Hero Of The Wild West

by LoneUnicornWriter

Chapter 1: Who is Wild Wood?

It was a normal evening in Appleloosa. Everypony went about their usual ways. Some ponies were bucking apples in the orchard, while others worked in town at the bars and banks. The little fillies and colts played tag enjoying themselves. Nothing unusual was going on.

Cornflower sat on the wooden stairs of a bar, looking out at the little ponies having fun. She glanced down at her hooves, and then out at the little ponies having fun. Watching the little ponies playing tag reminded her of when she was a little filly. Her face cracked into a broad smile.

Her memories came to halt when the little fillies and colts ran away. She looked up at the end of the long desert road. Cornflower was in shock, along with everypony else in town.

“D-d-did they really R-return?” Cornflower’s pupils shrunk, and a drop of sweat flowed down her cheek. She froze and shivered along with the rest of the villagers when they saw him…

The shadow crept closer, expanding as he drew near the villagers, silence filling the air. His shoes clanked with every step he took. He swung his two hatchets one after the other, passing his tongue along his sharp teeth.

“Where’s the sheriff?” The crocodile sported an evil grin, causing the villagers run into their homes screaming “It’s him! They’ve returned!” They slammed their doors shut behind them as they cowered into their homes.

“The C-C-Cider Gang... has returned?” She grimaced at the memory of them.

“It can’t be true… Is he even one of them?” Cornflower stood on her hooves. She gasped upon seeing the symbol of a jug of apple cider and an axe below it on the sleeves of his black coat.

“I guess that only leaves you.” The crocodile raised his dark cowboy hat away from his eyes, glaring straight to the cowering figure below him. “You know where the sheriff is?”

Cornflower stiffened when she looked up to his purple, sinister, reptilian eyes. She tried to turn, only to be met by a hatchet, digging deep into the wooden stairs. She looked back the crocodile, who was slowly approaching.

“Oh little filly, did you know that no one escapes the hatchets of Mr. Croc?”

Cornflower stared at Mr. Croc as he drew closer. Her body was shaking uncontrollably. He continued flipping his hatchet. He then stopped, standing over the mare. He raised his hatchet high in the air, poised to strike at his helpless victim. The world around her seemed to be paralyzed with fear at the replitain goliath towered over her. Cornflower’s ears flopped down as she watched her years flash before her very eyes.

“Wait!”

Sheriff Silverstar stood behind him, his pupils twitching. “I’m here. What do y’want?”

Mr. Croc brought down his arm and turned towards him.

“Heh heh, it took ya long enough.” Mr. Croc moved up to Silverstar and took away his hat, tossing it to the ground. He grinned as he leaned into the sheriff.

“Where’s the cider?”

“We haven’t got much to g-g-give you,” Silverstar responded as sweat flowed down from his head. Mr. Croc smiled and backed away upon hearing that response.

“You see, we travel here to get our cider barrels, and we travel a long way to get this stuff. I’m sure you didn’t forget what happened twenty years ago. Your father, Goldstar, didn’t receive a pleasant death for not having the cider when we came for it,” Mr. Croc stretched his claws out on either side, almost as if he was shrugging.

“Unless you wanna to die like your father did. I suggest you get us those barrels that I’ve came for.”

Silverstar looked at the ground. His ears came down, and his body was shaking uncontrollably.

“Well, what r’ ya standin around there for? Get to it,” Mr.Croc raised his hatchet in the air as an evil grinned formed on his face.

Silverstar took a step back, but was too afraid to move any further.

“Shucks, looks like another sheriff wants to be made an example of. Now that’s just a crying-”

KA- BONG!

In a flash, Mr. Croc fell forward and flat on his face. When the smoke had cleared, he remained still on the ground with the hatchet in his claws. Silverstar looked over at the mare that stood on her hind hooves behind him with the broken guitar.

“Wh-wh-who are you?” Silverstar took a step back still shivering every few moments.

The mare came forward onto her front hooves and kicked the broken guitar behind. She plucked up her at and smiled.

“The name’s Wildwood,” she said in her sweet southern voice.

The ponies roared great cheers upon the defeat of Mr.Croc. Within a week the news had spread through of the four corners of Equestria of the “New Hero of the West”. Wildwood was known amongst the land as the new hero.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In Manehattan, in a dark room within an abandoned facility, a bear gives Leader Algutzo a letter.

“Here’s the latest intel we have of what happened to Croc, boss,” the bear placed the newspaper onto the desk. He picked it up, used his magic and turned a few pages.

“Who is this ‘hero’ they speak of?” Algutzo glared at the bear.

“They call her “Wild Wood”. A mare they say that can move a guitar so fast and skilled, unlike what any equine has ever seen before. Most say that she’s a force to be reckoned with.”

“Hmm… Wild Wood, a force to be reckoned with, eh?” Algutzo brings his hooves together. He then takes a deep breath.

“Were there any other villains that survived her swings?”

“No sir, but a villain on his last breath said that all he heard was that phrase “Ka-Blow”. She also said that if any of us continue threatening her family and her kind, she’ll have us meeting our brethren in the stars.

“That is it. I’ve heard enough. I want all of you to go into Appleloosa and bring her back to me. She will severely pay for the interference of The Cider Gang,” Algutzo uses his magic and burns the newspaper leaving only the picture of the mare.

“Go. Now. We will just see how long ‘til she falls.”

“But what if we fail at capturing her boss?”

“Then take back whoever she holds most dear to her. She’ll have no choice but to come.”

And with that the bear turned and walked off into the door. Algutzo looked back down at the picture as the door closed shut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cornflower was in her house going over her to do list. She wanted to make sure all of her duties were finished before leaving her house. All she had left was to wash the few dishes she had in her sink. She went to her kitchen and turned on the pipe over her dishes.

“Hmm, who would’ve thought that my best friend... would be the new hero?” She smiled and started scrubbing away at the first place she held up.

“Ooooh, so she your best friend huh?”

Cornflower froze upon hearing the voice. The plate dropped into the sink. She quickly turned around to find a mysterious draconequus sitting on of her kitchen stools. He then disappears then reappears in front of her.

“Looks like we already have who we need,” the draconequus said smiling down at her and had his bear paw and reptile hand on his dark wooden cane.