Twilight Sparkle's Retro Media Library
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My Little Pony: Best Gift Ever is the actual finale for Season 8 of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.0

An official trailer was released on September 25, 2018. The hour-long special premiered on October 27, 2018 on Discovery Family, and was relased directly to DVD in the UK on November 26.

The Netflix release of this special on November 25, 2018 marked the last time a My Little Pony installment was ever released on the streaming service.

This special last aired on Discovery Family on July 16, 2023 at 12:00 p.m.

Synopsis[]

It's the holiday season and the pony friends are galloping through Equestria to find the BEST GIFT EVER for each other! Throughout their adventures, they come to find that friendship is every pony's favorite gift after all.

Extended synopsis: As the ponies all prepare for another Hearth's Warming, families come together to celebrate the big holiday. The Pie family arrives in Ponyville and Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash are ready for the big day... but Princess Twilight Sparkle doesn't have time to celebrate!

With her new school taking up her time and Shining Armor, Cadance and Baby Flurry Heart coming to visit, Twilight is behind on her to-do list. She hasn't even begun to shop! Luckily her friends are here to help! Instead of one gift for every pony, they decide to do a Hearthswarming Helper and give just one gift to the pony whose cutie mark they pull out of Applejack's hat.

But now, the pressure's on to find the one perfect gift to make each pony's holiday special. By seeking help from their friends all over Equestria, the Mane 6 and Spike are each hoping to find the best gift ever. With their hopes high, they set out on a magical adventure to make each pony's Hearthswarming bright.

Production timeline[]

August 16, 2017 Began development as "Friendship, Actually", initially planned to be part of Season 9. Premise written by Michael Vogel.
August 21, 2017 Beatsheet written. Christmas Special retitled "Hearth's Warming Under Wraps".
August 28, 2017 Outline written.
October 2, 2017 First draft of the script written. Title reverted back to "Friendship, Actually".
October 20, 2017 Second draft of the script written. Title changed to "Best Gift Ever".
October 26–30, 2017 Final draft written.
October 31, 2017 Script locked polish.
November 8–December 12, 2017 Voice recording in session.
November 10, 2017 Lyrics for "One More Day" written.
November 14, 2017 Lyrics for "The True Gift of Gifting" written.
November 24–December 15, 2017 Full demo for "One More Day" composed and performed.
December 5, 2017 Full demo for "The True Gift of Gifting" composed and performed.
February 6, 2018 Final unmixed version of "One More Day" composed and performed.
February 16, 2018 Final unmixed version of "The True Gift of Gifting" composed and performed.
April 2, 2018 Animatic submitted for review.
July 16, 2018 Client cut of animated special submitted for review.
September 7, 2018 Final mixes of both songs composed and performed.
September 20, 2018 Musical score added.
October 9, 2018 Final revisions made to the Christmas Special.

Characters[]

Main characters
01 - Twilight Sparkle
Twilight Sparkle
02 - Pinkie Pie
Pinkie Pie
03 - Fluttershy
Fluttershy
04 - Rainbow Dash
Rainbow Dash
05 - Rarity
Rarity
06 - Applejack
Applejack
07 - Spike
Spike
10 - Discord
Discord

Home media[]

In North America, this episode was only available on Netflix due to Shout! Factory's 10-year licensing rights having been expired as of 2019; unfortunately, Netflix removed the special on January 1, 2022. This leaves the special currently unavailable on streaming.

Gallery[]

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