Lone Traveler Legacy - A Wild West Challenge

The blizzard cleared up overnight and Billy was well-rested the next day. Apparently so was his horse, Thunder, who had snuck into the cabin during the night.

https://i.postimg.cc/nzv4QGTx/apparently-not-the-only-animal-that-came-in-last-night.png

https://i.postimg.cc/ydFNCbp9/snug-as-a-bug-modlet.png

Billy had been given some fruit by the barkeep and made himself some fruit salad for breakfast.

https://i.postimg.cc/YCZ2GHJY/making-some-breakfast.png

While he had been playing piano at the bar, he had heard stories of gold mines, and sightings of a mysterious ghost horse. Billy decided that he would try and find some of these marvels and explore the canyon today.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

While riding. he saw a training area for horses. He had heard about the horse competitions in town, and just for fun, he had Thunder do some jumps and also do the barrel course.

https://i.postimg.cc/W1rd51Lp/practicing-jumps.png

https://i.postimg.cc/Lsqz9TLv/training-horse-on-barrels.png

Thunder was at ease on the course, and Billy figured that with some training, Thunder would be a good competitor. Maybe even become a champion.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

They explored a lot of trails, but Billy never did find the "canyon cave" that some of the residents talked about.

https://i.postimg.cc/HsxC3ZM6/billy-and-thunder-with-rainbx.png

He did head down a trail that led to an abandoned cabin and a horse grave. Billy got off Thunder to pay his respects, and as he looked across the ravine, he could have sworn he saw a ghost horse on the other side.

https://i.postimg.cc/6QQ6ZW0p/could-it-be-a-ghost-horse.png

Was that the ghost horse that he had heard about?

https://i.postimg.cc/fb4cBPVX/ghost-horse.png

He squinted in the darkness, but the apparition seemed to have disappeared, and Billy figured that it was just some shadows. It was getting late, so he mounted Thunder again, and headed home, thinking about the horse grave that he saw.

https://i.postimg.cc/8zgc3gb1/mysteries-of-the-ghost-horse-behimd.png

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Monday and he got some bills delivered. Bills? This wasn't even his place. Must be some past due bills from the old tenant, but since he was using the space, he decided to pay them.

https://i.postimg.cc/K8NVwr5z/billsweek-1-mon.png

While he was paying the bills, a travelling cowboy was passing by and asked if he could stay for 2 days. The cowboy's name was Lias, and he told Billy that his horse, Misty, needed to be fed and watered as they had travelled many days. Billy told the cowboy that he was leaving on Wednesday, so that would be fine. (Rolled 4 - COWBOY PASSING BY = A traveling cowboy is passing by and ask to stay for 2-5 days, then rolled a 2 for the number of days.)

https://i.postimg.cc/1RdNv6FZ/lone-cowboy-comes-to-stay.png

They chatted for a bit, and Billy told Lias the way to town and told Lias to make himself at home as Billy was off to The Rusty Horseshoe.

https://i.postimg.cc/26XzGQVb/photo-with-lias.png

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Billy made more tips and a new celebrity was spotted. He got another autograph.

https://i.postimg.cc/d1XCdjV0/another-celebrity.png

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When Billy went back to camp, Lias was waiting to speak with him.

https://i.postimg.cc/FFPspQ2d/your-horse-thunder-got-my-misty-pregnant.png

He told Billy that when he had gone jogging, that Thunder and Misty had gotten to know each other rather well, and now Misty was expecting.

https://i.postimg.cc/g0DQqGnn/seems-like-thunder-is-lovelorn-too.png

https://i.postimg.cc/6pGB04XT/misty-is-expecting.png

https://i.postimg.cc/v8nnThTS/misty-is-in-1st-trimester.png

Billy's mouth fell open and wasn't sure what to say. Lias told Billy that he would have to stay longer, as he wasn't able to ride Misty when she was pregnant. Billy explained to Lias that this really wasn't his land, and that he, too, was just passing through and thought this was a good place to camp.

https://i.postimg.cc/gJL598g6/thunder-and-misty-got-to-know-each-other-i-think.png

Lias wasn't too happy about Misty being pregnant, but he couldn't blame Thunder for his choice. Misty was one special horse. He really didn't want to take a foal on his travels with him, so Lias figured that he would go to the Equestrian Center in town and see if any sim wanted to purchase the foal once it was born. That is, unless Billy wanted to take the foal, since Thunder was the father. Billy wasn't sure what he wanted to do.

Lias made a campfire and had prepared some campfire stew for them, and he and Billy chatted. The topic of women and romance came up and Lias asked Billy if he had someone special. Billy said he didn't, but had been feeling a bit Lovelorn lately, and had been getting "feelings" around some of the teen gals at the bar.

https://i.postimg.cc/XYwz49SR/billy-had-been-getting-feelings.png

https://i.postimg.cc/zDS7yxHG/lovelorn-poor-guy.png

Lias laughed and said that was normal. Lias understood Billy's feelings because Lias claimed to be a romantic at heart himself.

https://i.postimg.cc/7Zky3Hxy/lias-luaghing.png

Lias told Billy that he had had his share of romances, but preferred the single life and travelling on the trail. Billy seemed to be in awe of Lias, and quietly asked him about woohoo.

https://i.postimg.cc/XqC0gtRm/asking-about-woohoo.png

Lias went into great detail as he gave Billy the "woohoo talk".

https://i.postimg.cc/xT17GXmH/giving-gh4-woohoo-talk.png

https://i.postimg.cc/fTqrb810/the-whoohoo-talk-both.png

And, at one point Billy looked at him wide-eyed when Lias talked about woohooing in a bush with a "hot" señorita that he had met on the trail.

https://i.postimg.cc/vH2WnkYb/in-a-bush.png

When Lias went to check on the horses and use the facilities, Billy sat there thinking about their conversation. He smiled and knew that trail life was the life for him.

https://i.postimg.cc/RFPcTD77/this-was-the-life.png

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On Tuesday, Billy was up before sunrise and saw that his lemon tree was in bloom. He harvested all he could.

https://i.postimg.cc/yNHyPGG5/his-lemon-tree-grew.png

Lias went to check on Misty, who was now showing. Lias told Billy that the foal would be born soon, and that Billy should delay his departure to witness the birth. Billy was rather excited about seeing the new foal, so figured he should stick around. In the meantime, Billy headed off to The Rusty Horseshoe to make some more tips.

https://i.postimg.cc/YSyVG0Tx/hos-it-going-girl.png

Egads! And later that day, there was another fire! Grr...

https://i.postimg.cc/9fgzMRyp/another-fire.png

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wednesday came and Billy had decided to stay to give Lias a hand with the birth. He had never helped birth a foal before, but Lias told him it was something that Billy would remember for the rest of his life.

https://i.postimg.cc/59z5LyZ2/soothe-horse-in-labor.png

And suddenly, Misty went into labor. Lias told Billy that sometimes it took hours, and he said that Misty was a bit nervous because this was her first.

But with some soothing words, Lias was able to keep Misty calm.

https://i.postimg.cc/52pFg3k3/its-her-first-shes-a-bit-scared.png

And so they waited....and the hours ticked by...and soon it was nightfall and Misty had still not given birth. Lias was concerned because he thought it might be a breach birth.

https://i.postimg.cc/0y8sGg3z/juniper-can-you-come-over-we-have-a-horse-in-labor.png

Billy told Lias that he knew someone who could help, and called Juniper Grove and explained the situation.

It was almost sunrise when Juniper arrived and almost immediately Misty gave birth to a filly. Lias gave Billy the honor of naming her, and Billy named her Duchess.

https://i.postimg.cc/tTRZ8mYJ/and-duschess-is-born-on-thursday-morning.png

Thunder came over to meet his daughter and they had a special moment together.

https://i.postimg.cc/0y2NkJ9X/blaze-and-his-daughter-duchess.png

Lias and Juniper had talked about the hardships of trail life, and Juniper said that it would be several months before Duchess was weaned. Lias wasn't sure that he could stick around that long, and was thinking of selling Duchess at the Equestrian Center. Juniper looked at Duchess and said that she had the traits to become a champion horse, and it would be a shame to sell her. Besides, Duchess was part Mustang, and Juniper and her family were well-known for breeding Mustangs. After talking some more, Juniper suggested that she and her family keep Duchess for them, and when they next travelled to Chestnut Ridge, they could stop by and look in on her. Lias thought that was a great idea and told Billy that they now had a horse together.

https://i.postimg.cc/YCsttnnj/juniper-is-going-to-look-after-duchess-for-me.png

After saying his farewells to everyone, and giving Misty and Duchess a last pet, Billy packed his belongings and was about to head off. Lias stopped him and handed him a gift as thanks for giving him shelter and being a friend. He also winked at Billy and told him to "be a gentleman" with all the ladies he meets on the trail. Billy felt himself blush a bit as he remembered the "bush" tale.

https://i.postimg.cc/j2X8t1h1/i-want-you-to-have-this.png

Lias had a good chuckle and gave Billy a hug good-bye. And so, with his saddlebag packed, Billy and Thunder headed down the trail.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yes, Billy was supposed to leave on Wednesday; however, he delayed his departure by 1 day to witness the birth of the foal. Yeah, I know, I broke the rules already, but seriously, in real life, if you had no set agenda and were given the opportunity to see a foal born, you would do it. So, when I roll for the next stay, I will just deduct one day off of that to equal things out. When the Ridge family had stayed, I had Billy encourage Thunder to mate with their horse, but nothing came of it. But with Misty...well...things turned out differently. lol

I downloaded Lias from the gallery, and just created Misty in CAS. Lias has the romantic trait and I thought it would be funny if Lias gave Billy the "woohoo talk". Lias had found some items and so everything in his inventory was gifted to Billy, including horse manure, prairie grass and chocoberry. I moved Lias, Misty and Duchess in with the Groves.

https://i.postimg.cc/br03TwVW/lias-credit.png

Here are Duchess' traits:

https://i.postimg.cc/T15RsZvr/duchess-blaze-is-born.png