Okay I know I said I was gonna post this around Christmas Eve, but I just couldn't wait any longer! Happy Holidays to everyone out there! Enjoy! :) And about 90% of this story belongs to Blue Sky Studios, NOT ME! The italics are taken from A Mammoth Christmas for those of you who saw it, and for those of you didn't, you should check it out! It's so cute and funny! And I suggest you do it before you read this so you'd understand it better and I don't want to spoil it for anyone. Especially not on Christmas Eve.
"Cash, Bobby, Flora, where are you guys?" It was Christmas Eve and Diego looked around the cave for his kids. To make it fair, he and Shira made a deal that every night one of them will hunt while the other would look after the kids. Sure enough, it was Diego's turn to watch the little rascals while Shira would catch the biggest, fattest and juiciest gazelles she could find, continuing a typical saber's Christmas traditions. As much as he loved his kids like any parent, he honestly preferred if Shira stayed with them since she was able to control them.
"Come on kids, hide and seek is over, it's time for bed." said Diego in his best laying-down-the-law-tone as possible.
Little did Diego know there was a certain someone who was sneaking behind him watching his every moves.
Unexpected to Diego, his stalker jumped out from behind the shrubs and jumped on his back.
"Did you see me Dad?" Cash asked his father in pride. "I snuck up on you! Admit it, you weren't expecting it."
"I sure wasn't Cash." chuckled Diego rubbing his son's head. "You're a great little stalker, but it's time for bed now."
"Aww Dad, five more minutes!" pouted Cash giving Diego big, wide, begging eyes.
"Cash I already let you stay up an hour longer because it's Christmas Eve."
"But I want to wait for Mom to come back with the gazelle!"
Diego couldn't argue with that. But then again if he would let Cash stay up for another hour just to wait for the gazelle, he'll be bouncing off the walls until his teen years.
"There will be plenty more fat gazelle in the morning than there are tonight." Diego told his son. "Now where's your brother and sister?"
"Outside on the granite rock pile looking up in the sky." Cash rolled his eyes in annoyance as he answered his father's question.
"Still? They've been there since sunset. What could they possibly be looking-oh." Diego realized who Bobby and Flora have been searching for in the sky while Cash was skeptical about it. "Let's go pick them up." Diego walked outside the cave with Cash following.
"Are you sure he's going to come?" Bobby asked his sister as he stood on the remains of Manny's Christmas rock that had been destroyed so long ago. A few days ago they heard stories from their friends of Santa Claus, the big, kind and jolly man who leaves presents every night for all the little girls and boys. Since then they were talking about making plans to watch the sky to see Mr. Claus himself. Cash on the other hand did not believe in the rumors he heard and ridiculed his brother and sister for their belief.
"Trust me Bob." said Flora positively. "He should be here by tonight,"
"You kids have been here an awful long time." Manny told Bobby and Flora. "Are you really comfortable sitting on the rock like that.
"Yes." Bobby and Flora answered in unison, their eyes not leaving the sky's sight.
"Aren't you two tired?" asked Ellie. She didn't mind them being here but she was concerned that they were going to lack sleep sitting up on the rock.
"No." the kids answered to their aunt.
"Bobby, Flora, time to go." Diego said to his children.
"But Dad what if we miss Santa coming to us?" Flora asked pleadingly trying to let her and Bobby stay on the rock longer.
"I'm sure he won't miss us Flora," Diego convinced his daughter otherwise remembering the events that happened years ago. "Even if we are sleeping."
"Aw Dad don't tell me you actually BELIEVE in all that kiddie mumbo-jumbo." Cash groaned in annoyance.
"Cash don't you try to be like me now because you'll just get proved otherwise." Manny recalled his doubt in Santa Claus' existence until finding Peaches in the North Pole when she gone off with Sid, Crash and Eddie.
"I don't believe it Cash, I know." Diego replied to his son. Cash just looked at him confused.
"You know I think this would make a good bedtime story." grinned Ellie.
"Alright a story!" Bobby jumped up with excitement while hearing those words only to end up falling off the rock with Ellie catching him and putting him on the ground gently. Cash and Flora joined in on the excitement.
"Yay, a Christmas story!" Flora cheered happily.
"Alright kiddos just follow us back to your cave and we'll tell you." Ellie guided the kids as they, their parents and uncle followed.
"Hey guys, I'm back!" called out Shira to her family while dragging the fat gazelle only to realize that they're gone.
"Kids, are you and Daddy playing hide and seek?" Shira asked now starting to worry.
"BOO!" Shira was startled by a big voice yelling at her that she jumped. Slowly and reluctantly she turned around only to find out that it was her son.
"Got you good Mom!" Cash grinned with hubris. Shira sighed in relief to see that it was only her son.
"You did honey, but please don't do it again." Shira told her son calmly. She noticed the rest of the herd coming up to her.
"Hey guys." she greeted her family members. "Where are you coming from?"
"Just picking up those two from their Santa watch." Diego said to his wife rubbing Bobby and Flora's heads.
"Mommy!" Flora greeted running up to her mother as her brothers ran up and hugged her.
"My babies." Shira whispered to her kids as she returned their hugs and kissed them. "How was your day with Daddy?"
While the answers from the kids were "Awesome!" and "Fun!", Shira asked Diego how they really behaved. Diego said they were little angels.
"They were hiding from you again weren't they?" Shira questioned suspiciously. She knew that their kids LOVED hide-and-seek.
"Yeah." Diego muttered.
"Mom, you got the gazelle!" Bobby cried out happily.
"Let's dig in!" Cash insisted as he and his siblings ran up to the gazelle and ate it hastily.
"Kids, don't eat so quick, you don't want to get a tummy ache the night before Christmas." Shira warned the kids as they ate their meal quickly.
"Sorry Mom." Flora apologized. "We just wanna hear Dad's Christmas story!"
"Christmas story?"
"Yeah!"
"Come on Dad, tell the story!" Cash urged his father eagerly.
"Hey guys, what's all the hubbub about?" Peaches asked walking in with Louis.
"Just about to tell the youngsters here our little adventure a few years back." Manny replied to his daughter.
"What adventure?" asked Louis.
"I remember!" Peaches recalled happily. "It was so awesome! You've got to hear it Louis!"
"Okay!" Louis happily answered and sat next to Peaches.
"Take it away Diego and Manny!" Shira said to them as the cubs sat up and started listening.
"Okay." Manny began narrating. "It was the day before Christmas and we were starting to decorate.."
Manny came in rolling a big, granite structure that looked like a Christmas decoration.
"Okay Ellie, I got her." Manny called to Ellie. Ellie turned from her decorating the wall with wreaths and gasped happily at the structure.
"The Christmas Rock!" she cried with glee.
"Just got her out of storage." said Manny. "I wanted to surprise Peaches. Where is my sweet little angel?"
At bullet speed, Manny got pelted by a snowball.
"Incoming!" little Peaches yelled out as she slid down a hill of ice laughing, knocking down her parents in the process.
"There's your sweet little angel." sighed Ellie annoyed. Of course she loved her daughter more then anything, but there were times where she wished she wasn't so hyper and energetic.
"Sorry Dad." apologized Peaches as she ran.
Crash came in sledding down the hill on Eddie's back. "Yeah, it's on!" they playfully used their fight talk. The two of them were snowball fighting with Peaches, throwing several snowballs at their niece with her dodging all of them and scooping up an abundant amount of snow in her trunk. "You guys need to chill out!' she proclaimed as she shot all of it at her uncles, freezing them with concrete of snow, keeping them in place.
Peaches blew her trunk before Ellie called her over.
"Peaches!"
Peaches perked up and saw her favorite decoration,
"The Christmas Rock!" she cried out with joy. "I love it, I love, I love it, I LOVE it!" she then ran up to the rock to kiss.
"No, no, no, don't Manny tried to warn Peaches only to be a split second late. "Too late." he sighed.
Peaches struggled to get her lips off the frozen rock. "I stuck." she partially mumbled.
Manny took hold of Peaches and pulled her off the rock.
"This is the same Christmas Rock I had when I was a kid." Manny recalled placing his daughter on top of the rock. "It's an heirloom that's been in our family for generations."
"Tonight when Santa Claus comes by with his presents, he'll see this rock and know that a very special little girl lives here."
"O Christmas Rock, O Christmas Rock," Manny began to sing.
…
"You're thirty tons of granite." Manny continued singing. Peaches, never liking her father's singing groaned with dread. Louis, not a big fan of it either covered his ears. Diego and Shira didn't like it anymore then the teens, forming a cringed expression. They saw the same expression on Cash, Bobby and Flora's faces and covered their ears with their paws. Manny stopped singing and looked at everybody's negative faces on their faces. Everybody's except for Ellie's.
"Am I really that bad of a singer?" Manny asked embarrassed.
"Yes." everyone replied in unison.
"Aw come on guys, he's not so bad." Ellie shrugged, not seeing anything wrong with her husband's singing.
"Hey guys, what's up?" Sid walked in with his Granny.
"What sounded like a dodo bird getting crushed by a rock?" Granny asked crankily. "That makes Sidney's singing sound better!"
Peaches shot her father a "told you" look.
"So what's the story this time?" Crash asked.
"Is it something good?" added in Eddie.
"Yeah! Daddy, Uncle Manny, Aunt Ellie and Peaches are telling a Christmas story!" Flora jumped up happily.
"You mean the one where we went to the Pole?" asked Crash.
Manny nodded.
"SWEET!" Eddie excitingly punching the air.
"Speaking of which, Sid came in just in time." Diego commented. "If it wasn't for him, we would never even know of Santa's existence."
"Please don't put it so lightly Diego." Manny asked Diego softly, placing his trunk on his heart. "It still hurts."
"What did you do Uncle Sid?" Bobby asked curiously.
"Gather around children and I'll tell you." said Sid motioning the cubs to sit besides him...
…
"You know you're singing to a rock, right?" Diego asked suspiciously.
"It's a Christmas tradition, for the kids." Manny explained. "Don't sabers have Christmas traditions?"
"Oh yeah." Diego grinned at the memory of his Christmas dinner. He started molding a gazelle out of snow as he explained. "Every year my dad would bring home the biggest, fattest gazelles he could find and then we'd all rip into their..." Diego pounced and sunk his teeth into the snow gazelles' head just as he was cut off by Ellie who cleared her throat and pointed to Peaches who had snow on her face and started cowering back behind her mother whimpering in fear. Diego didn't want to traumatize his niece so he completely sugar-coated the deal.
"Our presents!" Diego perked up. "And we'd play games with the gazelle and dance with the,. And not eat them." He noticed the gazelle's head fall off and her placed it back on the wrong way. "The end."
"Merry Christmas my mammals." Sid perked up wrapping his arms around Diego only to have him push him off. The sloth noticed a rock.
"Wow, that's some crazy rock." Sid commented looking at his reflection on the Christmas Rock.
Manny wrapped his trunk around Sid's neck and placed him away from his heirloom.
"Step away from the stone." Manny ordered Sid.
"Why?" asked Sid walking up closer only to have Manny place him further.
"You'll break it."
"Sid can't break a rock." chuckled Ellie.
"Don't tempt him." said Diego sarcastically.
Peaches stood in front of the rock protectively. "Uncle Sid, we need this so that Santa can find us tonight." she explained to her uncle.
"What, this?" asked Sid. Peaches nodded.
"Pfft. He'd just go right past it. We need something bigger, taller and sparklier, something with pizazz." Sid looked around for inspiration and it hit him. "A tree!"
"A Christmas Tree?" asked Manny. "Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?"
Diego was partially in agreement with Manny. "There's millions of trees out there Sid, how would anyone notice this one?" the saber questioned.
"Well, we could decorate it." answered Sid. He clapped his hands. "Crash, Eddie!"
The possums whooped as they jumped off Ellie's tusks and helped Sid look for possible decorations.
Sid started humming as he took worms from a rock and placed them on one by one.
Crash and Eddie took fish bones and threw them on along with the worms.
Sid picked up a mole hog and tickled it until it started laughing, and stuck it on the tree through his mouth (poor mole hog).
As a finishing touch, one of the possums took a spider web and wrapped it around the tree that had more tiny animals and some colorful bugs on it. After it was finished, the herd and some other animals looked at the decorated tree with awe.
"It does look pretty good." admitted Diego.
"It'll never catch on." Manny opposed.
"It's beautiful." complemented Peaches.
Sid was proud of his work, but he felt as if something was missing. "It needs a certain razzle dazzle on top." he said. "Something that says. 'Sid'." as Sid was walking backwards, he bumped into a tree and got his sitter stuck on it (That's right, I said "sitter"). When he finally got up from it, there was still something stuck. He pulled the chunk of ice off his behind, taking notice of it's star shape. Deciding that this is the perfect touch he climbed on the tree to put it on top.
"And just like that, a tradition is born." proclaimed Sid. Unfortunately, the tree could not handle Sid's weight, causing it to fall. As Sid fell off the tree, it flung the star on top spinning uncontrollably. The points went through Manny's tall head fur, giving him an unwanted hair cut and crashed into the Christmas Rock before shattering.
Ellie gasped concerned as she, Manny and Peaches looked at it with worried looks.
"Seriously, what did you think was going to-" Sid got cut off by a cracking sound heard in the rock as he leaned his arm on it, breaking into millions of pieces.
"Yep, that says Sid alright." remarked Diego.
…
The cubs gasped in shock.
"Ha! That's so TYPICAL of you Sidney!" Granny taunted her grandson.
"Uncle Sid, how could you break a rock?" Flora asked surprised.
"Yeah, that's just downright impossible." Louis agreed with the female cub.
"He finds ways." Diego said.
"Uncle Sid, were you dropped on your head as a baby?" asked Cash, earning a scolding thump from his father on the head.
"Ow!" he complained looking at Diego.
"Don't look at me, you were asking for it." Diego said innocently to his son.
"That's SO true! And his mother thought it was so hilarious that she kept doing it again and again!" (credits from that small piece go to one of my fanfic friends Luchimmyo, who I know in person from my school, and it is a part from a hilarious comic bit we came up with once) Granny cackled out. She turned to Cash. "Now you're a smart little kitty cat!" she praised the little cub for his sharp eye by pinching his cheeks. "Yes you are!"
"Granny, don't reward him." Shira gently told the elderly she-sloth. "He needs to learn to respect his elders."
"Anyways," Manny continued.
...
Manny walked up to the pile of the ruble that once was his priceless heirloom with a sad look on his face. He picked up a chunk of it only to have it crumble. Feeling very angry now, he growled at Sid and angrily charged at him.
"Okay, okay, let's just keep it together now." Sid tried to reason with his furious friend with some positivity. "It really is about the spirit of Christmas isn't it?"
"You're about to be a spirit of Christmas Sid." Manny growled through grinded teeth.
"Manny, please, I'm so sorry!" Sid attempted to plead holding on to Manny's trunk. Manny held his trunk up to have Sid hanging upside down.
"You know what Sid? I'm the least of your worries! You gotta answer to Santa."
"Santa?" gulped Sid. "Santa Claus?"
"He is NEVER gonna forgive this. You just got yourself on Santa's..." Manny stopped to think for a while until he finally said it. "Santa's NAUGHTY LIST."
Sid gasped.
"Santa has a naughty list?" Peaches asked innocently.
"Y-yeah."answered Manny through a stutter. "And if you're not good, he puts your name on it."
"We're never good." realized Crash.
"Then why start now?" pointed out Eddie, kicking Crash in the groin.
"Well if you're name's on the naught list, you don't, get, Christmas." Manny said that last part in a slow, scary tone.
Sid gasped even louder with Peaches joining in along with Crash and Eddie who were clenching to each other.
"But NOOOOOOOOOO!" cried Sid. "Why me? Besides the fact that it's my fault."
Manny walked back to Ellie who shot him a "seriously?" glance.
"The 'Naughty List?'" she questioned. "Where did you come up with that?"
Manny however seemed to have no guilt whatsoever, simply replying with "Relax, Sid's gullible, but he's not THAT gullible. He knows that the Santa stuff is just from kids."
"WHAT?! You don't believe in Santa?" a small, young voiced asked shocked. Manny turned to see Peaches confronting him about this with a sad look of disbelief in her eyes. That's when he started to feel ashamed.
"Uh, I, well..." he stuttered. Ellie answered the question for him.
"Of course he believes. That's the magic of Christmas." Manny tried to confirm Ellie's statement with a nod, but Peaches brushed it off.
"If anyone deserves to be on the naughty Dad, it's you." she frowned before storming out, feeling proud of herself on the inside that she told her father off.
"She sure told you, didn't she?" Ellie asked Manny annoyed.
Manny did feel bad about it, but chose not to show it.
"Well too bad, I'm a grown-up." he said. "Grown-ups don't believe in the naughty list."
Ellie said nothing. She just rolled her eyes.
…
"Uncle Manny, does Santa really have a naught list?" asked Bobby.
"There is no Santa." opposed Cash.
"I'd tell you Bobby, but I don't want to give you any spoilers." Manny said truthfully.
"Aww, Manny's a killjoy even with stories!" groaned Crash. Eddie attempted to high-five him for his joke, but accidentally ended up slapping his face.
"Not cool man!" Crash yelled at Eddie.
"No, THIS is uncool." Eddie proved Crash's comment wrong by punching him in the gut. This turned into a big, wrestling rumble for the possum brothers.
"Are they on the naughty list Daddy?" Flora asked her father.
"Without a doubt Flora." Diego answered. He didn't need to think, he knew. "Without a doubt."
"Okay since Crash, Eddie and Peaches know this part, we'll let them take over." said Ellie.
"Thank you sister dearest." Crash stopped his brawl with Ellie and stood on the rock to continue the story. "So Sid was off being a big cry baby...
..
Sid was sitting on a rock bawling hysterically.
"I'm not getting Christmas!" he sobbed. "I'm not getting Christmas."
Crash and Eddie looked at the crying sloth sympathetically.
"Don't cry Sid." Crash said to him.
"Why not?" asked Sid through heavy tears.
"Your tears are freezing solid." Eddie pointed out.
Sid looked down at his frozen feet. "Oh, eesh." He struggled to free himself from the ice, slightly loosening. Sid just resumed crying as his frozen feet completely broke their grip from the ground and caused him to ski off hill from hill. Crash and Eddie just looked at each other.
…
(Brace yourselves, this part is going to be VERY random)
"Poor Uncle Sid." said Flora sympathetically.
"He must have felt so terrible." Bobby agreed with her.
"Eh." Cash said with no opinion in it.
Peaches noticed something that she doesn't see every day.
"Uh guys? Is it normal for a big, glowing, red box to appear out of nowhere?" she asked suspiciously.
The entire herd looked at the box in question.
"Peaches is right." said Louis. "That is just weird."
"What's it supposed to-" Manny was cut off by a big, sparkly explosion coming out of the box revealing a human girl, far more smaller then Peaches. She had a peach-colored skin, green eyes, and LONG blonde. She started to sing.
"We... WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS, WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS, WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS, AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!" she then threw a bunch of sparkly stuff in the air.
"Who the heck are you?" Manny asked the girl suspiciously.
"I'm your creator." she said in a suspenseful tone making everyone look at her as if she's crazy.
"Nah I'm just kidding." she said. "Well sort of. I'm laughs4life, the author of this story. Okay, not this entire story only the part where you guys stop the story to explain everything to Cash, Bobby and Flora who BTW I created. Haha. It's a story in a story."
"She's crazy." Bobby muttered to Cash and Flora.
"Bobby, watch your tone!" said Cash. "If it wasn't for gas4night-"
"Laughs4life!" corrected Flora.
"Whatever. If it wasn't for her, he wouldn't be living."
Bobby shrugged. Cash did make a good point.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Manny butted in. "How do you even know of out Christmas adventure all those years ago?"
"I know everything." laughs4life once again used her suspenseful tone. Manny and the others looked at her suspiciously.
"I watched all your movies and look up the parts I loved the most on YouTube." she explained in her normal voice.
"What are movies?" asked Crash.
"What's a YouTube?" asked Eddie.
"I'd love to explain it to you guys, but unfortunately I must go." laughs4life said sadly, but she perked up again. "However, after this is posted, I promise I will answer your questions in my up-coming story "Modern Day Party" where you guys will be at my place, and I will show you the ropes of modern life. Until then my friends. Toodles!" she then clapped her hands and disappeared with a puff of smoke.
The herd looked at each other in surprise.
"And I though Buck was crazy." Diego commented.
"Did somebody say my name?" a British accent was heard out of nowhere. Diego looked to see their one-eyed friend sitting on top of Manny's head.
"What the- Buck?!" Diego asked shocked. "How did you get here?!"
"Dunno actually." the weasel admitted. "One minute I was riding on Rudy, and now I'm here. Well I better go now." Buck clapped his paws and disappeared the same way laughs4life did. (sorry I just thought Buck would fit in PERFECTLY at this part)
"Well..." Shira started off speechless. "That was... random."
"No kidding." Manny couldn't agree more.
"What a nice girl!" cooed Granny. "So pretty and such a sweetheart!"
Peaches decided to just brush it off and continue the story.
"So anyways," she picked up from where the possums left off. "I thought of a plan to get Uncle Sid off the naughty list..."
…
"Why am I on Santa's naughty list?" asked Sid as he was sulking on a rock. "Why? Why?" Diego, who was starting to get annoyed.
"My guess, because he doesn't have a loser list." spoke Diego as he walked away.
"Well thanks for trying to cheer me up." said Sid oblivious to Diego's sarcasm. "I still feel terrible."
"Pull it together Uncle Sid." Peaches told her uncle. "We've got work to do."
"But I'm still sulking." complained Sid.
"No time." proclaimed Crash.
"We're going to the Pole!" announced Eddie.
"The north one?" asked Sid.
"Yep." retorted Peaches. "We're gonna find Santa so I can prove to my dad that he's real. And ,we're going to get you off that list."
"And us too!" Crash added in.
"We may be naughty," explained Eddie. "But we still want Christmas."
Sid was really concerned now. He knew how far and dangerous the road to the North Pole was, especially to a child. "Peaches, honey, you can't come with us." Sid said to her. "This is a very dangerous journey. The North Pole is a desolate land of ice and snow."
The four of them took a look around their surroundings. ICE AND SNOW.
"This isn't exactly Miami." Crash pointed out.
"Come on Uncle Sid," begged Peaches. "I want us all to have Christmas together."
"Hmm," Sid thought about it for a while. "I don't know, it's wild, irresponsible and impulsive, but let's do it! Northward ho!"
"Ho! Ho! Ho!" Crash and Eddie repeated after Sid as they each were going in different directions.
Peaches sigh frustratingly. "Uh guys, let's follow the Northern Lights. North. Get it?"
Sid digested what Peaches was talking about.
Northward ho!" Sid once again proclaimed.
"Santa ho!" Peaches added in.
"Ho! Ho! Ho!" Crash and Eddie repeated again.
After hours of walking, Peaches, Sid, Crash and Eddie were bored out of their minds. Luckily to keep themselves occupied, they made up a song called "Twelve Days of Christmas" which they were now singing. So far, they were up to day nine.
"On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me." Sid started off scratching his neck like crazy. "Nine fleas a biting."
"Eight pounds of earwax." Peaches continued as she pulled out a chunk of wax out of her ear.
"Seven frosty fingers." added in Eddie referring to his seven frozen fingers. He screamed as one of them broke off.
"Six frosty fingers." Crash changed the lyrics that were supposed to be "six painful blisters".
The four sang the rest of the song together. "Five rot..ton eggs." the tempo was slowed down as a complete white fog surrounded them.
"I think we just marched off the earth." said Crash worriedly.
"No, it's a whiteout." said Sid. "We'll be safe as long as we all-" he realized that everyone else was gone. "Stay together. Peaches, where are you?"
"Uncle Sid?" Peaches asked starting to get worried.
"Peaches?" Sid called for her niece again.
"Uncle Sid?"
"EDDIE!" One of the possums yelled desperately."Where are you Eddie?!" he then realized something. "Oh wait, I'M Eddie!"
Fortunately the four bumped into each other. Sid, being the adult had to prevent this from happening again.
"Okay everyone, grab hold of your buddy and follow me." Peaches took Sid by the arm and the possums took hold of her tail.
"I have an excellent sense of direction." the sloth claimed. "Wait." Sid held up a finger getting the feeling that something was wrong. He took this minute to sneeze.
"Bless you." Peaches said politely.
"Thank you." smiled Sid. Sadly, Sid failed to take notice that they were walking towards the dead end of a cliff. He took one step wrong and pulled everyone off the cliff with him.
…
"The end." Crash supposedly concluded with the story. As a result, the cubs stared at him with disappointed faces.
"What the heck?!" demanded Flora.
"That was NOT a happy ending!" Bobby agreed with her.
"We never said it was." Eddie joked cracking up on the inside that the cubs actually fell for it.
Peaches did not find their joke funny.
"You both know that's not what happened." she said. "I'll take it from here thank you very much."
"So if you guys fell off a cliff, how did you get back up?" asked Louis. "Because if you guys did fall off, then you wouldn't be here telling us this story."
"I'm getting to that. Just when we thought we were doomed..."
…
The falling mammals found themselves somehow flying back to the top of the cliff. They were screaming at the impact. Peaches rolled and bumped into a tree stump while Sid, Crash, and Eddie were thrown off. Sid had a soft landing on Peaches while Crash and Eddie grabbed hold of a tree branch. The four of them looked to see their rescuer shaking snow off his head.
"Did you see what I just did there?!" he asked with confidence. "Puh-pow!"
"You're a reindeer!" chirped Peaches.
"Yeah, I know." said the reindeer.
"You can fly!" Sid said with amazement.
"I know." the reindeer said still with his confidence.
"You're amazing!" Crash said in awe.
"I know!" the reindeer started showing off. "Check it out sour kraut. I can hover, (he floated in the air and tapped his hooves), roll(he rolled in midair) and zing."
"Zing?" asked Crash.
"ZING!" the reindeer took off and got back right after a second. "BAM!" he boasted, startling the quartet, chuckling.
"What's your name?" asked Peaches.
"My name is uhh..." the reindeer hesitated for a moment. What he hated about meeting new people was the fact that they would always laugh at his name. "Prancer."
"PRANCER?!" snickered Eddie as he and Crash fell down the floor laughing.
"It's a family name." Prancer's face stiffened.
"Aw don't listen to them, you saved our lives and we'll never you." Sid thanked Prancer, shaking his front hoof. "Have a Merry Christmas."
"Are you sure you don't need my help?" asked Prancer.
"Oh no, I think you've done more than enough, look we'll take it from here." Sid screamed as he stepped off the cliff again with Peaches catching him by the neck.
"The reindeer comes with us." she decided.
Meanwhile, Manny was trying to fix his precious Christmas Rock. As soon as e finished, he asked Diego for his opinion.
"What do you think?"
Diego took a look at the poorly-fixed rock being held up with mud and sticks."You want an honest answer, or a Christmas answer?"
"Uh, Christmas answer."
"It's gorgeous."
The rock again fell apart.
"Manny?" asked Ellie looking concerned. "Have you seen Peaches? I can't find her anywhere. And Sid, Crash and Eddie are gone too."
"Last I saw them they were trying to figure out how to get off Santa's naughty list."
Manny felt actual and full guilt for real this time. "What naughty list? I made it up!"
"We gotta find them." declared Ellie. "Diego, can you pick up Sid's scent?"
Diego wasn't really eager to do so. "I can," he said. "But it makes my eyes burn."
"DO IT!" the mammoths commanded the saber.
Sighing, Diego took a whiff of the air and made various, disgusted faces. "Got it." he said on the verge of throwing up.
Manny and Ellie followed Diego, who was still shuddering at Sid's scent.
…
"A flying reindeer?!" Flora gasped in disbelief.
"No way Jose!" said Bobby.
Cash just rolled his eyes.
"I know, hard to believe, but it's true." said Peaches.
"You better believe it!" someone zapped into the cave.
"Prancer!" Peaches happily greeted the reindeer.
"Hey Prancer, long time no see!" Manny said to the reindeer.
"Great timing. We were just telling the kids here about you." said Diego motioning to the cubs.
"How have you been Prancer?" Ellie asked kindly.
Pretty good, could be better." replied Prancer.
"What are you doing here anyway Prancer?" asked Sid. "Shouldn't you be helping Santa with his sleigh?"
"Okay, what are they paying you?" asked Cash still skeptical about all of this being a true story.
"That's Santa's reindeer dummy, they don't got to pay him anything." said Flora.
"So? Just because he could fly doesn't mean there's a Santa."
"Kid, how do deal with him?" Prancer asked Bobby referring to Cash's stubborn personality.
"I just do." said Bobby not wanting to explain.
"Okay, so as to why you asked why I'm not with Santa tonight," Prancer began explaining. "My brother Donner and his wife had a kid. It's been his life-long dream to lead the sleigh. I felt bad for him, the other reindeer made fun of him, so I decided to give him my place. I had to pull a few strings with the guy in red to let him do so."
"What did they name him?" asked Peaches.
"Rudolph." Prancer replied bracing himself for taunts from Crash and Eddie. Of course, he was right.
"RUDOLPH?!" burst out Eddie. "That's even worse of a name than Prancer or Blizten!"
"Who in their right mind would name their kid something as bad as Rudolph?!" Crash joined in Eddie's crack up fest.
Prancer just ignored them. "Santa will get them." he told himself.
Ellie bonked her brothers' heads to shut them up. "So when will we see him?" she asked.
"As soon as Santa comes in." said Prancer. "You can't miss him. He's the one with the glowing red nose."
"Okay. Well while you're here Prancer, you want to help tell the story?" offered Ellie.
"Alright!" Prancer happily agreed zooming into the cave.
…
As Peaches had decided, Prancer joined them on their journey to the North Pole. Since he knew his way around so well, Sid decided to ask him a question.
"So Prancer, how long will it take us to get to the North Pole?" asked the sloth.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you can't WALK to the North Pole." said Prancer. "It's too far. But I can FLY you there. No sweat, I'm Air Prancer."
"Oh no, we couldn't."
"No, no, no, no, my family raised me to be good to strangers, and there's really no one stranger than you guys."
The four mammals looked at the reindeer with blank, clueless faces.
"Huh?" asked Sid.
"Shotgun!" declared Peaches.
Soon enough everyone was flying on Prancer. He was struggling a bit. He was carrying a little more weight than he could handle
"We're running into a little turbulence folks, please fasten your seat belts." announced Prancer.
Peaches noticed the strain in Prancer's voice.
"I'm not too heavy, I am ?" she asked sitting on his head.
"No, no, you're light as a feather." insisted Prancer. "A 788 pound feather." he grumbled to himself.
Sid sat on Prancer's back. His face turned a sickly green. "Do you come equipped with barf bags?" he asked sounding ill.
Crash and Eddie had no problem with the flying. They were cheering and having fun with Prancer flying them.
"Peaches!" Manny called out for his daughter while walking in the gruesome blizzard with Ellie. "Peaches!"
Ellie had a feeling there was something missing. She couldn't put her trunk on it at first, but then she said it. "Manny, where's Diego?"
The mammoths heard mumbling. "Diego!" Manny said concerned walking up to his friend who was covered in layers and layers of snow from head to toe, stuck in place. "Buddy, are you okay?" Manny gently tapped on what he thought was Diego's head and screamed when he saw that it broke off. He was relieved to see Diego poking his head out through the other end.
"Glad you didn't kiss me?" smirked the saber before shaking the snow off himself.
"Are you sure this is north?" asked Manny wiping some snow off his face. Once again he doubted Diego's tracking.
"I don't know, I'm all... scrambled." admitted Diego. His face perked up when he saw something sure to help. "Wait, tracks!"
"Uh, Diego..." Ellie hesitantly pointed out that the tracks were their own and that they walked in circles.
"The Geo-magnetic-whatever, it's messing with my sense of direction." said Diego.
Manny started getting very impatient now. "Well that's just great! We're completely lost, my little girl is missing, and, and-"
"Manny, honey," Ellie tried to calm him down. "Everything is going to be alright."
"How?" asked Manny.
"Just believe in the magic of Christmas."
"Oh this is silly."
"Just try."
"It's not gonna work."
"Do it for Peaches."
Manny sighed.
"I believe. I believe." with that, the sky suddenly cleared up revealing many colorful lights.
"Manny look, the Northern Lights!" Ellie pointed out. "North. Get it?"
Manny looked at the sky in confusion.
"That was just a coincidence right?" asked Manny.
"Who cares? I'll take it! Let's go!" Ellie led the way with Manny following.
Sid, Peaches, Crash, Eddie and Prancer had a successful landing. The four of them jumped off of Prancer's back and looked around their surroundings.
"We must be getting close." said Crash.
Peaches walked up to a bush with a sweet-looking fruit. She plucked the fruit and put it in her mouth. "Sugarplums!" she chirped happily.
Crash licked a white and red stripped tree. "Peppermint bark!" he exclaimed delighted as Eddie jumped on his shoulders and licked the tree too.
"Yellow snow, my favorite!" said Sid about to scoop it up before getting stopped by Prancer.
"Don't." said the reindeer dully. "Just don't."
"Halt!" a voice belonging to a tall shadow with a spear yelled. "None shall pass!" The voice later on turned out to be a little, blue sloth about half the size of Sid.
"Aww, well hi little guy!" greeted Sid in his friendliest way. "So who are you?"
"We are the Santa-rage," the elf replied holding his spear near Sid. "We keep intruders out so Santa can do his work without interruption.
Peaches gasped. "I knew he was real!" she said. "You gotta let us see him!"
"It is forbidden!" denied the little sloth. "Turn back! I command you! Bye!"
"Oh yeah?" smirked Sid pushing the spear away. "You and what army?"
The blue sloth snapped his fingers and before the five animals knew it, thousands of colorful little sloths jumped out with angry faces and holding weapons and shields.
"Oh that army." Sid said looking a little nervous.
"Hasta luego!" Crash said his farewell before Eddie said, "Felix Navidad." and the two possums tried to ditch only to end up being surrounded.
"But you gotta let me in." Sid attempted to get entry granted. "I'm on the list!"
"He must not be disturbed!" the blue sloth commanded. "Or we won't get presents. You have been warned. Unleash path!"
At the sloth's orders, his comrades started marching up to the trespassers growling and readying their weapons. Prancer luckily was not bothered by it.
"Bring it on you little flea-bags!" he smirked about to take off. "You're not match for the power of..." sadly the reindeer got his horn stuck in an ice ceiling just as he took off. "Flight."
The sloths were about to close in on him. Luckily getting Prancer out of the ice came on Peaches' mind.
"Everybody, grab a leg and pull!" the mammoth calf ordered. She took Prancer by both his front legs while Sid, Crash and Eddie each took one of his back legs. The reindeer screamed in pain at the harsh pulling, but was stopped when a small crack was formed. It grew bigger and spread from the ceiling to the ground and continued growing, spreading down a hill.
A snowball bounced off, hitting Manny in the neck. Feeling snow on his back, he turned around and stared at what was just happening.
A ludicrous amount of snow was coming towards the three.
"Run!" commanded Ellie as she, Manny and Diego sprinted off running from the avalanche. It caught up to them and the three travelers screamed as it had them flying in the air while Sid was running around like a maniac with the head mini sloth on his head.
Everything was totaled. Trees and shrubs were scattered around the snow. Manny slowly got up pushing a striped tree off himself. Ellie dug herself out of the huge pile of snow she was in. She took a look at the various other sloths stuck in the white blanker too. Prancer was pulling Sid out by having the sloth grab his antlers. When he pulled hard enough, it sent Sid flying.
Diego got his face out of the snow and shook it off. Without him expecting it, something heavy landed on him. He got his head out of who ever's behind and recognized him.
"Sid?" he asked.
"Sid, where's Peaches?" asked Ellie concerned.
"Peaches!" Manny called for his daughter again.
"Peaches!" Ellie joined his search.
"Where are ya?" asked Sid.
Prancer was scoping the area out and found her. "Over here!" he pointed while up in the air.
Sid, Crash and Eddie ran up to their niece with Diego following, but stopped for a second.
"Wait, the reindeer fly up here?" he asked baffled.
"This one does cuz." replied Prancer zooming off, making Diego cough up the rainbow dust he made.
"Peaches." Manny said relieved to find his daughter alright. Well she was halfway stuck in snow, but she didn't have any scars.
"Daddy!" Peaches cried happily as Ellie pulled her out of the snow.
"Oh baby, we were so worried about you!" said Ellie planting kisses on her daughter's face.
Manny was glad to see Peaches again, but his relieved expression turned into a serious expression. His child went off somewhere without even telling them and he was not going to let that slide.
"You are so grounded." he said in a serious tone.
"Sorry Daddy." apologized Peaches looking guilty for making her parents worry so much.
"I'm talking to Sid."
"Sorry Daddy." apologized Sid cowering behind Peaches.
"Frolicking fruit cake!" exclaimed a voice. A white bearded man in red came up to them not looking so happy.
"It's Santa!" Sid cried out happily.
"Just because it's a fat guy doesn't make him Santa.
"I'm not fat!" denied Santa. "It's this suit, it's very...poofy." (Manny and Santa have a lot in common.)
"Manny, it is Santa!" said Sid. "And he's just as old as I imagined and oh so jolly."
"Aw look at this mess!" exclaimed Santa. "Two hours to Christmas and everything's ruined! My toys, my sleigh, all my hard work."
"Um, would this be a good time to talk about getting off the naughty list?" Sid asked with hope in his voice.
"Sid there's no such thing." sighed Manny.
Santa begged to differ. "There is now Manfred. Thanks for the idea." he pulled a long paper labeled "Naughty List" and various names were magically written on it with red ink.
Manny looked at him with surprise."Wait, wait, how do you know my..."
Manny was then added on the list.
"Name." Manny finished. He then asked, "Santa?"
"Hey, what did we do?" asked Diego once seeing their names. Sid cleared his throat and pointed to the destruction caused. "Oh right." sighed Diego. "Destroyed Christmas."
Manny was surprised to see who he didn't even think exist. He stuttered, "Peaches, you were-, I mean I was-, That's Santa, standing right there. He's real!"
Peaches merely rolled her eyes. "Duh." she replied (my favorite line in the whole special!)
"There's gonna be a lot of disappointed kids tomorrow morning." sighed Santa rolling the naughty list up. Seeing this as Sid's fault as usual, Diego bonked the sloth in the back of the head with his paw.
Every body looked down the ground with guilty, disappointed faces. Manny looked at Peaches' sad face. "There's got to be a way to fix this." he said.
"Dad it's impossible." said Peaches. "There's only eight of us."
"And make hundred of them." Manny nodded his head to the mini sloths.
"Wait us?" the head sloth asked. "You mean as in us?"
"You never though to give the old fat boy a hand." the sloths smiled at Manny's words. "Come on Peach, you taught me to believe. What do you say?"
Peaches grinned happily. "Hit it!" she announced. One of the sloths taking it literally hit her with a drumstick.
"Ow! Not me!" she sternly scolded him as he started playing and she stared at him angrily.
"How did you guys do it?" asked Flora.
"We're going to explain it right now." said Manny. "Hey Louis, can you give me a beat?"
Louis started banging on rocks in the rhythm of "Deck the Halls".
(I might have got some lyrics in the song wrong because some parts sounded like mumbling to me, so please let me know the typos)
Sid: Deck the halls with sticks and broccoli.
Crash and Eddie: Fa-la-la-la-la, what's a hall?
Sid: Tis the season-
Crash and Eddie: What's a season?
Sid: Fa-la-la-la, (just play along) I can fix this big disaster.
Sloths: Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
Sid: Give the sloth a chance to catch ya.
Head sloth: Too many la's are in this song
Peaches took the shield the head sloth was holding and threw it in a way that made it circle, and Prancer caught it in his mouth.
"I have no idea why I just did that." he said looking embarrassed.
"That's a toy." proclaimed Sid taking the shield from Prancer. "And that's a toy!" he picked up a stick with two rocks tied to it. Sid was handed a boomerang by one of the minis. "And this? This is nothing worth of ranking." he threw the boomerang only to have it come back hitting him.
Ellie: Sid has got the proper spirit.
C&E: Fa-la-la-la.
Crash: Hey not too bad.
Sid" Beautiful!
Manny: Don't let Sid near it.
Chorus: Fa-la-la-la,
Peaches: Come on now Dad.
Ellie: We can do it.
Manny: If we hurry.
Sid and Diego: Let alone, let alone everyone
C&E: Even if you're small and furry,
Peaches: All together we can get it done!
"A ball of twine?" scoffed the head sloth as one of the workers handed in twine. "Who's gonna want THAT?" he threw the twine away, but it wasn't a waste because Diego lunged after it and started playing with it. "Alright!" he laughed.
Meanwhile, Ellie and Manny finished rearranging the broken peppermint trees in a house-like fashion.
"What do we do with this?" asked Ellie picking up mistletoe.
"Why don't we put it here?" suggested Manny hanging it up over the door.
Unexpectedly, Sid jumped on Manny's tusks and kissed him.
"Hey!" the mammoth nagged.
"Something about that mistletoe." chuckled Sid.
Santa:(I have no idea what he said. Again, mumbling)
Chorus: Fa-la-la-la,
Sid: We're not through!
Peaches: Peace and goodwill towards our mammals,
Crash: Oh you shouldn't have.
Eddie: Just for you. (punches Crash)
Diego: Things were looking grim and tragic,
Manny: But we got busy and pulled it off!
Peaches: Now we found some Christmas magic,
Sid: All because of each and every sloth.
Diego: All because of each and every sloth?
Sid and chorus: All because of each and every, OOOOOONNNNE.
After all the hard work, Santa was very impressed. "I can't believe it!" he said in awe. "All these presents, the decorations, the SLEIGH." he looked to see his new and improved sleigh, with different patterns painted on it.
"Ain't she fly?" asked Crash.
"I bet the mini sloths could help you make presents every year." suggested Sid. "Right guys?"
The head sloth thought about it for a while. "Well we're gonna need hats. Cute hats."
"In fact, it looks like you have enough toys for every child on Earth." pointed out Sid,
"Every child in the world?" asked Santa. "I wish I could but I don't see how."
The usual cocky Prancer spoke up. "Santa, I'm giving you the biggest Christmas gift of all. ME! You're flying Air Prancer tonight!"
"That's the spirit Prancy-boy!" Sid praised Prancer for his commitment while putting the harness around him. Santa smiled as he readied the reins.
"Time to put this deer in high gear!" he said. "Vroom, vroom!" he flew to get it started, but he couldn't bring himself to pull it into the air.
"Up, up and away!" Sid tried to encourage the reindeer with pep talk, but he was still on the ground with the sleigh.
"Saving Christmas, here we go!" said Sid still to no avail.
"Anytime you're ready now." Sid was starting to lose his patience.
"I can't believe it." Prancer said sadly. "I failed."
Santa miserably sighed, but snapped out of it when someone pushed the sleigh. That someone was Manny.
"This family doesn't give up that easy." he said pushing the sleigh.
"Alright Dad!" cheered Peaches joining him.
"Come on Prancer!" encouraged Manny. "You have to keep trying! You're the only flying reindeer we've got. Unless you know ten others."
Prancer slowly took the reins off him, but caught on as to what Manny was saying. "You're right. I can't do this alone." he then took off into the air.
"Wait, where are you going?" asked Manny. He couldn't believe. The only flying reindeer ditched them when they needed him the most! What a quitter.
"Perfect." grumbled Santa,
"Heck of a day, eh Santa?" asked Sid trying to cheer him up. "Come on, ho,ho-"
Santa shot him a glare.
"Oh. Still on the naughty list huh?"
Santa nodded.
Thanks to Prancer's quitting on them, it was up to the herd to pull the sleigh. Sid, Manny, Ellie, Diego and Peaches slapped some the harnesses on themselves and pulled with Sid leading the way. They didn't know much about pulling a sleigh, but they did learn one thing from it. It is NOT an easy job.
"Okay so we traveled about thirty feet so far," calculated Sid. "If we keep up this pace, we should make it around the world in, let's say under 8,000 years."
The herd groaned in disappointment. If it does take them that long, then they would still be delivering presents until Christmas is probably dead to people.
"Bah humbug." sighed Santa.
"Hey guys!" Prancer called up from the sky. "Manny's right, nothing's impossible if you pull it together. Meet my family." there were about seven other reindeer with Prancer and he started introducing them one by one.
"Dasher, Dancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen."
"Blitzen?!" Crash asked through a laugh.
"And I though Prancer was bad!" added in Eddie as they both started laughing. Blitzen however had his own way of dealing with anyone who would dare insult his good name. He swooped down near the possums, threw them on his head and soared quick and high up into the midnight sky.
"Heh, heh, nice name." Crash said nervously regretting he and Eddie were laughing at the reindeer.
"It suits you." added in Eddie.
All eight reindeer were in there reins, ready for take off. Manny walked up to them.
"Thanks Prancer." he said in gratitude.
"I thought I was such a hot-shot." admitted Prancer. "But sometimes, you gotta have a little help."
"That's what this herd has taught me." Manny took a look at Diego and Sid.
"Stay." Sid was holding mistletoe over himself and Diego. He have the saber an air kiss, and he tackled the sloth.
"Among other things." added in Manny.
"Now, let's do this." Prancer said to his family. They started pulling the sleigh, picking up their pace faster and faster, until they were up in the sky. Santa cheered happily.
"Hey Manfred!" he called to Manny. "Nice job!" he threw him a rolled sheet of paper which Manny caught. He opened it and it was revealed to be the Naughty List, which got changed to "Nice List" and all the red writing was turned into green. Especially Sid's at the end of the page.
"I got CHRISTMAS!" Sid happily cheered running with the list.
"See what happens when you believe Dad?" Peaches asked her father.
"I gotta say, I'm kinda digging the holiday magic." admitted Manny.
Ellie chuckled. "Merry Christmas you two."
Everyone cheered as presents were dropped in front of them as Santa yelled out "Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!. This was surely a very memorable Christmas.
…
"The End." concluded Diego. Everyone, including the cubs cheered at the ending. Everyone but Granny of course who was snoring. She fell asleep half way through the story.
"Wow, who knew you guys would be so capable of saving Christmas in just two hours?" asked Shira.
"Well we can do anything." Diego smirked playfully with pride.
"You gotta admit that was a great story." confessed Cash. "But I still don't believe in Santa."
Flora rolled her eyes. "Come on Cash, the proof is in the pudding!"
"Ho, ho, ho!" a jolly voice called out. "Merry Christmas!"
"It's him!" cried Bobby happily pointing to what looked like a sleigh in the sky. "It's REALLY him!"
"Santa!" Flora squealed in glee. Cash braced himself for an "I told you so" from his sister.
"I told you so! I told you so!" Flora said in a sing-song voice. "Didn't I tell him so everyone? I told him so!"
Cash sighed, but was cheered up when presents fell into the cave. Plus three lumps of coal labeled for Crash, Eddie and Cash.
"Aw man!" groaned Cash as he brushed his tiny paw on the coal to have it get smudged.
"You've gotta admit Cash you sort of had it coming." said Bobby for obvious reasons. (and not for believing in Santa, bonus points if you could guess why!)
Cash dropped his head. Flora felt sorry for her brother.
"Don't worry Cash." she tried to cheer him up. "There's always next year. And you could play with our presents when we open them tomorrow."
"Thanks Flora." smiled Cash as they rubbed their heads together.
"Cash and Flora not fighting." Shira sighed sounding amazed.
"Now that's a Christmas miracle." said Diego.
"Well I better get going Peach." Louis bid his friend goodbye. "Merry Christmas, see you tomorrow."
Just as Louis was walking out, Peaches noticed something hanging on the cave entrance.
"Hey Louis," she pointed out. "Look, mistletoe." before Louis could say anything, Peaches kissed him on the lips with her trunk.
"Aw, our baby's first kiss." Ellie whispered to Manny.
"I know." said Manny shedding a tear.
"Are you crying?"
"No, it's just, our little girl is growing up."
Louis stood there with a big grin on his face, as if it were frozen.
"Louis?" Peaches asked her friend concerned. She snapped her trunk in front of his face and he fainted. Peaches took it as her responsibility to bring him home.
"Mom, Dad, I'll be back in five minutes she said picking Louis up with her trunk.
"Don't take too long." said Manny to her, knowing that she was going to drop off Louis.
Tomorrow will be the best Christmas ever."
AND DONE! Phew, this was probably the longest one-shot I've ever written! So I should probably post "Modern Day Party" around or after Christmas Day. And a Madagascar one-shot for New Years Eve. Thanks for reading, and Merry Christmas! (or Happy belated Hanukkah and Early Kwanza depending on which you celebrate! Please review!