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#Post#: 1866--------------------------------------------------
Re: Woodland Expedition
By: Foxtrot Date: March 24, 2014, 9:21 pm
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As Foxtrot continues forward, the roaring causes him to drop to
a belly crawl as he ventures forward. As the two get closer the
unicorn peers through some shrubbery to see the source. "Sounds
like a bear. But something's off." Pushing past a few branches,
he finds a clearing; right in the middle is a caged bear,
appearing as if trapped just a short time ago. "Mesa, be on the
lookout." He says, his tone stern and serious.
#Post#: 1868--------------------------------------------------
Re: Woodland Expedition
By: Shadowed Mesa Date: March 25, 2014, 12:23 am
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Mesa popped her head out of the shrubbery, several leaves
getting stuck in her mane and giving her a rather wild
appearance. "A bear?" She crept after Foxtrot, blinking in
surprise and maybe slight disappointment as she caught sight of
the cage. The Everfree was home to some of the most unique
plants and animals in Equestria, and they had found a bear.
Though a trapped bear was definitely unusual. She glanced at
Foxtrot at his warning, giving a surprised, "Of course." She
then turned to examine the cage with a critical eye. It looked
secure, but it wouldn't hurt to be careful. She scanned the
perimeter of the clearing carefully, but there didn't appear to
be anything suspicious. "But just who trapped it?" She murmured,
taking a couple steps into the clearing. "And why?"
#Post#: 1876--------------------------------------------------
Re: Woodland Expedition
By: Foxtrot Date: March 25, 2014, 8:12 pm
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"Those are good questions..." Foxtrot replies as he gets closer.
"Hold on, I'm going in for a closer look." Taking one last scan
of the area, the unicorn slowly exits the brush and into the
clearing. The bear notices him and begins growling as it backs
away a bit in its cage. Foxtrot looks to the ground to find
tracks, both of the bear, of some ponies, and strangely smaller
prints of wild beasts. "Looks like it wasn't just this bear that
was here. The bear ceases to growl, and looks off in a direction
which also reveals more prints of hooves and paws. Foxtrot looks
over to the pegasus, "Mesa, can you check this out? It looks
like bear prints over here; smaller, and more than one set. Do
you think this one in the cage is the mother? I mean, if there's
hunting here then things might get complicated very fast." The
unicorn looks over to the bear. "From what I remember in the
guard, hunting is legal in Equestria, but only in certain areas
and times. Plus you need a licence, at least for animals this
big, to hunt them; without it, well, it's illegal."
#Post#: 1884--------------------------------------------------
Re: Woodland Expedition
By: Shadowed Mesa Date: March 26, 2014, 4:53 pm
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Mesa tensed as the bear growled, and eyed it warily. When
Foxtrot called out to her, she trotted over, reluctantly taking
her eyes from the caged bear, and crouched down to study the
smaller prints. "I think that's a good guess. They do look like
bear," she said, a little hesitantly. She had never been very
good at tracking. As a guide, her job was to generally just
avoid dangerous-looking tracks altogether. "But it looks like
there were ponies following them... Or possibly somehow leading
them away; that would explain why they would leave their mother.
If it even is their mother. Or maybe they're not the tracks of
whoever trapped the bear at all. It could be somepony who just
found the bear, like us, and decided to follow the smaller
tracks." She shrugged. "There's no way of knowing."
She looked up when Foxtrot mentioned hunting, nodding
thoughtfully. "But whoever trapped it might have a license. They
could be doing nothing wrong," she pointed out. Glancing back at
the bear, she slowly took a couple steps towards it, causing it
to growl again. Mesa looked back at Foxtrot, before venturing,
"So... What do you suggest we do?"
#Post#: 1887--------------------------------------------------
Re: Woodland Expedition
By: Foxtrot Date: March 26, 2014, 11:28 pm
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Foxtrot looks around for any other clues but doesn't find
anything to help solve the mystery. "Well there's not much we
can do. I fi-" he's cut off by the distant sound of rustling and
light roars that seem to be getting closer. "Mesa, back in the
shrub. I'm sure were gonna get an answer soon." Wasting no time
the unicorn returns under the buses and waits for the sounds,
now including hoof steps, to draw closer to the clearing.
#Post#: 1893--------------------------------------------------
Re: Woodland Expedition
By: Shadowed Mesa Date: March 27, 2014, 2:42 pm
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Mesa spun around at the distant sounds, scanning the undergrowth
to try to locate where they were coming from. She took a step
back as the roars became louder. "That's a good idea," she said
quickly, cantering after Foxtrot and diving into the brush.
Sitting down by him, Mesa quietly unbuckled her crossbow.
'Better safe than sorry,' she thought, pricking her ears and
hoping the new arrivals would give some clue to what was going
on.
#Post#: 1895--------------------------------------------------
Re: Woodland Expedition
By: Foxtrot Date: March 27, 2014, 11:02 pm
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After a short time of rustles in the trees and brush, five
ponies walk into the clearing. The first three, two earth ponies
and a pegasus, carry with them three netted bear cubs. The last
two, both unicorns, simply follow the others as they bicker with
each other. The bear already in the cage begins growling again,
even more aggressively as the first three ponies reach into the
bushes beside it to pull out smaller kennels. Without much care
the ponies tossed the cubs into their kennels and locked them
up, the cries of the bears carrying on through the woods until
one of the unicorns walks over and kicks them, "Ey, shut it!
The last thing I want to hear is more bucking bear sounds." He
scratches the five o'clock shadow on his face and turns to the
pegasus, "So, the meetup with the guards is still a go?"
"Of course." The teal pegasus reassures, "The amount of coin
they'll be getting is more than enough to ship these beasts onto
the train all the way to Dodge City with no problems. From there
it's all smooth sailing and easy pay."
"It better be." One of the earth ponies barks, his tone rather
annoyed as he picks up a small booklet, "It's bad enough we
payed for these false IDs and licences just to start this hunt.
We're already 200 bits under and the amount of physical labor
isn't rather pleasant either."
"It'll be worth it. Trust me." the pegasus replies, placing a
hoof on one of the kennels, "Look I crunched the numbers. Mama
bear can be sold for 2000; as for the cubs," the pony chuckles
as he taps the top of one of the kennels, "Ladies and
gentlecolts, you're looking at a good 10,000 a piece. You know
how foreign royalty loves to have their kids happy, and nothing
makes them happier than a baby bear." The pegasus straightens
himself out and looks to the others, "Everypony make sure
everything is secure, we roll out in 15." He turns to the second
unicorn, motioning to the bears, "Nap 'em." With a nod the
unicorn prepares her blowdart pipe and in no time tranquilizes
the animals, their only sounds being slight grumbles before
passing out.
Foxtrot raises his brow and glances to Mesa and whispers, "What
the hell kind of logic is that?" He turns back forward, "Bears
have been out of demand as pets for 5 years. There's no way they
can make a profit from that, idiots."
#Post#: 1898--------------------------------------------------
Re: Woodland Expedition
By: Shadowed Mesa Date: March 28, 2014, 3:13 pm
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Mesa shifted forward slightly as the five ponies came into the
clearing, trying to get a better look at them. She raised one
eyebrow when they mentioned a meeting with the guards, her
surprise mounting when the earth pony made it evident that the
trapping definitely wasn't legal. She frowned slightly. She had
assumed they were referring to the Royal Guards, but maybe
not... If they are, this could get more complicated than just
fake IDs, she thought worriedly.
She was yanked out of her thoughts when what the bears could
apparently be sold for was mentioned. No wonder the false IDs
and licenses were worth it. She watched as the unicorn
tranquilized the trapped animals, then turned to Foxtrot at his
whisper. How does he even know that? "Maybe they already found
buyers," she whispered back, but frowned at her own words.
"Yeah, you think they might've looked into that first."
She looked away from the unicorn to study the undergrowth behind
them, wondering how quiet they could be while sneaking away from
the clearing. Mesa knew they could just wait it out, and the
curious part of her that wanted to hear more about the trappers'
plan liked that idea; but she had a nagging feeling it would be
smarter to leave sooner than later. "Foxtrot," she whispered
hesitantly. "I don't think we should wait around for too much
longer..."
#Post#: 1902--------------------------------------------------
Re: Woodland Expedition
By: Foxtrot Date: March 28, 2014, 8:48 pm
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Foxtrot nods as he keeps his gaze on the group ahead. "You're
right, we have to get to the train station; talk to the Royal
Guards in town and try to stop this. " he pauses for a moment,
his eyes darting around as he tries to think of a plan. "They're
going to the train station. We have to get there first, find out
who they're working with, and alert the authorities. Probably
going to have to split up when we get out of the forest; I can
give the Royal Guard a heads up if you can keep an eye on those
hunters. Just track them enough until you know that they're
going straight for the train station, then go ahead of them.
I'll be there to meet up with you and then we can take care of
the rest. Sound good?"
#Post#: 1907--------------------------------------------------
Re: Woodland Expedition
By: Shadowed Mesa Date: March 29, 2014, 12:03 am
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Mesa listened to the plan with wide eyes. "I wasn't..." She
started with a tone of disbelief, then trailed off. Of course he
wouldn't just walk away, he was a guard, she remembered. She
sighed, closing her eyes. She wasn't usually a coward, but with
a situation like this, every instinct was telling her to just
walk away. And they're not hurting any ponies, she reasoned,
then immediately felt guilty at her own excuse. She exhaled
through her nose, opening her eyes and looking over at Foxtrot.
"Fine, let's go," she finally whispered, then added under her
breath, "I hope I won't regret this." She silently stood up and
loosely reattached her crossbow to her belt, not taking her eyes
of the group in the clearing.
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