The Big Cats of Bakula: The Apple's Lesson

Chapters

Chapter 1: Answers
Chapter 2: The Yellowstone Case
Chapter 3: The Kings of The Jungle
Chapter 4: City Protector

Chapter 1: Answers

Sweet Apple Acres, home of the Apple family, where they harvest their apples, and make apple cider for the residents. Banda and Tulu worked here, ass now Banda had to have a job in order to pay the bills. He and Tulu liked working on the Apple farm since they could be outside, and it was something they'd take over having to hunt for their own food and also having to avoid certain areas due to certain enemies. While they were working, Applejack was picking apples when she heard some whimpering nearby. She got down from the ladder, and found that a coyote had been caught in a steel trap that Big Mac had set up. Speaking of which, Big Macintosh himself overheard the whimpering, and rushed to the scene with his shotgun. Applejack on the other hand was just staring at the coyote, normally she could care less, but this time was different. After all, she and her friends had helped an injured big cat, had made friends with a hyena and a weretiger, and they were helped out by a pack of sabertooths of all things, so this time, she knew she couldn't just let her brother kill this coyote, so she got a large branch and was able to pry the trap open, and set the coyote free. However, right when that happened, Big Mac just so happened to be right behind her.

"What in the hay did you just do!?" asked Big Mac

"I set that coyote free." Answered Applejack

"For the love of, WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!!?" asked Big Mac

"I just couldn't bring myself to let you kill it because two of my friends happen to be predators, we helped an injured predator, heck, we were even helped by a bunch of them!" answered Applejack

"I suppose that's a good point, but I'll still hunt that thing down until I kill it. That thing has attacked our chickens for the last time!" replied Big Mac

"Look Big Mac, I can't let you do that because unlike you, I'VE been in that coyote's position, I know what it's like to be hunted. But to be fair, we were in their cave, but I do feel like there was more to it than that." Responded Applejack .

"The second reason you speak of is that they're nothing but brutes, simple as that, and this whole world would be better off if predators didn't exist." Responded Big Mac

At night, when Applejack was getting ready to go to bed, she was thinking about what her brother had said, surely he wasn't right was he? Just when she was thinking that, a familiar voice came out of nowhere.

"Applejack! Big Mac! Come to me!"

Applejack and Big Mac came at once, and outside, was the Spirit lion that helped Applejack and her friends in Bakula.

"It's you! what brings you to Sweet Apple Acres?" asked Applejack

"I saw your argument with your brother, and I decided to take you two on a trip to the past and to Asia." Answered the lion

"The past?" asked Big Mac

"Yes, now let us move."

"RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHH"

With that single roar, a flash of bright white light came out of nowhere, and all of a sudden, they were in a place that looked like Africa.

"Africa? why am I not amazed you brought us here?" asked Big Mac

"This isn't Africa, take a look over there." Answered the lion

They took a look, and they saw a pride of the cats that attacked Applejack and her friends in the cave. Applejack began to sweat, and now her instinct was telling her to run.

"Don't worry, they cannot see us." Said the lion

"At this time, the predators coexisted peacefully with humans, the humans did not hunt them, and the predators did not hunt humans. However, that was all about to change."

Another flash of light came, now they saw european settlers arrive in that place, and they brought horses, dogs, and guns. With those guns, they began their hunting. They killed everything from monkeys all the way up to elephants. They barely ate an of what they killed, normally, they would just leave dead animals laying around. They spread fire to the land, burning vegetation, driving all the animals away from certain areas. The predators weren't spared. The europeans hated them with all their hearts, for they saw them as nothing more than competitors for game. The lion then used his magic to show the two a group of the same species of cat they saw earlier, they were in a cave, and the cubs weren't doing well. One of the females had her cub in her paws, it was very thin, and breathing slowly. Then, it stopped breathing, the mother nudged it with her nose, but it didn't budge, and the mother had tears running down her face. A huge male, likely the father, went up to his mate, and teared up as well.

"That's horrible! no parent should have to go through that!" said Applejack

Another male looked at the dead cub, then went outside the cave, looked over at the europeans who were setting the land on fire.

"RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

After that, the lion then showed then a scene where the same pride of cats attacked those hunters, they showed no mercy, even the kids the men brought with them weren't spared. They killed them with single paw swipes, cracked their skulls, and broke their necks or backs. After they got done killing them, the cats then used their powerful jaws to chew their heads off, carry them back to the cave, and placed them in front, obviously to use them as a message to other humans.

The lion then showed them a scene where a big game hunter has killed an impala, and a pack of the species of wild dogs that tried to attack Rainbow Dash arrived on the scene. Normally, they avoided humans, but this time was different. The dogs were desperate, and this was a chance to eat, and they weren't going to give it up. The dogs attacked the hunter, bit him on the flanks, and killed him, then they ate the carcass.

After that, the lion showed them a clan of the hyenas that tried to chase them of the giraffe carcass and a pack of the sabertooths that stole their kill chasing off a group of hunters as well, and many of them were mauled. Eventually, the lion showed them the humans leaving the region. After that, the herds began to bounce back, habitats were restored, and things were back to normal, only now the predators had a new hatred and intolerance for humans.

"So that's why they did all that to us, because humans did the same thing to them. But I still don't get why the elephants didn't try to trample us or something." Said Applejack

"The elephants know that the odds of a human surviving in that place is very low due to the predators, that's why it's called the Hunter's Deathtrap. Now come, I still have much to show you two." Answered the lion

Chapter 2: The Yellowstone Case

The new destination of the trio was a place of woods, open plains, rivers, streams, elk, bison, and much more.

"Where are we exactly?" asked Applejack

"This is the place you humans call Yellowstone National Park." Answered the lion

"And just why are we here in Yellowstone?" asked Big Mac

"I took on this trip to teach you a lesson, the first was that predators have emotions, now, I'll show you why they're important, and this place is home to the best story on the subject." Answered the lion.

"HHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL"

After that howl, they saw a herd of elk running for their lives, and a pack of fourteen wolves chasing after them. The elk were fast, but the wolves had lots of endurance, and with it, they were able to run down a female to exhaustion, work together to pull her to the ground, and kill it by ripping out her throat. When they accomplished the task, they began eating their quarry.

"Now THIS is nature being plain cruel." Said Big Mac

"In those eyes of yours, it may seem that way, but nature see's it very differently. You see, that elk was sick, and there was no way she was going to get better, so these wolves ended her suffering by killing her, and by taking out the sick, old, weak, and the wounded, they keep the herds healthy and strong, and help prevent weaker animals from passing on their genes, unlike humans who hunt healthy game animals and break that law of nature." Explained the lion.

Out of the nearby forest, a huge male Grizzly Bear came right up to the wolf pack, Applejack and Big Mac were expecting to see a big brawl, but to their amazement, the wolves just walked away from the carcass, and let the bear eat their hard earned meal.

"What the...there's 14 of them, and one of him, why aren't they attacking him?" asked Applejack

"The wolves as a team are a formidable force, but they know this grizzly can easily kill many of them with just single strikes from his might paws, so they know to step aside when he comes in to feed, and this is one reason wolves are important. Stolen kills from wolves are rather important to grizzlies, especially when they wake up from hibernation and they're starving." Answered the lion.

The lion then showed them a stream with lots of vegetation, and explained why he did so.

"When wolves kill and eat elk, they help keep the plants like willows, aspens, and cottonwoods from being destroyed by the elk, you see those aspen over there? they stand where they were once abundant, but they stopped growing at the same time the wolves disappeared from Yellowstone, but since the return of the wolves, they are now thriving. Over there in those willows, you can see a yellow warbler. With the recovery of the willows and the other streamside plants, this has improved the prospects for the birds that nest in those habitats. See that beaver in the water? with the regrowth of the willows, this provides great habitat for beavers, which eat small willow trees, and new beaver dams have in turn, made more habitats for moose and other animals, like that huge bull moose in that pond. Other animals that have new homes in those ponds are muskrats, and otters. More rodents means more predators like foxes."

"Well no wonder why people make such a big deal about wolf hunting. This is just amazing! now I know that without predators, whole ecosystems get destroyed." Said Big Mac

"Correct, but we're not done yet. Come, I still have some left to show you on this matter." Replied the lion.

Chapter 3: The Kings of The Jungle

When they got to their next stop, they saw they were in a place with dry open forest, villages, farmland, livestock, and lots of people.

"So where are we this time?" asked Applejack

"This is Gujarat, India." Answered the lion

"This place is full of farmland, why would you bring us to this place?" asked Big Mac

"You shall see after the sun sets." Answered the lion

After the sun did set, they saw that the village became a wildlife lover's paradise. They saw herds of chital deer, deer with light brown fur and white spots, a group of Sambar, huge deer with dark brown fur that could be heavier than elk, Nilgai , antelope that are huge, weighing up to three hundred kilograms, females are light brown with white underbellies, males are blue-gray, have underbellies, and have rather short horns that stick straight out. They also saw Wild Boar, chinkara a.k.a Indian Gazelle, Golden Jackals, and even a Striped Hyena. Out in the fields, they saw farmers with big flashlights and walking sticks in their hands, trying to chase off the Sambar from their fields.

"This is just crazy, why don't they use weapons or fire to scare them off?" asked Big Mac

"Around here, they don't need to, for they have one powerful ally, just take a look over there." Answered the lion

They took a good look alright, and they laid eyes on a coalition of two male Asiatic Lions, they were smaller than their African cousins, and definitely smaller then their Bakulan cousins, with smaller manes and a large fold of skin on their bellies. One of them crouched down on the ground, while the other one stalked and went behind the Sambar, when that lion was close enough, it charged, the Sambar ran for their lives, however, they were being pushed in the direction of the other lion, and it leaped onto a stag, and brought it to the ground, and killed it with a bite to the throat. The lions began to eat their kill when they did their duty.

"I get it, these people like having these lions around because they can help keeps crop raiders like those deer away!" Said Big Mac

"Correct, speaking of crops, there's another place I want to take you." Responded the lion

So they left, and found themselves in another crop field, they weren't in India, but in the country of Bhutan. In this crop field, they saw a group of Sambar, but this time, they weren't chased by lions, they were being chased by dholes that were after the calves.

"So......basically it's the same here as it is in Gujarat?" asked Applejack

"Not entirely, there is something in the jungles that forces these dholes and leopards into these fields." Answered the lion before he took them into the nearby jungle, these jungles are thicker than those in Gujarat, and also wetter, but in this jungle, they saw a huge wild boar male just minding his buisness, or at least he was until a big male Bengal tiger came charging out from ambush, chased his quarry, and grabbed it by the top of the neck and snapped it, and then he had his meal.

"So...tigers drive smaller predators away from these places and they end up near the crop fields where they hunt crop raiders?" asked Applejack

"Correct, now come, there's still one last thing I want to show you two." Answered the lion

Chapter 4: City Protector

For this new destination, they weren't in a jungle or a grassland or anything like that, but in a city of all places.

"This is the city known as Mumbai in India, we are here because one hunter has the boldness to venture into this place at night." Said the lion

Out of a nearby alley, a feral dog came out, it had floppy ears, and light brown and white fur. However, it was foaming at the mouth, making it clear that this dog had rabies. But before it could do any harm to anyone, a male Indian Leopard charged from ambush, tackled the dog, and sank his fangs into the back of the dog's neck, after it killed the dog, it dragged it off to a safer place to eat it.

"How exactly does leopards hunting dogs help anything?" asked Applejack

"You see Applejack, dogs are the primary prey of leopards here in Mumbai, and when they control the feral dog population, they help humans, it's been estimated that these leopards kill 1,500 dogs every year, and that helps the government save about $18,000 a year in trying to control the dogs, and when the leopards kill dogs, they also help prevent 1,000 dog bites, and also 90 possible cases of rabies, and that's why the presence of the leopard here is important." Answered the lion.

"Wow, who knew cats chasing dogs would actually be beneficial?" asked Applejack

"Yeah, no kidding." Replied Big Mac

"I believe it's about time for you to return home." Said the lion

So the lion, using his magic, took the two back to their home at Sweet Apple Acres, where they said their goodbyes, and finally got a good nights sleep. In the morning, the two woke up and went down to the kitchen for breakfast where Applebloom and Granny Smith were eating pancakes.

"I can tell you've had a good sleep, have any sweet dreams?" asked Granny Smith

"Well lets just say we learned an important lesson last night." Answered Applejack

The spirit lion was watching this play out from the spirit realm, and smiled at the sight of his students telling them of their adventure, really showing that they had learned their lesson. Then a spirit cobra came up to him, due to being curious.

"Just what did you do last night?" asked the cobra

"I was a teacher last night, a teacher who taught the importance of the predators in the world." Answered the lion

"Good for you! but what made you do that with those two?" asked the cobra again

"Applejack has learned how rough life in the wild can be, and she learned the hard way, and she knows what it's like to be the one being the hunted rather than the hunter, and her brother did not understand the importance of predators, and neither did Applejack, so I showed them to make them understand why they're important, and to have them think twice before killing a coyote, after all, the predators are our brothers and sisters, and you must look after your brothers and sisters, wouldn't you agree?" asked the lion

"Agreed" answered the cobra