Chapter One-

It was one of those perfect days that you only hear about in stories and movies. The sun was high up in the sky, beaming down on the yellowy fields of hay. A soft breeze rustled in across the grains, keeping the temperature cool enough for everypony to enjoy. A lone cloud floated by, seeming not to have a care in the world where the breeze took it.

Spring was always a great time, and even more so in Equestria.

A large, muscular tan stallion with a darker colored mane exited his house, stretching out before the midmorning sun on his deck. Smacking his lips, once, twice, he trotted off the deck and over into the field of yellow. He took a long, deep breath and exhaled through his nose, rustling the hay in front of him.

The stallion turned his head, hearing a light voice from just beyond the edge of the field. A smile crept along his face as a bouncing yellow filly with a dark brown mane hopped into and out of his vision, the hay blocking his view of her when she landed.

Beyond her at the entrance of their house stood a mare, a pink apron adorned on her cream-yellow body and her light brown mane tied back. They smiled at each other, like any other happy couple would.

The mother called over to the filly, still bouncing wildly at the edge of the field, telling her to come in and eat some breakfast before it got cold. A loud complaint was issued by the young one and a small argument broke between them.

The stallion chuckled, shaking his head. He called out once to his wife, telling her to start without them. She rolled her eyes and returned to the house, letting her husband win this one.

With a wide grin, the filly bolted straight into the hay field, listening to the chuckles of her father as guidance. It took her some time, but after a few corrections and some jumps, she finally figured out where he was. Only a few more steps until she--

Tink-Tink~

This time, there wasn’t a laugh. Or a chuckle. Not even a nice, silly noise. This time it was a raw scream. It was an animal being struck down, its shrill cry calling out in its pain and weakness.

The filly stopped cold, listening to the anguished cries of her father, only a foot or two away from her. After a few seconds of numbness, she willed herself to take a step forward, parting away the red hay in front of her. Confused and terrified, she looked at it, noticing it wasn’t red hay. It had been turned red by sprinklets of crimson water.

So numbed by everything around her, she didn’t notice the source of the red, her father, on the ground until her mother had raced towards them, her screams now mixing with the stifled grunts of pain from the stallion. It was a twisted heartbeat of noise that beat in the filly’s ears, drumming into her mind grunt by scream.

A small pool of blood began to form around him, two holes straight through his knees. Tears welled in his shut eyes, trying to block out the pain, and the panicked screaming of his wife didn’t help very much. Her hooves shook as her eyes scanned up and down his body, her mind jumbled as she watched him bleed. It finally clicked in her head to staunch the bleeding as best as she could and with unsteady hooves, she took her apron off and wrapped it around the holes in his legs.

The gentle flapping of wings interrupted them, the mare looking up towards the sky, squinting as she looked into the sun. She paled when the outline of a periwinkle blue pegasus stallion blocked her vision, his wings outstretched and shadow casting over them all. His eyes stared down at the bleeding stallion, a tinge of pity in his otherwise plain face.

The stallion on the ground finally got his eyes open enough to see the shape above him and like a wounded rabbit looking into the face of a hungry fox, they shot open, his back legs kicking wildly in a desperate attempt to flee.

Shaking his head, the pegasus alighted on the ground before them, the black coat he wore rippling from the landing.

Silence reigned between the four ponies and only the labored breathing of the mare and bleeding stallion could be heard. The pegasus looked at each one of them with his purple eyes, the pity still on his face. Nodding over at the mare, he spoke in a soft yet authoritive voice.

“You Mrs. Hayseed?”

The mare, shocked at the question in the time of crisis, began to sputter out a response in anger. “What the ha--“

“ARE you Mrs. Bright Hayseed? And this,” he nodded his head at the stallion. “Mr. Swift Hayseed?”

His hard gaze didn’t leave the mare, unwavering between them. After a moment, she nodded, now holding her husband’s head. The pegasus sighed and fished out a parchment inside of his coat.

“Well, you see… Mr. Hayseed aka ‘The Rolling Hills Bandit’ aka ‘Swift Death’ is a wanted criminal, dead or alive, in the country of Equestria for looting several caravans assault of fourteen individuals and murder of four ponies. I’m here today for his bounty.”

He hoofed the document over to the Mrs. Hayseed, her hoof shaking as she took it. Looking at the near perfect picture of her husband on it, a few tears started to well up in her eyes as she read it, the large black letters of “WANTED” at the top of the form mentally abusing her mind.

Without asking, the pegasus took the form back from her. Sighing once more, he took out some bandages and threw them over at the mare, who just managed to catch them in time.. “You better wrap him up and say goodbye. He could bleed out before I get him to the nearest station. I’ll give you time.”

Baffled by the revelation, the mother stared at the pegasus, her mouth ajar in shock. It wasn’t until a small voice cracked the air that every pony looked down at the filly, recognizing she was still there.

“G-goodb-bye?”

The pegasus bit his lip as Mrs. Hayseed’s eyes grew even larger, her husband’s closing up, realizing that their daughter just witnessed everything. From when he got shot to the announcement of his past crimes. She had heard everything, and earth stallion was ashamed.

Mr. Hayseed opened them up again, his own tears forming as he looked at her.

“Little Hayseed?”

“Y-yes Pa?”

“I’m going… I’m going to be gone fer awhile. You… You gotta keep mama safe and make sure she’s alright… Okay?”

Little Hayseed was now tearing up as well, but she let hers openly trail down her face. “B-but why, P-Pa?”

Mr. Hayseed twinged at the question, trying to come up with the best answer for her. “Well… Pa did some very bad things in his life. Very bad things which made him a very bad pony. Now… Now Pa has to go away for a very long time to make up what he did.”

The filly was distraught, looking over her father on the ground and shook her head over and over again, each time with more force. “No… no, no, no NO NO NO!” She leaped on her father, wrapping her hooves around him, her tears mixing with the blood below her.

“P-Pa isn’t a-a b-bad pony! H-he isn’t! P-Pa is a g-good pony! H-he grows h-hay and s-sells it and f-feeds the ch-chickens w-with me and we g-get eggs! P-Pa isn’t a b-bad pony…”

Anger in her tear soaked eyes, she looked up at the pegasus, the anger in her voice able to melt steel if possible.

“Y-you’re the bad pony h-here. Y-you’re the m-monster!”

It was one of those perfect days that you only hear about in stories and movies. The sun was high up in the sky, beaming down on the yellowy fields of hay. A soft breeze rustled in across the grains, keeping the temperature cool enough for everypony to enjoy. A lone cloud floated by, seeming not to have a care in the world where the breeze took it.

From this cloud, a pegasus made two shots, two direct hits into the front knees of a wanted criminal. He broke up a family for the profit of 2,000 Bits and painted part of the yellow field a new crimson hue. Landing in front of the family, he stated his business and was called a ‘bad pony’ and ‘monster’ by a filly whose father had murdered and injured many others.

Nodding at the filly, surprising everypony there, he murmured. “I am a monster. But no, Little Hayseed, I’m not a bad pony.”

Without waiting for a response, he took to the skies, fixing himself on the cloud to give them space for their goodbyes.

Goodbyes, he hoped, that won’t be the last…

Author's Note

Alright! Sorry for everyone for the long break but I'm back, and with a new story!

After watching Django and reading Fallout: Equestria, I wanted to make a story about a bounty hunter in a gritty Equestrian environment. So, after some thinking... THIS is what I got!

Anyways, I would like to thank conantheimp and Showmare Trixie for editing and revising my chapter, along with some critique about it in general~

So please; like, fave, comment, thumbs up, thumbs down, rant, rave, critique, whatever you want! The more you interact, the more I love you all~ :)