Chapters It's their first night in Bakula, they take shelter in a cave. They try to sleep as comfortably as they can, but to no avail. The cave floor isn't exactly the most comfy, but it'll have to do. While they're sleeping, Rainbow Dash gets the uneasy feeling that they're being watched, and she is right to be wary. The region they're in right now, is full of hunters. A clan of hyenas, brown in color with black stripes, bushy tails, and pointy ears are close to the cave entrance. They sniff the air, hoping to get the scent of prey, but they get the scent of something else. This makes them flee, they're not the only ones on the prowl tonight. A group of huge cats comes into view, these are not ordinary cats, they look like huge cougars, but they're gold in color, and have light brown stripes. They also have tufts of fur at the ends of their tails, and three of them have manes like male lions. They sniff the air, and they don't like what they smell. The scent of humans would scare most animals off, but it doesn't these cats. Instead, it makes them growl. "RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR" This is enough to make the girls wake up, shaking and sweating.
"We'd better go farther into the cave." Said Sunset Shimmer who really was wishing she was wearing brown pants.
They wander farther into the cave to escape the predators, the felines enter the cave, hot on the trail of the girls. As the girls got farther in the cave, they found something they thought was horrifying. They saw five human bodies, they were all males, but their heads were missing. When they turned around, the cats were close, they found different spots in the cave to hide in. Rainbow Dash hid in a big hole close to where the bodies were, one of the cats was close, very close. Rainbow was now keeping her mouth shut, heart was beating. However, to her horror, the cat found her. "HRAAAAHHH" the cats came together and used their paws and claws to try to get her out while Rainbow was trying to keep herself away from those finger sized claws. Fluttershy decided to come out of her hiding place so she could give them a piece of her mind.
"How....DARE YOU!" Shouted Fluttershy making the cats turn to face her.
"I'm sorry we came into your den, but we had no idea this place was yours. You don't need to kill people to make them leave, now leave her alone NOW!" Said Fluttershy
Fluttershy then used her stare, the very thing that would make anyone nervous, but the cats only saw that as a challenge, and one of them lunged at her. The animal pinned her down with it's paw, but Applejack, using her strength, knocked the cat off of her, and Twilight used her magic to lift the cats while the others got away, Twilight ponied up before putting the cats back down and she flew off, they all got into a tree, the cats weren't giving up that easy, as they now waited at the bottom. The girls decided to stay in the tree until the cats fell asleep.
TOUGARION
The Tougarion is a powerful predator that is feared throughout the Hunter's Deathtrap. Like lions, they live in groups called prides which can have up to an amazing 80 members. Together, they can kill really large prey, like giraffes, young elephants, and even adult rhinos if enough cats are hunting. The females do most of the hunting, since they don'y have manes they're better able to blend in with the environment than the males. When they hunt, many are on the menu. Their diet includes buffalo, hipparion, wildebeest, giant pigs, gazelle, gemsbok, kudu, hartebeest, bontebok, all the other antelope species, giraffids, a weird animal known as Ancylotherium, young elephants, and if there are enough members hunting, even rhinos and hippos. But why live in massive groups anyway? First, in grassland habitats, it's beneficial for lion sized cats to live in groups since in groups, they can actually overcome the problem of hunting prey with little cover by coordinating there activities, and they can face serious competition in grasslands, in the case of the Tougarion, it comepetes with the hyena, Foniacrocuta, which also lives in huge clans and are formidable opponents, a sabertooth cat known as Petriasmilus which is the size of a lion and also hunts in groups, the giant bear Mortemtherium which weighs in at 1,600 pounds, and wild dogs known as Occisorcyon which also hunts in packs. The very social nature has helped Tougarions very much as Petriasmilus hunt during the day to avoid them, they will sometimes kill Mortemtheriums on occasion, Foniacrocuta will only challenge tiny groups, but they avoid the big groups and the males. Seriously, the hyenas will always give up a kill to a male Tougarion, similar to how Spotted Hyenas will give up kills to male lions. The Occisorcyon on the other hand don't thrive in the presence of Tougarions due to the cats literally killing them off. But surely that doesn't require practical armies does it? Well no, but there is one hunter Tougarions hate more than any other: man. When humans first arrived, they hunted the same prey Tougarions hunted, and they killed Tougarion cubs, then white settlers came with guns, and hunted a ridiculous amount of animals including Tougarions. Eventually the cats began to fight back, and formed the practical armies seen today. This made the white man leave, and the years of persecution by humans and the competition with humans has caused Tougarions to have a very high hatred and intolerance of humans. Now, the moment they see a human, they have one instinct, kill. Even if they see a pregnant woman, a baby, or a 3 year old, they kill it. Humans also set fire to the land to make space, making Tougarions hate people even more. So the main reason Tougarions kill humans isn't for food or for sport, but to get rid of the competition. When living with these cats, killing one is actually the worst thing you can do because of the brain, you see, Tougarions have the most highly developed brain in the cat family, the hippacampus, the part of the brain that deals with memories and emotions, is the same size as a human's hippacampus, so these cats have a very good concept of revenge, and if you kill one, you'll have an entire pride of these things coming after you and they won't rest until they've killed you. When thy do kill an animal, they will have a moment of silence if you will, for their prey. After they kill a person or any of their competitors, they will literally take their heads off and place them in front of dens with cubs to send a message to other predators. "Threaten our cubs, you die." The reason the cats in the story above didn't do that is because they didn't have cubs. They are not in the Panthera genus, but their closest cousin is actually the cougar. Cougar fossils have been found in Africa, and when Africa was connected to the Hunters Deathtrap, the early cougars crossed it, and with no lions to comepete with, they exploited the niche lions have. They're in the genus Puma, but unlike the couagr, they can roar, louder than lions, which is important if you live in a huge group. But how do they feed a pride of 80 animals? The females have seperate hunting parties and when they kill something, they eat it. One male will find a small hunting party in case a huge clan of hyenas comes in to try to take the kill. Males can be in coalitions of up to 7 males, and females can have up to four cubs in a litter.
Chapter 2: The Petriasmilus
The next day, in the Hunters Deathtrap, the girls wake up to find their attackers asleep. Quickly, they get out of the tree before the cats wake up again. Now on the move, they must find some breakfast. They weren't sure which fruits were safe to eat or not, so they had to look for some meat, and there's no shortage of that on the savanna. With tons of game like Hipparion horses and pigs, they had plenty of options, but they had to make weapons to do the killing. Applejack, using her craftmenship, made a spear for each of them. They went for a watering hole and waited for game to come by, and it came in the form of a herd of Gemsbok. The antelops took their drinks while the girls got into position.
"Get down." whispered Applejack
They did, and they snuck up close to the herd, staying downwind to avoid their scents from being detected. Once they got close enough, Applejack and Rarity charged, scaring the Gemsbok and chasing them towards the others, Sunset Shimmer, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight got out of their cover and drove the herd toward Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash being the fastest, was the one to throw her spear at the target, which it got a Gemsbok in the shoulder. Applejack threw another spear into the side, and Sunset Shimmer threw another one into the heart, killing it instantly. The went and got their spears out of the animal and then Applejack went to butcher their prey while Twilight got some wood to make a fire to cook the meat.
"Oh Applejack, can we at least say a few words about this Gemsbok?" asked Fluttershy
"Alright Fluttershy, go ahead." Said Applejack
"I didn't know him, but I'm sure he was a good antelope, starting from being a cute little calf, and now, may he rest in peace." Said Fluttershy as tears were going down her cheeks
"There there Fluttershy." Said Sunset Shimmer
"Look at it this way Fluttershy, at least he wasn't killed for fun. His meat won't go to waste." Said Applejack
"Yes, and he'll be helping us survive in this place." Replied Rarity
"Uhhh yeah, just one little problem with that." Said Sunset Shimmer
"And what exactly is the problem?" asked Twilight
Sunset pointed north, when the girls looked in the direction she was pointing, they saw a group of sabertooth cats the size of lions with brownish gold fur with spots like a cheetah, long tails, round ears, and long fangs that went down farther than the jaw. As for numbers, there was at least 20 of them.
"AW COME ON!!!!" shouted Rainbow Dash
"I'm not sticking around here, I'm going up that tree." Said Sunset Shimmer before she ran quickly and climbed up the nearest tree.
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"
The cats were closing in, the rest of the girls being outnumbered, also ran to the tree and climbed it. Well, except for Fluttershy who wanted to try to reason with the cats.
"Look, we made this kill, you have no right to take it from us, so we'd really appreciate it if you'd leave us alone and got your own food." Said Fluttershy
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"
"Don't make me give you the stare buster!" warned Fluttershy
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRr"
Fluttershy used her stare on the cats, but just like with the Tougarions, it didn't work as one of the cats knocked her off her feet and gave her a nasty scratch across her shoulder, causing Twilight to pony use her magic to lift and carry Fluttershy to the tree. The girls watched as the cats fed on the kill that was rightfully theirs, with their stomachs growling like crazy.
"Why does nature have to be so cruel!" whined Rarity
"That's just the way it is Rarity." Said Fluttershy
"Well it ain't right if you ask me." Said Applejack
"Honestly, I'm just amazed that Fluttershys stare doesn't work on them." Said Rainbow Dash
When the cats did finish eating, they moved off, the girls got down from the tree to their kill.
"You're not seriously considering eating that now are you? It's just covered in cat germs!" Said Rarity
"Oh course not, we'll just have to find something else to eat." Replied Applejack
However, before they left, a giant bear came running at them, once it got close, stood up on it's hind legs, making the girls run like gazelles. After that, the bear chowed down on the carcass, and the girls were back on the search for food.
PETRIASMILUS
The Petriasmilus is the second largest cat in the Hunters Deathtrap, and is also social. But it differs from the lion and Tougarion since its social structure is similar to that of wolves, where an alpha pair breed and wolves from previous litters help raise current litters. The reason for this is because in pantherine cats like tigers and lions and maybe some sabertooths, the larger size of males is attributed to fighting for the ladies. However, with Petriasmilus, both genders are the same size, just like in wolves, so their social structure is like that of wolves. At most, they live in groups of up to 50 members, for the same reason Tougarions live in groups. As for competition, the hyena clans avoid them, as these cats will kill them. When in groups, the cats will kill the huge bears, and they've helped in making the wild dogs not exactly thriving. However, they are dominated by Tougarions, which can live in bigger groups and are larger, and typically bigger cats dominate smaller ones. But how do they coexist? in order to avoid each other, Tougarions do most of their hunting at night, while Petriasmilus are strictly daytime hunters. Because they're diurnal hunters, they're more hostile towards wild dogs and bears than Tougarions. their diet includes hipparion horse, buffalo, giant pig, and all the large antelope species, with Gemsbok being their favorite. They will maul humans on occasion, but they're not as intolerant of people as Tougarions, Petriasmilus are descendants of the sabertooth Megantereon, which made it's way to the Hunters Deathtrap when it was connected to Africa. With no Homotheriums to comepete with, they took the niche Homotheriums had, as the top daytime hunter of the plains.
Chapter 3: The Machairifelis
After losing the kill to the sabertooths, the girls are still on the search for food. They decide to look in a nearby spot full of acacia trees in case those who can't fly in ponied up form must make a quick getaway from an animal chasing them. After about an hour of searching, still no luck.
"We've been searching for HOURS and we STILL haven't eaten." Complained Rainbow Dash
"Tell you what, let's split up into two groups to cover more ground. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Sunset, and I will go north, while Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Twilight go west. The group that finds food will make a signal fire." Suggested Applejack
They all agreed and went their ways. But they still stuck to the woods just in case, while Applejack's group was on the hunt, they did spot a herd of Impala antelope, but a troop of Olive Baboons spotted them and sounded their alarm calls, causing the impala to flee.
"WHY YOU LITTLE VARMINTS!!!! WAIT TILL I GET ONE OF YA!!" shouted Applejack
"Applejack darling, don't shout so loud, that could attract one of those beasts." Said Rarity
"Sigh, you're right Rarity, I just can't stand those rotten monkeys." Replied Applejack
"Look! vultures!" said Pinkie Pie
They looked up in the sky and sure enough, there were vultures circling around in the sky.
"Perfect! when buzzards circle around like that, there's dead stuff around, let's go!" said Applejack
They went straight for the spot the vultures were circling around, and they found the carcass of a giant black hog with massive tusks. Applejack noticed puncture marks in the neck, meaning the hog was killed in a fight rather than disease. So it was okay to eat the meat. Pinkie Pie gathered the wood and Applejack made the signal fire. Rarity went to get a drink of water from a river very close to them and took her spear with her. However, they weren't alone, as in the thick cover, a sabertooth cat the size of a leopard, color of a leopard, but with rosettes like those of a clouded leopard, and with shorter fangs that only went as far down as the jaw,and with a long tail was stalking her. In fact, it has been stalking the girls for a while, waiting for the chance to attack, and Rarity going off on her own was the moment it has been waiting for. Once Rarity got to the river, she got a large stick and probed the river banks to make sure there weren't any crocodiles around. Once she knew it was safe, she drank, but while she was doing that, the big cat following her was now stalking her, getting as close as possible. Then, it charged out from the tall grass and quickly pinned Rarity to the ground, Rarity instinctively grabbed the cat by the throat to keep it from driving those fangs into her throat. The others came rushing to help their friend after hearing her cry for help, Applejack used her strength to grab the feline by the tail and throw it off of Rarity. The cat got back on it's feet and turned to face his opponents as this wasn't a large group of people.
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"
Rarity picked up her spear and threw it, but missed. Applejack threw hers and also missed. The cat got Pinkie Pie and Sunset Shimmer to toss their spears at it, then it charged and lunged at Pinkie, but Pinkie being Pinkie managed to dodge the attack rather easily, it turned it's attention back to Rarity, but this time she used her magic to make a diamond shield to block the attack. The cat lunged at Applejack, but Applejack grabbed the big cat and threw it again. Once it got back on it's feet, it lunged for Sunset, and Sunset not having any powers that would actually work against a predator, was easily pinned down by the attacker, but before Applejack could get the cat off of her, the others arrived, Twilight used her magic to lift the feline off of her friend and dropped it onto the ground. The cat got back up, but Rainbow Dash threw her spear and gave the cat a nasty cut on the shoulder.
"RAAAAAAAAAHAA"
Now it was staring all seven of the girls down, but now it knew it was time to back off, and ran back into the woods, and climbed up a tree, not very pleased.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAA CREEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAUHUNG"
"Oh thank you girls! thank you thank you!" said Rarity
"Now this makes finding a place to sleep more challenging. We can't go in a cave after our first interaction with the cats of this place, most certainly not on the ground, and the trees aren't the best option since that thing can climb trees." Said Twilight
"But where else are we going to sleep Twilight?" asked Sunset Shimmer
"How about that big rock over there?" asked Pinkie Pie
They looked to see a huge rock, tall enough that once on it, you could see above the trees.
"Perfect! no cat will be able to climb up onto that rock." Said Fluttershy
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving, where's the grub?" asked Rainbow Dash
"Just follow us." Answered Applejack
They followed Applejack to the hog carcass, Applejack finished butchering the hog, and cooked it over the fire, then they all ate like lions, as this is the first time they've eaten in a while. Once they had their fill, they heard a not so friendly sound.
"ROOOOOWWW" ROOOOWWWWW" ROOOOOWWWW"
The cats they met on their first night here were on the prowl, as it was not getting dark. This was more than enough to make the girls hurry to the rock, Twilight used her magic to lift Applejack, Sunset, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie to the top while she and the other two flew their way up. When it was now dark, they settled in for a good nights sleep. However, they failed to notice a fallen over massive baobab tree leaning against the side of the rock. Sure enough, the leopard-sized sabertooth that attacked Rarity was back, for the night is his time. The cat climbed up the tree and got onto the rock, once it saw the girls sleeping, it set it's sights on Rainbow Dash, and stalked, it got close, ready to pounce, ready to settle the score, but then it's chance was ruined.
"HRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH"
The sound of elephants was about, waking the girls up, and ruining the felines chance to kill Rainbow Dash, once the girls woke up, the cat fled, not willing to face them a second time. They went to the edge of the rock, seeing the tree.
"So that's how that ruffian got up here!" said Rarity
"What in the hay is going on?" asked Applejack
Applejack got her answer when she and the others saw a herd of Straight-Tusked Elephants defending their calves from a huge pride of the cats that tried to kill the girls in the cave. They were trying to distract the mother elephants from the calves. But they were unsuccessful, and were forced to give up the hunt. Fluttershy ponied up and flew over to the elephants.
"Ummm, excuse me, but could you move a tree for us?" asked Fluttershy
She lead the elephants to the rock, and together, they moved the tree from the rock. When the elephants left and Fluttershy thanked them, the girls now knew they could sleep in peace. When they woke up the next morning and came off the rock the same way as last night, they went down to the river to get a drink. They weren't alone as the sabertooth that tried to maul Rainbow Dash last night was there, but it snarled at them and left, then three creatures called Ancylotherium, animals with horse-like heads, large in size, and with claws, came down to the river along with the Straigh-tusked elephants from last night. They were also joined by a herd of African Elephants and a herd of Deinotherium. Elephants taller than African Elephants with small ears and tusks placed on the lower jaw. The elephants didn't charge at them, perhaps humans around here didn't hunt elephants, so they weren't threatened by people. However, the herds did leave when a huge bull elephant came. This elephant was as tall as a Deinotherium, had a bumpy head like an Asian Elephant, short straight tusks, and tusks on the lower jaw like a Deinotherium, and huge ears like an African Elephant. Twilight was about to squeal at the sight of a new elephant species, but she noticed something on the elephant. The elephants urine was constantly dripping, and there was a liquid secretion on the sides of the head, that meant that this bull elephant was in musth, the stage bull elephants get in during the mating season when their testosterone level rises up to sixty times the normal level, this makes them very aggressive and dangerous to be around. Twilight saw her friends marvel at the size of the elephant, and she was about to tell them it's better to leave, but then Pinkie Pie did the worst thing possible, which was to shout.
"WOW!! LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT GUY!!!"
This got the elephants attention, and without warning, he charged at the girls, they ran like crazy, and who could blame them, they were being chased by twenty tons of angry bull elephant after all. The girls scurried up a huge tree, but the elephant rammed his head against it, making it shake. But then, something unexpected happened. A boy came out of the nearby woods, this boy was unique because he is part tiger. He has the fur, stripes, color, claws, fangs, legs, paws, tail, and the ears of a tiger, and also black hair. He was accompanied by a brown hyena, a hyena with pointy ears, long dark brown fur, and a tawny neck.
"Hey big boy! Over here!" the boy shouted
The elephant turned his attention to the boy and charged at him. This gave the girls the chance to leave the tree, the boy lead the elephant to another bull elephant of the same species in musth, and the two bulls fought, allowing the boy and hyena to escape. The girls on the other hand were now looking for breakfast, which they found in the form of a deceased giraffe, which Applejack determined the cause of death to be old age. Before she could butcher it though, they heard a familiar whooping sound.
"WHOOOOOOOOOOP" "WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP"
The girls turned around to see a large clan of the same species of hyena that was scared off by the big cats on the girls first night here, there were thirty of them, and they were hungry. The girls stood their ground, Applejack threw some hyenas with her strength, Twilight lifted and threw more hyenas with her magic, but the hyenas weren't dissuaded, but kept on coming and coming.
"Get back you ruffians!" ordered Rarity
The hyenas didn't listen, Rainbow Dash tried to use her speed to confuse the hyenas, but that failed. Rainbow Dash was about to try again, only to be bitten in the leg by a hyena, which ended up snapping her leg in it's powerful jaws.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!" Screamed Rainbow Dash in pain
The hyena had Rainbow Dash pinned, ready to kill her, but then a familair somebody appeared.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
The tiger boy and his hyena had come back, when the hyena clan saw the tiger boy, they fled, knowing that he could kill many of them with one swipe from his paw, similar to a scenario with male lions and spotted hyenas. The tiger boy caught the matriarch in his jaws, choking it until Fluttershy intervened.
"Don't kill her, PLEASE!" begged Fluttershy before giving him puppy eyes
The tiger boy rolled his eyes and released his grip on the hyena's throat, he and his brown hyena walked up to the girls.
"Are you girls okay?" asked the tiger boy
"We're fine thanks to you. Well most of us anyway." Said Rarity
"THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK THANK YOU!!!" shouted Rainbow Dash
"Thank you kind sirs" said Twilight
"Thank you partner." Said Applejack
"THANK YOU!" shouted Pinkie Pie
"Thank you so much for saving us, and not killing that hyena." Said Fluttershy
"Thank you." Said Sunset Shimmer
"No problem, but we need to get her to my cave, I heard her scream from quite a distance, so something else should have heard her. Get some of that giraffe meat and I'll carry her on my back." Said the tiger boy
Applejack put Rainbow Dash on the tiger boys back, then gathered some of the meat and then they headed straight for the cave. Though there was one thing on Sunsets mind.
"What's your name?" asked Sunset Shimmer
"The name's Banda, this here is Tulu." Answered the tiger boy
"Sunset Shimmer"
"Twilight Sparkle"
"Rarity"
"Applejack"
"Pinkie Pie"
"Rainbow Dash"
"I'm Fluttershy."
They kept on heading for Banda's cave, with the girls now hoping to get to know their new friends some more.
MACHAIRIFELIS
Height: 2 ft tall
Length: 9 ft long from nose to the tip of the tail
Weight: Males are from 60-175 pounds while females are 50 to 130 pounds
The Machairifelis is the smallest big cat in the Hunters Deathtrap, and unlike the other two big cats in the region, it's solitary. Machairifelis like to live in the areas with lost of trees in order to make a quick escape from clans of hyenas, Tougarions, and Petriasmilus. To keep their kills from being stolen by other predators, they will drag their kills up into trees just like leopards. They do come into conflict with wild dogs, which in packs can chase off a Machairifelis, as these cats don't have the size and power to kill several dogs in a fight. However, they will kill dogs that are on their own. Like the other big cats, these felines hate humans. They will kill a person that's on their own, or they will kill humans in their sleep. When confronted by a small group of people, they will actually trick them into throwing their spears at them and when all the people have thrown their spears, they lunge at a person and quickly kill a person. Their diet includes antelopes like Impala, wild pigs like Bush pigs, buffalo calves, baboons, striped and brown hyenas, and giraffe calves. Machairifelis are very territorial, and they will fight and even kill each other to keep intruders out of their territories. Females can have anywhere from 3-6 cubs, and she will hide them in a den or a tree when she goes hunting to keep them safe from other predators. Night time is when they really like to hunt, especially if they're targeting baboons as baboons don't exactly have the best night vision. In fact, when wild dogs are sleeping at night, Machairifelis have been known to sneek into wild dog dens and kill the pups night after night after night. This makes the wild dogs leave the area, and the Machairifelis will have an area to itself.
Chapter 4: The Mega Jaguar
Once they got to the cave, Applejack took Rainbow Dash off of Banda's back and placed her on the cave floor.
"I'll go get some bone leaves, Tulu, stay here and help them guard our injured guest."
Banda left the cave, leaving the girls alone with his Brown Hyena friend. Nothing really happened, until all of a sudden, the hyena spoke.
"So....what kind of skins are you wearing?" asked Tulu
"Did you just talk? And ALL of us understood you besides Fluttershy?" asked Rainbow Dash
"Yep, it's a gift from a shaman years ago." Answered Tulu
"Wait a minute, a shaman?" asked Sunset Shimmer
"Yes, when I began following Banda around, the shaman used a spell on me that gave me the ability to speak to humans, so I could understand Banda. He could do all kind of spells, disapearing spells, transformation spells, and teleportation spells." Said Tulu
"Teleportation spells?" asked Applejack
"Better believe it, but he died of old age three months ago and he was buried with all his magic stuff like he wanted." Answered Tulu
"Oh, I....I'm so sorry. We though he might help us get back home." Said Twilight
"Where exactly are you all from?" asked Tulu
"We're from Canterlot in the U.S.A." answered Rarity
" Well then how'd you get to this place?" asked Tulu
"You see, Twilight here found an artifact that looked like an owl, and it said for us to go to a land ruled by beasts, she read, and it teleported us here. We tried to use it to get back home, but for some reason it didn't work. Then it just blew up after the green gems in it's eye sockets glowed, then the writing on the aritifact's base changed, and it said that it accomplished it's task, and we've been stuck here ever since." Answered Fluttershy
Before Tulu could say anything else, a pack of wild dogs came to the cave entrance. These dogs were black, had pointy ears, bushy tails, and had brown stripes and light gold eyes. There were about 25 of them at the spot, ready to attack.
"GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"
"Pesky dogs." Said Tulu
"I'll take these over killer big cats anyday." Said Rarity
"You said it Rarity!" Replied Pinkie Pie
One of the dogs went in to attack, but Tulu got in the way and grabed it by the back of the neck and threw it into another dog. Tulu then charged right into the pack, and tangled with four of them. Another one tried to get between Rarity and Applejack, but Applejack grabbed the dog by the scruff and threw it to the ground. Rarity used her magic to block the dogs attacking her, Pinkie Pie used anything she somehow was able to put in her hair and threw it at the dogs. Twilight simply lifted any dogs and threw them to the ground and at other dogs. Sunset Shimmer and Fluttershy had to use large branches to keep the dogs at bay, Fluttershy wasn't even going to try to use her stare on them due to the last couple times she used it. Since wild dogs are nowhere near as powerful as a group of big cats, they held their own very well. But the dogs were persistent, not willing to give up the chance to kill an injured human, but then Banda came back and changed everything.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
With that one roar, the wild dogs all fled for their lives, knowing Banda would kill them if given half a chance. He entered the cave with the so called "bone leaves" which Banda's paws transformed into hands, and he wraps the leaves around Rainbow Dash's broken leg, and the leaves were able to act kinda like a cast of some sort.
"Banda, do you know how far the coast is?" asked Applejack
"The coast actually isn't far from here." Answered Banda
"Good, because I've just about had it with this place, I'll build us a boat to take us out of here." Said Applejack
"I understand, but Rainbow Dash is in no condition to go out to sea, you'll have to wait for her to recover first. Also, any chance we could come?" asked Banda
"Well of course darling! especially after what you've done for us." Answered Rarity
"Great! we've been wanting to see the world, and I've been wanting to be around other people for years." Said Banda
Six weeks later, Rainbow Dash's leg heals completely, and is ready to go out to sea. With that, everyone gathers lots of wood for the boat, Applejack, being the crafty girl she is, makes the boat and keeps the wood together with a special sap from a tree Banda showed her. After the boat was finished, food had to be gathered, Banda and Tulu hunted as much game as needed for the trip, and the girls under Banda's guidance were able to gather fruit that was edible. Once that was done, the set off at sea, leaving the Hunters Deathtrap.
"Yeah! Good Riddance!" cheered Rainbow Dash
At night, they all saw a blue whale, the biggest animal on earth, breach from the water. After that, they went asleep very peacefully, now that they were out of the place where big cats and hyenas hunted them. But little did they know that they were going to be in a place they would never expect to be. When Fluttershy woke up, she saw they weren't in the sea anymore, but in a river in a thick, tropical jungle resembling the congo.
"Everyone, wake up!" said Fluttershy
They all woke up, only to be left wondering where they were.
"Where in the hay are we now?" asked Applejack
"If I had to guess, either the Amazon or the Congo." Answered Twilight
"Well that's just great." Said Rainbow Dash
As they were going down the river, they encountered a herd of Forest Elephants, a matriarchal herd with females and their calves. Unlike their cousins on the African Plains, these elephants tusks face more downward, so they don't get tangled in the thick vegetation.
"Great, more elephants." Complained Banda
"You REALLY don't like elephants do you?" asked Sunset Shimmer
"I don't hate them, I just have a bit of a negative history with them." Answered Banda
The elephants got wind of Banda's scent, and instinctively they trumpeted like crazy, basically warning them to keep their distance. But things got worse when an angry bull hippopotamus came out from the beneath the waters surface and destroyed the boat with it's powerful jaws that can bite a crocodile in half. Now they all had to swim quickly to the other side and once they did, they quickly got into the trees when the hippo came out onto land. Eventually the hippo did go back into the water when he caught the scent of another bull hippo in his territory.
"UUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH, of course something like this just has to happen." Complained Rainbow Dash
When they got out of the tree, they decided that they must find food first before they even tried to build another boat. However, they heard the sound of hooves coming their way, they looked behind them, and it turned out to be a stampeding herd of Jungle Buffalo. Quickly, they had to get back into the trees, but the buffalo ran too quickly for most of them, so Banda had to intervene, getting into the herd and swiping at the buffalo to make sure they didn't trample the girls. After most of the herd had passed, the group saw a female jaguar, weighing about two hundred and eighty leap onto a buffalo, use her weight to get it into a position where she could kill it, and then crush the windpipe with her powerful jaws. The group quickly went on their way to avoid being threatened by the big cat on her kill.
An hour passed on by, and the group still hadn't got any food, not even a fresh carcass. Since their old spears had gone to the bottom of the river due to the hippo attack, Applejack ended up making new spears. But every time they tried stalking something, a monkey or a bird sounded the alarm.
"Tell you what, Tulu and I will go get some food while the rest of you get started on the new boat." Suggested Banda
"Sounds like a plan, though I'm not sure how to keep the wood together this time." Replied Applejack
"Just get the other supplies and after we eat, we'll figure something out." Said Banda
Banda and Tulu went on their way to find some suitable game, Tulu was being used the same way hunting dogs are used. Tulu sniffed the air, trying to get a scent, but it was a tad bit harder since they were in a completely different place.
"Got a scent yet buddy" asked Banda
"Yes, but I'm not sure what animal it's from." Answered Tulu
"Only one way to find out." Said Banda
Banda continued to follow Tulu, when they found their quarry, Banda got close to the ground, and got a good look at his quarry, which was an antelope with black fur, white stripes, and curly horns. The animal was large, weighing about five hundred pounds, so there was enough meat to feed the whole group. Banda got close as he could to the antelope, now he was ready to strike. However, he wasn't the only one hunting the antelope. Out of the tall grass, a huge male Mega Jaguar came charging out from the grass, lunging at the antelope, and killing it with a bite to the back of the neck. The jaguar was larger than the female they first encountered, weighing at least five hundred and thirty pounds, and he had a part of his left ear missing, meaning he was a fighter.
"Great, just nice, I track something and THIS happens." Complained Tulu
"Tulu, don't think of this as a loss, think of this as an opputunity." Said Banda
"What do mean.......wait a minute....I know EXACTLY what you're thinking." Said Tulu
"I know, and you know the drill, if I need help, come assist me." Ordered Banda
Banda came out of the hiding spot, ready to fight for the carcass.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH"
The Mega Jaguar lifted it's head up, folded his ears back, and seemed amazed to see a creature challenging him.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAHHH"
The jaguar charged , and he and Banda were locked in claw to claw combat, Banda, using his experience in fighting solitary Tougarions and Petriasmilus's, reared up on his hind legs and swatted at his opponents face, the jaguar fought back, and struck Banda in the shoulder, Banda, using his superior power, manages to push the jaguar to the ground each time it reared up on it's hind legs. Since the jaguar was smaller and less powerful than a Tougarion, it was eaiser to defeat, and eventually the jaguar had enough, and retreated. Banda then grabbed the dead antelope by the neck and dragged it off into the jungle. When they got back, the girls had gathered all the supplies for a new boat.
"Oh my, what happened to your shoulder Banda?" asked Fluttershy
"I fought a huge cat over this kill, it was the same type as the other one that killed the buffalo, but bigger, and is quite the fighter." Answered Banda
"Sounds like you got into a fight with a male." Said Twilight
Applejack butchered the antelope while Fluttershy got wood to start the fire, Banda and Tulu ate their meat raw, as they were used to it by now, Rainbow Dash walked over to Banda to start a little conversation.
"So....you fought a jaguar?" asked Rainbow Dash
"A jaguar, that's what they're called?" asked Banda
"Yep." Answered Rainbow Dash knowing that Banda apparently never ecountered a jaguar in his old home, so he never knew what a jaguar was.
"Then yeah, I did." Answered Banda
"Could you tell me how the fight went?" asked Rainbow Dash
"Sure thing." Answered Banda
Banda goes on to tell her the story of how he fought the jaguar for the carcass, Rainbow Dash listened, and looked with her eyes wide open, obviously in awe of Banda's bravery. After they were done eating, they started building their new boat, hoping that nothing bad would happen this time when they went out to sea.
MEGA JAGUAR
The Mega Jaguar is the biggest jaguar the ever live, and is the top predator of the jungles it lives in. Unlike many other cats, jaguars love the water, and are excellent swimmers, and they have jaws strong enough to crack open a turtles shell. Mega Jaguars came to Bakula from South America, while some of the prey animals like antelope and buffalo came from Africa, and now, the Mega Jaguar is the only jaguar subspecies that hunts a species of wild cow. The jungle buffalo can weigh 5 times more than a Mega Jaguar, but the cats can kill them with minimal struggle and being able to prey on the buffalo is the main reason Mega jaguars are bigger than their Central and South American cousins. As for competition, they are dominant over their enemies. They prey on crocodiles and caimans, and will kill leopards and the sabertooth known as Megantereon to eliminate the competition. Their diet includes buffalo, antelope, deer, caimans, crocodiles, snakes, tapirs, capybara, fish, and turtles. A female can have anywhere from 1-3 cubs in a litter, then after two years, they leave mom and establish their own territories.
Chapter 5: The Megantereon
Applejack finally finished the boat after many hours of construction. Now they were ready to get back out onto the water after some food gathering. They each split up to find some food to take with them, Pinkie Pie, Sunset Shimmer, Banda, and Tulu went together. Tulu was once again sniffing the air to try to get the scent of any game. They bumped into the same male jaguar Banda fought, but the jaguar didn't bother to attack, as now he knew better than to challenge Banda, and he went on his way.
"So that's the same jaguar you fought?" asked Sunset Shimmer
"Yes, and he seems to be wiser this time." Answered Banda
"Banda, this way!" said Tulu
They followed Tulu to a pond in the jungle, and they saw a small group of Peccaries, a Swamp Deer buck, and a tapir. Banda once again crouched down low to the ground, stalking the tapir for it was rather weak. However, a sabertooth cat charged from the nearby cover and tackled the tapir and drove it's enormous fangs into it's throat. This made the other animals run from the pond. The sabertooth was as big as a South American jaguar, had a black pelt, a muscular build, a short tail like a bobcat, and huge canines protruding farther than the jaw, and it had yellow eyes.
"Not again." Whined Tulu
"Relax, I'll just chase it off it's kill and I'll claim it for all of us. Like I did with the jaguar." Responded Banda
"I think you've done enough stealing for today mister." Said Sunset Shimmer
"What do you mean? In the wild, why hunt when you can take from others?" asked Banda
"Because that female sabertooth has cubs that depend on her and so it's best to let her keep the kill." Said Pinkie Pie
"There's no way you could know that for sure Pinkie." Said Tulu
"WELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL........I do know that you've been charged by rhinos and Banda had to save you." Responded Pinkie Pie
"What the....HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT!!! YOU WEREN'T EVEN THERE!!!!" shouted Tulu
"I............have no idea how to respond to that." Said Banda
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"
The sabertooth heard Tulu shout and was snarling to tell them to stay away.
"Well then. I guess we'd better leave her be then." Said Banda
"TWITCHY HAIR!!!!!!!!" shouted Pinkie Pie
"Better take cover boys." Said Sunset Shimmer
"Why?-fruit falls on the head-OWW!" sad Banda
"That's why." Answered Pinkie Pie
"Huh?" Said Tulu and Banda
"General rule, it;s Pinkie Pie, don't question it." Said Sunset Shimmer
"You know what, I'll keep that in mind." Said Banda
"So will I for the sake of my sanity." Said Tulu
About an hour later, Banda managed to catch a Swamp Deer, and they met back up with the others and Applejack butchered the kills and loaded the boat, then they got on board and set sail for home. At night, when they were sleeping, it started to rain.
"Oh no! it's raining!" said Rarity
"Relax Rarity, I put this here to keep us dry." Said Applejack
Applejack got out a huge "umbrella" if you will, and set it on top of the post in the middle of the boat to keep evryone dry.
"That should do the trick." Said Applejack
However, later on, the weather got worse. Lightining began to strike, and evetually, a flash flood happened. the boat was tipped over by the flood. Rainbow Dash, Banda, Tulu, Fluttershy, and Twilight grabbed onto a floating log. Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie grabbed onto another log. Sunset Shimmer was carried away by the strong current, she was carried quite the distance. She ended up being washed up on a riverbank, Rainbow Dash got too tired to hang on and ended up drifting away being Banda could grab her, and she also was drifted quite a ways.
The next morning, Sunset Shimmer woke up to find herself on the riverbank. Now alone and hungry, she had to try to find the others. At the same time, Rainbow Dash woke up to also find herself on a riverbank, remembering what happened.
"UUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH COME ON! WHY CAN'T WE JUST GET HOME ALREADY!!!!!!!!!! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO US NATURE!? WHY!?" shouted Rainbow Dash
She got up on her feet, the mud was deep, and it was easy to get stuck in. She was able to take a couple steps before getting stuck in the thick, deep mud.
"Come on!" said Rainbow Dash as she was trying to get herself free
She wasn't alone, in the rivers waters, a crocodile had noticed her struggling to get out of the mud, seeing this as a perfect opportunity to get a meal, the crocodile swam right towards Rainbow Dash. Rainbow got the feeling that she was being watched, making her turn around, and seeing the crocodile. Now she was panicking, trying to hurry to get herself free, the crocodile was now getting close, ready to kill Rainbow. At this point, Rainbow Dash just closed her eyes, waiting for the death blow. But then......
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
She opened eyes to see Banda and Tulu come to the rescue, there was a fallen tree close to Rainbow Dash, so Banda got onto the tree and swatted at the crocodile.
"HIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS"
The crocodile snapped it's jaws at Banda, but it missed. Banda swatted with with claws out, and he managed to get a good blow on the crocodile, giving it four scratches across it's face. Meanwhile, Twilight used her magic to pull Rainbow Dash out of the mud. After she did that, Banda had managed to make the crocodile retreat, and Banda got off the tree and went towards the girls.
"Are you okay Rainbow Dash!?" asked Banda
Rainbow Dash rushed over to him and hugged him rather tightly.
"YES! THANK YOU THANK THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" answered Rainbow Dash
"Your welcome." Said Banda
"We didn't you drifted away until we got on a riverbank, we've been searching for hours." Explained Twilight
"We did manage to find Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie while we were at it." Said Tulu
"Yes, and Banda here had to save us from an angry hippo by distracting it." Said Rarity
"Really?" asked Rainbow Dash
"We're wasting time! we have to find Sunset!" said Fluttershy
"Right, lets find her before something else does." Said Banda
Meanwhile, Sunset was walking through the jungle, trying to find the others, but with no luck.
"BANDA!!! RARITY!!!!! APPLEJACK!!!! TWILIGHT!!!! PINKIE!!!! RAINBOW!!!!! FLUTTERSHY!!!! TULU!!!! WHERE ARE YOU!!!!" shouted Sunset
While she was searching, she got the bad feeling that she was being watched. She turned around, only to see a sabertooth cat of the same species that killed the tapir charging at her. This animal was different as it's pelt was the same color as a normal leopards, and it's canines were broken. Forcing it to become a man-eater.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHUNG!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"
It turns out a girl with long black hair, brown skin, and wearing a buffalo hide as clothing was the one throwing rocks at the big cat.
"Come and get me bucktooth!" said the girl
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"
"Leave us alone you.....you..." said Sunset
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHUNG!!!!"
The big cat was about to lunge at Sunset, however, the rest of the gang had arrived just in time.
"Get back you ruffian!" said Rarity
Of course, the feline didn't listen to Rarity, but it did listen to Banda when he confronted it.
"HURAAAAAAAAHHHH"
After the confrontation, the sabertooth retreated back into the thick cover.
"You okay Sunset?" asked Twilight
"I'm fine, thanks to her." Answered Sunset
The girl got up on her feet, when she saw Banda, things took a bit of a weird turn.
"Banda?" asked the girl
"Wait, how do you know my name? I don't remember meeting you in my life." Answered Banda
"I do know you! you and I were stuck in that truck together!" Said the girl
"What are you talking about? I was the only person in that thing." Responded Banda
"Okay, if we're done with the weird conversation, who's hungry? and what's your name?" asked Tulu
"My name is Kama." Answered the girl
Tulu and Banda went ahead to go hunt, Kama went with them as she knew the best spot to go hunting.
"Banda, I DO know you, we've met before." Said Kama
"We've never met, I don't remember meeting you at all. End of discussion." Said Banda
They came back with a buffalo carcass, Applejack butchered it with Kama's help. They all ate their fill, and now had to make a new boat to take them home, and they decided to take Kama with them, as she could use the human companionship after being alone in the jungle for so long. Applejack thought it would best to make the boat bigger to make sure a flash flood didn't destroy it. Now....it once again time to get supplies for yet another new boat.
MEGANTEREON
Megantereon was a medium sized sabertooth that thrived during the Pliocene and Early Pleistocene ages. Living in Africa and Eurasia. They got to Bakula when the landmass was connected to Africa by a landbridge. Some Bakulan Megantereons have black fur since in some parts of the rainforest, being black helps to blend in better. In the past, Megantereons lived alongside other predators, they coexisted with Homotherium across their range, they lived with lions in Africa and Eurasia, jaguars in Europe, and with tigers in Asia with fossils of both species found in China. They also had to live with hyenas, cheetahs, and leopards. They likely lived in the more forested areas to help escape the larger more powerful predators. In Bakula, they coexist with Mega Jaguars, crocodiles, and leopards. The jaguars are the Megantereons worst enemy, as they jagaurs will kill them on sight, Mega jaguars are larger, and with one paw strike, can break a saber, so it's best for these sabertooths to avoid jaguars. Crocodiles will steal kills from a Megantereon, and a Megantereon can't really do much to inflict serious damage to a crocodile, so they like to make kills away from crocodile infested waters. Leopards are a different story, as a Megantereon is bigger and has more power than a leopard, so leopards avoid Megantereons at all costs.
Chapter 6: The Bakulan Lion
After many hours of building the new boat, it was starting to get dark. They had to find shelter for the night, so they went into a cave, while again, not the most comfy place to sleep, but it was better than nothing.
"Well goodnight girls." Said Banda
When they were sleeping, something else was happening, when they first entered the cave, they never noticed a human rock carving in the cave wall, it had two red rubies as eyes, and they were glowing, a red aura covered the gang, and they all of a sudden disappeared. When they woke up the next morning, Sunset Shimmer woke up, seeing that something wasn't quite right. She went to the cave entrance, and now her face was as red as a cherry.
"ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" shouted Sunset Shimmer
This was loud enough to wake everyone else up, which it did.
"I didn't do it! I didn't do it!" said Tulu as he woke up from his dream
"Sunset darling, what's with the yelling?" asked Rarity
"Come and see for yourself." Answered Sunset Shimmer
They went to the cave entrance, not to see the jungle, but an entirely different place. This place was much more wide open, and haw some trees here and there, but it was mostly grassland. They also saw herds of wild horses, bison, camels, pronghorns, elk, caribou, even a herd of Columbian Mammoths.
"Now how in the hay did we even get here? And why can't we just build a boat without anything bad happening!?" asked Applejack
"I don't know Applejack, we just have to find a river and then get supplies for a new boat. We'll split up into two teams, Kama, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Sunset will go west while Tulu, Applejack, and Rarity will go east, while Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and I will go north." Answered Banda
"We can just make a signal fire like we did back in the first place we were in." Said Applejack
All three teams went their ways to find a river, while they were traveling, they tried to avoid any bull mammoths after the incident with the bull in musth. Though, Sunset still couldn't get Kama's relationship with Banda out of her head.
"So.....you know Banda?" asked Sunset
"Yes, why do you ask?" asked Kama
"It's just so weird, you say you've met him, yet he claims to have never seen you in his life." Answered Sunset
"Yeah, it's so weird." Said Twilight
"Well you see, it maybe hard to believe, but at one time....." Said Kama
Before she could finish her sentence, Pinkie felt her Pinkie sense kicking in. This time, it was a shaky head.
"What in the wild is up with her?" asked Kama
"My Pinkie sense is telling me that something's watching us!" Answered Pinkie Pie
"Pffffft yeah right." Said Kama
"Well may I remind you that we're traveling with a talking hyena and a boy who's part tiger." Responded Sunset Shimmer
"Good point." Replied Kama
"And what's after us THIS time? A sabertooth grizzly?" asked Twilight
"Nope, just turn around." Answered Sunset Shimmer
They turned around, and they saw a coalition of three huge male lions. These were the biggest lions they ever saw, and the minute Kama saw them, she turned and ran for her life. This was a big mistake because that kicked in the lions instincts to give chase. Twilight ponied up and flew and lifted Sunset and Pinkie and put them in the nearest tree. Kama climbed up the same tree as fast as she could. The lions were now under the tree, waiting for the girls to come down.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH"
"Kama, why on earth did you just run off like that?" asked Sunset
"Did you seriously just ask me that question? And like YOU wouldn't do the same thing? Besides, it's in my instinct to run at the sight of a lion." Answered Kama
"But you lived in a place without lions, how can that be in your instinct?" asked Twilight
"Wait, how do you know they're aren't any lions in the jungle we were just in?" asked Sunset
"Because the jaguars wouldn't be hunting buffalo in that jungle." Answered Pinkie Pie
"Huh? How did...." Said Kama
"It's Pinkie Pie, don't question it." Answered Twilight
Meanwhile, Banda's group was searching when they heard a pretty loud growl, only to find that it was Rainbow Dash's stomach making those noises.
"Before we search any further, could we get some breakfast?" asked Rainbow Dash
"Sure thing, I can track something down, it'll be weird hunting without Tulu around." Answered Banda
Banda sniffed the ground, and started tracking. He found a ton of tracks belonging to a herd of bovines of some sort. They followed the tracks, and instead of finding bison like they were expecting, they found a herd of Aurochs, huge members of the cow family with long tails, black fur, and long horns that curved upwards like a bull. These cows were massive, at least as tall as a man at the shoulder, and weighing more than a ton. An animal like this would be a formidable force to be reckoned with. However, Banda managed to single out an old bull in the herd, and began stalking. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy watched the hunt. Banda got close to the herd, he was no stranger to hunting buffalo, so he was going to use his experience in hunting buffalo to bring down this huge bovine. Once he was close enough to attack, he charged at the Auroch, the aurochs fled, Banda leaped onto the old bull, and tried to wrestle it down, but it was strong enough to buck him off. Now the old bull stomped the ground and snorted, meaning that it wasn't going down without a fight. The old bull charged at Banda, luckily Banda got out of the way, Banda tried to get at the throat, but the old bull used it's horns to toss Banda into the air. Banda was about to attack again, but the rest of the herd was charging straight at him. He knew that he was no match for a herd of angry bovines, so he retreated. However, he noticed that some of the aurochs were heading straight for the girls, he quickly ran for them, and tackled one of the bulls. This resulted in him getting thrown off by another bull, he got their attention and the entire herd chased after him. They chased him towards where the lions had Twilight's group in the tree. This caused the lions to run off, and Banda lost the herd by climbing on a boulder where he waited until Fluttershy came along.
"Ummm, excuse me, but could you let him get off that boulder please? I know that he attacked a herd member, but I think he's learned his lesson." Said Fluttershy
The Aurochs left, and Banda was finally allowed to get off the boulder.
"Thanks Fluttershy." Said Banda
"Your welcome, it's the least I could do after you saved us from getting trampled." Said Fluttershy
At sunset, a fire was made to get the groups together. And it did, as Tulu's group had come to join back up with the others.
"We found a river, and it's a big one." Said Tulu
"Great! then we can get the supplies in the morning." Said Twilight
"Now's the perfect time to hunt, let's go Tulu." Said Banda
"Just don't bother the Aurochs Banda." Said Fluttershy
"Fine, I'll probably get one of those hairy buffalo-looking things." Replied Banda
"Those would be called bison." Said Twilight
"Thanks for that, we'd better get going Tulu." Said Banda
"Couldn't agree more old friend." Replied Tulu
"Good luck handsome!" said Rainbow Dash
"Wait what?" asked Banda
"Uhhh I meant....good luck Banda." Answered Rainbow Dash
"Okay then...." Said Banda
Once the tiger boy and hyena were far enough away, the girls just couldn't help but talk about what just happened.
"Sounds like someone's getting fond of Banda." Said Rarity
"I've got no clue what you're talking about." Responded Rainbow Dash while she was blushing
"Come on now Rainbow, we heard what you said, besides, you're face is as red as an apple. You've got a crush on Banda." Said Applejack
"Oh alright, I'll admit it. I have a crush on Banda. He saved our lives multiple times already, I mean, he saved us from an angry giant elephant, saved us from a huge clan of hyenas, scared off a bunch of wild dogs to protect me, fought a crocodile to keep it from eating me, and he even saved Fluttershy and I from getting trampled by a bunch of aurochs. I mean, all that takes real guts. Also, he's nice, and he's pretty good looking too." Said Rainbow Dash
"Banda is a large, powerful male, capable of defending a territory. The perfect choice for a mate." Said Kama
The other girls just looked at her like she was just straight up weird, they never expected something like that coming out of a persons mouth.
"What? a suitable mate must be strong enough to guard a territory, so any cubs he has can grow to become adults." Explained Kama
Now Rainbow Dash's face was really red, after hearing what Kama just now said. Especially since they were all teenagers and not adults. Banda and Tulu finally came back, Banda had killed a make Auroch, which he told Fluttershy that this male was from a different herd. They dined on it, and when they were done, a pride of lions came onto the scene and ate the rest of the carcass. They got back into the cave, and once tired, fell asleep, hoping that tommorow would be better than today.
BAKULAN LION
Lions are one of the most iconic cats in the world. Like their African and Indian cousins, they live in prides. These prides can have anywhere from 2-20 members. Males will form coalition from 2-4 lions. The males protect the pride from any other males, and when the current males in a pride are defeated in combat, the new males will kill the cubs to bring the females back into heat. The reason males have those manes is to get the ladies, and apparently, girls like the big black manes because black manes absorb light, and that can cause massive heat to get to a lion, and that is something only the healthiest and strongest males can handle. Females do most of the hunting, and with Bakulan lions, their diet consists of bison, horses, camels, aurochs, pronghorns, deer, and even young mammoths. Their competiton includes wild dogs called Gongers, which lions dominate easily, brown bears, which one on one, a bear can kill a lion, but not a pride, Miracinonyx, a cousin of the cougar with a cheetahs speed, which lions dominate completley, and a sabertooth cat called the Cotamuna. They are the lions worst nemesis, and the two species will hunt at different times to avoid each other.
The next morning, when everyone woke up, Applejack was now determined more than ever to finally build a boat that would actually be able to take them home.
"Alright everybody! Let's get the stuff for the new boat!" ordered Applejack
"Hold it Applejack, before we do anything like that, we'd better eat first. Come on Tulu." Said Banda
Tulu was once again smelling the air to get a scent, they ended up finding a huge herd of bison. When I mean huge, I mean huge, as this herd had hundreds of bison in it. A far cry to the huge herds of buffalo and Wildebeest back in the Hunters Deathtrap.
"That's one big herd!" whispered Tulu
"I know, makes stalking them more difficult, but I can see a bison with a huge injury on it's leg." Said Banda
Banda got close to the herd, close as he could, like he normally would. Once within range, he gave chase. The bison feld with terror, Banda leaped onto his target, wrestled with it, got it on the ground, and sank his canines into the throat, crushing the windpipe, and killing it.
"Well done old friend!" Said Tulu
"Thanks Tulu, now to get this back to the girls." Said Banda
Banda, with his immense strength, dragged the dead bison to the cave, or at least he was until a pride of big cats appeared. These weren't lions, they were sabertooths, with short tails, powerful, muscular forelimbs, and canines that only got down to the bottom of the lower jaw, and their pelts were the same color as a lions, for camoflauge, and this pride had five of them. Banda growled to tell them to back off.
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"
"Banda, are you crazy? You can't take these things on, they're too much for you!" Said Tulu
"I know, we gotta get outta here now!" Said Banda
One of the sabertooths attacked, and fought with Banda, Banda got the upper hand until the rest of the sabertooths attacked, and unlike with hyenas and wild dogs, Banda was just no match for them, and he was forced to retreat.
"Perfect, this is EXACTLY why I stuck to the spots with trees in our old home, so our kills were easier to hide." Said Banda
"I know, we'll just have to hunt again-sniffs the air-and I can smell the scent of something else edible." Said Tulu
Back at the cave, the girls were waiting for the hunters to return, wondering what they'd bring back. When Banda and Tulu did return, they brought back a horse.
"This is going to be so weird." Thought Sunset Shimmer
But this is what the hunters brought back, so Applejack butchered it, and put it over the fire.
"Well this is certainly a new experience, I've never had horse before." Said Rarity
"Well we would have brought a bison but a bunch big cats I've never seen before stole it from us." Said Tulu
"A kill got stolen from you?" asked Applejack
"Yes, I may be powerful, but not invincible." Said Banda
"Yeah, when he made a kill, he always had to hide it so no social cats or huge bears could steal it from him." Said Tulu
However, as thy were chatting, another group was on the move.
"ROOOOOOOWWWWW" "RRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW"
They looked in the direction of the noises, only to see the same cats that stole Banda's kill coming straight for them. Only this time, there were thirty of the big cats this time.
"OH COME ON!!!!" shouted Banda
The cats charged, and with the gang severely outnumbered, they were forced to retreat.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
When they gang was a good enough distance away from them, they saw that the cats wanted the cave for themselves.
"First we get stranded, then attacked by many kinds of animals, our boats get destroyed, and now we got chased out of our cave, WHY DOES NATURE HATE US SO FREAKING MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" complained Rainbow Dash
"I don't know, that's the way it is. Let's go before they come after us again." Said Kama
They moved on, but they went to the river Tulu's group found, and he was right we he said it was a big one. Not only that, but it was full of fish. The perfect meal, as fish are easier to catch than things like horses and bison, and fish can be eaten more quickly and therefore, less likely to be stolen from them. But now was the time to get the supplies for the new boat. However, they were distracted by a battle between two male brown bears. The bears grappled with each other, trying to push the other one to the ground, fur was flying, but then the bears stopped, and then ran off. The reason for this was the arrival of a herd of Columbian Mammoths, these mammoths are bigger than Woolly Mammoths, and not as hairy. This was a matriarchal herd, made up of females and their calves. Banda and Tulu got out of there right away, not wanting to be chased around by the mammoths.
"Nope, not doing this today." Said Banda as he and Tulu went away from the mammoths.
Noon had come, meaning it was lunch time.
"Well, time to do a little fishing." Said Banda
"I can help you out, I made a fishing rod." Said Applejack
Of course you would." Replied Rainbow Dash
Banda got into the water, and Applejack threw her line. Banda waited patiently, when a fish got close enough, he took a swipe at the fish, but he missed, as it dodged his swipe. Applejack on the other hand was catching lots of fish, making Banda look rather bad.
"Seems Applejack's the better fisher." Said Fluttershy
"Oh hush, I get one, just you wait."
Banda set his sights on a huge fish, he waited for it to get close, but this time, he jumped at it, but it darted away. Banda wasn't about to give up so easily, as he gave chase to it, he ran around down the river, but then he ended up back where the mammoths were drinking, but the mammoths were gone, but there was now a bull mammoth there.
"Hehe, ummmm hi?" said Banda
The mammoth threw Banda in the air with it's tusks, and Banda ended up falling and landing right in the middle of the river, and he went back to the girls, without the fish.
"I thought you said you were good at fishing." Said Sunset
"Oh shut up." Said Banda
Applejack cooked the fish she caught in the fire, and while Banda wasn't too pleased with his fishing attempt, he did like the taste of the fish.
"Don't worry Banda, I'm not that good at fishing either. Believe me, I tried to beat Applejack at a fishing contest, didn't go well for me." Said Rainbow Dash
"Good to know I'm not the only one, though the next time Tulu and I go hunting, I think we'll take you with us since you can confuse anything trying to take our kill with your powers." Said Banda
"GASP! REALLY!!!" squealed Rainbow Dash
"Uhhhhhhh....yes." Said Banda, having no idea how to react to Rainbow Dash's reaction.
After the gang ate, it was now time to get to work on the new boat, again.
COTAMUNA
The second largest cat in the plains, the Cotamuna is a deadly killer. Living in groups numbering in the thirties, their diet includes bison, horses, camels, aurochs, young mammoths, caribou, and elk. The competition includes wild dogs called Gongers, which the cats easily dominate, Miracinonyx, which are also dominated easily, brown bears, which can be a formidable opponent one on one, but are dominated when confronted by a pride. Lions are their worst enemies, in fact, Cotamunas hunt during the day to try to avoid lions, however, prides of Cotamunas have been known to kill lions when they significantly outnumber them. The social structure is similar to lions, the only difference is that males will help with the hunting more often than male lions. When they hunt, they have to get as close to their prey as possible, for they don't have as much endurance, so they can only run fast for a short distance. Then they use their powerful forelimbs to get a victim down onto the ground, and kill it quickly with those saber teeth.
Chapter 8: The Miracinonyx
While they were working on the boat, Fluttershy noticed something in the grass. That thing in the grass was a big cat cub. The cub had black spots, had pointed ears, a light brown fur coat, and long, skinny, cheetah-like legs.
"Hey guys, come look at this!" said Fluttershy
Everyone else came over to where Fluttershy was, and they too saw the cub. The cub hid in the grass, hoping it wouldn't be noticed by them. Fluttershy walked over to it to try to comfort it.
"Don't worry sweetie, they won't bite." Said Fluttershy
The cub slowly came out of the grass, and Fluttershy was able to pick up the cub.
"Aaaaawwwww, it's so adorable!" squealed Sunset Shimmer
"Cutest puma cub I've ever seen!" squealed Rarity
"And the weirdest, look at it's legs!"
"Wait a minute, skinny legs, looks like a cougar cub, this must be a Miracinonyx!" said Twilight
"A Mira-what now?" asked Rainbow Dash
"A Miracinonyx, it was a cat closely related to the cougar, but it had the speed of a cheetah." Answered Twilight
"That's nice to know, but we have to find the mother." Said Banda
"He's right, I know exactly how that mother probably feels right now." Said Kama
Once again, everyone else looked at her like she was the weirdest person ever.
"Okaaaaaaay then, Tulu, Rainbow, and I will find the mother, the rest of you look after it." Said Banda
Banda's group was off, with Rainbow Dash taking to the sky to get an aerial view. While the girls were trying to get the boat together, the cub turned out to be more difficult to look out after then they thought, and it did nip onto Sunsets leg.
"OWWW" shouted Sunset
"No no no, we don't bite people's legs, no we do not!" said Kama sternly
The cub let go, but there was a good reason for that behavior.
"You must be hungry, and you're old enough to eat meat so one of us will have to hunt." Said Kama
"Wow, you seem to know what you're doing." Said Sunset
"Let's just say I've got experience." Replied Kama
"Wait, you've raised cubs before?" asked Applejack
"Yes, but I'll tell you later. Gotta get him some food." Answered Kama
"Well let me make a spear for ya real quick." Said Applejack
"I really hope this boat doesn't get destroyed or flipped over by a strong current." Said Twilight
"Me too, I hate getting wet." Said Kama
When Applejack finished the spear and gave it to Kama, Kama went off into the plains in search of a proper meal. Meanwhile, Banda and his group were still searching for the mother.
"See anything Rainbow?" asked Banda
"I don't see any cats at all, just herds of herbivores." Answered Rainbow Dash
Tulu went on ahead, he used his keen sense of smell, and he found something he dreaded seeing.
"Hey guys, come look at this!" said Tulu
They went over to Tulu, and they saw what he found, which was the dead body of a female Miracinonyx. The corpse had puncture marks in the neck, and Banda smelled the scent of another feline.
"Must be the mother, poor little guy." Said Banda
"That's horrible!" said Rainbow Dash
"Come on, we must tell the others." Said Tulu
When they got back, Kama had retured from the hunt, which she brought back a pronghorn, and the cub was eating the meat. They noticed Banda's group wasn't looking so pleased.
"Whatever is the matter darlings?" asked Rarity
"We found the mother, but she's dead. Killed by a bigger feline." Answered Banda
"Oh my, how dreadful!" said Rarity
Kama, overhearing this, began to tear up, holding the cub up close to her. Pinkie Pie deflated, and the cub looked like it was wondering what just happened with Pinkie.
"So.....what's gonna happen to the little guy now?" asked Pinkie Pie
"Perhaps we could take him with us?" suggested Rarity
"No, he's a wild animal, he can't come with us." Said Twilight
"But I'm a wild animal, and I'm coming with you." Argued Tulu
"Well the thing is, you can talk, so you can get along with people just fine. This little guy on the other hand can't, and if we brought him back with us, then tons of people would come here, and many animals around the world already have to worry about people killing them. Besides, if they went to the first place we were, many people would be killed. We just can't let that happen." Explained Twilight
"So what do you think we should do then?" asked Banda
"I have an idea, maybe we can the cubs father." Answered Twilight
"What are you talking about Twilight? Male lone cats don't care for their own cubs!" said Kama
"That's exactly what scientists thought until a male tiger in Ranthambore National Park in India raised his two female cubs after their mother died. Plus, we don't know for sure if male Miracinonyx were caring dads or not, so that's an open question
"Well what are standing around for? Let's go!" said Tulu
They were off once again, hoping to find a male Miracinonyx in the area. Just before sunset, they found one, and they let the cub go. The cub ran up, and the male rubbed on him, meaning that this individual was indeed the cubs father. The gang left soon after that. At the time they got back to the boat, they decided to make a fire and eat some more fish. One that night, there was one particular thing on Sunsets mind.
"Kama, you said you raised cubs before, and you also said you've seen lions even though you lived in a place lions don't live, and you said you hate getting wet. Mind explaining why?" asked Sunset Shimmer
What they heard next, they would have never thought to ever hear about a person's past. Kama looked at everyone, and told them what they wanted to know.
"This may sound crazy, but...at one time.....I was a cheetah." Answered Kama
Everyone had their eyes wide open in amazement, and their jaws hanging.
"I was born in the savanna, I was the only one in my litter. My mom was sitting on a huge termite mound one day while I was playing, she told me to hide. She saw lions coming, she went towards while I hid in the long grass. She tried to use her speed to escape and distract them from me. Little did she know that there was another lion waiting in ambush, and before she could even try to escape it, the lion caught her and grabbed her by the neck, and I heard the sounds of her screeching in pain, the lion broke her neck, and she died. I stayed hidden the rest of the night, with lions, hyenas, and leopards hunting at night, I had to stay quiet, despite my urge to cry. In the morning, I was rescued by some humans who took me to a place they called a sanctuary, where they took care of me and taught me how to hunt. When I became an adult, they released me back into the wild, and I had my own territory. There were three males that were interested in me, the strongest one is the one I liked, and I eventually had my first litter of cubs, which were two boys. I loved them with all my heart, and I would do anything for them. But one day, I came back from a hunt, only to find two male lions with my little boys in their jaws. They saw me, so I had to run away, luckily I escaped. I cried the whole night, the next day, I was just walking, but then I was captured by bad humans, they caught me in a net, and then put me in a cage and put me in the back of a truck and drove onto a plane. Eventually, they brought Banda into the truck, but he was able to escape. When we got to the jungle, I was finally able to escape, at first I was struggling to survive in the jungle, but then an elderly shaman man came to me, and with his magic, he turned me into a teenage human girl, and he passed away soon after and my fear of fire eventually went away, and I lived in the jungle until I met you guys." Said Kama
"That explains EVERYTHING!" said Applejack
"Kama, I'm sorry to hear about your losses, but when we get to our destination, you can live with Banda and I, we decided to get our own place soon after he killed the horse." Said Tulu
"Thank you." Said Kama before hugging Tulu tightly.
"Your welcome kid." Said Tulu
It was getting late, and the gang went to sleep for the night. Meanwhile, there was some glowing nearby, it was coming from Kama's spearpoint, Applejack apparently made it out of a teleportation rock, these rocks only work when a person makes them into a carving or a weapon, and a red aura formed around the gang, and it teleported them to another riverbank, in another region in Bakula.
MIRACINONYX
Miracinonyx is one of the fastest big cats in Bakula. They can run up to a top speed of 85 km per hour, but they don't have much stamina. They hunt during the hottest part of the day when the other predators are less active, so it can avoid them at all costs because while these cats are deadly, they're at the bottom of the large predator hierarchy in the plains. The larger predators and packs of Gongers will kill these cats in order to eliminate the competition. However, these cats have been known to kill solitary Gongers when they get the chance. The favorite prey of Miracinonyx are Pronghorns, and these cats are the main reason pronghorns are fast to begin with. Miracinoyx fossils have been found in North America, but they managed to come into Bakula when there was a landbridge between Bakula and North America.
Chapter 9: The Giant Tiger
When the sun rose, and they sky turned blue for a new day. The sound of a Red Deer stag bellowing could be heard from a distance. Hearing the noise, Rainbow Dash woke up, seeing more trees than she remembered. She quickly turned around to see more forest where she clearly remembered more wide open spaces, making her realize that they were yet again, in a different place.
"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!" shouted Rainbow Dash
Her shouting wake everybody else up.
"What just happened?" asked Tulu before he took a look around himself.
"Where the heck are we now?" asked Kama
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS JUST THE WORST POSSIBLE THING!!!!" shouted Rarity
"Grrrrrrrrrr.....I swear, if another boat we build either never gets finished or is destroyed, I'm gonna go crazy!" said Applejack
"Calm down, we'll just start over....again. But we'd better eat before we get on to that. You girls stay here, Tulu, Kama, Rainbow Dash, with me." Said Banda
"Wait, you want me to come with you?" asked Rainbow Dash
"Well I did say I'd take you with me in case I'd need you to use your speed to confuse anything trying to take a kill. For all we know, there could be demon sabertooths out here." Answered Banda
"AW YEAH!!" cheered Rainbow Dash
They went on their way, Tulu once again was on the trail of prey. They found a dead carcass of animal in a meadow. But this animal was strange, it had hooves, white fur, was really massive, but it wasn't a bovine as it had fur on it's nose, and weirdest yet, it had a large "boss" on its head. the boss was flat, but thick, and made of keratin, same thing rhino horns and fingernails are made out of. Banda could tell that this animal died of old age, as their was no sign of disease. But before they could get to the kill, a pack of wild dogs came into the meadow and fed on the carcass. These dogs were about the size of German Shepards, had pointy ears, bushy tails, thick fur coats, white underbellies, were orange on top, had thick black stripes going down the backs and tails, and there eyes were light gold, and this pack had thirty five of them.
"Well this is going to be fun." Said Banda
"Why?" asked Rainbow Dash
"Simple, scavenging is more fun when you can chase dogs or hyenas away from carcasses." Answered Banda
Banda prepared himself to charge at the dogs, Rainbow Dash was now eager to see the event, however, one of the dogs lifted it's head up , faced the opposite direction, smelled the air, and made a peculiar sound.
"ROM ROM ROM ROM ROM"
The rest of the dogs, after hearing the call, ran off as quickly as a gazelle from a cheetah.
"What the.." Said Kama
"Okay, whatever animal managed to scare them off, I'm so gonna..." Said Banda
Before he could finish that sentence,a tiger came out from the woods, but this was no ordinary tiger. This tiger was massive, how massive you ask? The tiger was taller than a horse, had paws as wide as a man's chest, in length, it was lnger than a couch, the head was wider than a man's chest, and it weighed at least more than a ton, and it was a male in his prime.
"Get my tail kicked!!" said Banda
The gang had their eyes wide open, jaws really wide open, and didn't dare move a muscle. The tiger opened it's jaws, revealing the canines which were as long as a human hand. The tiger sank his fangs into the flesh, but before he did anything else, he sniffed the air, and realized the gang was right there with him. The tiger released his grip, got his claws out, which were longer than human fingers, and he roared.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
The roar was as loud as thunder, and was more than enough to make the gang run off. They hid behind some bushes, and the tiger then dragged the carcass that weighed three tons off into the forest.
"Let's follow it." Said Kama
"What! Kama, are you crazy? Did you not see the size of that thing?" asked Banda
"Yes, but I doubt it will finish that carcass in one sitting, if we can just get some of that meat while it isn't looking." Answered Kama
"Kama, if you think I'm gonna get that tigers attention, you're out of your mind! I don't want that thing coming after me, even if I do have super speed." Said Rainbow Dash
This did not deter Kama, as she went straight ahead to where the tiger went.
"We'd better just go with her, just to make sure she doesn't get herself killed." Said Banda
They follow the tiger to his den, They hide behind some nearby bushes to stay out of sight.
"BOOW BOOOW BOOW"
Three cubs came out of the den, and they started gorging on the carcass, and the adult laid down on his belly.
"Cubs? I thought male tigers had nothing to do with raising cubs." Said Rainbow Dash
"Well Twilight did say something about one male tiger rearing his young after the mother died, remember?" asked Tulu
"Oh....right." Replied Rainbow Dash
As the cubs were eating the carcass, the male tiger lifted his head up, got up on his front paws, as if something wasn't right, and indeed, something was very wrong. A huge male Short-Faced Bear came into view after smelling the scent of the carcass. The bear was six feet at the shoulder, obviously had a short face, and also weighed more than a ton. The bear realized it was in the presence of a male tiger, and actually tried to back off.
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"
The tiger was having none of it, the bear had come to close to the cubs, and without hesitation, the tiger charged at the bear. The bear, knowing it couldn't outrun the tiger, reared up on it's hind legs. However, the tiger did the same thing, and both began to duke it out like heavyweight boxers. The tiger had quicker reactions, and was able to get more hits in. Seeing this as the chance to get some meat, Kama and Banda quickly ran up to the carcass, and Kama began to butcher it, while Banda took it back to Tulu and Rainbow Dash. The tiger managed to give the bear a nasty scratch across the face, while the bear gave the tiger some scratches on the shoulder and back. Both were covering still clawing and biting each other, ut then the tiger got one last blow with a scratch to the nose, the bear finally had enough, and retreated.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
The tiger turned back around, only to see Banda and Kama at the carcass, the tiger charged at them and they were wise to run away.
"YIPE! NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE!!!!" Said both Banda and Tulu while they were running away.
Back at the river, the girls were just sitting there, waiting for the hunters to return. However, they ended up being accompanied by a bunch of animals. These included elk, wood bison, aurochs, tarpan horses, mastodons, animals of the same species as the dead one the others found, and even a giant ground sloth. The sloth was huge, bigger than a bison, the size of a hippotamus, had long arms with huge claws, and big, thick tails. The aurochs, smelling the girls, charged at them without hesitation, and forced them into a tree.
"Why is it that in every place we go, we end up going up a tree to get away from something?" asked Sunset Shimmer
"I don't know Sunset." Answered Twilight
"Though it's weird, these guys chase us up a tree, but elephants, well most of them anyway, just leave us alone." Said Applejack
"That would be because people around here don't hunt elephants because they're sacred but aurochs aren't sacred, and that bull lost his eye from a human hunt." Said Pinkie Pie
At this point, the bull Pinkie mentioned just looked at them like "How the heck did she know that?"
"It's Pinkie Pie, don't question it." Said Fluttershy
In the surrounding cover, a tigress was stalking. Her chosen target was the ground sloth. Once she got close enough, she charged, causing the animals except for the mastodons to flee. The sloth was too slow, so it reared upon it's hind legs, ready to fight back, but the tigress used it's power to leap onto the sloth, knock it over, and bite the throat, crushing the windpipe, and then releasing it's grip when the sloth was finally dead. The tigress was also massive, not as large as the male, but large and powerful enough to even make Applejack feel scared. The tiger took notice of the girls in the tree, and gave them a look they didn't like one bit.
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"
"That's all yours miss, all yours." Said Applejack
Then a white dog with pointy ears and a bushy tail came right up to the tigress, and amazingly, the tigress didn't harm it. But the tigress dragged to kill to a secluded spot to eat it, and the dog just followed it. Knowing it was safe to come down, the girls got out of the tree, and not long after, Banda, Tulu, Kama, and Rainbow Dash had finally arrived with food.
"We're back!" said Tulu
"What were you doing in the tree?" asked Banda
"A herd of thos aurochs chased us up there, then a huge tiger came along and killed a big sloth thing, and that tiger even made Applejack nervous." Answered Rarity
"You encountered a giant tiger too?" asked Rainbow Dash
"So did you?" asked Fluttershy
"Well, we've got quite the story to tell." Said Kama
Applejack made another fire, the meat was cooked, Banda told the story of their encounter with the king of the forest, and after they ate, it was time to build another boat, which everyone was hoping would be successful for Applejack's sake.
GIANT TIGER
The Giant Tiger is the biggest cat in all of Bakula. They are at the top of the food chain, with nothing to prey on them. But why are they so big? Their size is a way of dealing with the super intense competition with other predators. They compete with leopards, Short-Faced Bears, Asiatic Black Bears, Brown Bears, weird big cats called Krises, Eurasian Lynx, and wild dogs called Gongers. Giant Tigers dominate most of their competitors comepletley, in fact, Gongers will run at the first sight of a tiger, and they even have a warning call for tigers, and they don't really thrive when tigers are around. Their worst enemy is the short-faced bear. Male short-faced bears will follow juvenile tigers and tigresses to take their kills, but they avoid male tigers at all costs, as male tigers are larger and more powerful. Female bears will stay clear of tigers, and will go to areas with few tigers when they have cubs. While bears like to avoid male tigers, there are the occasional fights between the two species, in which tigers usually win. However, despite their ferocity, they have a caring side. Male tigers can be seen spending time with their families, and even raising the cubs if the mother dies. They also have formed a symbiotic relationship with Bakulan Hunting Dogs. The dogs will track down prey with their sense of smell and lead the tigers to prey, then the tiger will do the killing, both get a meal and in return, the tiger protects the dog from other predators. As for diet, these tigers hunt ground sloths, deer, elk, moose, aurochs, horses, bison, Umakas (the unusual herbivore in the chapter), young mastodons, bears, just about anything they can get their teeth and claws on. They hunt by ambush, they stalk their prey until they get close enough to give chase, and Giant Tigers have lots of endurance muscle, allowing them to last longer in a chase. Then they charge, with an animal like a ground sloth, they use their power and size to get the animal down on the ground, and then crush the widpipe. With an animal like a deer, they literally crush the spinal cord with their bone-crushing jaws. Like other tigers, they're solitary, with males having larger territories than females and overlap with those of females, and tigers are very territorial, and have fierce battles over territory, even killing other tigers sometimes.
The gang had split up in their quest to get boat supplies. Fluttershy, Sunset Shimmer, Tulu, Applejack, and Kama were gathering wood when they came across a dead bison. Nothing unusual about it, but it didn't have much meat on it.
"Not a lot of meat, better not bother with it." Said Tulu
"Yeah...tell that to THAT thing!" said Kama
They looked over in the direction of the dead bison, and they saw yet another new big cat. But this one was odd....really odd. The feline was the color of a lion, and had a lion-like head. But it had a short tail, like a lynx, the claws surprisingly weren't retractable, and were always stuck out like a dogs claws, and the claws were as long as a grizzly bears, and the front legs were much longer than the back legs, causing the animal's back to really slope downwards towards the hindquarters, giving it a hyena-like profile.
"That's gotta be the weirdest cat I've ever seen!" said Applejack
"Why is it at that kill? I mean, there's barely any meat on it." Said Sunset Shimmer
Sunset ended up being amazed as the big cat grabbed the bison's thighbone in it's jaws and cracked it wide open and ate the nutritious marrow inside.
"Nevermind! Let's get outta here before one of our arms ends up like that!" Responded Sunset
Banda, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Twilight were next to rapids in the river looking for anything they could use to make the wood on the boat stick together. However, something else interfered.
"Graaaaaa"
"What the?" said Banda
They went down to the rapids and they ended up seeing a bear cub in the water, desperately trying to stay above water to avoid drowning. Quickly, Twilight ponied up, and flew to the cub's rescue, and grabbed it before it went further downriver. She got it back to shore, and got a good look at it. They saw the cub was black, but it also had a moon-shaped white spot on it's chest.
"AAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! It's so cute!" squealed Rarity
"Not only that, it's and Asiatic Black Bear!" Said Twilight
"Asia has black bears too?" asked Rainbow Dash
"Better believe it!" answered Twilight
"We'd better find the mother." Said Banda
"And if the mom died, we'll just find the dad." Said Rainbow Dash
"Rainbow Dash, male bears aren't as fatherly as male big cats are, males will kill cubs! so if the mother is dead, then we will just have to take him with us." Responded Twilight
"If any male bear tries to kill this little guy, I'll give him the old one two." Said Banda
"I know you will Banda, but before you possibly do fight one, I should say that Asiatic Black Bears have been known to fight off tigers of your size. But black bears are a part of the tigers diet." Said Twilight
"Thanks for the info Twilight, the cub was flowing down this way, so we'd better go in this direction." Said Banda
The gang was off, but they weren't alone. Another big cat of the same species the others saw them carry the bear cub, and was interested in having bear meat, so it followed them. Eventually, it got to the point where they got hungry, knowing it was lunchtime, Banda had to leave.
"I'm gonna go and get some prey. I'll be back." Said Banda
"Don't you want me to come with you?" asked Rainbow Dash
"Some other time, the reason being that you yourself said you wouldn't try to distract one of those giant tigers, and if one did come around, I couldn't fight it off. I'll be back at some point." Answered Banda
When we went off hunting, the big cat following them waited for Banda to get a good distance away from them, once that happened, the feline didn't stalk the girls, but it just straight up charged at them, and it easily pinned down Twilight who was holding the bear cub. However, Rainbow Dash used her speed to run and have enough force to knock the big cat over. The feline got back up on it's feet, facing Rainbow, normally the cat would have the advantage, but of course, this was Rainbow Dash it was dealing with, and she was able to dodge every attack it made.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH"
Rainbow Dash got a large branch, and she got out of the cats way, jumped onto it's back, grabbed the branch with her other hand and practically had the cat in a choke hold. Banda, hearing the commotion, came charging back, and when he got there, he saw Rainbow Dash on her opponents back.
"Whoa, she's amazing!" thought Banda
However, the big cat reared up, and landed on it's back with Rainbow on it and quickly pinned her to the ground with it's paw, but as her friends were about to help her out, someone else was coming to the rescue.
"HUAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH"
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH"
The big cat retreated, with the mother bear biting it in the hind leg. After the battle, the cub ran up to it's mother and the mother bear nuzzled her cub, she took a good look at those who saved him, and the pair went on their merry way.
"Go mama bear!" said Pinkie Pie
"Now that's what I call motherly instinct." Said Applejack
"Hey Rainbow Dash, that was really brave of you, and that was a nice move!" said Banda
"You really think so!?" asked Rainbow Dash
"Yeah, I've never met anyone who'd do that, but of course they didn't have super speed. But, honestly, I'm still impressed nonetheless." Answered Banda who saw the Rainbow's face was a little red
Rainbow Dash was about to squeal at the fact that the boy of her dreams just complimented her, but of course, something else had to happen.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH"
The roar was coming from somewhere behind them, sounded like a fight was happening, they went in the direction of the roars to make sure one of them wasn't getting killed. Sure enough, it was a fight between two big cats, and one of them had a hairstyle Rarity really approved of.
KRIS
The Kris is one of the weirdest cats to ever live. But why is it so weird? The hyena like profile of this cat, allows it to run over long distances. The non-retractable claws allow for good traction on the ground, and are as long as the claws of a grizzly. The hyena-like teeth allow it to crack open huge bones so it can get to the marrow on the inside. In fact, Krises can actually digest parts of a carcass that other predator can't, like the skin and bones, giving the Kris it's own niche in the ecosystem. They do of course interact with other hunters,and this is where there claws and power really comes in handy, they follow packs of Gongers around to steal their kills, they're dominant over leopards and lynxes, but they do struggle with both brown bears and black bears. Giant Tigers are their worst nightmare, as these huge cats will kill Krises on sight to eliminate the competition. Krises will also avoid Short-Faced bears, and the big cats known as Kauas. Females can have anywhere from 2-5 cubs in a litter.
Author's Note
The reason I named this animal "Kris" is because Martin Kratt already shares his name with some animals, so I figured his brother Chris Kratt should be able to share his name with an animal.
At the scene, they saw two cats locked in combat. They were the same species, both had brown fur, round ears, and bright gold eyes, but one of them was larger, and the smaller one was odd. The reason being that the smaller one had long blue hair on it's head. The blue haired cat was struggling to beat it's opponent, being overpowered by the larger cat. they took a look at the bushes behind the blue haired cat, and saw three cubs, making it perfectly clear that the blue haired animal was a female protecting her offspring.
"Not on my watch pal." Said Banda
Banda charged at the larger cat and tackled him to the ground. His opponent fought back with a swipe to the face, the female feline struck the male cat in the face, together, they forced the male cat to retreat. Banda turned his attention to the female cat as she laid down on the rocks to lick her wounds. Her forelimb had a massive cut in it, causing her to limp as she walked. Her cubs came running up to her and rubbed on her. Banda suddenly was hit close to home, as the sight of the mother and cubs caused him to have some rather painful memories. Banda nudged her, and let her lay her injured leg on him and helped her walk towards the girls.
"Change of plan, we'll help her get better." Said Banda
"Of course darling, and I must say, her hair is just so FABULOUS!" said Rarity
"I'll go find a cave we can take her too, and tell the others while I'm at it." Said Rainbow Dash
Rainbow Dash was off into the sky, the others followed. She did manage to find a cave, went inside it to make sure nothing else was using it. They brought the injured feline into the cave and Banda helped her settle down on the cave floor. Rainbow Dash took off again to send the message to the other group, speaking of which, the other group had gathered some wood for the boat, however, they also found the dead body of the male of the same species of cat that fought the female. The animal's meat wasn't eaten, but there were puncture marks in the neck.
"Oh my, what could have done this?" asked Fluttershy
"From the looks of it, I'm gonna say he was killed in a territorial dispute." Said Kama after she looked at the puncture holes in the neck.
"This guy was mauled in a fight over territory? That's just a lousy thing to do." Responded Applejack
"And like you humans don't do the same thing to other predators?" asked Tulu
"Yeah Applejack, you and your family have killed dozens of coyotes, so you really are one to talk." Said Fluttershy
"Hey it's not our fault those stinking varmints kill livestock and eat up my family's deer." Argued Applejack
But Applejack, since when do wild deer belong to you? You don't have to hunt to survive, and you don't hunt at all, nor do Big Mac or Applebloom." Argued Fluttershy
"Well we don't need to, there are plenty of people killing coyotes, and you know what, I could care less if they all died out." Replied Applejack
"APPLEJACK!!!! HOW COULD YOU!?" shouted Kama
"Yeah missy, that kind of behavior right there is EXACTLY why predators back in my old home started hunting humans. Humans killed them for fun, killed their offspring, and destroyed their homes. Eventually, the predators eventually fought back, and drove out the humans that were new arrivals. Ever since then, they have treated humans the same way you people treat those coyotes, like vermin." Said Tulu
At that moment, Rainbow Dash had arrived, and landed on the ground.
"Hey guys, there's been a change of plan, we found an injured big cat, and now we're going to nurse it back to health. Follow me." Said Rainbow Dash
When they got to the cave, they saw their friends with three cubs, and the injured feline.
"What the..?" Said Kama
"How the heck is blue hair even possible?" asked Tulu
"Not sure, but Rarity seems to like it." Said Banda
"Well of course darling! Her hair is simply marvelous!" replied Rarity
Fluttershy went over to the big cat, and started talking to her.
"Oh my....ma'am, I think we saw your husband, he's dead, and he had puncture wounds in his neck."
"Oh no........." Said Banda
Banda looked over at the now fatherless cubs, looking though as if he was going to cry.
"I......I need to be alone." Said Banda before he ran off into the forest.
"Where's he going?" asked Twilight
"He was in a similar situation and just needs to be alone." Answered Pinkie Pie
"Of course you would SOMEHOW know that Pinkie." Replied Twilight
Rainbow Dash was just about to go after Banda, but she was stopped by Tulu
"It's best to leave him be." Said Tulu
"ROOOOOOOWWWWWMMM" "RRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWMMMMMM" "RRRROOOOOOOOWWWMMMMM"
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"
"Oh boy...........sounds like there's more than one of them." Said Kama
"What? I thought big cats were only social in grasslands!" Said Twilight
"Well, Asiatic lions live in dry forests, so maybe their social system is similar to theirs?" suggested Fluttershy
"What about Banda? shouldn't someone get him before they find him?" asked Kama
"Relax, he may not be exactly the happiest guy right now, but he isn't deaf or stupid. I'm sure he's on his way here now." Said Tulu
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"That was Banda!" said Pinkie Pie
"On second thought, I'll go get him out his situation, you stay here with the cat and her cubs." Ordered Tulu
"I'll come with you!" said Rainbow Dash before she ran off before Tulu could stop her
"Guess she's coming with me." Said Tulu
Rainbow Dash rushed to the rescue, only to find the boy of her dreams with his neck in a snare, struggling to get out.
"GASP! Oh my gosh!" said Rainbow Dash panicking
"What did get yourself into this GASP!" said Tulu after seeing his friend in a snare
"How do we get him out of there!?" asked Tulu
"We have to get that peg out!" answered Rainbow Dash
However, Rainbow Dash saw a pack of the species of wild dogs they saw being chased off by the Giant Tiger, seeing this as an opportunity, they move in for the kill.
"STAY AWAY FROM HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!" shouted Rainbow Dash
Rainbow used her speed to run circles around the dogs, when they got close, she knocked them away with her strength. Tulu on the other hand was digging the peg out. Rainbow kept ramming into the dogs and knocking them over, but this did not deter them. However, something else did.
"RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH"
That roar caused the dogs to flee, Tulu finally got the peg out, but Banda wasn't moving.
"Banda! you're free! Banda?" said Tulu
"Oh no....we're.......too....late" said Rainbow Dash
Both began to mourn the loss of Banda, especially Rainbow as she never got the chance to admit her feelings for him to him. Or so she thought. Banda began breathing again, his eyes opened, and started to get back up on his legs.
"BANDA!" shouted Tulu as he hugged his old friend
"Thank the heavens you're okay!" said Rainbow Dash
"Thanks you guys." Said Banda
"GET AWAY YOU RUFFIANS!!!!!!!!" shouted Rarity
"Something's happening, let's go!" said Tulu
They got back to the cave, and they saw Rarity using her magic to block the cave entrance from not one, but three males of the same species as the female in the cave. They even included the one Banda tangled with earlier.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH"
"HURAAAAAHHHHH"
Once the coalition heard the roar, they turned to face the trio behind them.
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"
"HURAAAAAHH"
Banda unsheathed his claws, Rainbow Dash readied herself for the attack, Tulu, seeing he didn't have a choice, bared his teeth, but to their luck, they weren't alone.
"HURAAAAH"
They all looked over, and they saw none other than the male Giant Tiger they encountered not long ago, he was patrolling his territory when he heard the commotion, and now that he saw three rival cats on his territory, he gave chase.
"RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
The three cats ran off, even for those three, a giant tiger is too much to take on.
"Huh, how convenient." Said Tulu
Rarity got rid of the shield, allowing the trio to come in, once nighttime finally came, Banda decided it was the perfect time to go hunting, and he was going to take Rainbow Dash with him.
KAUA
Kaua's are the second biggest cat in the Great Forest. Unlike the other cats, they live in small groups, females live in group of 2-4 adults with cubs, while males will be in coalitions of up to 3 males. But why would these animals be social? The reason is so that they have multiple sets of eyes, ears, noses to detect Giant Tigers, because those tigers are their worst nightmare, and tigers will kill these cats on sight. They tend to avoid Short-Faced bears, but they dominate the rest of the competition. Their diet includes elk, deer, bison, horse, moose, aurochs, caribou, and giant sloths. The females have long blue hair on their heads, but not the males. The reason the females have them is because the guys think they're cool, and they prefer females with the longest hair. The reason that the hair is blue is that the hair contains lots of the pigment called tylatone (made it up so don't look it up). Females will have anywhere from 3-6 cubs, but when the current male or males are defeated by other males, the mothers will become very aggressive, as the males will kill any cubs that aren't theirs. These cats hunt during the daytime in order to try to avoid Giant Tigers.
Author's Note
Credits to Jigoku Luna for recommending this big cat species.
Chapter 12: The Bakulan Leopard
As Banda, Rainbow Dash, and Tulu were out looking for something to eat, they kept in mind of the amount of food the mother cat needed, so animals like rabbits and hares were off the menu. Tonight, Banda was determined to get something big, like a bison or an auroch. Of course, those weren't the first animals they saw, they encountered a Eurasian Lynx with a Roe Deer that it killed, Banda was about to chase it off until a wild dog of the same species that Rainbow Dash had to fight off and that was scared off by the Giant Tiger came up to the carcass, but it had it's ears folded back and it's tail tucked between it's legs, while the lynx was growling and it's back was arched up, and then the lynx attacked the dog, with those lightning fast reflexes, it managed to flip the dog onto it's back and attacked the belly, then the dog got back up and ran away. The lynx walked back to the kill and began feeding.
"Okay, THAT was really awesome!" said Rainbow Dash
"That's one tough kitty." Said Tulu
"I think he has earned the right to keep that kill, lets move on." Said Banda
As Tulu was tracking down some food, they came across a fast moving river, they took a few steps in it, and it was freezing. This made them happy to get out of the river.
"HOLY BUFFALOES!!!!" shouted Tulu
The reason for his shouting was clear, as they bumped into a Giant Salamander that was up to six feet long with a bulbous head, wrinkled skin, small legs, and tiny eyes. Now that's an animal you don't see everyday.
"Whoa! That thing is HUGE!" said Banda
"I've heard of giant salamanders in China and Japan, but I never thought I would ever see a wild one." Said Rainbow Dash
Not knowing how to carry it, they left it alone, and the colossal amphibian went on it's way to the river. Tulu was on the trail of some deer, not really knowing much about the deer, so he followed it. But it turned out, they weren't the only ones on the trail of the deer, a huge male leopard was on the prowl, Banda caught sight of the leopard, but that didn't bother him because he thought that if they let the leopard get a deer, he could easily chase it off, he wasn't a stranger to doing that after all. So they followed the leopard, it led them to a herd of deer that were brownish gold, had long fur around their necks, and the bucks had antlers like those of Mule Deer. The leopard had it sights on a fawn, when it was close enough, it charged, only to be stopped by one of the bucks who used it's antlers and strength to toss the leopard in the air, and then it chased the leopard off.
"Darn it." Said Banda
"Note to self, don't underestimate a wild animal." Said Rainbow Dash
Tulu caught the scent of another animal, but this one was old, so they followed him, and he led them to a bull moose. Banda was now in hunting mode, stalking the moose, getting as close as he could, and once he was close enough, he attacked, lunged at his quarry and landed on the back, but while the moose was old, it had lot of fight in it, and it bucked Banda off. Banda fell and landed on his side, but he got back up, and now the moose was charging him, he got out of the way and pounced and left a large wound on the moose's shoulder. Banda used his weight to bring the moose down with his jaws clamped around the throat, the moose was now down on his legs, and eventually, stopped breathing. Banda released his grip and then got a new grip on the neck and dragged the moose to the cave. Along the way, they heard distress sounds, they looked over, and saw a pair of Red Wolves defending their pups from the same leopard they bumped into earlier.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUHUUUUNNGGGGG"
The leopard, while outnumbered, was a powerful opponent, and was destroying the wolves, as the leopard had one pinned and was about sink it's fangs into the throat, Banda immediately charged at the leopard.
"HURRAAAHHH"
The leopard ran off, and quickly climbed up into a tree. Banda kept the leopard in the tree. the leopard was snarling at him, but Banda wasn't intimidated at all. When the wolves rounded up their pups and left, Banda went back to the kill and dragged the moose the rest of the way to the cave. When they reached the cave, they ended with a warm greeting.
"Welcome back guys!" said Pinkie Pie
"Oh my, that's quite a moose you brought down Banda!" complimented Rarity
Banda got the moose into the cave, Applejack and Kama buthcherd it, gave some raw meat to the cats and put some over the fire. At the some time, there was something on Rainbow's mind that she couldn't get rid of.
"Banda, I was just wondering, how did you end up the way you are? and how did you end up being in the wild alone with Tulu?" asked Rainbow
"Banda, you don't have to answer that it you don't want to." Said Tulu
"It's fine, it's about time I told them about my past. You see, I was born in the region we first met, my tribe was small, and I was actually the first baby the tribe had. But when my mom was pregnant with me, the shawoman put a spell on me that caused me to be this way, the reason she did this is in case something happened to them and I ended up being alone in the wilderness. Despite the fact that big cats were pretty much one of their biggest fears, my parent still loved me. However, things didn't really stay that way. One day, a group of men came to the land, and they had dogs, and weird weapons they called guns. They were killing just about everything in front of them, and they claimed to be doing it for something they called money. We knew that kind of behavior caused the predators to have such hatred and intolerance for us in the first place, so my tribe tried to stop them, but those men didn't listen, they killed them. To make things worse, my mother was pregnant for the second time. Those men learned that, but they didn't care. I was scared, and I ran away, from that point, I was alone. At first I was a scavenger, so I had to keep my wits about me to avoid being killed. I learned how to hunt by watching some of the big cats hunt, while at the same time trying to keep from being seen. After I grew up and became an accomplished hunter and fighter, Tulu started to follow me around to eat any leftovers, which I didn't mind. Then the old shaman came along, and he gave Tulu the ability to speak to me so we could communicate properly. One day, the same men who killed my family returned, and they captured me and put me in a cage in the thing you call a truck. That's when I met Kama, who was a cheetah at the time. I was able to escape with the help of the shaman, and I decided I wasn't letting those men go. So I fought them, and killed many of them, when it came to the one who shot my mother, I grabbed him by the neck and broke it. And I lived in that place until you girls came along and changed everything." Answered Banda
"Oh my, I'm so sorry to hear that darling." Said Rarity
"So that's why you ran off earlier, and why you helped those Red Wolves, this situation just reminded you of your past, and you just couldn't bear the thought of them being orphans." Said Rainbow Dash
"Exactly." Said Banda
"To be honest, I lost my parents too, the parents I have now adopted me as a baby." Said Rainbow Dash
"Really?" asked Banda
"Yeah, I love them, and life has been great, I'm even captain of all the sports teams back home." Said Rainbow Dash
"Whoa, that's amazing!" said Banda
After they ate, it was getting late, and the gang fell asleep, Rainbow Dash was now laying on Banda when she was sleeping.
BAKULAN LEOPARD
Height: 2 ft tall at the shoulder
Leopards may not be the most powerful cats, but they have the ability to live almost anywhere. Grasslands, jungles, mountains, deserts, even close to cities. So it's no surprise Bakula has a very healthy leopard population. However, across their range, leopards face serious enemies. In Africa, they live with lions, which are larger than leopards, hyenas, which can actually take kills away from them, packs of wild dogs which chase leopards into trees while they're in packs. In Asia, they live with Asiatic lions in India, tigers, bears, and packs of dholes. In Bakula, they coexist with Kaua's, Krises, Giant Tigers, Asiatic Black Bears, Brown Bears, Short-Faced Bears, and Gongers. All those predators will take a leopards kill, and even kill a leopard. However, leopards will kill lynxes, lone Gongers, and Red Wolves to eliminate the competition. Leopards will actually drag kills up into trees to keep them safe from other predators and they can eat in peace. Leopards like to hunt at night for better cover, and females can have 2-3 cubs in a litter. A special technique of leopards when they hunt is to literally jump out of trees and onto prey. Then kill it and drag it up the tree. Leopards eats many species of animals, and the leopards of Bakula are no different. The diet of Bakulan leopards consists of deer, wild boar, fox, raccoon dog, hares, rabbits, red wolves, young horses, auroch calves, bison calves, wild cats, badgers, martens, and bear cubs.
Author's Note
Fun fact, the Red Wolf is what inspired me to create the Great Forest, which is actually the first region I made for Bakula, so you can say that Red Wolves inspired Bakula itself, the other regions were inspired by the big cats of course. Now, I'm working on an entirely new region of Bakula, so stay tuned!
Chapter 13: The White Cougar
The next morning, the gang wakes up, yawning as they normally would, and when Banda woke up, he was suprised to see himself in the awkward position with Rainbow Dash laying on his side sleeping. This made the girls giggle a little bit.
"Well........didn't see this coming." Said Banda reacting to the situation.
"Hehehehehehe, I swear, this is my favorite moment on this adventure." Said Tulu
When Rainbow Dash finally woke up, she realized she was laying on Banda, and quickly got back up, and now her face was about as red as a cherry. Banda had then decided to go hunting, Tulu went with him, and when they were gone, the girls decided this was the perfect time to talk to their friend about her feelings for the tiger boy.
"You really seem to be getting very comfortable with Banda." Teased Twilight
"Hehe.....I don't know what got into me." Responded Rainbow Dash
"Well Rainbow, I'd say you two would make a good couple." Said Applejack
"So when do you plan on confessing your feelings for him?" asked Pinkie Pie
"Sigh..Honestly, I don't know. Answered Rainbow Dash
"Rainbow dearie, my advice, get to know him some more. Who knows? maybe you two will have many other things in common." Suggested Rarity
"Maybe you could try to feed him, Granny Smith says that a way to a guys heart is through his stomach." Said Applejack
"Okay, I'll get to know him more." Said Rainbow Dash
"RRRROOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW" "RRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOWWWWWWWWW"
"What did she say?" asked Kama
"She says to fight off other girls that even look at him." Answered Fluttershy
"WHAT!! Look, I won't go THAT far." Responded Rainbow Dash
After about a month, the female big cats wound had healed, and now, she and her cubs were on their way to a new territory where they wouldn't be attacked by big males.
"Goodbye!" said Fluttershy
"Good luck out there darlings!" said Rarity
"Finally, we can get back to trying to build a new boat." Said Kama
"Yeah, no kidding." Replied sunset Shimmer
However, before they even got any equipment to build another boat, the spear point on Kama's spear glowed, and teleported them to a new place, the place they ended up in had forest, but this time, they were in a mountainous region, not on flat ground. When they looked up, they saw snow-covered high mountains. They looked over at Kama's spear, and were amazed.
"So that's how we've been getting around this whole time!" Said Sunset Shimmer
"Well, better destroy it before it takes us somewhere else." Said Kama
At that moment, a flash of yellow light came, and a spirit came into view. the spirit was in the form of a white lion, with a large black mane and golden eyes.
"No, do not destroy your spear." Ordered the lion spirit.
"Why not? this thing has been taking us all over the place! and has prevented us from getting home!" Responded Kama
"I understand your feelings towards the spear, but I will explain why you shouldn't destroy it. You see, when you do two good deeds, this spear will teleport you to a new part of Bakula, and you will eventually be taken to a cave in the shape of a tiger's head, and in that cave, you will find an artifact in the shape of a leopard, that will take you home, Good luck to you all on your quest. " Explained the spirit lion before he left the same way he came.
"So that's how it works?" asked Banda
"Apparently" Answered Tulu
"Well can we can some food first? I'm starving." Asked Kama
"I can smell some water nearby, we can get some fish there." Said Tulu
The gang walks down to the river, once at the river, they saw that it was a fast flowing one with rapids. However, they also saw cougars, but they weren't like the cougars they were familiar with, they were white as snow. The cougars were in the water, catching salmon.
"My goodness! They're simply gorgeous!" said Rarity
"And they seem to be better at fishing than Banda." Said Applejack
"Oh shut up." Responded Banda before he himself got into the water.
"Though it's strange, last I checked, cougars didn't like the water." Said Twilight
"Well these seem to be different, I wonder why." Said Sunset Shimmer
"Probably because they can avoid competition by eating fish at this time of the year." Said Pinkie Pie
The cougars, overhearing this, ended up looking at her as if they were wondering how she knew that.
"It;s Pinkie Pie, don't question it." Said Fluttershy
While Applejack and Banda were fishing, the farm girl like last time, caught a good number of fish, while Banda was not doing so good. However, they also noticed the cougars catching even more fish than Applejack, making Banda look even more terrible at fishing. At one point, Banda swore he heard one of the cougars even laughing at him for his bad fishing skills.
"That should be plenty, you can come out now Banda!" Said Kama
"Oh okay. At least nothing worse happened." Said Banda accepting defeat.
While they were eating the salmon, Rainbow Dash decided that this was the perfect time to try to have a conversation with her crush.
"So Banda, do you mind telling me more about your life in your old home?" Asked Rainbow Dash
"Not at all, now lemme think of a time after I killed those men. Hmmmmmmmmmmm....... Oh, I know! this one time, Tulu and I found these monkeys on out hunting grounds, now we weren't in the mood for any monkey meat, but I got an idea to scare them. I found a python near the den, and I knew monkeys were scared of pythons, so I grabbed it by the back of the head, and I placed close to where the monkeys were, and those monkeys ran up the tree faster than a gazelle, and I swear, at least three of them crapped themselves. There was this other time when I jumped out from behind boulder, and scared the daylights out of Tulu. You should've seen the look on his face." Said Banda
"I really hate it when things jump out behind things." Said Tulu
"Well I myself am a master at pranking people, once I tricked Twilight into thinking the public library was closed, you should've see her reaction." Said Rainbow Dash
At that moment, they heard a sound in the high mountains, it sounded a bit like this.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
"That's a cry for help, lets go!" said Fluttershy
The gang was now off to the high mountains, hoping to do one good deed to help them get home.
WHITE COUGAR
White cougars are unique, for they are the only big cats that are entirely white. Like a normal cougar, they have powerful muscles, strong jaws, great night vision, and are amazing hunters. However, most cougars are brown, that helps them blend in with the environment. So why are these cougars white? The answer, like Pinkie said, is competition. White cougars coexist with leopards, which have a rather similar role in the ecosystem, and are very powerful. So to avoid this competition, white cougars catch and eat fish, and those white pelts allow the cougars to blend in with the sunlight and flashing white water. However, when winter comes, they still eat fish, but since they blend in perfectly with the snow, they also hunt large game like deer and wild boar. They even have webbed feet that act like a scoop when they catch a fish.
Chapter 14: The Kobar Snow Leopard
Along their way to the high mountains, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Twilight ponied up and flew up the mountains while the others had to climb their way up. Luckily for them, it was the warm time in the mountains, so they didn't have to worry about trying to get some skins to keep warm. As they climed the mountains, they did bump into familiar animals like marmots, bharal, ibex, yaks, mouflon, and a trio of wolves. Later on, Rainbow Dash quickly came back to the group using her super speed.
"We found the source of the noise, it's a Snow Leopard!" said Rainbow Dash
"A Snow Leopard!?" responded Rarity
"Yeah, and it's been captured by some men, come on!" said Rainbow Dash
The group followed Rainbow to the spot where the others were, when they eventually did get there, they saw the men in their camp they set up. They had a male Snow Leopard in a big cage, now this animal was larger than a typical snow leopard one would find in the Himalayas.
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"
"QUIET!!!!" shouted one of the men
"Trapped in a cage and yet still has some fight left in him." Said another poacher
"Yeah, it's amazing we even found this place, we'll surely get lots of money from his pelt." Said another man
"Poachers" said Twilight
"They must've found this place by accident, and we can't let them take that snow leopard." Said Sunset Shimmer
"We also can't let them tell any other poaches about this place, I mean, who knows how many animals would be killed if the others found out." Said Applejack
"Oh I know EXACTLY how to take care of that." Replied Banda who unsheathed his claws.
"You're not suggesting we kill them are you?" asked Kama
"Yes, I am, unless you have a better idea." Answered Banda
"Well yeah, we'll just beat them up, you girls get into your forms and trick those guys into thinking your some gods or something like that, and make them swear to never return to this place." Responded Kama
"That....actually isn't a bad idea." Said Tulu
"Alright, we'll give it a go." Said Banda
Before the poachers could get back into their tents, Rainbow Dash used her super speed to quickly fly over to them, and clobber one of them, Fluttershy, while she may be the least aggressive of them all, does get quite angry when you try to harm an animal, so it's no surprise that she gave one of the men two black eyes. Then the rest of them came out, making the poachers more nervous than ever.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
"Who are you? WHO ARE YOU!?" asked one of the poachers
"We are the gods of this land, we do not approve of your activities here, set that animal free, and we shall not harm you anymore." Answered Kama
The man with the key did just that, and when the door opened, the snow leopard ran out of the cage and back into the mountains.
"Good, now leave this place, and never come back!" Commanded Kama
However, instead of leaving, the spear glowed, and the poachers were teleported to another place. The poachers looked around, and saw what they thought at first was the African Savanna, but they were wrong as before they knew it, they were surrounded by a pride of the first species of big cat the girls encountered, and you can imagine what happened soon after.
Back in the mountains, this event got the group wondering how that just happened.
"Since when could it do that!?" asked Tulu
However, before anyone else could also wonder about what happened, the spear teleported them to the mountain forests, now at this point, they decided not to even question the power of the spear. Soon, the gang got hungry, and it was time to go hunting again.
KOBAR SNOW LEOPARD
The main difference between Kobar snow leopards and normal snow leopards is that the Kobar snow leopard is larger due to Bergmanns Law, which states that animals in colder climates are bigger than animals in warmer climates. With this bigger size, they can bring down animals up to 4 times their own weight. Their diet includes yaks, wild sheep, wild goats, marmots, pikas, foxes, carrion, wild boar, and deer. They share their prey with wolves, but wolf packs in the Kobar mountains are small, with the biggest packs having only 3 members since they can't use the full strength of the pack in the high mountains, so the snow leopards are therefore, more confident in their ability to fight them, but only the males will tangle with wolf trios, females will only fight lone wolves. Snow leopards are perfectly adapted to cold weather, they have that thick fur which not only keeps them warm, but it also allows them to blend in with the background very well, you could literally walk right on past one and never even see it. Their long tails, which are as long as their body, are used as a rudder for balance, and also to wrap around the cat to keep even more warm when napping. They have enlarged nasal cavities to help them breathe in the thin mountain air in higher elevations. They're great jumpers, and Kobar snow leopards can jump even higher than their himalayan relatives, as they can leap up to 70 feet while chasing after prey. Kobar snow leopards have no natural predators, and they will actually travel long distances to find a mate, or to find prey. Their favorite prey is the bharal, a type of wild sheep that is also very well adapted to living in the high mountains. Snow leopards can actually fall from high up, and believe it or not, they can land on a hard surface without a single scratch on their body.
Chapter 15: The Mountain Tiger
The gang had split up into two teams in the hunt for food as they could cover more ground that way. Rarity, Applejack, Tulu, and Fluttershy went north. Sunset Shimmer, Twilight, Kama, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash, and Banda went east. As Tulu's group was on the hunt, Tulu was able to get the scent of some game, Applejack got a good look at the tracks and identified them as being deer tracks. The hunting party followed the tracks to a clearing, and it turns out the deer that made the tracks was a White-tailed Deer as they ended up finding several does and some bucks in the clearing.
"Yes! Whitetails!" cheered Applejack quietly
"Ah yes, the animal that's pretty much the most popular big game animal back home." Said Rarity
"Oh Applejack, just make the kill quick and painless." Begged Fluttershy
"Don't worry Fluttershy, I'll make it quick." Said Applejack
Out of all the deer in the area, she was after a large doe. Applejack crouched down low, and quietly stalked her quarry. She had to get rather close to it in order to hit it with a throw of the new spear she made before this hunt began. However, little did she know that mother nature had other plans. One of the deer Suddenly one of the does stomped its foot and made its alarm call, turns out they weren't the only ones hunting the deer. The deer raised their tails and ran for their lives, the attackers weren't cats, but canids. These canids were about as tall as a Red Fox, had black tails, reddish brown fur, ears rounded at the tips, and in this case had white underbellies. These canids were dholes, also known as Asiatic Wild Dogs, and there were 25 of them. The dholes targeted a mature buck, and when they caught up to him, they bit at his underbelly, ears, flanks, and tail to try to weaken him, and eventually, they pulled him down at the end of the hunt. The dholes then worked together to eat the deer quickly.
"You've gotta be kidding me! why are these foxes even hunting deer!?" asked Applejack
"It's because those aren't foxes Applejack, they're dholes." Answered Fluttershy
"Well we'll just have to take that kill from them, no biggie." Said Tulu
However, once again mother nature had other plans, as before they could even attempt to steal the carcass, the dholes lifted their heads, and out of the forest came a tiger, this tiger was a huge male, his pelt was silver instead of orange, and he was huge, and heavily muscled, the dholes ended up abandoning the kill, and the tiger grabbed the deer in his jaws and dragged it off. The dholes, although they were 25 strong, knew very well that the tiger would surely kill many of them if they fought him, so these 20 kilogram canids knew to stay out of the way of this 400 kilogram giant. With the other group, Banda had decided to to head off on his own to cover more ground. Rainbow Dash had decided to do the same thing, only she'd be in the sky rather than on the ground. As she was flying, she thought she saw some tracks, she landed to get a better look and sure enough, they were tracks made by a moose. She then proceeded to follow the tracks, and in the end, she ended up finding a bull moose, however, it caught her scent and charged at her. Rainbow Dash used her super speed to escape the moose rather easily. However, she took one step forward and felt a horrid pain.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"HELP!! SOMEBODY! ANYBODY!! HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!" "HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"
"No.........no.....oh no."
The tiger got his claws out, ready to end her life, Rainbow Dash closed her eyes, waiting for the death blow. However, she was in luck, as Banda came charging in, and attacked the tiger. The tiger fought back with powerful swipes, but Banda dodged them. Rainbow Dash opened her eyes back up, only to see her crush defending her. However, the tiger was much larger than Banda, so he overpowered Banda by literally using his strength to slam him down to the ground. Once he pinned Banda, the tiger bit him on the leg, and with more than 1,000 lbs of force, snapped his leg.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" scramed Banda
The tiger then shook him around in his jaws and threw him to the ground. The tiger walked right back up to Rainbow Dash, ready to finish her off, but Banda didn't give up, even if he had a broken leg.
"HURAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH"
"RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
The tiger looked to his left, and there he saw the same male tiger Tulu's group had encountered. Turns out, he was in his prime, and was challenging the current dominate male for this territory. The new tiger walked up to the older male, and the two tigers clashed. Meanwhile, Tulu's group just happened to be in the area while tracking an elk, Rarity used her magic to literally cut through the steel trap to set Rainbow free. Applejack used her super strength to carry Banda out of there and the group left. As the battle continued, the older male was starting to be overpowered by the challenger, and eventually, the challenger chased the older male away, and now the territory belonged to him. Back with the group, the entire gang was at a cave, they were all inside and were worried about the condition of their friends.
"Are you guys okay?" asked Sunset Shimmer
"I've been better, I'll say that much." Answered Banda
"I swear, that was about the 5th craziest thing you've ever done." Said Tulu
At this moment, Rainbow Dash finally decided that this was the time to do the one thing she wanted to do for this long time they've been together.
"Banda, thank you, for protecting me."
"Your welcome" Replied Banda
"Banda, I have a confession to make. I.....I.......I've had a crush on you." Said Rainbow Dash
"What?" asked Banda
"It's just that....you've saved me from lots of things many times. The stuff you've done takes a lot of guts. Today, you've risked your own life to save me. You could have been killed, no other boy has ever caught my attention like you have, but after today, I can understand why you wouldn't want to be with me." Said Rainbow Dash
"Actually, I'd be all up for that." Said Banda
"Really!?" responded Rainbow Dash
"Yes Rainbow Dash. To be honest, I've been envious of your super speed, and I've found you quite remarkable." Said Banda
Rainbow Dash then leaned on him, and Banda nuzzled her head with affection. Tulu ended up crying tears of joy, and the girls hearts warmed. The spear once again glowed, and it teleported them to another cave.
"Looks like what Banda did counted as a good deed." Said Kama
MOUTAIN TIGER
The Mountain Tiger is a powerful killer, able to hunt moose, bison, yaks, aurochs, even juvenile mastodons. Mounatian tigers are very territorial, and in combat, they will even kill each other over defense of hunting grounds. They are the top predators of the lower parts of the Kobar mountains, with the other predators, even the largest packs of dholes, giving it a wide berth. In fact, the high tiger population in these mountains has caused the dhole population in the mountains to be rather low. They can go higher into the mountains, but not as high as the snow leopards, but their pelts allow them to blend in with the surroundings quite perfectly, hence why they have that fur color. They have a very powerful bite, strong enough to break moose leg bones. Mountain Tigers are very closely related to the Caspian Tigers that once roamed across Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and the surrounding countries.
Once again, it was time to go get something to eat. However, Banda and Rainbow Dash, due to their injuries, couldn't come along, and this was a new region for them to be in, so someone had to stay at the cave to stand guard.
"So...who's going to stand guard here?" asked Sunset Shimmer
"Don't look at me, I can guarantee that there's at least one hunter out here that could kill me easily!" answered Tulu
"Perhaps Applejack and Rarity and stand guard, after all, Applejack has that strength, and Rarity can just block anything attacking." Suggested Kama
"I agree, now we'd better get going, the food ain't gonna get itself." Ordered Tulu
As they were on the move, they were able to get a good look of their surroundings, wide open spaces, many trees, and then Tulu found a very peculiar hole.
"Hey look at this thing!"
"Tulu don't.." said Twilight
However, she was too late when the hole turned out to be a geyser and hot water shot from the ground and Tulu went with it.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH"
When he fell back down and landed in the hole, he quickly got back out of the hole before he was in the air again. Later on, they managed to find a herd of elk grazing close to a huge river, they all crouched down, stalked the elk, however, this hunt was once again going to be ruined as they heard the sound of something big. Once the elk heard the sound, they ran off.
"Wait, thunder? but there's no cloud in sight!" said Sunset Shimmer
"It's not thunder silly! it's a bison stampede!" replied Pinkie Pie
Pinkie ended up being correct, as a huge herd of bison was on the run, and right towards them.
"RUUUUUUUUNNN!!!" shouted Kama
They ran for their lives, and quickly climbed the nearest tree, and waited out the stampede. As for what caused the stampede, they saw a group of five big cats bringing down a bison. These cats were the size of tigers, had long tufts at the ends of their tails, had round ears, were light brown in color, and had faint leopard-like rosettes.
"Oh of course, we try to get a meal, and these guys just had to get in the way!" complained Tulu who was still on the ground. As the cats were eating, it became clear that they would not make good dinner guests, as they swiped and roared at each other.
"RRRAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHH"
"Well that's not very polite." Said Fluttershy
"We could try to wait until they're done eating and take any leftovers." Suggested Sunset Shimmer
However, the rest of the group cam to the kill site, and now the bison was covered in big cats.
"On second thought, it'll take them a while to stop eating, we should head somewhere else."
"Agreed" said Kama
After they got out of the tree, they went east, and when they got to the river, they found a dead bull elk right next to it, but they also found another of the same cat species at the carcass, however, it was chased off by a huge brown bear that came charging from the woods, and the cat ran off. The gang decided that they were going to try to get the bear off the carcass, but of course Fluttershy offered to simply ask the bear to allow them to take some meat. However, the cat came back, and this time it brought two friends. When the bear realized it was outnumbered, it ran off, but the cats went after it. While the battle was going on, the gang quickly butchered the elk, got enough meat to satisfy everyone, and left. Meanwhile, the bear tried to fight with all his might, but he was no match for a trio of powerful big cats, and the battle resulted with the bear retreating. When the group got back to the cave, Applejack and Rarity were pleased to finally see some food, the meat was cooked, eaten, and everyone was satisfied. On that night however, the spear glowed again, and took them to a new cave in a new region, and on this night, a new killer was on the prowl.
DOWMAN
The Dowman is the apex predator of the region it inahabits. Their diet includes elk, bison, pronghorn, deer, moose, and coyotes. They live in groups like lions, with one or a coalition of males defending the hunting ground while the females do the hunting. Groups can be anywhere from 2-20 members, and when it comes to competition, wolves will stay out of their way at all costs, cougars stick to the woods so they can make quick escapes up into trees from these cats, and brown bears will fight single Dowmans, but will avoid groups, and groups of Dowmans have been known to attack and kill both brown bears and black bears. Females can have anywhere from 2-4 cubs in a litter, and these animals really love to hunt at night, but will occasionally hunt during the day.
Author's Note
Sorry for the delays, but here's the new chapter, hope you guys like it!
While sleeping in the cave, Kama was hearing some sounds, sounds that sounded all to familiar to her.
"WHOOOOOP" "WHOOOPP"
It was the sound of hyenas, one of her old enemies when she was a cheetah, she and the others woke up, and sure enough, there was a clan of 27 Cave Hyenas in front of the cave. These hyenas resembled Spotted Hyenas, but they were larger, in the two hundred pound range.
"I thought we were doe with hyenas!" complained Rarity
"Hey!" responded Tulu
"Well not you Tulu darling, you're wonderful, these brutes are beasts!" replied Rarity
"Shut up! They'll hear you!" ordered Kama
However, it was too late, as the hyenas were now coming towards the cave, Kama noticed they were sniffing the air, and realized why they were at the site in the first place.
"Oh no, they've been attracted the smell of Banda and Rainbow's injuries!" said Kama
"Never fear, I got this!" said Rarity
"Wait! I've got an idea, I'll be back!" said Fluttershy before she ponied up and flew off
"Where's she going at a time like this?" asked Banda
Before Rarity could even use her magic, the hyenas charged into the cave, but Rarity was quick with her magic, and she made a huge shield to block the hyenas. They tried their best to break through, but they failed. However, they hyenas were about to have a stroke of luck, the reason being that Rarity's magic was now causing the cave roof to start cracking.
"Oh no!" said Sunset Shimmer
"CAVE IN!!!" shouted Pinkie Pie
The hyenas ran out quickly, the gang did the same, Applejack had to use her strength to carry Banda and Rainbow Dash, once outside, the cave roof fully collapsed, but at that moment, Kama had a bad realization.
"The spear! It's been destroyed by the cave in!" said Kama
"Are you serious right now!?" asked Rainbow Dash
Now the hyenas came back, and this time, two of them pinned Rarity down and one of them bit her arm and snapped in half.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
"I gotcha Rarity!" said Applejack before she threw the hyenas off of Rarity
The hyenas surrounded them, Twilight used her magic to keep them at bay, and Applejack had to use her strength to toss them around, Pinkie had to do whatever she does to keep herself from being bitten. Other than that, the others were rather helpless against the hyenas, until something unexpected happened.
"GET AWAY FROM THEM YOU BULLIES!!!" shouted Fluttershy, but she wasn't alone
"RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHH"
Along with her was a pack of Smilodon with brown fur, there were 20 of them, and with their greater size and power, they were more than a match for the hyenas, and were therefore able to chase them off. After that, Fluttershy landed, and got back with her friends.
"Way to go Fluttershy!" said Twilight
"No problem, I figured that someone around here would help us, and I bumped into these guys, and they were willing to help, and they've also said that they would let us stay with them and help Rainbow and Banda get better." Explained Fluttershy
"Sweet!" said Rainbow Dash
"That's great! thank you!" said Banda
"Huh, looks like that paleontological theory was right." Said Twilight
The gang, and their new found sabertoothed friends set out for the den, where the other members of the pack were eating a bison they killed, they shared the carcass with the gang, and they fell back asleep, although Kama wasn't feeling very good about the spear being gone, but at least now they were safe from the hyenas.
SMILODON BAKULAENSIS
Smilodon are the biggest, most powerful cats in the Bakulan steppes, they live in groups due to there being some very good advantages for cats of that size to live in groups, but not like lions. You see, unlike lions, both genders of Smilodon are very similar in size, so their social structure is like that of wolves, where an alpha pair are on top, and the others consist of sons and daughters that help raise any new cubs the alpha female has. They have very muscular builds, and their canines are very fragile, so they hunt by getting close to the prey, attacking, using the powerful muscles in the forelimbs and the back to wrestle the prey to the ground, and then drive the sabers into the throat, when that happens, they damage some of the major blood vessels, or sometimes the windpipe, causing the animal to die quickly, and the Smilodon has a meal. Their diet includes bison, horses, camels, yaks, musk-oxen, young Woolly Rhinos, and young Woolly Mammoths. They share their range with cheetahs, which avoid these cats at all costs, wolves, which are rare in these steppes partly due to the competition with Smilodon, Cave Hyenas, which they often take kills from, and the smaller sabertooth known as Homotherium. Smilodon hunt at night while Homotherium hunt during the day, which helps them avoid each other, but they do still get into conflict. One on one, or when the number is even, a homothere is no match for a Smilodon, but it all depends on which greatly outnumbers which.
Author's Note
Here's the new chapter, sorry for making it shorter than normal.
Chapter 18: The Steppe Cheetah
Time passed, and at this point, Rainbow Dash's and Banda's injuries had now completely healed, and Banda could now once again hunt like he used to, and one time, he helped the Smilodons hunt a horse, something he was very experienced in, and something that bothered Sunset quite a bit. As good as things were going, there was still one thing not so great. With the magical spear now broken, it now was harder to try to get back home.
"I just HAD to leave it in the cave when it collapsed." Said Kama
"Look Kama, we'll try to figure something out." Said Tulu who tried to comfort her.
"ROW" "ROW"
"What is it?" asked Fluttershy
"ROW" "RRROOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW"
"Really?" replied Fluttershy
"What's he saying?" asked Banda
"He knows of a cave that looks like a cats head, and it has a cat artifact that can take us home." Answered Fluttershy
"Perfect! Can he take us there?" asked Banda again
"No, but he knows of a herd of mammoths that goes to the area it's located at this time of the year, we can travel along with them, and he'll take us to them." Answered Fluttershy
So they were off again, to where the mammoth herd currently was, and the Smildon was their guide. They found the mammoths at a river, this was matriarchal herd made up of ten young females, five calves, and one matriarch. At that moment, the Smilodon had to part ways with the group to avoid getting charged at. Fluttershy went up to the matriarch to do her thing.
"Umm.. excuse me, but we were wondering if we could tag along with you guys to your destination. We need to get to that special cave with the artifact that can take us home." Explained Fluttershy
"HRRRAAAAAAA"
"She says yes!" said Fluttershy
When the herd began to move, so did the gang, and the trip was on. They walked for days, occasionally stopping to take a break, but they would always get back on the move soon after. On the way, they went on another break, however, they were accompanied by a herd of Saiga antelope.
"Those are the weirdest things with hooves I've ever seen." Said Rainbow Dash
"Agreed, but I bet they taste good." Said Banda before he crouched down into a stalking position, with his padded paws, he was able to get close to them without making a sound. However, before he could attack, a cheetah burst out from ambush, it chased a saiga, using it's tail as rudder, and when it as close enough, it tripped the saiga over with the dewclaw, and got to the throat, and killed the saiga. The cheetah looked like those from Africa and Iran, but it was larger. The cheetah began to quickly eat the saiga.
"Wow, he's eating rather quickly." Said Applejack
"Well he has to Applejack, he's not exactly the most powerful predator out here." Explained Twilight
Then they were off again, but then when they were farther away, they saw a mother cheetah trying to defend her cubs from three males who wanted the cubs dead. Banda wasn't having any of it, and so he charged at them, and they fled when they laid eyes on him. The mother cheetah then took her cubs with her, and got to what she felt was a safe distance.
"That was good Banda, you did the right thing." Said Sunset Shimmer
"I know, I just couldn't let those guys kill her, or for them to kill the cubs." Replied Banda
STEPPE CHEETAH
Cheetahs are the fastest land animals on earth. The main reason for their speed is so they can hunt some of the fastest prey, which in this case, would be the Saiga antelope. Steppe cheetahs are bigger than their African and Asian cousins due to Bergmann's Law, which states that animals in colder climates will be larger than animals in warmer climates. Their adaptations for running include long legs for long strides, less-retractable claws for traction when running, a long flexible spine to help with the stride length, a long tail that acts as a rudder, and those black stripes on the face protect the eyes from the sun's glare, so it can see prey from a long distance. Females live alone,but males will form coalitions. When they make a kill, they have to eat quickly before hyenas, Homotheres, Smilodons, or wolves come along to take their kill. Cheetahs are built for speed, not combat, so they will give up their kills to larger carnivores.
Author's Note
Again, I apologize for making this chapter shorter than normal.
Chapter 19: The Homotherium
As they were on the move, they began picturing in their minds of how things will be when they got back home. However, their minds were distracted by the sight of a musk-ox carcass being eaten by a pack of wolves. There were twenty wolves at the kill, and they had thick white fur, making them resemble Arctic Wolves.
"My my, those wolves are simply dazzling!" said Rarity
"You said it." Replied Applejack
"And to think that they have no natural predators." Said Twilight
However, she was to be proven wrong as a group of big cats arrived at the scene. These cats were the size of lions, had big dewclaws,brown fur, less retractable claws, had sabers, but they were shorter than a Smilodon's canines, their backs slightly sloped down towards their hindquarters, and short tails. One of the wolves lifted it's head up, ran off, and the rest of the pack did the same, the cats gave chase, one of them caught the alpha male in his paws, and bit the wolf in the throat, killing it quickly. After that, the cat went back to the carcass, leaving the now dead wolf lay where it was.
"You were saying?" asked Kama
"I can admit when I'm wrong." Responded Twilight
"Actually, you were wrong to begin with. In the Russian Far East, Siberian Tigers actually attack and kill wolves, and also drive them out, causing wolves to be rare in the region, in Melkote Temple Wildlife Sanctuary in India, it has been suspected that the presence of leopards has caused the wolf population in the area to drop, and couagrs will kill lone wolves." Explained Fluttershy
"The more you know!" said Sunset Shimmer before they moved on to another part of the steppes. When they got even closer to their destination, something else was on the move. As they were walking, the matriarch all of a sudden stopped and lifted her trunk, the other mammoths did the same, and then they began to panic.
"Wait, they're panicking? why would they be panicking?" asked Rainbow Dash
"That's why!" answered Pinkie Pie
They looked to where Pinkie was pointing, and sure enough, a huge group of the same species of cats that chased off the wolves was on the attack. This time, there were at least forty cats attacking.
"HOMOTHERIUM!!!!" shouted Twilight
The mammoths of course didn't run, they stood their ground. They swung their tusks and trunks at the cats, however, the homotheres kept dodging their attacks, and they kept running, the calves and the gang were kept in the middle of the herd, but the homotheres got some of the adults to chase them farther from the calves, and some would try to attack the calves, only to be stopped by the adults.
"I see what they're doing, they're using their strength in numbers to distract the adults so they can get at the calves." Said Twilight
"Well what are we doing just standing here! some of you girls have magic that's useful in this situation, now use it!" ordered Banda before he charged at the homotheres and tackled one of them, and easily chased it off. Applejack charged and tossed one in the air, and it landed on it's side rather than on it's feet. Rarity used her magic to make a big shield to protect the calves and the others who could barely do anything against the big cats. The homotheres tried to break through, but they failed. Eventually, the homotheres began to give up, however, Banda had pinned one of them to the ground in a good position to kill it, he was about to go for the throat, but he restrained himself from doing so, and he let his opponent go. Rarity took down her shield, and Tulu ran straight up to his friend.
"Why didn't you kill it?" asked Tulu
"Killing wasn't necessary, I won't have to share any food with it forever, so there was no point in killing it." Answered Banda
The gang and the herd regrouped, and they continued to travel to their destination. Along the way, they were joined by huge herds of caribou, bison, horses, camels, and a herd of Megaloceros, huge deer with huge moose-like antlers about the size of a person. They even ecountered a Woolly Rhinoceros along the way, the animal was just grazing, and minding it's own business. About a week later, they made it to their destination. The area had lots of high mountains, wide open spaces for the herds to graze, and many beautiful flowers. After the herd had settled in, Fluttershy had to ask one last thing.
"Could you and two more mammoths take us to the cave?" asked Fluttershy
"HRAAAAA"
That meant yes, as the matriarch and two other mammoths went with them to the cave to help if any other homotheres attacked again. About an hour later, they made it to the cave, the gang and the mammoths said their goodbyes and parted ways. The gang took a good look at the cave, and it matched the description the spirit lion gave perfectly, they entered the cave, and eventually as they walked further into the cave, they found the leopard statue the spirit lion talked about. The girls put their hands on it, Tulu put his paw on it, and Banda's paw transformed into a hand which he put on the statue, something the girls forgot he could do.
"We want to go home!" said everyone all together, and after that, a golden aura formed around them, and in the blink of an eye, they were gone.
One month had passed, and it was finally the last day of school. When school was over, the girls were outside next to the portal to Equestria. Kama was with them, only now she was wearing a white shirt and jeans instead of animal hide.
"I gotta say, I love living in this place, better than my old home." Said Kama proudly
"That's good to hear, and I'm just glad that summer is finally here." Replied Sunset Shimmer
"Hey Rainbows!" said Zephyr Breeze, the boy who just couldn't take a hint
"UUUUGGGHHH What do want Zephyr?" asked Rainbow Dash
"I was just wondering if you would go out to dinner later." Answered Zephyr
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Said Kama
"Why not?" asked Zephyr
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"
"That's why." Answered Kama
Banda obviously wasn't pleased with the sight of someone trying their luck with his girl, and now he was wearing a black shirt, khaki shorts, tennis shoes, and now instead of walking on all fours, he was on two legs, and now used his hands more often. While he was growling, he also had his claws out.
"Hehehehe...can't we just talk this out?" asked Zephyr
"Actually, it's best you ran away because male cats are territorial, and will even KILL other of their own species in fights." Answered Kama
"GULP"
Zephyr then ran away as Kama said, then Banda calmed down.
"I'm sorry about that Banda." Said Fluttershy
"That's okay, and Rainbow Dash, want me to walk you home?" asked Banda
"Sure" answered Rainbow Dash
Banda walked Rainbow Dash home, and at this point, he got along great with her parents, and they were always happy to see him. after that, he walked back to his new home where Tulu and Kama were.
"So, how did school go?" asked Tulu
"Great, but I did scare off a twerp trying to ask out Rainbow Dash. You should've seen the look on his face."
When the sunset came around, the trio went out to watch the sun setting, they just happened to be on a cliffside while watching, and Banda thought it would be cool to gibe out his big roar.
"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
"YAY! the story is over! we'll never have to put up with that place ever again!"
Actually Pinkie, there will be sequels to this, I created some more regions as well as more cat species, so there will be more tales to tell.
"NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
HOMOTHERIUM
Homotherium is the other sabertooth of the Bakulan steppes, in winter, their fur turns white in order to blend in with the snow. These cats are daytime hunters, allowing them to avoid the larger and more powerful Smilodons, and it also allowed their ancestors to coexist with lions in the prehistoric past. The claws on a homothere aren't as retractable as those of tigers or leopards, but the dewclaw is. The reason is that when running or travelling long distances, they needed traction. The backs slope slightly towards the hindquarters like I said in the chapter, the weird body proportions of homotherium mean that it wasn't as capable of jumping as the pantherines, but it likely did have good endurance, not as much as hyenas, but it can still run for long distances. Believe it or not, homotheres aren't as strong as a male lion or a tiger, making it more difficult for them to bring down for example, a bison single handedly, and hunting in groups helps add some firepower when hunting big game. Their groups can be big, having up to 50 members in a group, this helps them defend their kills and cubs from packs of Smilodons and clans of Cave Hyenas. Their diet includes camels, horses, bison, caribou, Megaloceros, young rhinos, and young mammoths. When it comes to mammoth hunting, only the biggest groups will do that, and they will normally target the adolescents, since they aren't as supervised as the younger calves by the adults, but they try to use their strength in numbers to distract a mother mother, and get her to chase some of them while the rest of them attack the calf.
Author's Note
Well there you have it. To those who have stuck around for this whole story, I thank you so much for reading the story and giving feedback. Like Pinkie forced me to say, there will be sequels to this, so stay tuned! If you have any ideas for a sequel, let me know, and I'll give it consideration.