Disclaimer: I do not own the characters except the ones I created...blah blah blah. I only own the story that I wrote for fun.

CHAPTER 1

"Well Thunder, it looks like we finally get a break for once. Not that I don't like rounding up outlaws or anything; but its sure does feel good to take a breather. C'mon buddy, lets head home." Sheriff Woody said as he patted his black stallion on the neck. Thunder looked back at him with eager eyes to get home too.

Sheriff Woody had just gotten back from rounding up outlaws in the neighboring towns around the West and was happy to have gotten a break. He and Thunder were heading back to his town of Dallas which was the biggest city in Texas at that time.

Finally after a few days of travel, he and Thunder raced into town. Everyone knew who was coming up on the horizon because they could see a trail of dust coming from behind a black figure. No one could mistake who it was because Sheriff Woody had the fastest horse in the West. No other horse could leave a trail of dust like Thunder could. When he ran, it was like the earth was shaking, announcing the arrival of Sheriff Woody and his trusty steed, Thunder. People could hear them come from a mile away.

As Sheriff Woody got closer and closer to town, he could hear people shouting and waving, welcoming their sheriff back from his long trip away from home.

Thunder came to a graceful trot and Sheriff Woody reached down with his right hand and patted his stallion on the neck and said, "It sure does feel good to be home, huh partner."

Thunder responded with a wave of his head, which made Sheriff Woody smile and looked up to see a crowd before him waving and seeing the women throwing flowers at him.

Woody caught one of the flowers, smiled and winked at the young little cowgirl wearing a light blue dress in brown boot with beautiful blonde braids on each side of her head. The cowgirl looked up with her deep brown eyes and gave Sheriff Woody the biggest smile she could. This made Woody giggle inside. Seeing this little cowgirl smile was all that Woody needed to say that his time away from home was worth it. It was worth protecting his people, it was worth protecting little children like her, it was worth the risk he has taken and it was worth coming home to see his town safe again.

Unlike most of the outlaw towns in Texas that are in the middle of nowhere and are surrounded by dessert; Woody's town of Dallas was nothing like that. Dallas was covered in a blanket of grass. Sure the road was made of dirt, but everything else was green. The buildings were maintained every day, so they looked brand new. There were pastures with all kinds of livestock. Horses, cattle, goats, sheep and pigs were kept in the pastures on the edge of town where there are hills for them to graze on and lots of room for them to run. Woody always loved watching the animals play in the pasture when he could get time alone for himself. On rare occasion, would that ever happen because he was always so busy with the locals and traveling to round up outlaws.

Sheriff Woody headed to the stables which was at the back of the Sheriff's Office and tied Thunder up so that he could rest after a long day of traveling.

"You did great partner!" Woody said as he stroked Thunder's long black face. As he stroked Thunder's face, Thunder let out a whinny as though as he was saying the same thing back to his human companion. Woody let out a laugh and lightly hit Thunder on the forehead and playfully said, "Yeah, but I still think we need to get that nasty growth off your face! It's hideous!"

Woody always liked to tease Thunder about his white strip on his forehead that went down to his nose and called it a "nasty growth." Thunder on the other hand would always reply by letting out a few grunts as if to say that Woody should take his nasty growth of his head, which was his hat. Then Thunder would grab Woody's hat in his mouth and throw it up in the air.

"Hey give it back!" Woody playfully yelled and jumped up in the air to try and catch the now airborne hat.

"Alright, alright, you've had you fun. Now it's time for me to go check up on ole Prospector to see what he needs me to do." Be back in a while partner" Woody picked up his hat and went out of the stables.

I was inspired to write this story by ChibiSaru70 on Deviantart. The picture that inspired me is called TS Outlaw-Tighten Up