//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Unshaken // by The 24th Pegasus //------------------------------// We need more information: 62% Gain progress toward the following Quirk: Cautious (1/4) “You really think there’s any value in rushing it right now?” Kestrel scoffed and shook her head. “I ain’t gonna make no judgments ‘til I can see what we’re dealing with.” Though Tumbleweed seemed surprised, he nevertheless smiled brightly at her. “I’m glad that after all these years, young Kessie has finally learned something about the follies of planning ahead.” Kestrel spit to the side and reluctantly pushed herself off the wall. “Oh, can it. You’s hardly older than me, Boss. Five years ain’t mean much when we’re all grown up.” Tumbleweed chuckled. “I will continue to exercise that right with which I have been granted as long as I can,” he said with a wink to Kestrel. “But you’re right—rushing headfirst into this ain’t gonna get us out in one piece at the end. Let’s go see what the others found, and plan our move then.” Kestrel nodded, and soon the pair set off across Rock Ridge, moving toward the south. It was an eerie feeling for Kestrel to move through a town without having to watch her back, but it seemed Tumbleweed’s plan had worked; they were finally far enough into Equestria’s final frontier that they’d outrun their wanted posters. For how long, she really couldn’t say, but at least it offered them some breathing room while they tried to pull money together and get back on their hooves. But nopony tried to stop the two of them as they left the town behind, crossing scraggly badlands and gritty, sandy ground as they moved into the gentle desert that seemed to frame Rock Ridge from the south. “You ever find anything while you were socializing in that tavern?” Tumbleweed asked her when it was just the two of them, separated from the rest of society by miles of empty sand. Kestrel shook her head. “Nopony heard our names before down here. Even your name didn’t turn a head. We might have finally slipped the Law’s long reach for once.” “It won’t last for long,” Tumbleweed cautioned her. “The Law is nothing if it ain’t persistent. Which is why we gotta focus on grabbing what we can and moving before they find us.” Kestrel nodded once more; this was all familiar to her. She’d been running with Tumbleweed for years, and if there was anypony who understood how the Law worked as much as he did, it was her. Soon, they arrived at what Kestrel could only assume was the crossroads Tumbleweed had mentioned. A unicorn and an earth pony had taken shelter behind a large pile of rocks alongside the dusty roads, and Tumblweed immediately diverted course towards them. Kestrel recognized the faces of the two stallions quickly enough; Snapshot was impossible to miss because of his twitchiness, and Kestrel knew it wasn’t all that difficult to get the wild unicorn to draw and start shooting. To his left, a burly earth pony sat polishing a shotgun, and a disgusted frown swiftly settled on Kestrel’s muzzle. She and Roughshod butted heads more often than she cared to admit, and much more often than what Tumbleweed would have deemed acceptable, but there was just something about the earth pony that rubbed her feathers the wrong way. Whatever Roughshod was, he seemed… slimy, greasy, no better than a rat or a snake to her. She didn’t see what Tumbleweed saw in him, but if the boss thought he was fit to run with the gang, then she wasn’t going to question it. Roughshod looked up from his weapons as the two ponies approached, and managed to rock himself up to his hooves. “There you are, finally,” he growled, his eyes quickly finding Kestrel’s face. “You not too drunk, cowfilly? I know you been doing nothin’ but drinkin’ at that damn saloon for the past few hours.” Kestrel bristled at the accusation. “Even drunk, I’m a better shot than you and half again.” “Do we have to do this now?” Snapshot suddenly interjected, his head snapping in their direction. “We’ve got a haul coming. Good money. Good good good. We need money after all this. After the hotel… the hotel…” “We will make off just fine,” Tumbleweed insisted, stepping into the midst of the three ponies and quickly dissolving any lingering bickering. His iron gaze shut down the wild sides of his gang one by one, and even Kestrel found herself glancing down at her hooves. After a moment, he relaxed, and the intimidating spell seemed to be lifted. “Roughshod, you find anything out yet?” he asked the earth pony, eyes narrowing on his iron gray body. Roughshod shrugged. “I sent Silvie ahead to go take a look, count guards. But we got plenty of cover here; there’s these boulders and an abandoned wagon a bit up the road. Perfect place to set an ambush.” Snapshot’s ears perked up. “Silver coming back,” he said, craning his neck to the west. “She’ll know better.” Sure enough, within a minute or two, a silvery pegasus alighted down by the rock. Dust and sand stuck to her gleaming coat, but the young mare practically beamed with accomplishment. Kestrel found she couldn’t hold her smile back for long; the youngest and newest recruit into the gang was practically the sister she never had, and anytime Silvie was happy, Kestrel felt happy alongside her. “Silvie!” Tumbleweed exclaimed, refocusing all of his attention and wit onto the new arrival. “Glad to see you’re back! You take a look at the wagon?" Silvie nodded her head. “Yup,” she said, voice chipper as ever. “Got a good look at their numbers. They didn’t see me; dumb fools ain’t paid enough to look up.” “How many we talkin’ about?” Kestrel asked her. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too many; the more ponies involved in a robbery, the more complicated things could get. How many ponies are accompanying the wagon?: 6 “Six of ‘em,” Silver Wings said. “Tight formation. Guess Miss Belle buys 'em in bulk.” Tumbleweed nodded and thought for a moment. “How far away are they?” Silvie shrugged. “Less than an hour. Thirty minutes at most. They’ll be here before we know it. They probably want to get to Rock Ridge as fast as possible and unwind at a brothel.” “Do you know how well armed they is?” Roughshod asked. Again, Silvie could only shake her head. “I didn’t risk getting close enough to see. But there’s only six of them; four of them are guarding the wagon, and another two are pulling. So… we have the advantage?” Tumbleweed nodded slowly, and then he turned to Kestrel. “So we outnumber them if we get the drop on ‘em—those two pulling the wagon ain’t gonna respond all that fast. We have a chance to drop ‘em all in one go. What do you think?” 1.     Hit them hard. Now that Silvie’s scouted ahead for us, we know it won’t be that much of a fight if we hit ‘em as hard as we can, as fast as we can. 2.     Act out the distraction. We still might be able to avoid spillin’ blood if we distract ‘em. Sure, it might be dangerous to the pony who has to stand out in the road and stop the wagon, but we can all walk away from this with clean hooves. 3. Hold them up. We don't need to shoot if we get 'em to surrender. If they see they're surrounded and staring down outlaw steel, they'll give us what we want without a fight. 4.     Let the wagon pass. We need the money, but this is too risky. Surely there’s another, easier haul somewhere we could hit? [GANG MORALE -1]