The Big Cats of Bakula

by PantheraMan

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
She looked down, only to see her foot caught in a steel trap. She desperately tried to get herself free, but she just couldn't break free.

"HELP!! SOMEBODY! ANYBODY!! HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!" "HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
He cries for help were answered, but not by her friends. A large male tiger with battle scars on his face was walking right up to her. This tiger obviously wasn't their to help, but because he heard prey in distress.

"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"
The tiger turned back around to face Banda, when Banda attacked again, the tiger managed to knock Banda out with one swipe from his paw. Rainbow Dash, seeing that happen, now thought for sure this was it for her. Or so she thought.

"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
Height: 4 ft tall at the shoulder
Length: 13 ft long from nose to tail
Weight: Males are from 700-930 pounds while females are from 400-550

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.

Comments

[Comickook]

Once more, really good job on the action, exchanges and Mountain Tiger info in all the right places. Once again, the gang's bad luck at hunting strikes big time, but at least they're otherwise all right for the most part.

[PantheraMan]

9473607
Thank you, and what do you think about the new relationship?

[Comickook]

9473644

Well, I don't read these stories for that sort of stuff to be honest, but I respect your right to like what you want to like. And, yeah, it IS pretty good.

[PantheraMan]

9473700
Same here, and honestly I can't really say I blame you on that one.