to think it'll at least be better than nothing.

I hope your appraisals of it are more positive than mine!

"'#333: Underneath a large, egglike rock east of Vanhoover'," Twilight read aloud. She lowered the centuries-old parchment, examining the matching boulder before her. "Well, this looks like the place."

Her horn ignited, and the stone slid aside. Long ago, this maneuver would've been grueling, even for the young alicorn she'd then been; nowadays, not so much.

The Princess of Friendship instantly recognized the relic occupying the newly exposed crater; after all, she'd uncovered many identical others over the years. With eager anticipation, alongside an equal desire to savor the annual discovery, Twilight opened the box.

As always, five multicolored packages lay inside, but — also as always — Twilight seized the letters attached to each first. She picked one at random, then levitated it up to her muzzle.

A tear trickled past her wistful smile as she read her old friend's faded hoofwriting:

Happy three hundred and thirty-third birthday, Twilight!!!

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And your time is up, everyone! Thank you to everyone who entered! A very decent total of 12 stories, albeit only 11 actual entrants and only 10 eligible fics.

One point of order: Frazzle2Dazzle, I will only be considering your second story, the one you identified as your "real entry". But then you knew that.

Because of the festive season, I will give my verdict after Hearth's Warming, on Tuesday 28th. Until then...

...feedback is open!

7618887 I wouldn't put it past Pinkie Pie to do this.

7609989
Really like the prose in this one. You've certainly packed a lot of emotion into it. Rooting for it to win!
:)

7610722
There's definitely a cute little story within this, but you really need to work on your formatting. The capitalization is uniformly inconsistent and/or downright nonexistent, numerous incorrect homophones are used, and the story has a very rushed/sloppy feel to it overall.

I see a lot of promising stuff here, but again, the grammar could use some work. Keep at it!

7610723
Ah, I've seen this plot bunny before. Nice execution of it!

7611948

I have no idea where this came from.

Well, wherever it came from, I'm glad you brought it to light!

7612434
I'm kinda surprised your entry wound up being the only one that directly tied into the holidays. Either way, I definitely got a good laugh out of it!

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Admittedly, I was a bit confused as to what exactly was going on there, but the delightful banter helped make up for that in my eyes. Overall, nicely done!

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I'm guessing Celestia and Discord each sent joke gifts to each other? Discord's explicitly says so, but Celestia's might have been given to her by mistake. Not really a plot to it, but it's cute and fun.

7608521
So... Twilight sent Dash to be captured and impersonated just so Chrysalis could live out her fantasy? That seems like an awfully immoral thing for her to do, unless I'm just not understanding what's going on here.

7608646
Some editing issues. I was prepared for this to be a role-playing game scenario, but in the end, I'm not sure what happened. Maybe they were actually trying to help Flurry Heart destroy something?

7609091
Some editing issues here, too. Aside from giving a scenario of why Cozy Glow might have been admitted to the school, I'm not sure where this is going. It doesn't draw any conclusions.

7609989
I like the atmosphere, but it's a bit opaque. Celestia's lamenting a long string of students who didn't pan out, but why is Twilight causing her so much anguish? Is it just that Luna's exile is almost over, so things are coming to a head? Still, why would Twilight in particular make that painful. Isn't it good news that the needed pony came along right in time?

7610722
It's never really said why Dash wanted to ship herself, so I don't know whether the ending was by design or just good fortune. Needs quite a bit of editing work.

7610723
So, this is basically The Dead Zone. A few editing problems. It's not so much that Scootaloo sees this, but she's obviously made preparations to prevent it from happening. It must bother her, then. So the real selling point would be her reaction to this.

7611948
Quite a few editing problems, one of which is unintentionally amusing (the way you phrased it, you're saying that Starlight is stout and heavy). Her being mad at Starburst implies a lot that never gets explained, though it doesn't seem like it's also Starlight's child.

7612434
Sure he can! Uranium isn't that rare, and I've got plenty of uranium ores in my collection, several of which were Christmas presents. Anyway, not a bad take on a common story idea.

7617681
I like the language use, but aside from Discord either healing or cleaning her (I don't know which), I can't figure out what happened.

7618887
I like the idea of this, but I'm guessing the real present is a "journey, not the destination" thing? The birthday message itself is utterly ordinary, and if that's the important part, then I think they would have done something to make each one of them unique. Otherwise, they could have just set up a cache of letters and had the post office deliver one each year. So if it is the process of finding them that's really enjoyable for Twilight, then show her enjoying it.

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Some editing issues here, too. Aside from giving a scenario of why Cozy Glow might have been admitted to the school, I'm not sure where this is going. It doesn't draw any conclusions.

Heh, you should've boarded my 'train of thought' when the prompt was announced, the first concept was worse.

I confess that I'm not too proud of this, but I just kept thinking the gift/curse setup, leading me to consider on what the lack of parents could result in through Cozy Glow. A better concept I should've considered on is Cozy's intellect rather than her supervision problem.

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So... Twilight sent Dash to be captured and impersonated just so Chrysalis could live out her fantasy? That seems like an awfully immoral thing for her to do, unless I'm just not understanding what's going on here.

Do you remember the episode where Twilight agreed for Fluttershy to be sold into slavery? It's like that. Canon.

When you rule over so many subjects, you sometimes have to make hard decisions.

If you only had a choice between:
a) Sacrificing 1 pony
b) Sacrificing the whole Equestria of ponies
, which choice would you make?

And besides, part of loyalty is self-sacrifice. Twilight knows this.

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Do you remember the episode where Twilight agreed for Fluttershy to be sold into slavery? It's like that. Canon.

Fluttershy specifically? I guess I don't.

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Uranium 238 is common...mixed somewhat impurely with other things, such as U-235. PURIFIED Uranium 238 is rare. I guess a byproduct of producing it would be that you'd be separating out the other uranium isotopes, and then your byproduct might be 'enriched' uranium?

This is probably a lot more thought than the author might have intended us to put into it, though.

but it's cute and fun.

I'll take cute and fun, thank you.

7619546
An expert on nuclear science or chemistry, the author indeed is not.

7619543 Trade ya!

Twilight says that the slave trade was fair.

7619535

Do you remember the episode where Twilight agreed for Fluttershy to be sold into slavery? It's like that. Canon.

1. Rainbow Dash made that trade, not Twilight.
2. Fluttershy would've only been "traded" until the dog creature (I can't remember its name) was fully trained. This apparently would've lasted a decently long time, but it'd have been far from the full-on kidnapping Rainbow's suffering here.
3. Rainbow Dash changed her mind about "trading" Fluttershy within literal minutes. Twilight apparently has no desire to save her friend here.

And besides, part of loyalty is self-sacrifice. Twilight knows this.

Except for the fact that Rainbow isn't sacrificing herself; she's being unknowingly thrown to the wolves by one of her best friends. You can't be truly loyal if you don't know what it is you're being loyal to.

I like the idea of this twist on paper, and the story was composed well overall, but I have to agree with Pascoite here. Twilight's actions are unignorably WTF-worthy, and I don't think it's in a good way.

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The birthday message itself is utterly ordinary, and if that's the important part, then I think they would have done something to make each one of them unique.

I definitely didn't convey it well enough, but the implication was supposed to be that Pinkie had written an entire letter after that introductory "Happy birthday" bit. This flashfic spend a lot of its development grinding against the word limit, so I'm sorry to say that the clarification might've been sacrificed somewhere along the way. My bad.

That being said, when I published the flashfic elsewhere, a commenter provided their own rationalization of the matter:

...Of course, one wonders just how many ways five separate ponies can say "Happy Birthday" several hundred (possibly thousands of) times before running out of ways to say it, especially when they're not there to keep track of current events. Then again, Twilight would undoubtedly be happy with just that: a Happy Birthday from each one with their own signatures, even if it repeats hundreds/thousands of times, she'll value each one as the unique gesture of love and remembrance that they were intended to be.

In hindsight, I'm not entirely sure it justifies the egregious vagueness, but I figured their perspective was worth throwing out there.

So if it is the process of finding them that's really enjoyable for Twilight, then show her enjoying it.

I think I was trying to do something along those lines with the "savoring the annual discovery" and "wistful tear" bits, but again, I didn't do a good enough job getting it across. Sorry about that; this one wasn't my A-game, to say the very least. Either way, thanks a ton for all the feedback!

7619580 Plot twist, Rainbow Dash had flown away before Twilight could attach the actual gift. The gift was supposed to be Wonderbolts' sexy calendar.

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All right, everyone: results post! I know I seem to say this every month, but this was a very hard one to pick a winner from. I ended up falling back utterly shamelessly on my personal preferences. Hey, I did warn you about that in the intro post!

Hon mensh: Impossible Numbers -- As Pascoite said, it's a little opaque, and as you said, it's a little dour. But it still caught my attention, and it still left me wondering, wanting to know more. That's worth something. (Also, Twilight Pie? I want to know more about that, too!)

Winner: Mockingbirb -- Yeah, this just made me laugh. Sure it's more a scenelet than a full story, but it's amusing and silly and could only happen in Equestria. Those things added up to enough that I think your fic shades it this month.

Congratulations to both of you, and thank you to everyone who had a pop at this. EileenSaysHi, I believe this was your first go at FF150, so welcome aboard! I hope you found it an enjoyable experience.

Mockingbirb, same procedure as every year month: Please come up with a prompt for January and post it here, so that I can make the necessary arrangements for the New Year.

By all means carry on with your feedbacking if you like, everyone!

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First time doing a flashfic period, so I'm thrilled with the complimentary reactions regardless of my questionable knowledge of radioactive element distribution practices. (Maybe it's different in the EqG dimension!)

7621913
The amount of feedback does vary each month (this is one of the more active), but I'm very glad to read that. Flashfic is a lot of fun (he said, being totally unbiased of course) and it's always great to see newcomers. Indeed, I see from your profile that you're only around six weeks into Fimfiction at all. In which case, another welcome is in order! So: welcome! (There. Wasn't that exciting? Oh, please yourself. )

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Thanks! Feels great to be actively writing for the first time in years, even if I never would’ve predicted what I’d be writing about even five months ago.

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(The following message has been edited within the first hour or two after it was first posted.)

Thank you!

Being my anarchic self, I have thought of a contest prompt for January: "Break the Rules!"

You could write a story about someone breaking a rule (or more than one rule, whatever.)

The "Optional Challenge" is, write a story that also breaks at least one "rule" about how to write. Preferably, write a story that isn't made worse by breaking the rule, but instead uses its freedom to good effect.

You could break a rule that most of us learned in school, or a rule that people in fanfiction communities yell at each other, or even a tip from an accomplished professional writer.

To help us all find rules to select from, I am also starting a new Forum thread: Links to Writing Rules: How (Not) To Write? (for the January 2021 "Break the Rules" competition theme) I hope everyone has fun with this!

LINK TO FORUM TOPIC WILL APPEAR VERY SOON HERE.
https://www.fimfiction.net/group/212112/flashfic/thread/486630/links-to-writing-rules-how-not-to-write-for-the-january-2021-break-the-rules-competition-theme

The contest itself will be in a different thread, not the one linked above.

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Thank you, Mockingbirb! I'll edit the group page now, and the new thread will go up on New Year's Day. Not the moment the clock strikes midnight, though. I have whisky to drink! 🥂

KwirkyJ is late, and picks and chooses!

7608520
I'm completely lost on how 'but do you have a dog' fits into anything. Odd that you choose one hard linebreak, but then 'a few days later'.

7608521
Unfortunately, I consented to reading this while insufficiently Informed, and it's not Retractable.

7610723
What are the stakes here? What is she afraid of? I can infer nothing meaningful in the colt's actions.

7612434
Usually I don't like Santa with my Ponies. That said... Gud Sunset.

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7619512
The key is recognizing how immensely difficult it must be for a vetrinarian to sew sutures with one's mouth. (A lot was cut.)

7618509
Dark, but darn-well crafted.

7618887
I sat and thought about this one for a bit longer than usual. Really touching stuff. (flash association with the episode of Violet Evergarden, where the sick mother hires Violet to write birthday letters for her daughter years and years into the future.)

7625161
Ha, I wouldn’t put Santa in an Equestria-set fic, but the human dimension seemed like fair game.

7625161

Unfortunately, I consented to reading this while insufficiently Informed, and it's not Retractable.

That's how it was supposed to be read.

Until somepony brings Chrysalis the actual gift, Rainbow dash will experience just how much Chrysalis adores Wonderbolts.

As for consent, as Chrysalis will inform Rainbow Dash, it is merely optional.

7625161
Meant to be a piece of a larger tale, but I can’t tell it in 150 words, so it leads to less than desirable amounts of understanding.

To explain, she’s covering most every part of her body, fearing skin/fur contact, and something occurs when the contact happens, giving Scootaloo a number. What that number refers to, I’m sure one can imagine.

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I got that she was covering up for some reason -- guess was, to avoid being recognized.

What the number means, I reach no satisfying conclusion. Is she cursed, and that's how long the individual she touches has to live? Time since she last touched somepony, and if so what is that supposed to mean for her? (If it's time for her to live, being reminded by touch isn't going to move the deadline so why obsess over the reminders?) If the number refers to something specific unique each time, there are zero clues for us readers for this one instance you show us. Confusion persists.

<edited to add, following the following...>
You said, 'I'm sure one can imagine.' So it turns out that one, in fact, could imagine, causing all sorts of problems.

7625722
A million things that I didn’t think of when writing it. I’d like to give you something satisfying to know about it, but I don’t have the talent to put that much thought into it.