//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: Past Struggles // Story: The Rainbow and The Tiger // by PantheraMan //------------------------------// In the skies above, the dark clouds gathered in the night sky, covering the stars. The light of the moon was blocked by the coming clouds. High up in an acacia tree, Sulu stood, peering over the marsh. The group was lying down at the base of the tree, some laying on top of others. Rainbow Dash was snoring while Pinkie used Talamba like a pillow. Applejack’s hat was tilted down her forehead.      Suddenly Sulu growled, awaking the others. Applejack yawned, turned her head, and walked over to the three to look up at Sulu. Sulu looked at her and slightly moved his head forward. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie joined Applejack and dropped their jaws at the herd of zebra and wildebeest grazing and moving along. The herd was huge, numbering in the hundreds at least. “Ah don’t think ah’ve ever seen so many animals in one place,” Applejack said Talamba walked over to them and yawned. “Well, they do have many things hunting them,” he said as he stretched his back. From behind him, Konda, a few other tigers, Night Sky, Wildfire, and some of the lionesses walked past them, heading toward the herd. “Wait, you’re not gonna try hunting them, are you?” Applejack asked, pointing at the herd. Konda turned around and faced the girls. “Why not?” he asked with a smirk. Pinkie gasped. “There’s so many of them! It’ll be harder to sneak up on them!” she exclaimed. Konda only rolled his eyes. “So? I like a challenge,” he replied before continuing to walk towards the herd with the hunting party. Talamba turned around and went back to the spot he was sleeping in. Baagh Raaja had just opened his eyes and yawned, stretching out his paws.  The girls approached the lion. “Hey Talamba, aren’t you gonna help with the hunt?” Applejack asked, pointing her thumb towards the herd.  Talamba put his head down and looked away from them. “Male lions normally don’t hunt so no,” he said. Applejack crossed her arms and Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. Pinkie shook her head and crouched down next to him. “Just saying, that would be a nice thing to do for your ladies,” Pinkie said, making him groan a bit. Applejack grabbed his mane and pulled, making Talamba growl and try pulling free. “So get up lazy bones!” Applejack yelled before activating her geode and lifting him up and placing him on his paws. Talamba froze, then glared at Applejack.  Talamba growled. “I’m not lazy! I guard the territory from other males-”  “Well this ain’t your territory!” Applejack exclaimed, slightly raising her voice. “Enough!” Partak walked in between them and turned his attention to Applejack.  “We need to focus on getting food, if he wants to stay behind, fine.” Partak said before walking towards the herd to join the hunting group. A flash of lightning cracked in the thundering clouds. The clouds were much darker now, and another lightning bolt hit the earth in the distance. Rain began pouring down to the ground, covering Talamba’s mane. The lion frowned and groaned while blinking a few times.   “Grreeaaat” he hissed. Baagh Raaja got up and trotted in the rain. “Yeah! Perfect!” he cheered. Talamba frowned at him. “Why are you so happy?” he asked. “A dark stormy night is the perfect time to hunt.” Talamba raised an eyebrow. “You’re less visible and the rain makes detecting your scent more difficult,” Baagh Raaja explained. Talamba however, only rolled his eyes.  “I prefer hunting on bright sunny days thank you very much,” he said before walking towards the patch of trees along the nearby river.  Rainbow Dash smirked. “And when was the last time you did that?” she asked. “Can we just go hunting already?” Partak asked  Applejack and Pinkie went ahead of Partak while Talamba continued his way to the trees. He nearly started walking again until he noticed Baagh Raaja walking away from the group. “Going on your own again?” he asked. Baagh Raaja kept walking. “Yes, yes I am.”  he said without even turning his head. Rainbow Dash stood for a moment and looked at Partak;, he looked away and started walking again. Rainbow Dash touched her geode and dashed into the sky as another lightning bolt struck the ground. Looking down, she saw Baagh Raaja heading into the open savanna and followed. Baagh Raaja stopped for a moment and sniffed the ground. “The only downside to rain is it makes following a trail harder.” he thought before looking around. He kept walking with Rainbow Dash on his tail, leaving tracks in the mud. A screech came from above, causing a group of banded mongooses to flee. Looking into the sky, Baggh Raaha saw a vulture soaring  to the west and he followed. The vulture led him to a cape buffalo carcass. The carcass, however, had owners. A clan of thirty spotted hyenas ripped into the carcass and removed organs and flesh, one even cracked a bone. Rainbow Dash hovered as Baagh Raaja growled. He charged at the clan, roaring at them. The hyenas lifted their heads up and began whooping to each other. The clan started to run away from the carcass, leaving Baagh Raaja standing in front of it, roaring once more.  He turned around and looked down at the carcass, he opened his jaws before Rainbow Dash’s voice reached his ears. “Oh so it’s okay for you to take food away from hyenas but it’s horrible when we try taking yours?” He frowned, and looked up to see Rainbow Dash landing with her arms crossed and her brows lowered. Baagh Raaja exhaled deeply at her.  “In case you haven’t figured it out already, getting a meal isn’t easy for us, so why hunt when you can take from others?”  he responded before placing his paw on the head.      Rainbow Dash sighed and uncrossed her arms. “Just so you know, when we first saw you we decided to let you eat your fill before taking the carcass.”  Baagh Raaja moved his eyes side to side. “Hyenas can eat anything on a carcass, even the bones, so by the time they were done eating, there probably wouldn’t have been anything left. On a side note, why are you following me?” he asked, stepping off the head.  Rainbow Dash walked up to him and put her hand on his cheek. “I didn’t want you to be alone again. I know you don’t like it when I do this, but I can’t leave you alone all the time,” she said, looking into his eyes.  Baagh Raaja moved his head from her hand. “Fine. Since you’re here, you can have some of this buffalo.” He turned to the neck and grabbed onto it. “You know what your problem is?” Rainbow Dash asked, approaching him. Baagh Raaja stopped, dropping the carcass. “What?”  Rainbow Dash placed her hand on his shoulder. “You’re insincere. Whenever you look down or something, you always tell me you’re fine when you clearly aren’t and I can tell something’s bothering you but instead of expressing your feelings, you get away from us when resting or hunting.”  “Yeah well I-”  “Listen.” She put her hands on his cheeks. “If there’s something bothering you, you can tell me. I’ll listen.”  Baagh Raaja looked away for a moment, then turned back to her. “Can we get to a drier place first?”  Rainbow Dash nodded. “Sure.” Baagh Raaja grabbed the carcass and began dragging it with Rainbow Dash following him once again. They headed towards a wooded spot and upon entering, Rainbow Dash tapped his shoulder, pointing towards a cave. Baagh Raaja dragged it into the cave and dropped it and shook the water off himself, getting Rainbow Dash even wetter.  The blue aura formed around Baagh Raaja again, and he sat down while his human form came into view. “I’ve tried keeping this away from everyone, but you’ve made that impossible, at least with you.” He looked away from her with his arms crossed on his knees. Rainbow Dash sat down and looked at him.  “My mother was a paleontologist. She was the kindest woman I’ve known. She met my father a long time ago, but when he learned she was pregnant, he left her in a heartbeat, leaving her to care for my twin brother and I.”  “Wait, you were a twin?” Rainbow Dash asked. Baagh Raaja nodded.  “Yes. Some time later my mom found a baby girl abandoned in the savanna and she adopted her,” he said, placing his hand on the cave floor, coarse cave dirt.  Rainbow Dash gasped. “Someone abandoned her!! That’s horrible!” she said, raising her voice. Baagh Raaja touched her hand, feeling the softness of it. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “Despite the fact my dad wasn’t present, she loved us with all her heart. We lived in the Okavango region of Botswana in those years and any time I could, I'd catch snakes with my brother.”  Rainbow Dash smiled. “Of course you would,” she said, placing her hand on his shoulder.  But Baagh Raaja didn’t move, but kept going. “But one time we got lost when looking for snakes. We were missing for weeks, and that’s when our tiger instincts awakened, and we could turn into juvenile tigers. When we were rescued we hugged our mom tightly, but our new ability was revealed to the people. The minute they saw what we could do, they avoided us, ran when they saw us, and the rest of my family disowned us because…” Tears began rolling from his eyes as he bared his teeth that began looking tiger-like. Rainbow Dash looked at him, then at his hand on hers, then back up.  “Because they wanted nothing to do with us because of us turning into tigers!” he roared, echoing in the cave. Rainbow Dash wrapped her arms around him and patted his shoulder.  “Easy, easy,” she said in a calm tone before looking back up at him and letting go.  Baagh Raaja looked at her with a small smile, then looked away. “And so we were alone. But we had each other. At least...until the incident.” he croaked. “Incident?” Rainbow Dash asked, getting closer to him.  “On a bright day, we were all relaxing when...when…” His tears got bigger, and dripped down his cheeks even faster. He squeezed his legs with his arm, then felt the soft hand of Rainbow Dash on his cheek, wiping a tear away.  Baagh Raaja was silent for a bit, then spoke again. “When Bloody Knife jumped through the window.”  Rainbow Dash widened her eyes. “Bloody Knife!?”  “My mom immediately got herself between us and him, and with a wooden chair she hit him repeatedly. But then…” He croaked. “but then...Bladed Claw broke into the house.” he said, with many tears flowing on his face and his eyes were becoming red.  Rainbow Dash wiped another tear away. “Him too?”  “Mmhmm.” Baagh Raaja croaked, nodding slightly “You know him!?” she asked. Baagh Raaja turned his head away from her. “He...he...he swiped the chair out of her hands and...grabbed her in his jaws and snapped her neck like a twig.” Baagh Raaja burst even more tears, covered his eyes with his hand and sobbed. Rainbow’s eyes began to water, her arms crossed on her stomach, looking at this seemingly tough guy cry as though he were a small child.  She hugged him tightly, nearly squeezing his ribs. “It’s okay, you don’t have to say anymore.”  Baagh Raaja felt the warmth of her body start to flow through him, and shook his head. “No. I started it, I’m finishing it. Bladed Claw then grabbed me, Bloody Knife grabbed my sister and brother. I bit and scratched, but nothing worked. They took us to their camp and told us someone told him we could turn into tigers. He made us transform, but he growled at us. My brother transformed into a white tiger, and because they can’t blend in as well, he had two of his men hold my sister and I down while he killed my brother.”  Rainbow Dash covered her mouth with her hand. “He...killed a child!?”  Baagh Raaja tightened his grip on his legs. “Yes. He wanted me to help in their hunts, but I never killed anything, any trapped animal I freed. After a while, Bladed Claw got so angry he struck me across the face. My sister threw rocks at him.”  Rainbow Dash stared at his scar. “He...he gave you that scar?”  Baagh Raaja’s tears started to come back. “He...he grabbed her and carried her to a waterfall and had someone else drag me along. When we got there he dropped her from the waterfall. Just to show me he could kill me in more ways than one.” Baagh Raaja said as he wiped his tears away.  Rainbow Dash widened her eyes. “How...how could he!?” she screamed, startling a troop of olive baboons.  Baagh Raaja looked at her with his own big eyes and looked away again. “Then I did it. I set a serval free from a trap. He tried to kill me. But before he could do so, a herd of elephants charged at him and the gang. I don’t know if they thought their calves were in danger or if they wanted to save me, but I ran as fast as I could. For the first time in my life, I was alone.”  Rainbow Dash scratched her head, and looked out the cave entrance. “Is that why you won’t hunt elephant calves?” she asked him “They’re the reason I’m even still alive, so how could I?” he responded. Rainbow Dash looked back at him and smiled. “That’s great you won’t. That’s something you should be proud of.” she said, patting his back.  “The next day, a male lion found me and I discovered that I can talk to predators due to my ability. He took pity on me and let me into his pride. I was happy, I had a stable family again and a dad who cared about me, something I never had before. But...before I knew it, Bladed Claw and gang caught up to me again and killed them. My new father died in his claws. He pinned me to the ground, but stopped, and grinned. He carried me away again and sold me to an animal show.” He hissed, his eyes started to turn bright gold. He then saw Rainbow Dash looking at him with her eyes watering yet again. Baagh Raaja took a deep breath and his eyes became brown again.  “He sold you!?” she asked with a small tear running down her cheek.  “They...they made me do things that  never came instinctively, and whenever I messed up they struck me with a whip or a cane. I was covered in bruises, and I was barely fed and became more aggressive. I was on display in a cage. Held back by chains.  The people never saw me as a person in trouble, all they saw was a monster. During a show, I couldn’t take it anymore and I attacked the ringmaster and ran away. While running from them, I found this place. No people dared follow me here, so I stayed. Whenever a lion or scimitar pride saw me I ran away.” He looked at Rainbow Dash who was wiping away her own tears. “Why? Did you think they’d attack you?” she asked. Baagh Raaja shook his head. “No. Rainbow, I've already lost two families. If I get another family, I’ll just lose them again!” he answered.  Rainbow Dash got up on her knees. “Baagh Raaja. Don’t think like that.”  Baagh Raaja turned to her. “Why? Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t.” he ordered. Rainbow Dash looked into his eyes and grabbed his wildebeest hide. “Back then, you were only a kid. You couldn’t have done anything to save them. But things have changed. Look at how much bigger and stronger you are. Heck, you just chased off an entire clan of hyenas, you even fought Partak!” she said. Baagh Raaja only raised a brow. “But I lost-”  “I know you lost to him, but you fought because you could. Would you have done that as a kid?” she asked, touching his shoulder again. “N-no.” he replied. “Exactly. But now, if someone threatens your family, you can do something about it. My point is, you shouldn’t do this to yourself over what you couldn’t do as a kid. You’re a great guy, an awesome hunter and fighter. There would’ve been a pride that would’ve loved to have you as part of their family,” she said to him with both hands on his shoulders. “You think so?” he asked before looking out the cave. Rainbow Dash hugged him again. “I know so, tough guy.” She looked up at him. “You can’t let the past affect you badly. Promise me you will never let the past affect you in a bad way,” she said, looking him in the eye again. Baagh Raaja smiled and hugged back. “I promise.”  They held each other for a moment, but then Baagh Raaja saw the carcass with the tongue hanging out. “So...you wanna eat some of this?”  Rainbow Dash let go of him. “Yeah, I’m starving.”  As the thunder echoed through the land, the herd grazed with some looking around the savanna before putting their heads back down. In the tall grass, Applejack and Pinkie crouched down on their bellies. With them was Konda. They looked across the herd, then Konda tapped Applejack’s leg. Applejack looked at him and he pointed his head at a zebra with a wound on it’s thigh. Applejack tapped Pinkie and pointed at the zebra. She nodded and they moved slowly, and once in range Konda snuck up on the right where he joined Night Sky and Wildfire who were crouched in the tall grass. The wounded zebra was on the edge of the herd, and it walked closer to the girls who jumped from the grass and yelled and charged. The zebra brayed, sending the herd running.  Up ahead, Konda, Night Sky and Wildfire charged from the grass, and cut the zebra with a few wildebeests from the rest of the herd. The lionesses burst from cover and cut the zebra away from the wildebeests and kept chasing after it. Suddenly, Partak lunged from the grass and knocked the zebra to the ground with his size and forearms. With one paw on the shoulder and the other on the head he drove his canines into the throat. Blood came oozing from the throat. The rest of the hunters stood and waited. Before long, the zebra stopped breathing and the light in its eyes was gone. Partak released his grip. The rest of the hunters walked up to the zebra, and from a distance, Talamba was trotting up to the carcass. He stopped and walked up to them and got in between Night Sky and Konda.  “Good, I’m hungry!” he said before laying down to eat.  Night Sky got right up to him and frowned. “Uh, what do you think you’re doing?” she asked. “Getting a bite to eat.” Talamba responded “And what makes you think you’ll eat first?” she asked with raised brow. Talamba looked at the carcass then at Night Sky. “Because I always eat first.”  Konda chuckled. “Well guess what bud. You didn’t help in the hunt, so you eat last.” he said. Talamba groaned. “Oh come on!” he yelled. Konda walked up to him and got in his face. “Or actually, you can make yourself useful and hunt something on your own,” he said as Talamba frowned. “What’s the matter? Is that too hard for you? Is that why you need your females to hunt for you?” Wildfire asked with big eyes . Applejack and Pinkie giggled. “It shouldn’t be hard for ya, you are the king of the beasts after all.” Applejack said. Konda laughed then looked at Applejack. “King of the beasts? Please, I could totally kick his rear end!” he said before laughing even more. Talamba growled. “You know what, I have to put up with this. I’ll just HYENAS!!!” He charged past Applejack and Pinkie at a hyena clan nearby the kill and tackled one and bit it on the neck. He snapped its neck and chased after the rest.  “DIE! Come over here so I can kill ya!!” he yelled as he chased the hyenas before breaking a hyena’s spine with a swipe from his paw.  Applejack and Pinkie blinked. “Shouldn’t we try to stop him?” Pinkie asked. A lioness got in front of them. “No. We tried, but he killed many hyenas the next day. We don’t know how he got that way, but we just let him go.” she said before returning to the kill. Pinkie and Applejack kept watching Talamba chasing the hyenas who were scattered across the place. “I knew lions and hyenas didn’t like each other but...yeesh.” Applejack said. Talamba caught a hyena in his paws and looked down at it. “Hahahaha!! DDIIIEEE!!” he yelled before delivering a bite to the neck.  Out from the river, Bladed Claw and Bloody Knife watched as the gang made it across one at a time. They looked across the land, seeing a herd of buffaloes run at the sight of them. Bloody Knife looked up at his master who was grinning.  “Well boss, this should be the place,” he said before walking again.  In her cage, Twilight noticed Bladed Claw staring into the distance and the expression on his face. “What are you smiling about?”  He peered at the girl, then looked away. “Oh, just that this place feels like somewhere I’ve been before.”