'Food? Check.'

'Water? Check.'

'Bandits? Not check. Good. Let's see how long I can keep it that way.'

Stranger had finished his 'chores' for the day. He had gathered water from a nearby lake a few miles outside town. He never liked his water barrel getting anywhere near halfway, let alone empty. As for food, a mountain was unlucky enough to think it could ambush him, and ended up having its meat picked clean from its bones. Of course, without any proper way to store the meat, he was going to have to eat it tonight before it became too rotten to eat.

For now, though? He had patrols. This was how he earned his bits to stay afloat in Coolidge Springs. A name he found rather ironic, as the weather was always hotter than Sweets' flank; daytime or otherwise. Patrols were important for the town, as being in the middle of nowhere, it was like a beacon for bandits. Having had learned to fight from an early age, he felt it more like a duty than a job to defend the town. Most ponies in town didn't have any experience with firearms, or even close combat for that matter, so he wasn't exactly left with a choice.

So he sat. For hours on end, he would set perched up on the old grain silo that towered above the town, giving him a clear vantage point into the horizon in all directions. Bandit attacks were on average, once a week. So six out of seven days of the week, Stranger would be watch and wait, with nothing to pass the time but his thoughts. Today was no exception. That is, until the sound of the silo's ladder clanging with movement brought him out of his bored stupor.

It was Blindside, climbing up to see him. He was an old earth pony, with a dark red coat and mane that had been slowly turning grey with his age. The first thing anypony noticed about him though, would be the white cross on his flank. That old stallion's cutie mark always raised more questions than it answered. He wore a pair of round black glasses, and unlike most blind ponies, didn't take to carrying a cane with him. He had been living in Coolidge Springs his whole life, and was confident enough in his movements not to need one.

"So how goes patrols today?" Blindside spoke through a raspy voice, squatting down on his haunches next to Stranger.

"Have you heard any gunshots yet?" The sarcasm in his voice was thick.

"I don't think I have." The old stallion chuckled at his friend's scoffing temperament.

"Well, there's your answer then." Stranger found himself smiling a bit. 'Boredom or bandits? I guess it's better to be bored.' There was a long pause in where they both just sat there, looking into the horizon. At least, one of them was. Before long though, one of them opted to start up the conversation again.

"We gonna see you at The Gully tonight?" Blindside raised an eyebrow from behind his glasses.

Stranger couldn't help but shoot Blindside a suspicious look, pointless as it may be. "Do you really think you should still be drinking at your age?"

Blindside let out a heavy sigh, before turning to Stranger and smiling. "You know the law. I worry about me, you worry about you."

"Yeah, well I never much cared for Bandit Law. Seemed a little backward in my opinion." It was true. Stranger never liked the 'everypony for themselves' mentality. But then of course, he didn't exactly live the same way everypony else did. At least, he didn't used to.

"Well, you always were a family stallion." Blindside felt the tension in his words left in the air. He knew Stranger didn't like ponies bringing up the past, but he knew Stranger would let him know if he was overstepping any boundaries. Blindside took a sharp inhale before continuing.

"It's a shame I never got to meet her. I'm sure she was a fine mare." There was a long silence, and the old stallion took it as a sign that he should go. Besides, he had a 'package' to pick up outside Stranger's house. So he climbed down the silo ladder, once again leaving Stranger to his thoughts.

'You got that right.' Stranger thought to himself. His admittedly short conversation had managed to mellow him out somewhat, even if it was only because he was now too focused on memories of happier days, than on his task at hand.

---

"Come on Daffodil, it's time for bed." He was tired enough as it is. Getting the little filly into bed was just sucking the will right out of him.

"But daddy, i'm not tired!" The tiny unicorn looked up into his eyes with a pleading look on her face. He had seen this look all too many times before, though.

"I know sweetie, but daddy is tired. So please, just go to sleep." Arguing with his daughter was never fun, and certainly wasn't made any easier by her unrelenting desire to argue with him. Luckily, he had his fail safe. It meant he had to stay awake longer, but it meant he could get his daughter to sleep faster than by standing there debating with her. "How about a story, then?" At the mention of a story, the filly raced off to her room, followed closely by her father. She nestled herself under her bedsheets, and handed him the book she kept under her pillow.

"The Elements of Harmony. Really, Daffodil? Again? Don't you ever get tired of this one?" The violent shake of his daughter's head gave him his answer. With a defeated sigh, he began reading his pride and joy's favourite fairy tale.

...

"The end." He was glad to see the unicorn filly had seemingly fallen asleep sometime during the story, because he felt about ready to collapse, himself. He carefully made his way towards the door, avoiding the various toys that littered the floor of his daughter's room, lest me wake her up. Flicking the light off, he let out a sigh of relief. That is, until a tiny voice spoke up.

"Daddy? What do you think happened to the Princesses?"

That question made him cringe. not just because it meant she had woken up, but because that was a question he didn't want to answer. He didn't really have an answer, either. His daughter idolized the stories she would hear of the goddesses of the sun and the moon. He didn't have the heart to tell her that they were just 'gone'. Because nopony honestly knew what had happened to the Princesses, just that their absence was how his much hated 'Bandit Law' was brought about.

"They uh, had to go away for a while. Now please go to sleep." He didn't want to lie to Daffodil, but how could he tell her that she would never get to see her lifelong idols?

"But where did they they? Why did they go away?" The distraught tone in his daughter's voice pained him to hear, but he just couldn't deal with this conversation right now.

"Go to sleep." His voice was flat as he spoke.

"But-"

"I said go to sleep!" The scared look on his daughter's face was enough to calm him back down. Shocked tears were rolling down the filly's face as she hid her head under her pillow.

"Wait, i'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell, I-" The door to the bedroom suddenly slammed in his face. He started pounding on the door. "Daffodil! Open the door!"

All of a sudden, the scent of smoke began to filled his nose.

---

Stranger's eyes shot open. His golden eyes darting back an forth in time with his head, looking for the source of the smoke. It was his home. On top of the hill just on the outskirts of town, his home was burning brightly for everypony to see. The trip down the silo's ladder, as well as the gallop through town was a blur to him. His thoughts were too scrambled to think. He only had one goal on his mind. He needed to get inside that house before it burned down.

Ponies were rushing to and from the inferno that had engulfed his home, buckets of water between their teeth. He paid no attention to the attempts to diminish the flames, however. He knew all too well that the building was doomed from the moment he laid eyes on flames. No, he was after something inside the home. The way he saw it, Stranger would have a small window of opportunity before the gas pipe ruptured, engulfing the entire area with flames.

After shouting for ponies to get away from the building, he dashed towards the front door, causing it to cave inward. He found the stench of smoke filling his lungs quickly. He didn't have a lot of time. He would soon collapse from the heat and the limited air supply, not to mention the burning home crumbling around him. Galloping up the stairs, he made his way to the bedroom closet. He let out a high sigh of relief, not to mention a lung full of smoke, when he found what he had been looking for.

A locked box, undamaged yet by the fire. He grabbed it, and began running towards the stairs. Halfway down the steps, though, the staircase gave way and sent him falling. Then everything went dark.

...

...

...

Stranger woke with a sharp pain all over. He noticed he wasn't in his bed, though. 'Oh. Right. I forgot.' He let out a dreary sigh, before jumping to his hooves in shock. Hastily searching around, he found a little bit of peace in that the locked box was on the floor next to where he had just woken up from. Looking around, he noticed he was in somewhere none too unfamiliar. It was the The Gully's cellar. Perspective of his surroundings now gained, he turned to the fruits of his labor; his locked box. It wasn't terribly interesting to look at, it was little more than a small metal safe, but its contents were what were so important to him.

Stranger reached his hoof down the hood of his cloak, slipping a silver chain off of his neck. Attached to the chain was a key, glistening gold as though it were brand new. He turned the keyhole in the box, and with an audible crack the top popped open. Inside was his most cherished item. A daffodil, kept perfectly preserved between a thick sheet of plastic. Sighing with relief, he placed it back in its box, and stowing the box away in a corner. he knew Frosty wouldn't touch the thing, after all.

Opening the cellar door, he was greeted with a fleet of stares from various ponies. Ignoring them, Stranger sat down on the nearest stool and muttered the only words he could think of at the moment.

"Cider. Now." His head was pounding like mad, and he needed something to take his mind off of it. Frosty appeared only a few moments later, floating a frothy mug towards Stranger. He reached for the money pouch on his belt before the unicorn spoke up.

"Ya really think i'm gonna make ya pay after what happened? It's on the house, my friend." Frosty shot him an apologetic smile before leaving to cater to the his other patrons, loudly shouting at him to get them their drinks. Stranger tried to enjoy the brief moment to himself, before a familiar pair of pink hooves wrapped themselves around him.

"Aaaww, I'm sorry about what happened. Wadd'ya say you come with me and I make you feel a whole lot better?" There was no mistaking that baby-esque tone of voice.

"Not now, Sweets. I would like to be alone to think, if you wouldn't mind." Sweets. The local 'sweetheart', as people liked to refer to her as. To Stranger, she was a filthy prostitute, and he didn't want a thing to do with her. But, like everyone else in town, he felt it was best to try and keep on a friendly basis with them. She didn't seem to take the hint to walk away though, and took to sitting down next to him, inching the stool closer to him.

"Awww, c'mon Strange. I'm just looking for a little fun, is all." She tried running a hoof down his backside, but he brushed her away with a hoof, trying to focus his eyes on his drink.

"Hmmph. Well you're no fun." Sweets got up and walked away, making as much of an effort to swish her rump about as much as possible about as she walked. Stranger caught himself watching her walk away. Her pink coat, long, flowing white hair with blue streaks, and her lollipop cutie mark. If she didn't disgust him to the core, he would've considered her offer. He had more important things to think about for now, though. Namely, finding a place to live. Frosty couldn't, as he lived in his pub, which wasn't made to accommodate two people. Blindside scared the living hell out of him to be honest, as nice of a stallion as he seemed, and he had no intention of finding out what the old bastard did with those bodies. The left only one possible option...

"Hey Sweets, can I ask you something?"

'I can't believe i'm about to ask this.' Next Chapter: Chapter Three Estimated time remaining: 9 Minutes