Changeling Holidays

by CrimsonCowboy

Boxing Day

Boxing Day

-----

Hearthswarming has passed. It was pretty nice - they spent some time in the hospital, they spent some time with each of their parents, they all ate far too much. It was so full of happiness and joy that Oson couldn't stand it. Very literally. She had to be carried by Tami home after the visit to Donut Joe's shop.

Oson quietly chirps in high speak, then says in low speak so Tami could hear. "I'm so full Tami. I need to get ready for tomorrow right now or I'm probably going to puke love. And that's pretty gross when that happens."

Tami shakes her head. "Dear gods, I know. Damn, that was a startling night..." She keeps shaking her head, remembering one of their first few nights together. "At least it evaporates pretty readily. OK, let's make some stuff for boxing day."

-----

They only set a simple curry to cook with Java's help. It was set at a low heat, and could simmer over night while they rested. Oson touched her horn to it and filled it with her excess love. "Oh sweet hives, that's so much better." She belches.

Tami asks, "It won't boil off, will it?"

Oson nods. "A small amount will, but when it's properly infused it doesn't evaporate that quickly." She belches again. "Oh bloody hells, there's too much love about this holiday. I don't think I can handle hearts and hooves day. It used to be a working holiday, but we're so well fed these days. I'm just going to make some cards."

Tami gives her a quick peck on the head. Oson vomits some kind of orangish-purple fluid that readily starts to evaporate. The feeling of happiness and joy rapidly fills the kitchen. She pauses to catch her breath, before pressing her horn against the curry pot. More love is dumped into it. "Dear sweet hives, Tami. This holiday is too much. Boxing day used to be a gesture of kindness, of respect..."

She belches again. "It feels like I'm cheapening it by using it to avoid distressing my innards."

Tami points at the pot. "Dump some more love into that right now."

Oson complies, and then is picked up in a hug from Tami. "This holiday has been cheapened years ago. You know how commercialized it got. What you little 'lings have done has been a right fucking treat to all sorts of folks who haven't had a proper gift in years. It's literally full of love."

Oson nods. "Let's go to bed, Tami. We can cook the rice up in the morning."

Tami nods. She puts a lid on the pot of curry, and they head up stairs.

-----

The two wake up slightly early. They snuggle for a moment before heading downstairs. Java is on the couch, the GameStation left on playing the password screen song for Rocket Battles. The GameStation is slightly aware of the day, so it's playing a holiday themed jingle. The little rocket ponies on the password screen have little jingle bells on their heads. The smell of heavily fortified nog would fill the room, if the smell of curry from the kitchen didn't over power it.

Tami pokes Java. He awakes with a start. "Oh, shit! I left the GameStation on again, didn't I?"

Oson nods. "It's ok. Want to help make our boxing day gifts?"

Java nods. "I just need about forty five minutes to wake up. I'll get the coffee up and running and do the light work while my mind boots up."

Oson and Tami nods. "It's ok. We've got all day to do this."

Java Stout works on making some delicious grade caffeination. Tami complains, and he makes her a quintuple espresso shot drink in addition to her delicious coffee drink. She smiles after drinking it in one go. They commence with the cooking of the rice.

It proceeds rather quickly. The curry that has been simmering overnight is now at a dangerously delicious level of cooking. Oson scans it. It's still full of about ninety five percent of the love she had inserted into it the other night.

Quantum gets up and enjoys a cup of tea that Java had set out earlier. As it was expected she would be up a bit late, she was pleased her tea was brewed, the bag removed, a splash of lemon poured in, and ice cubes added. "This is a damn fine cup of tea."

Java nods. "Thank's, man! I try, ya' know?"

The rice is going well. A few fresh tomatoes and other assorted veggies are being cut. Quantum assembles the boxes. They are filled with curry, veggies, and rice.

Oson and Tami proceed to wrap them with ribbons. Specialized saddle bags are prepared with the items, along with styrofoam cups and a few liter bottles of hot cocoa.

Oson looks at Tami. "Ya ready?"

Tami nods yes. Quantum and Java look at Oson, each other, and Tami. "Hey, you want some company?" Quantum asks.

Oson nods yes. "I just want to know... Can you sing?"

Quantum shakes her head no. Java nods his head yes.

Oson smiles. "It doesn't matter. Here, I have a few lyric sheets in a file folder up in my room!"

She returns from her room with the folder. "I even got these song sheets from the dimensporter, and it's pretty close to our language! I think it was X-12.0 and Y+25.1."

Tami smiles. "I'm so glad you're keeping up with the dimensporter tests. It's so cool we get amazing data from some of those alternative dimensions." She looks over the lyrics. "What the hell is christmas?"

Oson shrugs. "No clue, but the lyrics are catchy. Hey, do ponies think it's awkward to do carols after Hearthswarming?"

Tami shakes her head. "Well, we up in those the northern area's are pretty cool with it. We came up with boxing day after all."

Oson nods. "And we changelings stole it, repurposed it, and now we're going to do it."

-----

Packages full of rice, curry, vegetables, and love are being distributed across the city of Canterlot. They take turns singing. Java was overconfident in his voice. Quantum was under confident in her voice. Tami was pretty ok. Oson kept warbling between high and low speak, so she sounded a bit like one of those dubstep songs. It was slightly disorienting.

Some of the packages are left on the doorsteps of their favorite professors and some of the others they knew from various classes. There's a bit of an awkward moment with the Changeling Cheer Squad, who are practicing out on their lawn. Their in the odd chimeric form they use at games. They speak, five as one, "Yesterday was so intense, we need to burn some love up. We're probably gonna have to pop this into the freezer. But we really thank you for this!"

They demonstrate the new martial arts forms they have been learning since the first time they had met Oson, and the time they had faced them in buckball combat. It was amazing but they did nick Quantum with one of the Shimmering Sword maneuvers. She yipped. They apologized. And present a box of their own. It had pickled vegetables artfully arranged on a bed of rice in it. Oson smiled and thanked them kindly for it.

The hippies Tami had thrown each got their own boxes, with many an assurance that the product was organic. It wasn't, of course. But the less they knew the better. One of them tried to offer Tami an organic quartz crystal, which she accepted with a forced smile and a hug. They apparently also subscribed to the philosophy that the less you knew, the better. Tami was intending to sign them up for a subscription to a science magazine.

Then there were the deliveries to the five jocks Oson had set on fire...

------

The first jock is pretty happy to see them. "Hey, that smells amazing! I really didn't want to cook today, so this is great!"

The second jock just nods in understanding. "This is the second one I've got today. And wow. This smells great."

The third jock frowns. "There isn't any gluten in this, is there? I'm kinda allergic to gluten. Like, I burst out in a rash if ya' would throw flour on me. Really sucks, mate. No? Delightful! Thank you."

The fourth jock is a bit paranoid at first. "Oh, Tatarun chimes! It's you! Ah, that's not gonna blow up, will it? No? Well, it smells nice."

Finally, the fifth jock opens his door. There is the sound of a party from inside. He looks at the package, and at Oson, and her crew. He gives a small smile. "Hey. Like, my whole family is here. I know you're trying to apologize. I read about what you did at that block party. You seem a lot nicer than when you were just that bitch that set me on fire. You want to come in, for like leftovers and shit? All y'all can come in. We got a ton of food. Seriously, my aunts are kinda crazy for the holidays."

He yells inside. "Hey, Aunt Up, Aunt Down, Aunt Strange, Aunt Charm, Aunt Top, and Aunt Bottom! We got some guests."

They hadron to consider what to do - then they lepton the opportunity.

-----

They had a lot of fun at the party. It turns out they didn't hold much of any grudge against Oson. Seeing the cheer squad afterwards cheering them on after that accident, the jocks had all had a change of heart. And the Quarky Aunts absolutely loved Oson and the strange tradition of distributing love infused boxes of food.

In exchange for some of the curry boxes, they helped make additional boxes of a variety of flavors. Oson, feeling full of love again, poured what she could into the packages. They left on good terms.

-----

They made a note of dropping off a few boxes at the Guard. Java had a brief chat with some of them. "Hey Lock! Hey Key! Remember me?"

Key looks up from his paperwork. "Hey! Java! Staying out of trouble?"

Lock looks up from her paperwork. "You wouldn't have had anything to do with that explosion a few days ago, would you?"

Java rubs a hoof behind his head and nervously chuckles. "Nah, of course not. Hey! We brought you some food! Kinda as thanks for taking care of me all those times. And Tami, too, I guess. Especially after that incident with the..."

Tami nods. "Quezocoatals. Yeah, really glad you didn't throw me into the streets that day."

The local captain of the guard pops into the room. "Lock! Key! Are you goofing off? Wait... Java! What are you doing here?"

Oson hands her a box of food. "We're saying thanks to everyone we can think of today. And apologizing when it applies. We, um, really appreciate all of your work. And not arresting us very often."

The captain tilts her head. "This isn't a bribe, is it?"

Oson tilts her head and tries to look cute. "Maybe? We also have some for some of the inmates. We're basically trying to keep the good cheer flowing as long as we can. Oh! Do you have any changelings in here right now? Please give them two - these are all made with love, and they probably really need it right now!"

The captain smiles. "You're a good bug, kiddo. I normally wouldn't do this, but you lot have been in here often enough," she gazes at Java in particular, "but have for the most part have never showed any desire to harm anyone." She looks at Tami, who looks away. "For the most part."

Lock picks up a stack of the boxes. "I'll run a detection spell on these. Just for the records, you know?"

Key has already started eating his box of food. "Oh. Crud. Should I have waited?"

The captain slaps her hoof into her head. "I swear I'm going to throw you out one of these days, Key."

-----

The last delivery they had to make was an awful lot more awkward. Tami, Java, and Quantum stood at the end of the pathway to their front door.

Oson knocks on the door. A gaudily dressed unicorn female answers it. "Yo... you!"

Oson shakes her hooves in front of her. "It was a trick! It was a way to use up all the extra ball bearings we had! I didn't really explode a pony! I'm sorry." She bows her head. "I don't want people to be scared of us... And I don't want you to be scared of me. I want... I want to share a gift!"

She pulls a pair of boxes out of her saddlebags. "I made you a lunch?" She tilts her head and smiles.

The unicorn frowns. "How did you find our place?"

Oson states, calmly, "The guard's report. I figured out where you were. From the report. Did I mention I was really sorry for pranking you?"

The unicorn stares at Oson. She looks at the other three in the background, and then back at Oson. "You're not going to attack us, are you?"

Oson bends forwards, her neck clearly exposed to the unicorn. She holds it there for a moment. "I just want to apologize for scaring you."

The unicorn frowns, then... she smiles. "Come inside. I don't know if your meal will work with this but I'm willing to try."

Oson raises her head. "Can my friends come too?"

The unicorn laughs. "Have you got enough food for them all?"

Oson nods, pointing out her saddle bags were packed from the Quarky Aunts.

The unicorn tilts her head the other way. "You're serious, aren't you?"

Java nods, and then so do everyone else. "We really want to make this a special boxing day for you!"

She tilts her head back the other way. "Why?"

Oson and her girlfriend Tami bow their heads. "I want you to know we didn't mean to hurt you! Please! We don't want you to hate me... uh... hate us!"

"You've got a chance. I don't like you, I will be honest, but it's the day after Hearthswarming. I'm willing to see what you've got. Let's have lunch."

-----

Oson smiles. "You know, that worked out pretty well. She had some good points, and so did we, and the food we got blended really well with what we made."

Tami nods. "Yeah, geopolitics isn't normally a conversation starter, but we made it work."

Java nods. "I'm so glad they trusted us. We really kinda freaked her out with the ball-bearing explosion pinata thing. I'm glad she like the meal I prepared."

Quantum nods. "Solid work there Java. Hot damn. It's only noon, any other boxes to drop off?"

Oson looks at all the boxes she still has. "Oh! We forgot the workers at Screwdrivers!"

The quartet heads off to their favorite hardware store to drop off a few boxes and perhaps have a few pints, as was traditional.

------

The rest of the boxes were distributed surreptitiously to their neighbors, as was traditional. Quantum is carrying back some parts they picked up for an experiment they came up with chatting with Clyde. Tami looks up to Oson, who is riding on her back. "Is there anything else to Boxing Day? Cause that was fun."

Oson looks up and thinks. "Well, we distributed the boxes of food. We apologized to a lot of people, and thanked others for helping us when we needed it. We successfully dodged admitting to the solstice explosion. And we had that boxing match yesterday, so that's checked off as well. I think we've got this holiday locked down."

As they enter the house, Java pulls something from the fridge. "One more box, I'm afraid. Who wants wine?"

Oson chuckles. "Boxed wine. That's clever." They share a cup of chilled cheer.

Author's Note:

Boxing Day - The day after Hearthswarming. The night before, boxed lunches are prepared, infused with love. All non-critical jobs just take the day off. Ponies have on occasion noticed small boxed lunches placed on their doorsteps in the morning, if there is an infiltrator who is feeling particularly nostalgic for the holiday in the area.
---From "A History of the Changelings"

Much of the background cast of DERPA is here. I wanted them all to have a happy holiday.

Enjoy Your Holidays! Pick up a few extra ones while you're at it - there are a lot of excuses to party this time of year.