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"
The big cat looked over, to see the mother black bear charging at it, seeing it close to her cub. The bear and feline went head to head, the bear was fierce, biting and clawing her opponents face, and she even took her opponents ear off.
"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
Height: 4 ft tall at the shoulder
Length: 6 ft long from the nose to the tip of the tail
Weight: Males are from 250 to 430 pounds while females are from 120 to 290 pounds
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.