Ice Age: Next Generation

Different

Despite the complications, Diego and Shira loved their newborn cubs. They had a contagious laugh that was a combination of joy and sneakiness, much like their father's. Their antics, while making them difficult to deal with, were actually quite entertaining. Once they had learned to crawl and later on walk, the twins and Diego took the game of peek-a-boo to new heights. They would often get restless, but Shira was able to calm them down with her tenderness. When that did not work, she would use a deathly glare on them. Diego was grateful that the kids had not inherited his immunity.

The biggest issue was finding a babysitter. While Julian was the most eager, not even he could handle the cubs' unpredictability. Peaches had to rest up for her delivery, and Ellie and Manny were too busy. Crash and Eddie had tried, but not even the possums could control these ecstatic infants.

Brooke proved to be the best babysitter, with the assistance of Sid. As she had once been a caretaker before she ended up at Geotopia, she had the most experience, though she never looked after saber cubs. Even though it was a pain searching for Carlos and Esperanza whenever they disappeared, she would not lose her patience and actually found ways to calm the cubs down. The female sloth considered them quite adorable.

"I wish we had one," she had once said while cradling Esperanza.

She had forgotten that Sid had been standing right next to her, with Carlos in his arms. "What?"

When Peaches and Julian's child arrived, Carlos and Esperanza were given a playmate. It was a girl named Apricot. She had her father's dark brown coat and her mother's green eyes. Esperanza adored her little-big playmate and was fascinated with her trunk. She would often swat at it, only for the calf to grab her paw and giggle. Meanwhile Carlos would try to climb on Apricot's back, much to the warning of his mother to be careful, and he'd try to act mighty, making the calf trumpet and send him tumbling. Thankfully, no one got hurt. 

The twins would amuse their playmate with their tricks, often catching butterflies and other insects. Apricot would trumpet her trunk in pleasure. The only trick she could pull off was trying to hand upside down like a possum, much like her mother and grandmother. Sometimes she would often try to mimic her grandfather's harsh glare, much to the amusement of her playmates and the adults that would be watching. One time, Manny caught this and couldn't help but laugh. 

"Alright, very funny, Apri." 

The calf smiled up at the older mammoth and giggled, running around him. "I'm just like you, grampa," she squeaked. 

Manny ruffled the top of her hair with his trunk. "Ya sure are, sweetie. Ya sure are."

When Brooke and Sid's son Eric arrived, the calf and cubs were given an additional playmate. Eric resembled his father, but had his mother's eyes and his fur was more clean and kept well. Carlos took an immediate interest in his hands, finding them different to his father and mother's paws or uncle, aunt and cousins' hooves. And the little sloth could walk on two legs too. Carlos tried to mimic this, but to no avail.

A year later, the children of the herd were walking by a pond when they saw their reflections. Each reached out, touching the pond. Then they all realized they were different. 

Peaches found her daughter sitting in front of the pond and went over to her. "So there you are," she said, reaching her trunk out to her. "I've been looking..."

"Different," Apricot uttered.

Her mother blinked in surprise. This was new - her daughter had a large vocabulary, but the way she spoke this word was different.  "What did you say?"

Apricot pointed to the pond. "Different."

Her hoof then tapped at the reflection of herself, later gesturing towards her friends' reflections.

****************

As Carlos and Esperanza grew up, they began noticing other things that were different about them. Their diet was the first indicator. While Apricot and Eric ate plant-based foods, the cubs ate meat. Their friends or family didn't really do the same thing. Ellie and Manny ate herbs, so did Sid and Brooke, and Peaches and Julian. Diego and Shira, and Buck occasionally, were the only ones eating meat. 

Ah yes, their dad and mom. Esperanza was only starting to realize how different they were from the other mammals: their size, their shape, their appearance, their behavior. She only saw the contrast whenever her aunts or uncles or cousins were next to them.

When she was four, she finally approached her parents about this. It was after they told her a bedtime story, that she asked...

"Mommy, Daddy?"

"Yes, dear?" her mother responded softly.

"Why am I different?"

Diego and Shira paused, their smiles disappearing as they shared a look.

"You're not different, honey," her father insisted. "You're just...unique."

"But we don't eat plants like the others," Esperanza insisted. "We eat meat, and we're the only sabers around. Why?"

Diego sighed. "Sabers are carnivores, which means we hunt our food." 

"But vultures are carnivores," Carlos pointed out. 

"That's different - they eat dead meat," Shira explained. "But we have to hunt for meat."

"Why though?"

"It's the way of nature," Diego answered. "It's what makes us stand out, which isn't a bad thing. It'd be boring if we were all the same."

"And we're all family, regardless of our differences," Shira finished.

"Okay," said the cubs in unison, seemingly accepting this answer.

It was true. They were all a big happy family. Only issue was, their pasts would come back to put that through another obstacle...