<font color=black>that's when they say i lost my only friend</font> -- Hopeful Valley

The clover was soft beneath his paws as he slowed himelf to a walk...The willlows in vale mourned the emptiness of this place as Vegas slowly descended the hill. His large white ears turned and flicked atop his skull and the for the first time the melancholy of this place struck him discouraging the joy he'd felt just moments before. His tail curled high over his strong back, bronze eyes narrowing as a worrisome growl rumbled up from his chest. Had he really thought...?

Looking to the east he glimpsed a flash of midnight and for a brief moment excitment leapt up into his chest...It settled to a simmer as he found himself to be mistaken, the calf-faced mare being not who he had been hoping to see but all the same it was a pleasure to find someone here. The strager regarded him coldly and it took him a moment to realize he still wore Reno's mask. As a younger stallion he might have tried to scare her britches off, and maybe enjoyed chasing those lovely hindquarters across the valley...but he was supposed to have matured past all of that. Still, the troublemaker in him couldn't help but shift there in the open, taking a few steps towards her as in an unnaturally smooth motion he flowed back into his ebony equine form. The white in his pelt seemd to recede like a wave of color retreating into his hind stockings, the round star on his forhead and the unique marking on his left shoulder. He smelled still of wolf but that alone was the only trace of what he'd been a moment before. "Afternoon. Welcome to Hopeful Valley." He bobbed his head at her cordially, as normal as anything at all, attention direct as he collected her scent from the air before him. He didn't come too close though, just in case he'd really freaked her out.

The willows whispered beside the stream as the wind changed and Vegas raised his head a little higher, peering off towards the south but not locating the shape he sought in the distance."Battlecry." Vegas spoke the name to himself, as him to confirm what his brain had processed. The other stallion was lurking off over there somewhere, Vegas knew his scent and though they were two very different kinds of men he was glad to know that Battlecry Forever remained here as well. Redirecting his attention to the lady before him Vegas patiently awaited a name.