Luck: 4 Votes
“You believe in Lady Luck, boss?” Kestrel asked Tumbleweed, raising an eyebrow.
Tumbleweed shrugged. “It sure seems like there’s some cruel mistress up there that likes to stick her hoof in our plans from time to time.”
“Then we better work on appeasing her.” Kestrel yawned and rubbed at her eyes. “I’ll be doin’ whatever good luck habits I can think of between now and Friday. Somethin’ tells me we’re gonna need it.”
Trixie scoffed at that. “There’s no such thing as good or bad luck,” she said, pulling the pan out of the fire and dumping the eggs onto a tin plate, which she passed to Kestrel. “Trixie says it’s always better to be good than to be lucky, anyhow.”
“Sometimes good don’t cut it,” Kestrel retorted. “I’m one of our best shots—”
“Second best,” Snapshot interrupted, a tiny turn pulling on the corner of his lips.
The mare rolled her eyes. “—one of our best shots, and it certainly felt like I couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn at times back in Rock Ridge. Some fool filly in the heavens above was messin’ with me, I just know it.”
“But you got hurt badly during the train robbery and didn’t die,” Trixie observed. “As much bad luck as you think you had, you also had good luck. Which is why there isn’t anything as luck at all.” The magician confidently smirked at Kestrel. “Sometimes bad things happen, and sometimes good things happen. That’s just how it goes.”
“Ain’t that what we call ‘luck’, Trixie?” Tumbleweed asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, luck is the name of a thing, but that thing doesn’t exist. There’s just coincidences—”
Kestrel spread out her wings, trying to put a stop to the brewing argument before it got any worse. “Okay, you two, I get it. Just… just do whatever makes you feel best about our chances goin’ into this thing on Friday, okay? I just want to have it go off without too many problems. We can’t afford to take more hits to the team after how Rock Ridge went down.”
“Especially not with the kind of stunt Starlight wants to pull.” Tumbleweed shook his head. “Hopefully the payoff’s gonna be worth it.”
“We’ll just have to see what she has to say on Wednesday,” Kestrel said. “Hopefully she’s figured somethin’ out by then.”
“I never expected we’d be getting political,” Miss Irons commented from the other side of the fire, an amused slant decorating her muzzle. “Are we freedom fighters now?”
“If you’re talkin’ ‘bout freein’ bits from the Apple Conglomerates, then sure. But we ain’t runnin’ for office or nothin’.” Tumbleweed used his magic to start cooking his own eggs over the fire, the grease crackling in the pan. “She’s a talented mage, though. She could tell at a glance that our illusions were just that.”
Trixie coughed, pounding her chest as she nearly choked on her eggs. “I-Impossible,” she hacked out, grimacing and clearing her throat. “Trixie is the greatest and most powerful unicorn in Equestria!”
“Yeah, well that’s twice now your illusions ain’t stood up under closer inspection,” Kestrel said. “First that Rattlesnake pony saw I weren’t Sienna, then Starlight could tell we were in disguise right away. Said your illusions were sloppy.”
“Sloppy? Sloppy?!” Trixie harrumphed and abruptly stood up, frowning at what was left of her breakfast before chucking it into the fire. “Trixie is not sloppy! That little… wait until Trixie shows her real magic!” She started storming off, only to stop and look forlornly back at the fire. “Oh… Trixie actually wasn’t finished with her breakfast…”
“Go make yourself a new one, then,” Miss Irons said, gesturing to the chuck wagon. “We stocked up plenty good when we were in town. Enjoy the bounty while we’ve got it; who knows when we might have to go fleeing somewhere and we lose our supplies in the process.”
The magician paled at that. “Has that happened before?”
“Several times,” Tumbleweed said, tossing his eggs onto his plate and digging in. “Never know when you’ve gotta run at the drop of a hat.”
“Aw, you’re worryin’ the poor filly,” Kestrel said with a shake of her head. “You ain’t got nothin’ to worry ‘bout, Trixie. Not yet at least. Come Friday, that might be a different story, but we’re fine for now.”
Trixie chewed on her lip for a solid five seconds before turning around and walking off toward the supply wagon. “Every day, Trixie wonders whether she made a colossal mistake…”
“Oh, don’t doubt that for a second,” Tumbleweed said, chuckling. “You definitely did, sure as the sun does shine. But stick with us, and if we get through to the other side, we’ll have more gold than you can dream of, and nopony to tell us what we can or can’t do with it. It’s the dream, missy, it’s the dream. And every day, we get a little bit closer.”
“And the Law gets a little closer to us,” Miss Irons said, her usual passive frown settling onto her muzzle.
“There’s the old mare I know and love so dearly,” Tumbleweed said. “Where would we ever be without your optimism?”
“Dead in a ditch, I’m sure.” Miss Irons stood up and began trotting to the other side of the camp. “You lot got too much alcohol into Wanderer last night, I swear. Now I need to rouse his sorry flank out of bed…”
“Ain’t nothin’ he didn’t do to himself,” Kestrel observed as she left. Then, finishing off the rest of her plate, she chucked it aside and leaned back. “Guess we’re just waitin’ on Wednesday then, right?”
“More or less,” Tumbleweed said. “It’s a waitin’ game now. So long as we don’t get found out before then.”
“It’s the danger of hangin’ around one spot for too long,” Kestrel agreed.
The unicorn across from her nodded. “We don’t want to get too complacent, either. Lotta things can happen if we ain’t payin’ attention.”
“I know that,” Kestrel said. “I been doin’ this long as you been, remember? It weren’t like the two of us formed this damn gang in the first place…” Her voice dripped sarcasm.
“Then how do we want to go about it?” Tumbleweed asked. “We’ve got a pretty good place to lie low here and make sure we don’t start any more trouble for ourselves. But I don’t want to be walkin’ into this thing blind if the situation changes.”
Frowning, Kestrel tapped her hoof to her chin in thought.
The Gang will work on temporarily increasing their Luck scores by +1 in preparation for the convention robbery on Friday.
1. Lie low. We make as little noise as possible, we ain’t gonna have to deal with the Law none. We got the supplies to last us well until Friday, and the only time we should be leavin’ the camp is to meet with Starlight on Wednesday. [Very low chance of increasing Law Attention, no chance of identifying changes in the situation in Hoofston.]
2. Keep an eye on things from afar. We don’t have to be right in the thick of things at Hoofston to get a sense of what’s happenin’. Silvie and me can take turns scoutin’ things out from above, and the rest of the Gang can keep an eye toward the roads. [Low chance of increasing Law Attention, low chance of identifying changes in the situation in Hoofston.]
3. Stay active. We need to keep ponies in Hoofston and its surroundings, keepin’ their ears open for new developments. Information like that is worth a little risk of somepony recognizin’ us, even with Trixie’s passable illusions. [Moderate chance of increasing Law Attention, high chance of identifying changes in the situation in Hoofston.]