What was probably the biggest event during Animalia's Christmas Exposition was both the Gift Exchange and Christmas Feast. While they did happen at relatively the same time, there was room to both have a plate of Christmas meal and open your presents (after setting the plate aside). There were a few surprises here and there, but they weren't too unusual.
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One of the surprises was Beacon and Allura. Part of it was the fact that they had successfully burned away all their thanksgiving weight, metabolizing the weight into both their muscles and any leftover fat had migrated to their curves. Another part of it was the fact that Beacon's parents were visiting and were most surprised to see their new "daughter".
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While the, unofficially named, "Mane Six of Animalia" were still searching for available stallions, they had at least calmed down somewhat. They had gotten each other rather daring lingerie from Miss Vivian's, but the mandatory "Christmas add-on" of stocking-shaped, coal filled stocking bags was generating a lot of laughs around their table.
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Meanwhile, Mr. Hyun (who had finally undergone conversion with Ling), was taking notes on his new form, especially on why Animalians wouldn't make good soldiers in general.
"I'm used to the atmosphere of the battlefield," said Mr. Hyun, referring to one test he did shortly after his conversion, "but now I apparently can't stand it."
"Who'd 'a' thunk that the reasons Animalians wouldn't make good soldiers is because they have sensitive... senses." said one scientist, remarking how Mr. Hyun no longer liked the smell of burnt gunpowder and flinched every time a loud explosion caused him to basically freeze up for a few seconds while he recovered from it.
"Don't forget that animals that were used in warfare were constantly drilled and/or trained to ignore the atmosphere of the battlefield." said another scientist, "But with the development of mechanized warfare, animals became more and more obsolete, especially the war elephants of India."
"Not to mention that after Alexander the Great encountered war elephants during his temporary invasion of India, there were many ways that were designed to make war elephants panic." said a historian, who was sitting nearby. "While some of them would be considered ingenious, others that were considered ingenious would be considered animal cruelty by today's standards."
"I saw something like that on TV once," said a high schooler who was heading back to his table, "One ingenious way of getting war elephants to panic was to coat pigs in tar, then set them on fire. Elephants at the time got, unsurprisingly, really frightened of self-barbecuing pigs heading their way."
"No kidding." said the first scientist, but whether he was responding to his co-worker or the high schooler was unknown.
"I don't really care," said Ling, clinging slightly onto Mr. Hyun's arm, "Because I now have you."
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Meanwhile, there was a news special going on from Dino city about predator Dinotopians not only having ham for their Christmas feast, but also working at bringing down invasive wild pig populations. While the news did post a warning about possibly graphic content and most of the blood from the kills were edited out, it was still a little exciting to watch. Possibly what was the most exciting was one such hunt shot by a Go-Pro worn on a sweat brand worn by Sgt. Slash. It was rather exciting, showing how he charged a wild pig and got a, seemingly, easy kill on a 350 lb. boar.