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Post by pelboy on Jul 13, 2011 16:13:31 GMT -5
Whitetail woods was looking especially white on this cold morning as Riot stared at a large red apple near the top of a nearby tree, and decided he was hungry. This was one of the very few tress he’d seen bearing fruit so late in the season, and he couldn’t let it go to waste. He was wondering how he would get it down when he realised: ‘oh, special skill, duh!’ He stood at the base of the tree, drew as much air into his lungs as possible, and bellowed with all his might at its branches.
‘POW!’
The vibrations coursed through every twig, and in a few seconds he was showered with the rosy fruit, and a good deal of snow. He tried his best to look like it was no big deal, but he was actually quite proud of himself; 37 apples in one, a new record! He found the apple he was looking for in next to no time, and it disappeared down his gullet with equal speed. With his goal accomplished, Riot turned to make an exit from the woods and began trotting down the pathway back to Ponyville.
Although the weather was scheduled to be cold and icy by the Pegasus ponies, that didn’t mean the sun had to hide away, and it certainly didn’t today. He wasn’t one for admiring nature, but Riot couldn’t stop himself from observing how the whole forest seemed to glow brilliantly as the suns rays reflected of every frosty surface. It was at this point that Riot was distracted by another Pony, heading down the pathway in his direction...
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Post by eagleeyes on Jul 14, 2011 6:31:46 GMT -5
... or at the very least what appeared to be a pony, for the decoy that was set up on the path was convincing at least from a distance. Its manufacturer, however, was not so outstanding. From the thick, frosty brush off the path, Riot was being watched closely through the tuned scope of a primed crossbow. She remained deathly still until the loud sound was made, causing apples to fall all over the place, causing snow to fall from the branches overhead to cover her completely. Under normal circumstances even that wouldn't cause her to breach discipline and give away her position, but that loud sound sort of made staying here a moot point anyway.
"Are you crazy?!" Came a sudden bark from the moving mound of snow off the path which soon revealed an obviously military-esque pony as she shoved herself to her hooves and shook the snow off of herself. With a deep scowl on her face she kicked the snow off of the crossbow still anchored on a wooden bipod.
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Post by pelboy on Jul 15, 2011 1:32:34 GMT -5
“Whoa!” Riot exclaimed, drawing his attention from the pony down the path to check out who had just emerged from the brush. A filly had seemingly appeared from no-where and was obviously annoyed at being disturbed. Riot considered an apology. “Heh, hey I’m sorry about that, I didn’t think anypony else was around!’ He trotted towards her and paused, wondering how to continue.
“What are you doing over here anyway? Are you hiding?” He watched as the irritated pony kicked the icy debris from something hidden under a blanket of snow. As the frost was removed he saw the workings of some sort of cross-bow. Riot was very impressed, and thought that he’d like to know more about this militant filly. He struggled to hold in a stream of questions that he badly wanted to ask.
”Wow! What’s your name? Are you from Ponyville? What are you hunting for? ”
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Post by eagleeyes on Jul 15, 2011 4:30:56 GMT -5
Almost before Riot could get the last word of his question out, Eagle Eyes had closed the distance between him and herself for the purpose of forceful imposition. His intrigue and line of curiosity goes unanswered for the moment that she reacts on impulse.
"This is no time for conversation!" She snapped. "You just gave away a tactical position, soldier! Making noise like that is sure to bring Luna knows what kind of monsters down on us! Is that the kind of discipline they teach in basic these days?!" Her sharp, quickly spoken words were framed by the rigid stature with which she stood after halting her advance, even though they didn't stop for a few moments without letting him get a word in edgewise. "I know for a fact this position was detailed in this morning's patrol briefing so don't make up excuses! Did you just decide not to pay attention to the route manifest? I have half a mind to report you to your commanding officer! What is your name and what unit are you with?!" She straightened her posture and her deep scowl didn't falter even a hint as she waited for an answer.
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Post by pelboy on Jul 15, 2011 10:09:30 GMT -5
“uh...” Riot didn’t know what to say, this wasn’t the first time he’d made someone mad, but this was one serious pony! He thought it was kind of cool, but tried his hardest not to get on her bad side. “My names Riot... I don't know about any ‘unit’, but I work at a clothes store in Ponyville. I’m more into music though, if I’m honest. Hey! You should totally come and see-“ He took the opposing pony’s glare as a sign that she was not interested in the details of his music career.
He hadn’t a clue how to answer her other questions. Talk of soldiers, monsters, and officers; all he wanted was an apple. Riot took a step back and tried to look relaxed, which he wasn’t. However, it appeared to be his turn to ask some questions, whether or not they would be answered was another matter. “So what’s your name? And whats a unit?” . He smiled a little, but felt very uncomfortable. He was usually so talkative and sociable, but now he was unusually quiet.
Preparing himself for whatever response, he lifted his head a little and did his best to keep his eyes focused on hers.
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Post by eagleeyes on Jul 15, 2011 14:58:22 GMT -5
Ponyville? Clothes store? As realization set into Eagle Eyes' mind that she wasn't talking to a soldier at all, her demanding glare and posture wilted to a more shocked stare, complete with a few blinks. It was just a civilian. Before too long, though, her scowl returned though this time not aimed at him as she shook her head and turned about to approach her weapon.
"You need to exercise more caution out here in the wilds, uh.." she spared a glance over her shoulder briefly, ".. Riot." She looked back down to her crossbow and began to collapse it down with pokes of a hoof, unlatching spring-loaded locks, so that its smaller stature could be more easily carried. With a swish of her tail she stepped into the weapon's sling and pulled it up her leg with her teeth. The return of the inquiry regarding her name was met with bland response.
"I'm Eagle Eyes, and my unit is classified," she answered while nudging her nose under her saddlebags to hoist them up and out of the snow, "but if you really need to know?" She turned back to face him again. "The only thing keeping your flanks safe from monsters out here are ponies like me."
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Post by pelboy on Jul 15, 2011 15:27:51 GMT -5
Riot stood facing the pony named Eagle Eyes and was surprised to hear that there were apparently monsters in the area. He used to take this route all the time but maybe it was about time to change that. On the other hand, he was relieved That Eagle had cooled down and now she almost seemed helpful. “Well... thanks for protecting us then, I guess.” Riot cocked his head and wondered what to say next. It hadn’t been the best of meetings and he was determined to turn it around. He also wanted to know why such information was classified, but that reason was probably classified too.
“So, do you have to patrol the woods often?” Riot had been down this path many times but this was the first he’d seen or heard of Eagle Eyes. If she was undercover all this time, she’d been doing a heck of a good job. “What are we being protected from?” He was still trying to keep inquiries to a minimum, but his head was still swimming with unanswered questions, and he figured a few tiny answers couldn’t hurt. He hoped...
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Post by eagleeyes on Jul 15, 2011 17:49:51 GMT -5
Eagle Eyes evidently didn't share Riot's belief that his curiosity was innocent. Again he was met with a sour expression, this time reeking of suspicious disconcert as she once again closed the distance between them, wading into his personal space.
"You sure do ask a lot of questions for a.." amidst her pause she leaned to the side to survey the cutie mark on the flank of her involuntary company, ".. musical type. You writing a book? You spying for someone?" She gave a huffed snort and turned away from him to survey the landscape in an effort to choose a new position, still leaving the majority of his questions unanswered and, in fact, redirecting with her own. The silence that followed her volley of questions, regardless how rhetorical, was rife with moral dilemma. Eyes cast over her shoulder to him. Does she escort the civilian back to someplace safe or leave him to his own devices?
"Where you going, anyway, Notes?" She queried in a calmer tone (if it could be described as such), tagging him with what she decided was a suitable nickname given his seeming aspiration toward music.
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Post by pelboy on Jul 16, 2011 16:10:36 GMT -5
Riot passed for a moment considering what she had said, “writing a book? Haha!” He laughed genuinely and felt more comfortable, even if Eyes was so close. “I can’t read a menu without getting bored!” He didn’t mind anymore that he had so many questions. Ponies are the way they are, and if the want to keep to themselves, then he certainly couldn’t change that. Feeling that a majority of the tension between them had now passed, he opened up a little.
Stepping back to a sociable distance he answered Eyes’ question “I don’t really know where to go; I guess I was going to have a trot around here for a while longer, but if there’s undercover... stuff going down here, do you wanna go someplace else?” He failed to notice that this sounded a bit forward. Riot wasn’t interested in any of that stuff, he just assumed everypony else had the same care-free attitude and was up for some slacking off.
Riot expected a resounding ‘no’, but hey, you don’t know until you give it a go. He thought it was pretty cool that she was a big mystery, maybe more ponies should be that way. Slumping down on his hind legs, he sat up straight and looked inquisitively at Eagle Eyes.
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Post by eagleeyes on Jul 16, 2011 19:41:14 GMT -5
If there was any forwardness in his suggestion, Eagle Eyes didn't detect it, either. That's likely due to the fact that romanticism simply isn't - or hasn't been - any parameter of her training. Flirting? Never heard of it. While he spoke, she fished a map out of her saddlebag and unfurled it on the path underneath her, scanning the carefully illustrated lines and markings, following one curved line with the tip of her hoof.
"I'll accompany you as far as Ponyville," she replied curtly, nosing the map back into a neatly folded shape and returning it to her saddlebag. "It's within walking distance and not outside of my A.O. Besides, if you're going to wander around the woods making loud noises, you might as well wear a meat-scented necklace and invite something to come eat you, so I might as well make sure you get there safely." Stoic in expression, she walked past him while talking. After only a few steps she looked over her shoulder to him again.
"You comin', Notes? I ain't got all day."
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Post by pelboy on Jul 17, 2011 15:30:52 GMT -5
“No more noise, got it.” Riot rolled his eyes, took a second brush the frost from his flank and trotted up beside Eagle Eyes. As the duo started a fairly rushed walk, He let his focus wander to Eagle Eyes. He wasn’t so much studying her as just remembering how she looked. Then again, the image of her rife with anger was firmly imprinted on his skull. He noticed that she trotted... Well, a lot better than he did. He always slouched and didn’t care to keep up a decent pace, but Eyes was the opposite of this, and it made Riot straighten up to match it.
There was a short while in which no words were exchanged as they went by tree after tree after bush after tree. Obviously this silence didn’t take long to be broken “Do you stop... Working, at all?” Riot slowed down to a comfortable walk after deciding trotting was too much effort for a leisurely walk. At least it was a leisurely walk before he- Actually, let’s leave that incident in the past. “You talk about work and duties a lot, I mean, if you can’t talk about it, then what do you do when you’re not doing- this?” He noticed that Eagle Eyes had travelled a few meters past him, and he gently galloped to close the distance and assume a position by her side once more.
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Post by eagleeyes on Jul 17, 2011 21:12:31 GMT -5
Eagle Eyes watched him through her peripheral vision while she strode with her purposeful gait, occasionally passing her eyes to him fully once and twice. Seeing him alter his posture to try and adopt a presentation akin to that which was now natural for her gave her reason to pause with study, though beyond the elevation of an eyebrow she didn't regard it with any greater scrutiny. Eyes returned to her path almost in unison with the return of his voice asking even more questions. Once noticing that he'd fallen behind, she rolled her eyes skyward and breathed a soft sigh. Courteously, she slowed her stride to one more amiable for him.
"Not doing what?" She asks in a moment of confusion, not entirely certain to what he's referencing. "Oh, you mean out here? Hunting?" A wry half smirk tugged the corner of her lip which seemed to add a spice to her dominantly hardened visage. "If I'm not doing it, then I'm training to do it better," she says. "You can never be too good at something. Reflexes need to be sharp. The mind needs to react like instinct. Muscles need to be primed and ready for the fight of your life." She seemed to be taking some sort of enjoyment out of the facts she was absently offering. "If it's not hard, it's not worth doing. Heh, an old commander of mine used to say 'pain is weakness leaving the body.' I always thought-" with a pair of blinks she halted her vernacular with a clearing of her throat and shoved the smirk off her face. "Nothing's ever a hundred percent. There's always room to improve."
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Post by pelboy on Jul 19, 2011 9:30:52 GMT -5
Riot smiled as Eagle Eyes spoke. As much as what they both did was completely different, they were still fuelled by similar reasons. Riot too, believed there was always room to improve, especially since he was not even close to being the ‘celebrity musical legend’ he wanted to be. “Haha, I’d make a terrible hunter, going by that horrible display just now.” He wasn’t anymore trying to be friendly with Eyes, but simply laughing of what had just happened. If something ends with a laugh, he didn’t think it was so bad. There was something about this pony he liked, mainly her attitude. She was the first filly he’d encountered with such a fire in her heart. He thought his passion for music was something special, but this pony sounded like she’d dedicated her life and sacrificed a hay of a lot to be the pony she wanted to be.
Riot wasn’t sure how long the road was back to Ponyville. He didn’t remember exactly how long it took him to trot as far as he had, but it couldn’t be too far. Either way he didn’t mind, especially since he had company, that always made things go faster. Feeling that their introductions were more or less complete, he laid of the questions for the sake of Eagle Eyes, and walked quietly by her side, sometimes humming a little as the went on.
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Post by eagleeyes on Jul 19, 2011 11:15:31 GMT -5
Eagle didn't spend a great deal of time in the company of somepony who wasn't affiliated with C.O.L.T., or outside of Canterlot's military in general, really. There was a tactical advantage to being sequestered from the civilian population. Civilians were generally unfocused. Naive. Combat ineffective. That the prospect existed civilian life might rub off on the honed razor of a special operative was reason enough to keep them in their own little alien world. She knew this, and while dealing with Riot kept it in the back of her mind how unequivocally different they were. Instinctively it also raised curiosity which she was conflicted about whether or not to pursue. Between scanning their route for possible hazard, she kept panning her eyes in study to him, particularly while her ears tickled with the sound of his tune.
"You just can't stop making noise, can you," she said without much preemptive consideration. A chastising line such as that was common vernacular among her "kind"; playful jabs of that nature served as a subliminal method to force one to flex a little. After a few more steps without words, she piped up once more. "So what's with all the music, anyway? Doesn't seem to have much of a purpose."
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Post by pelboy on Jul 19, 2011 15:48:57 GMT -5
“I know! It’s completely pointless." Riot loved making music, but only because it didn’t have a point. Whether or not they were better, no pony could make music quite like he did. “If I did it for somepony else then it’d be a boring job, and if it was working towards something... Then what do I do once I’ve achieved that? Start something else? I’m not good at much, other than what I already do.” Riot tried to think of a better way of explaining it. As much as he couldn’t understand Eagle Eyes, and in return didn’t expect much understanding on her part, she still asked him a question, and every good question deserves a good answer.
“All week I’m at work, and it’s lame. I only do it because I have to.” Riot picked up the pace and frowned a bit, “,but come the weekend? Then it’s time to lay back! If you have to do something, it’s no fun. As soon as it doesn’t have any reason at all, it’s brilliant! The pressure’s off and you only do it because it makes you feel good. Knowing that others will tell you not to do it only makes you want to do it more!” Riot almost exhausted himself getting so caught up in what he was saying. He lay down in the snow and put his hooves behind his head before continuing “And then you realise that you don’t just do it because it makes you happy, you were born to do it... And you get your cutie mark.” Riot glanced down at his, like making sure it was still there. His little speech had given him some new-found pride in himself.
He couldn’t lay there forever but he wished he could. Rolling back on to his feet he made a reluctant trot back over to Eagle Eyes. “But whatever, are we almost there yet?” Forgetting what he had just said almost immediately, he looked at Eyes and returned to his usual impatient frame of mind.
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