The Big Cats of Bakula

by PantheraMan

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
Height: 4 ft tall at the shoulder
Length: 5 ft long from nose to tail
Weight: up to 550 pounds, I'm not aware of any sexual dimorphism in Homotherium in general

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.

Comments

[Jigoku Luna]

The story was a fun ride look forward to more stories from you.

[PantheraMan]

9509612
I'm glad you liked this story. I also couldn't resist having that Pinkie moment.

[Comickook]

Really good job on the last two chapters of this story. I love the work that went into the exchanges, action, general story wrap-up and future adventure set-up in all the right places (as well as the info on the last two big cats in the story). I especially liked how they finally found the means to go home (at least temporarily), Banda and Tulu's reactions to the Rainbooms' world, and Zephyr's getting on the wrong side of Kama. Yeah, and PInkie's bit at the very end was funny too, but that was already mentioned by another reviewer.

[PantheraMan]

9509736
Thanks buddy, I do have an idea for a sequel, but not to any of the new regions, basically some more detailed backstory of the predators of the Hunters Deathtrap.

[Comickook]

9509762
You are quite welcome.

[Comickook]

9509771
My pleasure. And I kind of figured.

In that order.