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#Post#: 2047--------------------------------------------------
Re: Woodland Expedition
By: Foxtrot Date: April 6, 2014, 5:23 pm
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Foxtrot remains serious during Mesa's outburst, but does show
some concern in his expression. He pauses slightly when she asks
for the details of his plan, then begins as he looks back to the
station. "Alright, you head up to the front gate and call him
over to you. Engage in just enough small talk for me to get into
position. I'll then lure him to me and pacify him." Foxtrot
looks back to Mesa, his ears perked up as his mind begins to
kick into gear. "Now they'll probably expect to see a guard, so
we might have to use his armor. If the guards aren't here by
then well... We might have to perform the transaction ourselves.
But after that all we need to do is lock them in their own train
car. Then the guards can take care of the rest." He tones down
his ears when he meets Mesa's gaze, taking note of the worry in
her eyes, "Look, I've done much crazier things than this. But
right now I need your help; I wouldn't ask anypony to do
anything they couldn't handle." The unicorn's expression turns
to one of determination, "You're more than capable of the task
at hoof; plus I'll be right beside you every step of the way."
#Post#: 2063--------------------------------------------------
Re: Woodland Expedition
By: Shadowed Mesa Date: April 6, 2014, 11:14 pm
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Mesa listened carefully to Foxtrot's instructions, not wanting
to miss anything. At least I don't have to do the actual
knocking out part, she mentally pointed out. She sighed
slightly, the attempt at optimism not doing much. But she nodded
in understanding as Foxtrot continued, mentioning how he might
have to impersonate the guard and make the deal. She had sort of
guessed that knocking the guard out would lead to something like
that, but that didn't diminish her surprise that it was even
legal for Foxtrot to do such a thing. Well, not much choice now
but to trust him. She tried for a faint smile when the unicorn
looked back at her, but it was obvious Foxtrot could tell how
unsure she was. "Thanks, Foxtrot. I'm fine, really," she assured
him, trying to look determined. She gave him a last nod before
turning and trotting towards the gates. I can do this...
Mesa reached the gates and gave an annoyed-sounding groan, her
expression one of frustration. "Come on!" she exclaimed loudly,
studying the sign. "This is not happening to me right now!" She
looked through the gates and caught sight of the guard, and wore
a brief look of surprise before starting to wave at him
energetically. "Hey, you! Guard! What the hay is going on?
You've got to get this station running again, pronto!" She
shouted, looking like she fully expected the guard to do such a
thing on a her whim. "Are you going to just leave me out here?
Look, please come over here, this is important!" She insisted
imploringly, desperately hoping her acting was at least halfway
believable.
#Post#: 2069--------------------------------------------------
Re: Woodland Expedition
By: Foxtrot Date: April 7, 2014, 9:23 am
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Foxtrot nods at Mesa's assurance, grinning a bit at how well of
a distraction she was becoming. Wasting no time, the unicorn
hops up onto the crates and vaults onto the roof and out of
sight. Meanwhile, the guard at the station looks over to the
complaining pegasus, walking over with a slightly annoyed sigh
as he approaches the gate. "Ma'am." he says in a monotonous tone
used throughout many a guard's career at some point, "This
station is closed for the day. The train is undergoing
maintenance and will be out of commission until tomorrow. I'm
sorry but it's out of my hoofs. Now if you can be so kind as to
go on your merry way th-"
The sound of whistling breaks the guard's train of thought,
causing him to looks over his shoulder for a moment. He glares
back to Mesa with a suspicious look, but another whistle draws
him back to the boarding platform. "Stay right there." he orders
the pegasus as he draws his weapon and slowly approaches the
platform. A tense silence fills the air as the guard cautiously
steps forward towards the train, stopping when he exits the
shadow of the roof above him. Looking left and right, he doesn't
find anypony around; as soon as he turns back to Mesa, a pair of
hooves reach down from nowhere and yank the guard up and out of
sight. Muffled grunts and sounds of a struggle are heard on the
roof, but become quiet in a matter of moments.
In the spot where the guard was plucked, pieces of his armor
drop to the ground with a clank, including his boots, chest
plate, and helmet. Seconds later Foxtrot himself lands onto the
platform, his own backpack and guitar not present on him at all.
Trotting back to the front gate, he smirks at Mesa as he opens
the gate, "So far so good. The guard's out like a light."
Stepping aside for Mesa to walk through, he glances at the armor
to be worn, his smrik fading away to a blank expression.
#Post#: 2074--------------------------------------------------
Re: Woodland Expedition
By: Shadowed Mesa Date: April 7, 2014, 3:27 pm
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Mesa kept up her annoyed expression until the guard glanced back
at the whistle, before her face became perfectly angelic as he
looked back at her suspiciously. She kept silent at the guard's
order, tensing as he drew his weapon and headed back to the
boarding platform. A moment before he came out of the shade,
Mesa had to bite her lip to keep herself from yelling a warning,
and then the guard was yanked up onto the roof. She looked away
at the sounds of struggling. It's for the best, dirty guards
don't need protection, she told herself, and the line of
thinking actually helped her relax slightly. She looked back as
Foxtrot dropped from the roof and trotted over to let her in.
"Yeah, um... good job," she said uncertainly, walking into the
station as the unicorn moved aside. She caught sight of his
blank expression, and with a weak attempt towards humor to
lighten the situation, she said, "Practicing to look like a
guard already? You've certainly got the expression down..." She
trailed off as a bit of concern crept into her expression.
"Foxtrot, are you alright?"
#Post#: 2078--------------------------------------------------
Re: Woodland Expedition
By: Foxtrot Date: April 7, 2014, 8:34 pm
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Foxtrot remains silent for a moment, not even replying to Mesa's
question until his mind finally registers that she spoke. He
glances over his shoulder, "Oh? Uh yeah..." The unicorn looks
back to the armor as he slowly approaches it, "It's just... It's
been a while since I've worn Royal Guard armor." He reaches down
and picks up the helmet, his ears folding back when he sees his
own reflection against the metal, his voice nearly dropping to a
whisper "...I'm the last pony who should be wearing this..." The
sound of conversation in the distance grows as the hunters begin
to near the station. Falling back to his soldierly facade,
Foxtrot hurriedly begins putting on the guard's armor,
temporarily shoving any doubts he has into the back of his mind.
"Mesa, I need you on the roof. Keep an eye on the exchange as
well as the guard in case he wakes up. If he does wake up,
well..." Foxtrot sighs, placing a hoof to his head as he tries
to think, the clanking of the slightly loose armor wasn't
helping either, "just knock him out again." With the group just
a few feet away from the end of the platform, the unicorn begins
trotting over to them. He stops and looks to Mesa, opening his
mouth say something, but his gaze merely drops to the floor as
his mouth shuts again and he continues forward to begin the
transaction.
#Post#: 2088--------------------------------------------------
Re: Woodland Expedition
By: Shadowed Mesa Date: April 8, 2014, 12:18 am
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Mesa was about to nod and drop the subject when she heard
Foxtrot's whisper, and she raised one eyebrow in surprise. What
in Equestria does he mean by that? She wondered briefly if it
had to do with his earlier mention of assassination, though he
hadn't seemed particularly regretful about it at the time. The
thought still made her flinch slightly, but figuring it was none
of her business, she shrugged it off. It's not like I'm much
better, anyway, she thought hollowly. She forced herself out of
her train of thought as she heard the trappers approaching in
the distance. She glanced at Foxtrot at his instructions,
starting to nod before she heard his last comment and stared at
him, her eyes widening. "Wait, I don't think I-"
She stopped abruptly as she realized how close the group of
ponies were, and was about to quickly fly up to the roof when
she caught Foxtrot's last look. But as his gaze dropped and he
turned away, Mesa just shrugged, and taking a short moment to
steel herself, shot up to the roof. She landed right by the
unconscious, armor-less guard, and swallowed nervously as she
flattened herself against the roof. After a moment's thought,
she quickly took her loaded crossbow from her side, though she
didn't know if she'd actually be able to use it on a pony, even
just to use the side of the handle to knock them out. But even
so, she instantly felt calmer with her favorite weapon in her
grasp. She peeked just enough over the edge to be able to see
what was going on below, while keeping the unconscious guard in
her peripheral.
#Post#: 2104--------------------------------------------------
Re: Woodland Expedition
By: Foxtrot Date: April 8, 2014, 7:52 pm
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The pegasus climbs upon the stairs onto the platform, ahead of
him is a single unicorn guard; the rest of the station is
barren. The group of hunters become silent as they approach the
impostor, the crates behind them simply rest on their carts, no
noise emanating from there either. As Foxtrot waits for them to
approach, feint whispers in his head begin to resonate as his
concentration is strained with memories linked to the armor
resting on his body. The pegasus signals his group to stop and
takes a few steps towards Foxtrot, stopping about a foot away
from him, "Why hello there sir. My companions and I are looking
for train 417, do you know if this one is it?" The unicorn nods
and walks up
Foxtrot passes a quick glance to the train next to them, "It
sure is." he says with cool confidence despite his thoughts
running amok in his head, "Unfortunately the price for the
transportation of your cargo wont be cheap."
With a chuckle the pegasus reaches into his bag and shuffles
around for something, "Of course, I wouldn't expect anything
less." He lifts out a pouch, the clinking noise indicating a
decent amount of bits within. "You got the papers?" The unicorn
nods and steps forward to give the smirking pegasus the required
papers.
As Foxtrot lifts up the papers, he glances at his hoof, to his
terrified surprise he finds his hoof and the papers covered in
blood. He jerks his hoof back, the papers falling to the floor;
the hunters themselves are taken off guard by the action and
ready their weapons. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts,
Foxtrot hastily picks the papers up, the blood vanishing as
mysteriously as it appeared. "S-Sorry, I thought I saw something
on my hoof." A cold sweat begins to trickle down the unicorn's
forehead as his legs begin to slightly tremble, the once feint
whispers in his head now becoming much louder. He once again
holds out the papers, his hoof shaking even more. 'Damn it! Why
now, of all times!?
The group of hunters don't lower their weapons, the pegasus
himself resting his hoof on his dagger but doesn't lift it in
the air. Instead, he simply looks at the distraught guard with
some curiosity, "You know it's funny. I was told 417 did
numerous exchanges like this before. Why are you such a mental
wreck now?"
As the exchange below commenced, the unconscious guard begins to
stir. Suddenly sitting up, he rubs his head, eyes still shut as
his senses begin to return, "Wha- what happened?"
#Post#: 2113--------------------------------------------------
Re: Woodland Expedition
By: Shadowed Mesa Date: April 9, 2014, 10:16 am
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Mesa watched the exchange below carefully, pushing away another
instinctive urge to leave while she still could. Foxtrot knows
what he's doing, she assured herself, and as she watched the
unicorn converse coolly with the hunters, she believed it. But
when Foxtrot suddenly dropped the papers and made his excuse,
Mesa frowned slightly. Her concern deepened as, even from her
vantage point, she could see Foxtrot shaking. It was obvious
something was wrong.
The trappers seemed to realize it as well, the pegasus
questioning why Foxtrot was so nervous. Mesa wanted to ask him
the same question. She found it hard to believe that the
stallion had just gotten a last-minute case of jitters. After
all, Foxtrot had assured Mesa he had done much crazier things
than the transaction he was doing now. So what is he doing?
Maybe he's playing some sort of angle, she thought, but her gut
told her that wasn't the case. She was broken out of her
confused thoughts when the guard by her sat up abruptly, and she
shrank back. No, no! Why did he have to wake up? But then
another thought surfaced. Foxtrot is counting on me. The
exchange on the platform wasn't going well, but if the real
guard wasn't silenced, it would get a lot worse. All this ran
through her head in a moment, and Mesa was faced with split
second decision.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered faintly. In one motion, Mesa
suddenly sat up, and lifting her bow and spinning it around so
she was holding it by its curved limbs, swung the stock at the
side of the waking guard's head as hard as she could, all the
while praying that the trappers below would be distracted enough
by Foxtrot to hear anything.
#Post#: 2118--------------------------------------------------
Re: Woodland Expedition
By: Foxtrot Date: April 9, 2014, 3:13 pm
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Realizing the situation is getting out of hoof, Foxtrot raises
his hoof and takes a deep breath. The trembling in his body
reduces drastically, the only thing slight shaking was his back
boots. "Sorry about that, I haven't had my smoke break for four
hours and I'm a bit on edge. Now do you want the papers or not?"
The unicorn waves the documents in the pony's face
"Alright!" the pegasus shouts, snatching the papers from the
unicorn's hoof, "Only because we're in a rush." He tosses the
bag of bits to Foxtrot's hoof, "What train car is ours?"
With a grin the unicorn pockets the gold and trots past the
leader and even the group with the cool confidence that he
started out with, masking the increased concentration on
suppressing any other hallucinations. "I'll walk you all there
myself. This way please." He directs the group of hunters to the
other side of the train, glancing over to the roof once to make
sure things were still quiet over there. So far no noise or
movement up there from what he could tell. Returning back to the
group, he finds them already loading up the kennels into the
caboose of the train. "You all can go ahead into the train car
up ahead, I'll take care of this for ya." Foxtrot points to the
storage car just ahead of them. One by one they get in the car
and get comfortable. As the pegasus hops in he glances to
Foxtrot, "The train crew is ready to go?"
"They will be in a few minutes." the unicorn answers. Foxtrot
then grabs the handle to the door and slides it shut, a wave of
excitement rushing over him as he finds a lock to make sure the
group stayed in one spot. Locking the car, the fake guard runs
over to the platform, jumping in the air a few times for good
measure, "We did it!"
#Post#: 2125--------------------------------------------------
Re: Woodland Expedition
By: Shadowed Mesa Date: April 9, 2014, 11:30 pm
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The guard on the roof crumbled at the impact to his temple, once
again unconscious. Mesa didn't move a muscle as she stared at
the pony she had knocked out, the still guard instantly calling
to mind the body of another stallion Mesa had known, one who
would never speak or laugh or smile again... And it was my
fault. The sudden stab of grief that hit her was so powerful
that Mesa had to keep herself from collapsing, her vision
blurring at the edges. She forced herself to a standing position
and quickly backed away a few steps from the real guard, her
heart pounding as she yelled at herself mentally. Not him, it's
not him! It's just a dirty guard. A criminal. And I couldn't let
Foxtrot down when he was depending on me! I'm sorry I'm sorry
I'm sorry... Mesa squeezed her eyes shut as she desperately
tried to get ahold of her emotions. I can't think about this
right now, I'll deal with it later. Now's not the time to
suddenly have a break down.
She reopened her eyes as she managed to slow her thudding heart
a little and sit back down, returning her crossbow to her belt.
Right now, I need to focus. Giving her thoughts a strong mental
shove to the back of her mind, she returned her attention to
Foxtrot and the hunters below. She let out a slight sigh of
relief when it appeared her miniature breakdown had only lasted
a moment or two, and Foxtrot was giving the papers to the
pegasus. The tan unicorn had appeared to have lost his
nervousness, and another wave of relief washed over Mesa. This
just might work. She temporarily lost sight of the group as they
went to the other side of the train, but then Foxtrot was
running back to the platform. She stared in surprise as the
unicorn jumped and called out, and a combination of relief and
triumph shot briefly through Mesa, before her ears went back
slightly and she swallowed. What would Foxtrot think of her, if
just knocking another pony out affected her so strongly? He had
trusted her to be able to handle it.
Standing up, she made sure to perk her ears up and smile
faintly. The relief of the plan having worked made this less
difficult than expected. It worked! And so I was upset for a
second, I'm fine! There was that bit of hollowness in her
stomach, and the promise of the guilt returning that night, when
it would just be Mesa and her memories... but that could be
ignored with enough concentration. She hopped off the roof and
flew down to meet Foxtrot. "We did it!" She echoed, still
smiling slightly as she landed in front of the stallion. "You
got them all locked up? Um, and it was fine I came down, right?"
She double-checked, glancing around the platform to make sure
none of the trappers were lurking.
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