Look for Sienna: 50%
Though Kestrel wanted to do nothing more but rest and recover, the issue of Sienna upset her stomach as much as the bullet in it had. She knew that she was the only one who had stuck up for Sienna, with maybe Silver as an exception, and for the past several hours, the ex-Viper had been without the closest thing she had to a protector in a hostile camp. Not to mention that Roughshod had apparently scared her away; it was little wonder why Sienna would flee from the festivities to be by herself.
But was she just by herself, or was there something more going on? That was the question Kestrel really needed to answer, and so she forced herself to her hooves, shaky as they were. She grimaced and bit down on her lip when a twist of her abdomen sent lances of pain shooting out from her gut, but she held herself upright with her wings as much as her legs and hazarded a deep breath. She could feel Trixie’s needlework tugging at her flesh, keeping her stomach inside of her while the last traces of the healing potion worked whatever magic they had left. It was a miracle Silver had found some; they’d likely fully fixed the hole in her stomach and cleaned out any sepsis that would have otherwise festered. Hopefully that meant she’d be ready to go in no time.
Though as her eyes scanned the campsite for a ruddy brown mare, Kestrel frowned and realized she might not have a few days to recover. “Damn it, Sienna,” she muttered under her breath, already fearing the worst. She snatched her holsters from her lean-to and reluctantly made sure the revolvers were loaded. Hopefully she wouldn’t need to use them, but it was always better to be prepared.
Thus equipped, Kestrel staggered away from her lean-to, sticking to the shadows at the edge of camp. She really didn’t want to be seen moving around by the rest of the Gang for fear they’d ask her what she was doing or simply try to drag her away from finding Sienna. This was her fault, she knew, and she was going to fix it herself. Of course, first she had to find the elusive mare—her coat was the same color of the rocks around the San Palomino, and if she didn’t want to be seen, it could be very difficult to find her.
She wasn’t in the camp, that much became clear after a while. Camouflage or no, there were only a few places a pony could reasonably hide in camp and still be far away from the campfires, and Kestrel checked them all. She did notice that some of their supplies were missing, along with a set of Snapshot’s saddlebags. Her eyes narrowed on the bare peg where Snapshot usually placed his gear. Sienna couldn’t be that stupid… right?
Rolling her shoulders, tight from sleeping so long in an awkward position, Kestrel began to limp down the trail leading away from camp and out into the desert. If Sienna wasn’t in camp, there was only one way she could have gone, as the rocks were too rough and steep above the lookout post for anything but a goat to climb. The gunslinger squinted at the ground, using the flickering firelight reflecting off the rocks to make out the hoofprints in the sand, and cursed to herself again when she saw a fresh set moving down the slope, breaking apart the wagon tracks moving up it. She didn’t know how fresh those prints were, but she hoped that she wouldn’t be too late.
The light faded away the further down the slope she stumbled. Soon, all she had to see by was the glow of the moon and a million pinpricks of light scattered across the heavens as the stars shone down on the desert. She could hear hooting and hollering from the camp up above, but that soon died away as she wound her way down the butte. Only when she finally reached the bottom did she see a small, trembling figure perched off to the side of the trail, staring out at the desert emptiness before her.
Is Sienna up to something? Yes
“Sienna?” Kestrel hacked as she forced words out of her scratchy throat. Sienna jumped into the air like a startled cat and spun around, the packed bags on her back throwing her off balance. Her hooves slid across the sand but she found her stance quickly enough, and Kestrel saw the glint of moonlight on steel by her shoulder. The earth pony was armed, though she hadn’t reached for her weapon yet.
Sienna shivered and backed up a few steps. “Kestrel! What’re you doin’? You’re… I thought you was sleepin’!”
“I was,” Kestrel admitted. “But I ain’t now.” She took a step forward, and Sienna matched it with a step back. “What’re you doin’, filly? I hope it ain’t what it looks like.”
The earth pony looked over her shoulders, as if she just remembered she’d thrown a pair of saddlebags across her back and stuffed them with supplies. Swallowing hard, she shook her head. “I ain’t stayin’ here,” she said, her voice wavering. “I can’t take it. All I see are mean faces and ponies who want me dead. So I’m goin’, Kestrel. I don’t know where, but I’m goin’.”
Kestrel cocked her head to the side. “You swore an oath, Sienna,” she said. “You ain’t backin’ out on us now.”
“I didn’t want to swear no oath!” Sienna protested. “I didn’t want none of this to happen to me! You and Silver, you two foalnapped me and dragged me back here, and then y’all tied me to a wheel and beat me for what I knew! I don’t wanna be here! I don’t wanna be with any of you!”
Kestrel chewed on her lip as she watched Sienna grow increasingly distressed. If she got too frightened, who knew what she’d do; the mare had a history of making poor choices, and she was armed. Instead of coming closer, Kestrel sighed and took a way back. “You sure ‘bout this?”
Sienna blinked. “W-What?”
“You sure ‘bout what you’re doin’?” she asked her, gesturing lazily to the empty desert with a wing. “Once you leave, there’s no goin’ back.”
“You… ain’t gonna try and stop me?”
“Ain’t decided yet,” Kestrel admitted, working her jaw from side to side. “Just wanna talk, right now.”
Kestrel uses Sweet Talker (4) to calm Sienna: Success
Bit by bit, the mare’s shaking subsided, and Sienna seemed to deflate. Her shoulders sagged and she simply seemed tired, weary of the world around her. “I don’t want to be here no more,” Sienna said, her voice glum. “All my life, I been in this gang or that gang. I don’t want no more gangs. I just… just wanna go and do somethin’ with myself. I ain’t cut out for it.” She turned fearful eyes back to Kestrel, then up the rock face behind her. “Rattlesnake raped me a bunch. It’s terrifyin’. You know how terrifyin’ that is?”
Kestrel slowly shook her head. “My uncle… he was feely when I was a filly. Never got all the way, though. Not like that.”
Sienna sucked in a shuddering breath. “Roughshod… he don’t make me feel safe. He reminds me of Rattlesnake.”
“Roughshod ain’t gonna do shit,” Kestrel assured her. “Tumbleweed’ll shoot him dead if he tries. We got a code we live by. And the rest of us mares, we ain’t gonna let that happen, either.”
But Sienna emphatically shook her head from side to side. “I can’t stay with him here,” she said. “I just can’t. I can’t.”
Kestrel narrowed her eyes at her. “So you just gonna run and hope we don’t find you?”
Sienna lowered her head. “Please… if you got any good in you…”
“You swore an oath,” Kestrel reminded her again.
“I didn’t want to swear no oath…”
The moon shined high in the sky, surrounding the broken mare across from Kestrel with a silver lining, a glow from the heavens.
1. Let her run. She ain’t happy here, and it ain’t gonna get much better for her. Wherever she goes is up to her, so long as it ain’t the Vipers… though from the sound of it, them’s at the bottom of her list.
2. Try and convince her to stay. She just ain’t thinkin’ right. Whatever her grievances are, we can work through ‘em. Besides, I’ll be savin’ her life—from the Vipers, the Law, or even the Gang, it don’t matter none. If she runs, she’ll be on her own.
3. Force her to stay. She’s an earth pony, so she’s strong, but I got a few tricks up my sleeve. I bet I can get her to stay or slow her down long enough for the rest of the Gang to come to my help.
4. Kill her. She swore an oath, same as the rest of us. It don’t matter none if she didn’t want to; an oath’s an oath, and breakin’ it costs blood. I’m hurt, but I know I’m a faster shot than her.
(Confidence Required: 40 Votes)