The sun beat down on me like a dragon breathing fire on his opponent as I pulled that wagon. For three straight days without rest, my party and I were somewhere in the desert making our way to my hometown of Gallop Gulch. The trek had begun to take its toll.
"Fauna, I told you to keep your tail out of my face while I'm sleeping!" Uma grumped.
"Sorry if I'm trying to send a letter to Hay Flower and the others!" She snarked tying a letter to a bird's leg. When she released it, it fell to the ground behind the wagon. "Dang it, another dropped bird!"
"Didn't you go over your bird limit back at Dodge Junction?" Uma asked trying to act like he cares.
As they started arguing, Slicer was looking out the window she was sitting at as Zulu (On the opposite end) was trying to use the sunlight from the front to read.
"Okay, I spy with my little eye, something...Brown!" Slicer said.
"A tumbleweed!" the frustrated Zebra snapped.
"Well glue some horns to my head and call me a Minotaur, what crawled up YOUR plot and died?"
"It's been the same thing for seven hours! If it's brown, it's a tumbleweed! If it's green, it's a cactus! If it's tan, dirt! Pick another game!"
"Just one more, okay?"
"Fine"
"Hmm...I spy with my little eye...Something...White!"
"A skull"
"YOU DIDN'T EVEN LOOK!"
Needless to say, lugging a ninja Earth Pony, an easily agrivated zebra, a sleepy Alicorn born to Earth Pony parents from Applequerque and an adlet with an I.Q of 87 can be a pain in the neck between towns. I managed to find a town where the local saloon seemed to be in high spirits.
I unhitched myself and tapped on the wagon's seat saying "REST STOP!"
They exit out one-by-one and we head over to the door. When we entered through the door, the place went silent. The only sound heard was the wind as it blew my cape, the rim of my hat and my bandanna. As we started my way to the bartender, I could hear everypony whispering about me.
"It's him" the piano player said to the dancers between him.
"The Pony With No Name!" a dancer muttered as I passed the table she was at. The whispers grew into low voiced speaking.
"The son of the late One-Shot Bullseye himself!" added a nearby bison.
"Why would somepony with a 500,000 bit bounty on his head be out in public?" Asked a mare to the guy sitting across from her.
"Someone told me that he served Princess Celestia for a while and she pardoned him" he replied. "You wanna know something else? I heard he was raised by buffaloes!" The mare gasped in amazement. "No lie, a friend of mine up in Appleoosa saw him stampeding with them"
"Is it true that he killed his own folks with one arrow?" one mare asked who I could assume is her boyfriend.
Licking the cider froth from his mustache, he shrugged and replied, "That might be just an old mare's tale. I heard somewhere that a zebra with a bone to pick with his father tied 'im to a cactus and forced him to watch as he burned his childhood home to the ground with his folks in it. Now the poor boy's huntin' 'im down. An eye for an eye"
"I heard that he made a pact with a bull the size of a Manticore to fight each other when one of them felt that he was strong enough to take on the other guy" added his neighbor at the table on the right.
"AH HEARDS A RODEO CLOWN ATE 'IS BISCUITS AND NOW HE NEEDS TO DRINK FROM THE COTTON CANDY FALLS TO GIT 'EM BACK!" raved an elderly prospector slapping the mare in the face with his beard looking between the two talking. Poor guy was obviously out in the sun for too long. I'm lucky not to have cracked myself.
As I took a seat at the bar, I turned around and lifted my hat rim slightly to see them staring at me. "Don't stop on MY account" That's all I had to say before I turned back around to the bartender. The piano player started another song and everypony else went on with their lives.
"What'll it be?" the bartender asked cleaning a glass.
"I'll take a cola" Uma said.
"I would like some milk" Slicer added.
"Apple juice" Fauna's order.
"Just some water" Zulu said hoping nopony tries anything funny.
I finished the order with, "Sarsaparilla on the rocks. Leave the bottle"
After he brought our order, he asked, "So what's on your mind, stranger?"
As I pulled down my bandanna with a sigh, I looked him in the eyes and respond, "18 years. That's how long I've been alive. I've seen many things. From a tyrannic mayor to an alicorn born with the attributes of various other creatures, and everything in between"
"Ooh, the mysterious Lock Target's secret past revealed" Fauna said sounding interested.
"I suppose the best place to start...Is the beginning" I finished as I took a drink.
It all started on that fateful day in my home town, Gallop Gulch. I was just a little pony back then. Dawn had just broken over the town. My father and I got up and started on our chores. We had just finished when my mother, Padlock called for us.
"Bullseye, Lock, breakfast!"
My father was Bullseye, greatest slinger in Southern Equestria. When we weren't taking care of the ranch, he would teach me his skills at firing a crossbow. I was an only child. No brothers, no sisters, nopony. My parents did everything they could to satisfy me and I was greatful for that.
"Well, it looks like you boys worked up an appitite"
"Sure did, Paddy!"
I rushed in to eat. We all sat around the table. My being an only child, we had plenty to eat and we were keeping up with our bills...All except one.
"Bullseye, the postmare came today"
"And?"
"The bank just sent us a final notice"
"What? But I just paid them this month!"
"Yes, but don't you remember? We skipped a month when you ran the plow into the barn and broke your leg"
"How much are they asking for, mama?" I didn't know much about such things back then.
My mother paused for a moments and said, "...500,000 Bits. And we only made so much this month. If this keeps up, we could lose the ranch!"
I thought about this for a moment. "Hmm...Say, that's exactly what the mayor's giving away to the winner of this year's Marksmaneship Competition! Papa could win the money and we can be fine for another month!"
My father pondered this before saying, "Now THERE'S an idea! By gum, I bet I can win that thing faster then you can whistle 'This Cowpony's hat' with crackers in your mouth!" He'd always exaggerate when it came to his skills. Being known as the best, I didn't blame him.
As young and nieve as I was, I didn't know what was in store. We got to the town square where the contest was being held. I had just gotten perched on the railing on the blacksmith's shop. My father did well. But then...
"Fillies and Gentlecolts!" the mayor started, "It all comes down to two competitors! 'One-Shot' Bullseye and Sheriff Sky!"
Sheriff Sky, Mayor Bad Egg's trusted enforcer. Since before Bad Egg was in power, the two have been good friends with my father. A Griffin for a sheriff will make anypony in a small town a little edgy, but he's always kept lawbreakers in line. I watched as Sky went first. He hit the target dead center, but my father showed off as usual and split the arrow. As the crowd cheered for him for winning the competition, I felt something. I didn't hear it over the crown, but somehow, I sensed an arrow coming toward my father's head and managed to catch it before it hit him.
"What in sam hill?" That was all my father could say as it was there when I learned that I had superpony abilities. Everypony ran off in fear of the one who shot the arrow who was another griffin.
"This wasn't part of the plan!" Sky shouted at the mayor.
"P-plan?" It turned out that we were all decieved.
My father placed this very hat on my head as he moved up in front of me. He then looked at Sky.
"I sware, we were only going to give you the money so you could pay your bank bill. The prize money for this year's contest was just a ploy to help you!"
"So what's THIS guy's story?"
"He works for me...So does the bank!" When we heard Bad Egg say this, my father became enraged. "Listen, I can't just stick my neck out for just anypony, especially a childhood friend...Just the highest bidder!" He cackled as he aproached us.
"You slimey double-crosser! No wonder you have a Cutie Mark of a snake on your flank!" My father's nostrils flared in displeasure.
"What can I say? It just comes naturally" He nodded at he other griffin and he shot an arrow into his head which I tried to prevent earlier.
As my father hit the ground, these were his dying words: "...Get...My family to...Safety!" I saw as the life in his eyes faded away.
"Now we can't have that!" Bad Egg said pulling out his crossbow. Sky managed to fly me out of town. We managed to find my mother an explain what had happened.
Luckily, we had a hot-air balloon for in case we had to flee to the city. We got into it and took flight. Unfortunately, we didn't count on the strong winds that afternoon. The wind tossed us around for weeks before we saw a place we haven't seen before...The sign read "Manegri-La"
