//-------------------------------------------------------// The Rainbow Tiger: Legend of the Terai -by PantheraMan- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1: Origins //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1: Origins The Terai-Duar savannas, a place of beauty, tall grasses, water, and fertile soil, is a land of giants, Asian Elephants spray themselves with water, Gaur, the heaviest wild cattle on earth, travel in herds, Asiatic Wild Water Buffalo wallow in the water to keep cool. The tiger, noble hunter of the land hunts whatever we can to survive. But in these savannas, another hunter was on the hunt. He is not noble like the tiger, but a disgrace, for he does not obey the law of the Terai. He killed for his own pleasure, a practice that was forbidden by the law. On every hunt he was not alone, he goes with his fellow group of poachers, they kill animals for the money, and their leader is the one who has been spoken of, he goes by the name of Tor Chan. He is unique from the others, because he can transform into a large cat-like marsupial with pointed ears, black stripes, a white underbelly, and a coat the same color as a lion. Today he and his crew were not hunting their usual quarry, but instead, they were hunting other humans. Tor Chan was on the trail of his worst enemy who was a conservationist who was always successful at ruining his plans, Tor Chan had decided that he had enough. Tor Chan and his crew found his enemy, who had blue skin, and brown hair, he was with his wife who had pink skin, and short rainbow hair. They were with five other conservationists, and they also were in a jeep with their newborn infant. Tor Chan and the others stalked close to them, and then Tor Chan gave his orders. "ATTACK!!!" shouted Tor Chan He and his crew charged, their adversaries were armed with guns in case of self defense, but so did the poachers, and they were also outnumbered, so they were overpowered by the poachers. Then Tor Chan went for his old enemy, Tor Chan leaped onto his victim, and pinned him to the ground with his paw. "YOU MURDER!" Shouted the blue skinned brown haired man. "Time to put an end to your pathetic existence." said Tor Chan Then the pink skinned rainbow haired woman threw a rock at his head, but that only ticked him off, as the next thing she knew, Tor Chan charged her and killed her with one swipe of his paw, he then went over to his old enemy and finished him off by crushing his skull with a single bite. Tor Chan then roared in victory, as his rivalry with this man was finally over. Then he and his crew heard the infant crying, Tor Chan went to take a look, and saw the baby had blue skin like her father, and rainbow hair like her mother. "Seems you won't have a long life little one." said Tor Chan But before he could finish the baby off, a huge male Indian Rhinoceros came to the rescue and threw Tor Chan in the air. The other poachers were dealt with by gaurs that accompanied the rhino. "Gainda, this is none of your business, what are you doing here you accursed rhino!?" asked Tor Chan "Tor Chan, we were on our patrol when we found that you were hunting your own kind, we enforce the law of the Terai, so this is our business, and it is against the law to kill for your own pleasure. Now leave Tor Chan, leave the infant alone." said Gainda "This isn't over, I will get my paws or hands on that child, and I will kill her, for she is the daughter of my old enemy, so she is also my enemy." said Tor Chan before he ran off After that, the rhino and gaurs gathered around the baby to talk about what to do with her. "We must find a place for this child to stay, or she won't make it. She still needs milk, so we can't raise her as we are all males." said Gainda "I know of a leopard who has had a litter of cubs, so she might take the child in and raise it as her own." suggested one of the gaurs "Sounds logical, a few human children have been raised by animals here in the Terai, but humans do come into this place, we'd better try to find some before it gets dark." said Gainda "But how are we going to do that?" asked another gaur "I know an egret that will be willing to help us in this predicament." answered another gaur "Take us to this egret, and get him to find some humans to take this child." ordered Gainda Gainda grabbed the handle of the basket the baby was in and carried her on the way to the egrets nest. The egret was in his nest when his guests arrived, this egret was always happy to have visitors, so he was glad to see one of his friends come to his nest on this day. "Hello my old friend, good to see you, what's in that thing that looks like a nest?" asked the egret "A human baby is in that thing, we were on patrol for danger and we came across Tor Chan and his cronies attacking the adults she was with, Tor Chan killed her parents, all the adults were dead by the time we got there. We need you to try to find some humans that will adopt this child and raise it as their own." explained the gaur "I can help with that, I'll go looking right away old friend." said the egret "Good luck!" said the gaur the egret flew through the sky in search of humans. He was searching for three hours before he saw a group of tourists in a jeep, they seemed nice, and the egret was sure that at least one of them would make a good parent. He quickly flew back over to his friends to tell them the news. "I've found some humans, follow me!" said the egret They followed him to the jeep, when they got to the jeep, the tourists were shocked to see a rhino of all things carrying a baby in a basket. Gainda gave the baby to a couple of the tourists and then they went on their way. The couple looked at the baby, and they decided to adopt her, the man had blue skin, some facial hair, and rainbow hair while the woman also had blue skin, and orange hair. "What are you going to name her?" asked one of the tourists "I'll name her Rainbow Dash." said the woman "Rainbow Dash, I like it." responded the man The tourists rode off in the jeep and went back to the camp. The couple went back to their home in America the next day and raised their adopted daughter. Author's Note Hi guys! me again! Hope you like this new story. What do you guys think of the new villain so far? Let me know in the comments below. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2: The Return //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2: The Return Many years pass, Rainbow Dash was now in High school. This happened on the last day of school when she was packing her things for a trip with her parents to the Terai-Duar Savannas. Twilight was with Rainbow Dash in her room helping her pack. Twilight being Twilight was telling her all about the Tera-Duar landscape. "Rainbow Dash, you're so lucky!" said Twilight "I know, what will I even see in that place?" asked Rainbow Dash "The Terai-Duar landscape is one of the most biologically outstanding habitats. There are tall grasses, many deer species, and it's also a land of giants. That place has Asian Elephants, Indian Rhinos, Water Buffaloes, and Gaurs." answered Twilight "What the heck is a gaur?" asked Rainbow Dash "Well Rainbow, a gaur is a species of wild cow found in Asia, they have horns that curve upwards, are brown in color, but their legs are white, and they weigh more than a ton, making them the heaviest wild cow on earth!" answered Twilight "Sounds like I'll have to keep an eye out for some." said Rainbow Dash "The terai is also a land of predators, crocodiles, leopards, clouded leopards, tigers, and there is even one record of dholes in Chitwan National Park in Nepal. But before you ask, the tiger is at the top of the terai food web." said Twilight "Of course it would be, of all the animals, I really hope to see a tiger." said Rainbow Dash "I hope you do, I just wish I could go with you." said Twilight "Don't worry Twilight, I'll bring back pictures from my trip." said Rainbow Dash After everyone was done packing, they went straight for the airport, it was a long plane ride. But it was worth it as when they finally got to the safari lodge and they got into a jeep, Rainbow Dash was amazed by the amount of animals. She saw chital deer, mugger crocodiles, a gharial, which is a critically endangered crocodilian with a very thin snout. So she was very lucky to have seen one. She also encountered a bull elephant, a herd of blackbuck, water buffalo, and a Red Muntjac. After a while, the tourists laid eyes on a group of Indian Rhinos. "Wow, they look so prehistoric!" said Rainbow Dash "And to think that one of those brought her to us years ago." Said Rainbow's dad "I know right?" replied Rainbows mom The jeep was driven into the tall grassland, they were all hoping to get a glimpse of a tiger, but they didn't, they instead got a small bit of pain, and then they all passed out. They were passed out for five hours until they finally woke up. Rainbow Dash found herself tied up against a wooden pole, and then three men came right up to her. "Who are you people?" asked Rainbow Dash "We are the ones who brought you here of course." Answered one of the men. "That's not what I meant." replied Rainbow Dash "We know, but you'll soon meet someone who knows you quite well." said another one of the men. Before Rainbow Dash could say anything, someone from her past came into the tent. That someone was Tor Chan, who was still in his beast form as he never liked to turn back into a human. "Finally, after all these years, I finally have laid eyes on you again." said Tor Chan "Again? what are you talking about? And who are you?" asked Rainbow Dash "Where are my manners, I am Tor Chan, leader of this group of poachers. I first met you when you were a little baby. You were born here, the ones you've been calling mom and dad, adopted you. Before you ask about your real parents, I killed them." said Tor Chan "What? Where are my foster parents?" asked Rainbow Dash "I also went ahead and killed them so you could be with them when I kill you." said Tor Chan "You want me dead too?" asked Rainbow Dash "Yes, and I've waited a long time for this, so it's time for you to die. Goodnight." said Tor Chan Tor Chan was now ready to kill her, Rainbow Dash closed her eyes, waiting for the death blow, but then she heard the sound of thundering hooves coming towards them. She opened her eyes, seeing a huge herd of water buffalo was stampeding through the camp outside the tent. Tor Chan decided to get out of there to save his own skin, leaving Rainbow Dash for dead. There were so many buffalo that it was amazing that Rainbow didn't get trampled to death. Once the stampede was over, Rainbow Dash managed to get on her feet and searched for anything she could use to get the ropes off, and there just happened to be a knife on the ground, she grabbed the knife and managed to cut herself free. She started to make her way to the safari lodge, on the way she had to be wary. Night time had come, she now had to watch her back due to the fact that the night is when tigers and leopards like to do their hunting. "It's dark, I better find some shelter until the morning." thought Rainbow Dash But as she was about to head off, she got the uneasy feeling that she was being watched. She quickly turned around to see the tall grass behind her, she saw nothing. But she learned from Fluttershy that tigers and leopards are very stealthy, so for all she knew, a big cat could be anywhere. She didn't know which way to go in the tall grass, but then an animal jumped out of the tall grass and pinned her to the ground. This was like nothing she had ever seen, well kind of. The creature had the body, tail, stripes, legs, paws, ears, colors, claws, and fangs of a tiger, but it also had the head of a human, a teenage male human to be exact. The beast bit Rainbows arm, and then it shook it like crazy, but then it let go of her arm. Rainbow was allowed to get back up on her feet and walked back slowly. She was hoping to see a tiger on this trip, but she wasn't expecting to see what was basically a Weretiger. The weretiger was now growling, making Rainbow Dash tremble, but then it spoke. "Never come onto my territory ever again." warned the weretiger The weretiger then ran off into the tall grass, with the attack now over, Rainbow Dash moved on, she found a tall tree she could sleep in. She ponied up and flew up to a large branch, and fell asleep, and felt safe since a tiger wouldn't try to climb a tree like this, but then she remembered that leopards are great tree climbers. So she went and found a small cave that was just right. So she went in, got on the cave floor, and then she fell asleep this time dreaming about all the times she had with her adoptive parents, making her tear up in her sleep. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 3: Meet the Hunters //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 3: Meet the Hunters When the sun rose the next morning, Rainbow Dash woke up after a long nights sleep. She was of course still sad with the death of her faster parents, but right now, she had to get back to civilization. She got the idea to just fly over the terai to her destination, so she ponied up and flew off. She flew right next to flocks of migratory birds, saw many animal herds along the way. In the air she thought that she was safe from any dangerous predators, which was true, but on the ground, Tor Chan and his cronies were watching. "Is that what I think it is?" asked one of the men "How on earth is she able to do that?" asked another man "I don't know, but I do know that she won't get away this time, get the guns, we'll follow her, shoot her in the wing, and then I'll kill her myself." said Tor Chan The poachers proceeded to follow Rainbow Dash, she was still flying her way to the lodge. But then she realized she had to go faster. "Okay, why am I not going faster?" thought Rainbow Dash But as she was about to go faster, one of the men fired a gun at her, and the bullet got her in the wing, causing her to fall, she landed on her back. When she got back up on her legs, she quickly took one step forward, but she ended up stepping into a steel trap. "Oh come on!" complained Rainbow Dash She tried to get herself free by trying to pry the trap open, but she failed, and she saw Tor Chan and his men come right up to her. "How convenient, getting shot, and then walking right into one of our traps." said Tor Chan Rainbow Dash now panicked, trying to get herself free like crazy, but to no avail. Tor Chan just simply laughed at the sight before his eyes. Tor Chan lunged at Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash looked on in horror at her attacker, when out of nowhere, the weretiger that attacked her last night lunged at Tor Chan and tackled him to the ground, the two of them fought,the weretiger swiped Tor Chan's face, Tor Chan clawed at the weretiger's shoulder, both fought with tooth and claw, with the weretiger overpowering Tor Chan. But the weretiger was not alone, at the same time he tackled Tor Chan, he was accompanied by a huge male tiger, a male leopard, and a coyote much to Rainbow Dash's suprise. They fought off the men who ran off like cowards, and the weretiger and Tor Chan stood each other down. "Get out of my way you wretched beasts!" growled Tor Chan "Humans are not your prey, you know it's against the law to kill for pleasure, so get out of here!" growled the weretiger "Do you honestly think I care about your stupid laws? GET OUT OF MY WAY!!" shouted Tor Chan "Be careful Tor Chan, your men have ran off like cowards, and you're outnumbered, so beat it, or we'll kill you." threatened the weretiger "You'll pay for this you wretched beasts, I won't give up until she's dead, and I have her blood on my fangs." Said Tor Chan Tor Chan ran off with his cronies, the animals then turned their attention towards Rainbow Dash, but the weretiger just growled at her, once again causing Rainbow Dash to tremble. "I thought I told you to get off our hunting grounds last night. Do you know what happens to those who ignore our warnings?" asked the weretiger "Now take it easy Baghraja, no need for you to get aggressive." Said the male tiger "I agree, I'm sure she has a good reason." Said the leopard "Did you all just talk?" asked Rainbow Dash "Wait, you can understand us? How?" asked the coyote "Yes, apparently I can somehow. But of course this happened after he bit me last night." answered Rainbow Dash "Wait, Baghraja here BIT you?" asked the male tiger "Baghraja...." said the leopard "Hey, it came instinctively." Responded Baghraja "But what are you doing here anyway?" asked the male tiger "I came here on a tourist trip with my parents, but we were all kidnapped, Tor Chan murdered my parents who turned out to not be my real parents, then a bunch of water buffalo came stampeding causing those guys to leave me foe dead. Then I got myself free, then I was attacked by HIM, and then I slept in a cave and I tried to make my way back to the tourist lodge, but I was shot at and then caught in this trap, and well, you know the rest." explained Rainbow Dash "How does someone get these traps open?" asked the male tiger "I have an idea." said the coyote The coyote went over and grabbed a small branch that was light enough for him to carry, then he brought it over to the others, and stuck it in the trap. The male tiger with his strength, managed to pry the trap open with the stick and set her free. But when she got up, she limped as she was now injured due to the trap. "Here, let me help you." Offered the male tiger "You think you can get me to the tourist lodge?" asked Rainbow Dash after she climbed onto the male tigers back "Sure thing." Answered the male tiger But an egret flew to them, giving them bad news. He landed, and then he gave the bad news. "You can't take her to the tourists lodge, the poachers have burned it to the ground I'm afraid." said the egret "Seriously? I'm stuck here?" complained Rainbow Dash "I'm afraid so." Said the egret before he took off "Well it looks like you'll be staying with us then." Said the leopard "Thank you, for both giving me a place to stay, and saving my life." said Rainbow Dash "Your Welcome, we were out hunting some Sambar deer when we picked up the poachers scent, we followed it and found you about to be killed, so we had to save you." Said the coyote "Oh, I never got your names, what are they?" asked Rainbow Dash "I'm Tendua." Said the leopard "The name's Mahaan Ek." Said the male tiger "I am Little Crow." Said the coyote "My name is Baghraja." Said the weretiger After the introduction, the gang took Rainbow Dash to their cave, Rainbow Dash was amazed at the sheer size of the cave. They put her on the cave floor, and she took a look around her surroundings. "Okay, I'll get some food." Said Mahaan Ek "I'll make you a spot to sleep in miss.......I never got your name either." Said Little Crow "I'm Rainbow Dash." "That's a nice name." replied Little Crow "I can help you with the sleeping area, and I should get some healing plants for her bite wound." said Tendua The both of them went off into the grasslands to find proper bedding for Rainbow Dash, while Baghraja stayed behind, as he had to guard her from any dangers. "Look, about last night, I...... my instinct just kicked in and, well basically what I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry." said Baghraja "It's okay, I forgive you." replied Rainbow Dash //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 4: The Big Change //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 4: The Big Change Night had come once again, Rainbow Dash was now sleeping in her own spot in the cave. Which was next to Baghraja's spot, but as she was sleeping, something odd was happening, slowly, she was growing a tail, then blue fur with rainbow stripes, then her ears became tiger-like, her arms turned into legs, she grew canines, and then retractable claws. Now a voice was now her head, and it was telling her to do two things. "Hunt, kill, hunt, kill, hunt, kill." Said the voice Rainbow Dash opened her eye, her pupils were now slits, and she got up on all fours, and ran off into the night. She found a herd of chital deer, but before she could even try to kill one, a langur monkey sounded the alarm and the deer ran off. This did not get her down as she went to look for other prey, she found a Wild Boar. She lunged at it, but when she caught it, the boar fought back with it's tusks, and luckily for it, she didn't have any experience in hunting at all, so it got away easily despite the attackers speed. Rainbow Dash now had to go try to hunt something else, but she kept on failing. At one point she even tried to attack an elephant calf, but the adults kept her bay, but Rainbow Dash wasn't going to give up this time. She tried to stalk the calf, but the elephants kept getting her scent and chased her off. This of course, caused the elephants to make loud noises to try to scare her off. At the same time, the noises were waking the others up back at the cave. "Ugh, what is going on?" asked Baghraja "Not sure, but whoever is causing them to do that is going to be sorry." Said Mahaan Ek "Uh guys, we have a problem." Said Tendua "What is it?" asked Little Crow "Rainbow Dash is gone!" answered Tendua "Oh crap." Replied Mahaan Ek "Little Crow, can you track her down?" asked Baghraja "Sure thing." Answered Little Crow Little Crow took a sniff on Rainbow Dash's trail, but he noticed something wasn't quite right with the scent. "Weird, I can smell her scent, but for some reason she smells like a tiger!" said Little Crow "Hey don't blame me, she wasn't laying on me okay." Said Baghraja "We must hurry before something bad happens." Said Tendua They ran out into the night, following Little Crow as he was following Rainbow's trail. This led to them getting charged at by the same elephants that chased Rainbow Dash. "YIPE!!!" shouted Little Crow "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" screamed all of them "LEAVE OUR CALVES ALONE!!!" shouted the Matriarch elephant "We're sorry we made you scared for your calves, but believe me when we say we're not interested in eating an elephant calf right now." Said Mahaan Ek "Oh really? then why are you this close to my herd?" asked the matriarch "We're following the trail of a teenage human girl that just happened to come this way." Answered Little Crow "A teenage human girl you say?" asked the matriarch again "Yes, she has long rainbow hair." Said Tendua "Rainbow hair!? We did see a girl with rainbow hair, but she was part tiger." Said the matriarch "Wait, part tiger? Like me?" asked Baghraja "Yes, we'd better move on, happy searching to you." Said the matriarch "Part tiger? is that why Rainbow Dash smells like a tiger all of a sudden?" asked Tendua "I wouldn't be amazed if that were to be the case, now follow me!" ordered Little Crow They kept on following Little Crow, until they got to a river. What they saw there made their jaws drop alright, they found Rainbow Dash, only now she was part tiger, and she was fighting a crocodile. "We have to get her away from the crocodile, quickly!" said Baghraja The ran forward as quickly as they could, Mahaan Ek and Tendua held Rainbow Dash down while Baghraja and Little Crow talked to the crocodile who went by the name of Javanar. "Are you okay Javanar?" asked Baghraja "We're terribly sorry about this." Said Little Crow "I'm fine thank you, I was just coming out of this river to get that carcass over there, but then all of a sudden she attacked me and naturally I fought back. But unlike you and Mahaan Ek who have defeated crocodiles in the past, she seems to be inexperienced." Explained Javanar "We understand." Said Little Crow "Must hunt, kill, hunt, kill, hunt, kill, hunt, kill." Growled Rainbow Dash "Look at her eyes, something clearly isn't right in her head." Said Baghraja "No kidding, have you seriously forgotten about the time YOU acted like this?" asked Mahaan Ek "Oh of course! I remember now. Since I just now got that bit of memory back, I remember someone had to wack me in the head to knock me out. Who wants to be the one to do that?" asked Baghraja Little Crow found a certain kind of fruit that would put any animal that ate it to sleep. The fruit was a type of berry that grew on a bush, it was orange, and most animals knew to avoid it. Little Crow gathered some of them up and gave then to Rainbow Dash, who then ate the berries, and then fell asleep. When that was over, Javanar said his goodbyes and went to get that carcass he was originally trying to get to, while Baghraja and Mahaan Ek ended up carrying Rainbow Dash back to the cave with Tendua and Little Crow following behind. Once they got back to the cave, they put Rainbow Dash back on her sleeping spot, and then they went to their sleeping areas and finally got a good nights sleep. The Next morning, Rainbow Dash opened her eyes as she normally would, yawned, and got up. But then she took a look at where her arms were, seeing that they were now legs, and her feet had become paws. "What's going on!? What's happened to me!?" asked Rainbow Dash She saw that she now had blue fur and rainbow tiger stripes. But then she looked behind her, and saw that she even grew a tail. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! screamed Rainbow Dash "I DIDN'T DO IT!!" shouted Baghraja after he was awoken by Rainbow Dash's scream "Sheesh, calm down." Said Mahaan Ek "What just happened to me?" asked Rainbow Dash "Last night you became part tiger, and you also went on a hunting spree last night and we had to track you down and bring you back here." Explained Tendua "What? I don't remember doing that last night." Said Rainbow Dash "You don't remember because we gave you some sleep berries which you ate and they made you sleep, it happens to all animals that eat those berries." Explained Tendua "You also had a wild look in your eyes, and you said the words hunt and kill over and over again." Said Little Crow "I'm sorry I put you all through that last night." Said Rainbow Dash "We forgive you, and you're not the only one to do that, Baghraja acted like that when he first transformed. So this leads me to believe all humans go through this when they turn into part tiger part human creatures." Said Mahaan Ek "It's true." Said Baghraja "You did this to me. All this stuff happened after YOU bit me." said Rainbow Dash "I didn't know this was going to happen, besides, now this makes you more lethal, harder for Tor Chan to kill." Said Baghraja "I guess you're right." Said Rainbow Dash //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 5: Lessons //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 5: Lessons Later on that day, Rainbow Dash went with the gang to a watering hole to get a drink, Rainbow Dash had a hard time drinking like a cat, so she drank by scooping up mouthfuls of water in her mouth and then swallowing. She took a look at her reflection, seeing that she also had stripes on her face and also a white underbelly. Once the others quenched their thirst, they decided that it was time for Rainbow Dash to learn how to hunt. "Okay Rainbow Dash, since you're stuck like this, we'll have to how to hunt." Said Mahaan Ek "Okay, what's the first lesson?" asked Rainbow Dash "First off, you must recognize the scents of different animals. Sniff the air to get scent." Said Little Crow Rainbow Dash took one sniff in the air, and realized that her sense of smell was much better than before, though the scent she caught was not exactly the nicest smell there was. "Blah! What is that smell?" asked Rainbow Dash "That would be the scent of a Wild Boar." Answered Baghraja "We'd better stick to easier game for now, let's try to hunt some deer or antelope." Said Tendua They taught her that a water source is a great place to set up an ambush, and also how to recognize animal tracks. When they found a whole bunch of herbivore tracks, she learned how to recognize the different scents of them. Then she tracked a herd of chital deer with her nose. "Well done, now that you've found your prey, you have to stalk it. Crouch down like this, and move slowly towards your target. But you must be silent, the slightest noise you make will end in a failed hunt, so you must watch your step." Said Baghraja Rainbow Dash followed Baghraja's example, silently stalking the deer, not making a single sound. She noticed that one of the stags had a nasty injury on his hind leg, it was a massive wound, some of the flesh from it was torn off by another predator. "When on a hunt, you kill the sick, weak, and injured individuals, this makes the herds stronger and healthier, and you would be ending a prey's suffering by killing a sick or injured one, that's why it's required by terai law that you kill the weak members of a herd." Explained Baghraja "I understand." Responded Rainbow Dash There wasn't any tall grass for them to stalk in, so they had to wait for the stag to get close to them. This took a while, but then the stag finally did wander close to them without even realizing it, Rainbow Dash was getting ready to attack, she knew how tigers killed their prey, so she knew what to do. But as she was about to strike, a troop of langur monkeys in the nearby trees had spotted her and sounded the alarm and the chital deer all heard it, made their own alarm calls and ran off. "Stinking langurs! You'll have to hunt some of those things if you're gonna be a good huntress, they will blow your cover the moment they see you." said Baghraja "Got it, if they think they can ruin a hunt and get away with it, they're mistaken big time." Said Rainbow Dash Before Rainbow Dash could try to kill a monkey, a certain someone comes onto the scene. "Failed your first hunt I see." Said Tor Chan who came out of the tall grass and walked up to them. Tor Chan's men encircled the weretigers with their guns at the ready, waiting for Tor Chan to give his orders to shoot. "Tor Chan." Growled Baghraja "Hello my old enemy, I see that my quarry has turned into a freak of nature just like you." Said Tor Chan "Oh you're one to talk, you're practically a were-something." Said Rainbow Dash "At least I don't look like a mutant like you two, but on the bright side, at least this means we'll make quite the profit in the black market." Explained Tor Chan "Wait what?" asked Rainbow Dash "KILL THEM!!" shouted Tor Chan At that moment, Tendua, Little Crow, and Mahaan Ek came out from the tall grass and attacked the men, seriously injuring some of them, then at the same time, Gainda the rhino and his gaurs charged and threw the men in the air with their horns. Baghraja went and attacked Tor Chan, the two once again fought fiercely, the men retreated, and left Tor Chan alone. "One day, I will succeed in killing you Rainbow Dash, and I will have your hide." Threatened Tor Chan "Go home Tor Chan!" ordered Gainda Tor Chan ran off, not wanting to be gored or trampled by Gainda, Gainda walked over back to the others. "Is everyone alright?" asked Gainda "We're okay, thank you Gainda." Answered Baghraja "I never thought I'd see you here again." Said Gainda "Again? You saw me as a baby?" asked Rainbow Dash "Yes, we rescued you from Tor Chan and his men after he killed your parents, we took you to your adoptive parents after that." Explained Gainda "Really? Thank you." Said Rainbow Dash "Your welcome Aria." Said Gainda "Aria? My name is Rainbow Dash." Said Rainbow Dash "I figured you got a name change when you were adopted, I said that to learn what it was." Explained Gainda "Why did Tor Chan kill my parents?" asked Rainbow Dash "He and your father were mortal enemies, whenever Tor Chan tried to do something he wasn't supposed to do, your father always got in his way, this eventually lead to Tor Chan having enough of it, and he mauled your father and mother. He wants to kill you simply because you're the daughter of his old enemy, and he's afraid that you will kill him out of revenge." Explained Gainda "Well if that's the way it is, then so be it, I'll hunt him down one day, and I won't give up until he stops breathing." Vowed Rainbow Dash "I would kill him myself, but it's not my battle, it's your Rainbow Dash, we'll help you in your mission to rid the Terai of Tor Chan." Said Gainda "I'm in." Said Baghraja "So am I." Said Mahaan Ek "I'm in as well." Said Tendua "I'm in on this myself." Said Little Crow "But I must ask, where did Tor Chan come from?" asked Baghraja "You see, he says that he came from a place with no humans, but things called ponies. He says he had a bad relationship with a mare who goes by the name of Celestia." Answered Gainda "Wait, Tor Chan's from Equestria!?" "Equestria?" asked everybody else "That's another world with ponies, there happens to be a portal to Equestria at my school." Explained Rainbow Dash "He also says that his name in Old Ponish translates to he who kills whatever he wants." Said Gainda "Did not see that coming. What was Tor Chan's first victim here?" asked Rainbow Dash "He killed a female elephant, she had a calf who became an orphan and was adopted by one of the other females in the herd. He's an adult now, and he lives on his own. Why do you ask?" asked Gainda "I was thinking that a loved one of his first victim would want to help us out." Explained Rainbow Dash "I see, we'd better find him." Said Gainda The group of animals now traveled across the grasslands in search of the elephant, they found him grazing on some grasses, minding his own buisness." "Excuse me Dantala, we would like to ask you something." Said Gainda "You can ask me anything old friend, what do you need?" asked Dantala "This young lady here has vowed to put an end to Tor Chan's deeds, she was wondering if you would like to help." Explained Gainda "Of course I'll help you out, that scumbag killed my mother, he will be sorry he ever did that in the first place." Replied Dantala "Lookout Tor Chan, were coming after you." Said Rainbow Dash //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 6: Allies //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 6: Allies Two weeks pass, Rainbow Dash while she has taken a vow to kill Tor Chan, is still going through training. Mahaan Ek and Tendua were teaching her one of the most important lessons they had to teach her. The lesson was about the laws the animals have to obey in the terai, and in fact, all over the world. They knew that if she was going to stay here, then she must know the laws and obey them. "Rainbow Dash, the first law of the terai is to never kill for pleasure, if you do that, it takes the whole point in killing an animal in the first place and it ends up being wasted. That's why it's forbidden for us to hunt for fun." Said Tendua "The second law is to kill the weaker animals in the herds, which Baghraja has already explained to you." Said Mahaan Ek "The third law is never take orders from anyone who breaks the law, for they don't deserve to be listened to in the first place." Said Tendua "The fourth law is never take more than you need, for that can and does have pretty negative consequences." Said Mahaan Ek "You obey these laws you'll be fine, but if you dare break them, you face the consequences. You could be banished from the terai, or you could be killed." Said Tendua When they were done explaining the laws to Rainbow Dash, Little Crow and Baghraja came up to them to tell them something very important. Something the two felines weren't expecting to hear. "We were just coming back here, and you'll never guess what animal we bumped into. " Said Baghraja "What did you see?" asked Tendua "We saw a pack of dholes." Answered Little Crow "Dholes? in our territory?" asked Mahaan Ek "Yep." Answered Baghraja "Dholes, I remember my friend Twilight telling me that name, but I forgot what those are." Said Rainbow Dash "Rainbow Dash, dholes are a wild dogs that live in packs anywhere from 5 to 12 members, they may get to 20 or more before they eventually go their seperate ways. They are red, have a black tail, some have a white underbelly, erect ears that are rounded at the tops. While despite what some humans will tell you, they are no match for tigers, tigers kill dholes any chance they get, Mahaan Ek here himself has killed at least 13 of them. However, in a pack, they do hold their own against leopards very well. They haven't been very many dholes here in the terai for years, the reason being that humans killed them off." Explained Baghraja "Perhaps they would like to join us in our attempt to end Tor Chan?" asked Rainbow Dash "Maybe they would, though it would be rather weird for us to ask for their help." Said Mahaan Ek "Well there's only one way to find out isn't there? Let's go!" Ordered Little Crow Little Crow picked up the dholes scent, and taught Rainbow Dash how to recognize their scent, when they got close to where the dholes were, they heard barking and whistling. They took a look over the bushes and saw the dholes being attacked by a pack of feral dogs. The dogs being larger and more powerful than the dholes obviously had the upper hand. There were 15 dholes in the pack, but they were outnumbered by the dogs and were badly struggling with many of the dholes being killed. At least that was the case until the gang charged out of the bushes, Rainbow Dash used her magic to run so fast that no cheetah could beat her in a race, she killed one dog with one swipe of her paw to the back, and another with a bite to the back of the neck. Baghraja killed ten other dogs, Tendua killed two of them, Mahaan Ek mauled ten more dogs easily. Little Crow was bitten on his hind leg and pinned to the ground, but three dholes came to his aid and killed the dog by disembawling it. The rest of the dogs ran away for they did not want to be killed themselves. "I never thought I would say this to a tiger or a leopard but thank you for your help. We are very grateful." Said the alpha male of the pack "Your welcome, we were following you to ask if you would like to help us to rid the land of Tor Chan." Said Rainbow Dash "Tor Chan is here? we don't like that lawbreaker at all, so my pack will gladly help you in return for helping us. But it might be better if we acted as spies, we did struggle with dogs, so we won't do very well in fighting humans." Explained the alpha male "That's understandable, what's your name?" asked Rainbow Dash "My name is Neta, and you are?" asked Neta "Baghraja" "Little Crow at your service." "Tendua" "Mahaan Ek" "Rainbow Dash" "Nice to meet you, come, we found a dead elephant close to here, come eat with us, there's enough for everyone." They followed Neta and his pack to the location of the elephant carcass, they tore into the flesh and it was easy for them all to share the carcass, when the alpha female came to the carcass, she brought her four puppies with her, they were at the age when they could eat solid food, so they didn't have any problems eating the meat. At the same time, Rainbow Dash noticed Little Crow look at the family, his ears were hanging low, his eyes seemed to be watering, the he looked down at the ground. "I wonder what's wrong with him." Thought Rainbow Dash "Hey Rainbow Dash, since when could you run that fast?" asked Baghraja "Huh? Oh you mean back with the dogs, you see this thing around my neck? This gives me the ability to run super fast, I got it a while back, so I've had it for a while." Answered Rainbow Dash Once they had their fill, they went back to their cave, on the way, Rainbow Dash looked at Little Crow who was now hanging his head low to the ground, once they got back to the cave, Rainbow Dash's curiosity got the better of her and she decided to ask what was going on. "Hey Little Crow, I noticed you weren't looking so cheerful back there, can you tell me what's wrong?" asked Rainbow Dash "Look, if you'd rather not talk about it-" Said Tendua "No, it's alright, she asked and I'll answer. When I looked at the pups, I was picturing myself, my mate, and my pups in that spot. I think I'll just tell you my whole life story so I don't have to tell you later. When I was a pup, my parents raised my siblings and I the way coyote parents are supposed to, it was a happy life, but it turns out we were living on a poachers land. He didn't like the fact that my parents killed some game to feed us, so one day, he came to our den and shot my father in the throat with his firestick, my mother charged at him to defend us, but he killed her by shooting her in the head. Then he came into the den and killed my siblings. I managed to escape, I guess he figured I wouldn't survive so he didn't bother to kill me. I was alone and scared, forced to scavenge. I eventually ended up in what humans called a sanctuary, I was raised by a very nice woman with long brown hair and white skin. When I became an adult, they set me free, and I found a mate, she was wonderful. She and I loved each other to the end, and I was the happiest guy ever when she was pregnant with my pups. But then she got caught in a steel trap just outside our den. I heard her cries for help when I was out hunting, but when I got there, the same man who killed my parents and siblings walked up to her and killed her with his firestick. The worst part is that when he realized she was pregnant, he was happy he killed her. He got her out of the trap and took her body away, I was devastated. I cried for hours, scolding myself for not being there to save her. Now whenever I see an animal like me with puppies, I always picture myself, my mate, and my unborn pups. Before you ask, I was caught in a cage trap, and brought here on a big boat so someone could put me on display for humans. But I managed to escape, I was once again alone, a man tried to kill me for his own pleasure, but I was rescued by Tendua who scared the man off, he brought me back here and introduced me to Baghraja and Mahaan Ek, and that's when we became friends." Answered Little Crow "I....I'm so sorry." Said Rainbow Dash who was now tearing up "I know you are, and ever since that day, I wanted revenge on that man, I so wish to sink my fangs into his throat." Said Little Crow Rainbow Dash now couldn't help but hug him, Little Crow hugged back, when she let go, she now felt she could relate with her new coyote friend a little bit. Author's Note I had to change the title a little bit due to the fact that apparently there's a book called "The Rainbow Tiger" I didn't know it existed until today. So I changed the title to distinguish it from that book. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 7: The First mission //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 7: The First mission Baghraja was training Rainbow Dash in the art of combat, she didn't use her speed in this lesson. The two were wrestling around, Baghraja taught her to use all her weight in a paw swipe, and to be cautious if she got an enemy on their backs because then her opponent could use all their claws at once. Rainbow Dash, after a month of training, was finally able to pin Baghraja to the ground. "Congratulations, looks like you've finally beat me." Said Baghraja "Totally did." Replied Rainbow Dash "Great, now can you get off me please?" asked Baghraja "Okay fine I'm gonna get some water." Answered Rainbow Dash as she was getting off of Baghraja Rainbow Dash went to the river, as she was drinking, she noticed Tor Chan's followers raiding crocodile nests. The mother crocodiles did their best to protect their eggs, but they were always distracted by other men who were tasked to distract the mothers while the others got the eggs. Rainbow Dash charged into the water with her super speed, and chased some of the men away from one of the nests, then went to chase after the rest of men. However, they still managed to steal some eggs. Rainbow Dash went back to tell the others. "Guys, some of Tor Chan's cronies took eggs from crocodile nests!" Said Rainbow Dash "Which way did they go?" asked Tendua "They went that way! come on!" ordered Rainbow Dash They hurried to the river, made a promise to the mother crocodiles to get the eggs back, picked up the men's scent, and tracked them down. They ended up following the scents to the camp set up by the poachers, they saw the tent where the eggs were being kept. They decided to wait for nightfall, as at that time, all the humans would be sleeping. When the night did come, they used their stealth to sneak into the camp, they took the eggs carefully, and took off. Once they got to the river, they got help from the mother crocodiles to put the eggs into the right nests. "Thank you all for saving our precious eggs." Said one crocodile "Your welcome." Responded Mahaan Ek "It was nothing." Replied Little Crow When that whole ordeal was over, they went back to the cave, got some dinner, which was a Nilgai antelope. The Next morning, Tor Chan awoke from his slumber, not very pleased. "YOU INCOMPETENT IDIOTS! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO GUARD THE EGGS FOR BREAKFAST!!" shouted Tor Chan But then he sniffed the ground, and got the scent of his enemies. "Get the guns, we're moving out." Ordered Tor Chan They went towards the lair of his enemies, once they got there, he made his men wait in the tall grass. Tor Chan finally saw his enemies come out of the cave, then they charged. Before they could do any damage to the animals, Rainbow Dash sprang into action, and used her magic to run round and round to make the men all dizzy giving Mahaan Ek, Baghraja, and Tendua to kill all of the men. Tor Chan lunged for her throat, but Rainbow being Rainbow, used her speed to quickly dodge his attack. Tor Chan quickly looked around for her, but in a quick flash, Rainbow Dash quickly clawed his eye out. Tor Chan roared in pain. "You'll pay for this missy, you'll pay dearly!" swore Tor Chan before he ran off "Nice one Rainbow!" complemented Little Crow "Thanks, now with his men gone, this will be a lot easier." Said Rainbow Dash Tor Chan ran into a cave, now paranoid at the fact that he's on his own, and now is more vulnerable to an attack, now is trying to think of a way to rid himself of Rainbow Dash once and for all. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 9: Reunion //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 9: Reunion At their new cave, Rainbow Dash paces and forth like crazy, containing her hatred for Tor Chan. However, a flash of bright blue light enters the cave. "What in the world?" asked Tendua It turns out, that flash of light somehow brought Rainbow Dash's friends to the terai. "Girls!?" asked Rainbow Dash "RAINBOW!!?" asked all of the girls "Oh thank goodness! we started to think you were dead!" said Fluttershy "I'm not dead, but my parents are....." responded Rainbow Dash "I'm sorry to hear that Rainbow." "How did you even get here anyway?" asked Rainbow Dash "We stumbled upon this magic compass which teleported us here, we asked it too so we could find you." Answered Twilight "But what on earth happened to you darling?" asked Rarity "It's a long story, I'll tell you later. But now that you girls are here, we could use your help with something." Answered Rainbow Dash "Little Crow, get the others, I got an idea." Ordered Rainbow Dash Out in the grasslands, Tor Chan and his new allies are still on the hunt for Rainbow, when they hear a loud voice. "TOR CHAN!!!" shouted Rainbow Dash Tor Chan looked over, and saw his enemy standing on a large boulder. "Well if it isn't my arch nemesis, fire when ready." Ordered Tor Chan. Rainbow Dash roared, which turned out to be a signal as the other animals pinned down the men. Rainbow Dash and her friends cut off Tor Chan's escape, and they all hovered in the air, and together, with their magic, they turned Tor Chan into a skeleton. After that, Rainbow Dash suddenly turned back to normal. "What the?" asked Rainbow Dash "These curses are lifted when the one that's cursed kills someone who causes them pain." Explained Sunset Shimmer They told the compass to take them home, Rainbow Dash took a while to say goodbye to her new friends, and then she was finally heading home, and to live with Applejack and her family. Author's Note Sorry for the shortening of the chapters. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 8: Scheme //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 8: Scheme On the next day, Tor Chan is still thinking of a way to rid himself of his enemy, but then he hears some music nearby, and ends up finding a village nearby. "Perfect, just what I need, these people will kill any predator regardless if endangered or not that kills their livestock, so if I can kill their animals, I can make them think Rainbow Dash was the culprit." Thought Tor Chan At night, he sneaks into the village, and locates a pen with three cows inside, he leaps over the fence, and he kills the cows by snapping their necks, and runs off. When the villagers wake up the next morning, only to find the cows dead, but not eaten. Tor Chan walks into the crowd in his human form, and tells his tale. "These cows were killed by a weretigress! she had no mercy on them! and killed for fun! we must go hunt her down!" said Tor Chan They all agreed, and they got torches and guns, and they were off. At the cave, the gang was sleeping, however, Little Crow sniffed the air, only to smell the scent of smoke. "GUYS! WAKE UP!!" shouted Little Crow "What's with the yelling?-sniffs smoke- on second thought, LETS GET OUTTA HERE!!!" ordered Baghraja They ran out from the cave, only to see many men setting the land on fire, they ran to the left, but were cut off by the shooting of guns. "There's a male weretiger! kill them both!" ordered one of the men. They ran for the river, once on the other side, they headed for the nearby jungle. "Well, ain't this a rough morning?" asked Tendua "Tor Chan must've put these people up to this, i just know it." Said Rainbow Dash However, little did they know they were followed, as Tor Chan in his human form was aiming his rifle right at Rainbow Dash, right at her heart. However, Baghraja noticed him in the vegetation, and charged without hesitation, when he did that, Tor Chan pulled the trigger, and shot Baghraja righ in his neck. "NNNNOOOOO!!!" shouted all of them They rushed to their friend, Tor Chan escaped. Rainbow Dash was standing right next to her friend. "Baghraja! don't go! we still need you!" said Rainbow Dash "There's nothing we can do, he's going to die." Said Mahaan Ek Soon after, Baghraja was dead, they cried over their dead friend, they heard the people coming, but they didn't care. Luckily for them, Gainda, Dantala, and the gaurs chased off the humans. "Is everyone..........no......this can't be." Said Gainda looking at the body of Baghraja. They took his body to his favorite hunting spot, Dantala dug into the earth with his tusks, and they placed into the earth, and buried him. Now, Rainbow Dash was even more determined to kill Tor Chan.