Ice Age: Collision Course

      Sassy and Shira made their way back to camp as the herd started to settle down for the night. Sassy observed that Peaches was consoling a shivering Jullian by the fire and looking nastily at her parents. She looked at Diego.
       "Do I wanna know?"
       "Nope."
       "Manny and Ellie meddling again?"
       "Always." Sassy sighed and left Shira with her mate and walked over to the many holes in the cliff side where they were bedding down for the night. She spotted Denali in one of the holes, the one they had been in earlier. She hesitated, wondering if she should join him or sleep in one of the other holes. A cool breeze ruffled the fur on her back, making up her mind for her. She needed the extra warmth. At least, that's what she told herself. Sassy padded to the hole and laid down next to Denali, their backs dangerously close to touching as they lay side by side, back to back.
        "You ok?" Denali asked. Sassy startled a little at his voice. She thought he was asleep.
        "Yeah. I'm fine."
        "You don't seem fine." He sat up and Sassy's eyes wandered slightly as she watched his muscles flex under his fur. He was a very attractive wolf. Gray coloring on his back with a white underbelly and brown and black mixed with gray muddled into his neck fur, which puffed out in a full mane, drawing Sassy's attention. He was very well built as well. Bigger than Sassy and obviously stronger. Even Diego couldn't pin her down. It had taken all her strength to even budge Denali. She suddenly snapped back to reality and her eyes flew to his. He had a small smirk on his maw but his eyes were kind and warm and intense. She felt her stomach do a flip. Maybe she was just hungry.
        "I...um...no really I'm f-fine." She wanted to bite herself. She never stumbled over her words. She'd seen plenty a male wolf in her life and none had ever attracted her like Denali. Not even Lone Star, she had to admit. But they were just pups. And his memory had long since been tainted foul. Another breeze ruffled Sassy's fur and she shivered slightly, even though she wasn't cold. She didn't know what was wrong with her. Denali noticed.
        "Are you cold?"
        "No-," Sassy started but Denali didn't wait for her to finish. He moved against her and wrapped his bigger, powerful form around her body, curling her into his chest. Sassy felt electricity shoot through her and it wasn't left over from the storm. This was different. She liked this. Denali didn't say another word, just rested his head on her shoulder and closed his eyes. Sassy looked at him a moment, before mustering her courage and leaning forward to give him a light lick on the cheek. Then she quickly put her massive head down, resting it on his paws that her overlapping hers. She felt safe and warm and cared about. She had never felt this way. Not ever. For once in her life since the saber attack on her pack as a pup, she slept peacefully that night.
        The next morning Sassy awoke with a start at hearing Buck's rather worried voice. She yawned and started to move but realized she was still being held down by Denali, who was trying to awaken as well.
        "Alrigh' mammals! Time to get a move on! Now let's no' linger on this! Ah yes I read the tablet wrong, the asteroid is a lot closa'." Denali looked at Sassy and she avoided his drowsy gaze. His eyes were doing things to her. He got to his paws and she did the same, stretching their limbs out before joining the herd outside.
       "Wait a sec, where's granny? Granny! Oh Granny!" Sid called for his cranky grandmother.
        "Maybe she wandered off?" Manny offered.
        "Maybe she got hit in the head with a puck?" Peaches said pointedly. Sassy could now guess what had happened last night among the mammoths.
         "Yes and maybe she was abducted by homicidal 30 foot dino birds seeking revenge on me! All good theories! I'm gonna go with the puck!" Buck said in a panicked voice. A red feather fluttered past his head and he grabbed it in a hurry and attempted to hide it by stuffing it in his mouth. Sassy growled but Diego beat her to the punch on confronting the weasel.
         "I knew it! So this entire time we've been chased by giant Dino birds!?" Diego challenged.
         "Only three! I didn't want to damage moral!"   
         "Oh right cause before this we were on a carefree pleasure cruise!" Manny said angrily.
         "I can't believe I let this happen." Sassy said softly, meaning it to be for herself. Denali overheard her.
         "What are you taking about?" She looked up at him.
          "Last night....I...uh....(sigh) that was the first night I had ever fallen asleep instead of keeping watch since I was a little tiny pup. I should've known better. I let myself relax for one night and one of my herd gets kidnapped."
         "Wait a minute! I've got her scent! Come on!" Diego said and sniffed the air then ran with Shira on his tail. The herd followed close behind. Before Sassy could run after them however, Denali blocked her path.
          "This is not your fault Sassy. You didn't let this happen. We were tired and cold and lonely. Nobody knew we were being followed except Buck. This is his fault not yours. I'm not going to allow you to blame yourself." Sassy just stared at him, stunned to say the least. After a moment though, instead of arguing she just nodded quickly and ran after her herd. They didn't go far. The wolves met up with them on a cliff overlooking a smoke filled valley, with a volcano on the horizon. The herd stood in awe at the magnificent sight of the pinkish hue the asteroid light cast on the still valley.
        "We made it mammals! The crash sight! This must be whot's left of the previous asteroid!" Buck announced, gesturing down into the valley where a large rock with glowing purple holes rested on the valley floor.
       "Uh Buck? Your space rocks!" Eddie pointed to the bag filled with the magnet rocks, that flew off the cliff and straight to the surface of the asteroid. Buck's eyes lit up.
       "We could definitely divert the asteroid with a magnet that size! I mean that thing is ginormous! It's massive! It's...it's...,"
       "Gonna be impossible to get off the ground!" Manny chimed in.
       "It's entirely possible, in a way we just don't know about yet!"
       "But what about the Dino birds?" Crash inquired.
       "And what about Granny?" Sid asked, obviously nervous about his grandmother. Diego sniffed the ground again and sighed.
       "Nothing." Manny came up to Sid and rested his trunk on the sloths drooping shoulders.
       "I'm sorry Sid." Sid sniffed and used the trunk to wipe his nose and eyes. Manny didn't even seem to mind.
       "Oh Granny! My sweet, malicious Granny! Why does it always have to be the old ones that go first!?" Sid wailed and fell into a blubbering mess. A faint noise echoed in the valley, sounding much like a dying cow in Sassy's opinion. "I can still hear her sweet, shrill voice, shrieking from the afterlife!" Sid said and there came another noise only this one was clearly a said shriek and it sounded like one of intense pain.
       "Granny's alive!" Ellie said excitedly.
       "And she's in trouble!" Diego took off down the cliff trail that led right to the asteroid. They called for her repeatedly, continuing to run down the path. The shrieks continued and led them right inside the asteroid. Diego, Shira, Sassy and Denali charged into the giant space rock, ready to rip to shreds whatever was hurting the old sloth, only to skid to an abrupt stop and simply stare at the sight with mouths agape. Sid leaped in between them.
       "Is she ok!?"
       "Um...I'm not sure." Diego answered honestly. Inside the mouth of the asteroid, a turquoise bunny with a very bushy cotton tail stood massaging Granny's back and rubbing her like a chiropractor. Granny seemed very satisfied with the arrangement as she sighed and moaned in contentment.
       "Unhand my Granny!" Sid demanded, marching up to the bunny.
      "You do and you don't get a tip." Granny countered to the bunny from the rock which she laid on.
       "Making this beautiful sloth happy, is all the payment I need." The bunny said, picking Granny up in his arms and walking down the asteroid's hall.
       "See! Hunky bunny gets it!" Granny shouted back.
       "But Granny!?" Sid called after her.
        "There's a bunny living in the asteroid? I did not see that coming." Manny said as they followed after the bunny and sloth.
        "Wait till you see this." Ellie said ahead of him. The herd stepped out of the dark passage way and into the open expanse of the asteroid, which was glittering with crystals of every color, size and shape. It was breathtaking. Animals of all kinds were wandering around the asteroid, all seeming very happy and content. One mammal jumped on a crystal that hovered and took off, using the crystal walls to propel himself up and around on a wild ride, whopping the entire way.
        "Yeah! Catching mad air on the half pipe!" Jullian spoke up.
        "This is crazy!" Manny said.
        "Do you think they know they're living in a magnetic bullseye?" Ellie asked to no one in particular.
         "Doesn't look like much doomsday preparation going on in here." Diego countered. Sassy was in complete awe of the place. So was Denali. He's never seen anything like his in his life. He looked over at Sassy's wide amber eyes, looking up at the millions of crystals that covered the asteroid's interior in mountains. His heart swelled for her. She was still so innocent looking in many ways, even though she'd seen hell.
        "I can't believe it! Visitors! We've never had visitors!" A British, female voice called. A beautiful sloth with golden hair and a reddish coat that hung in curls around her paws flew towards the mammals on one of the hovering crystal platforms. "Somebody pinch me! Or should I pinch you? I know I'll pinch both of us!" She giggled and pinched Jullian's cheek along with her own. The male laughed heartily with the sloth.
        "Did I hit my head? What's happening here?" Manny asked as they observed the floating female.
        "I sure hope this isn't a-ahh!" She spun inside down and landed on the ground. She lifted herself up and moved her hair back with a dreamy expression on her face. "-dream!" She sang. The herd looked at her, looked where she was looking, which was at Sid, and then back at her in shock. She whistled and two floating unicorns flew over to Sid and looked him up and down.
        "This guy? For real?" One asked.
         "Whatever!" The other said, roll in her eyes. She shoved Sid onto her back and carried him to the female sloth and dumped him on his face before her.
        "Well hello handsome. I'm Brooke." She said shyly, twisting a lock of her golden hair around her finger. Sid's face dropped into a goofy expression as he stared at Brooke dreamily. "Such exquisite bone structure! Such a strong jaw!" Brooke commented, feeling Sid's flabby face, which was quite the contrary to her descriptions. "I'm getting butterflies!" She sang and flicked her hair. Butterflies flew out.
       "I'm getting nauseous." Manny mocked. Sassy choked beside Denali and he leaned close to her.
       "You ok?" She snorted back a laugh and nodded.
        "A sloth finally in love with Sid. And a gorgeous one at that. Now I've seen everything." Denali chucked and nuzzled Sassy in the neck. She didn't shy away from him or even flinch, just looked up at him and smiled. He smirked down at her with hooded eyes.
        "Sorry to interrupt this weirdo love connection-," Sassy's eyes grew wide and she jerked her head to Diego in shock. "-but we're kinda in a hurry." The comment was directed at the sloths. Denali watched as she turned pink under her fur and bent her head lower to try and hide her embarrassment. So she thought Diego had been talking to them huh? He was definitely going to keep that in mind.
       "If we don't do something fast, that asteroid is going to blow us all to smithereens!" Buck threw in, turning the sloth's heads to look at the glowing asteroid through the crystal ceiling of the asteroid they were currently in.
        "Oh my. That sounds serious! I better take you to him!"
        "Who's him? Your leader?" Diego asked.
        "He is our everything!"
         "He knows all!"
         "Sees all!"
          "And smells amazing!" The bunny finished for Brooke and the ponies.
          "Ok ok he sounds great! Let's go!" Manny said.
         "Brilliant! Right this way." Brooke extended a hand and the ponies tapped their hooves against the crystal and the floor dropped out beneath Sid and Brooke and flew down the crystal highway, Sid screaming all the way. One by one in pairs the herd got dropped through the floor, yelling in surprise. Sassy looked at Denali with wide eyes and he gulped.
       "Oh no." The floor fell out from beneath them.