Unshaken

by The 24th Pegasus


Chapter 81

Gray clouds hung heavy over Hoofston, their presence heralding the oncoming storm. Though a team of weather pegasi hired by the Apple Conglomerates worked overtime to keep the skies above the conference grounds clear, the heavy, wet clouds continued to roll in along the fringes of the city. Rain would be coming to the arid city soon as one of the few seasonal thunderstorms barreled down on the drylands town.

That didn’t bother Kestrel any. In fact, she was happy to have the cloud cover as she waited above the city. After spending all of Tuesday cooped up at the camp with the rest of the Gang, it felt good to get out and about without having to worry about being spotted by the Pinks. Though those damn ponies knew that the Gang was in Hoofston, Kestrel doubted that any of them would bother standing outside all day when the skies threatened rain and straining their necks to watch for movement above the clouds.

“It’s kinda chilly up here, ain’t it?” Silver asked by Kestrel’s side. The silver mare fluffed up her feathers and shivered a little as the wet breeze slid through their feathers. “Didn’t think the air got cold this far down south.”

“Weather does as weather wants,” Kestrel said with a shrug. “Much nicer on the ground than up here, though. The clouds’ll keep the sun offa the ground for a while, cool things down.” After a moment, she glanced sidelong at Silver. “It ain’t botherin’ your wounds?”

Has Silver healed during the day of downtime? Yes

Silver Wings is now Grazed and suffers a -1 penalty to Healthiness.

“Not too bad,” Silver said, and she rubbed the scars that had formed around her injuries. “Still hurts some, but I ain’t feelin’ as bad as I were a few days ago. I think beatin’ Rough in some drinkin’ games helped out.”

“Yeah, beatin’ Rough in anythin’ is a good way to feel better,” Kestrel agreed. Rolling her shoulders, Kestrel scooted forward and peered off the cloud at the town below. The two outlaws had positioned themselves above the bar in town square, waiting for Starlight to make her appearance down below. As soon as the revolutionary made her way into the bar, Kestrel and Silver would swoop down after her, discuss what they’d all found out, and get out. Hopefully, when all was said and done, they wouldn’t need to spend more than ten minutes on the ground. The less time they spent where the Pinks could catch them, the better.

Silver rolled onto her back, her wings splayed out on the cloud beneath her, and blew a curl of her forelock out of her face. “Feh… She’s takin’ her sweet time, ain’t she?” she asked, her eyes focused on the towering anvil of a thundercloud looming in the distance. “Another few hours and we’re gonna be soaked. Rain ain’t that far off.”

“To be fair, we didn’t exactly agree on a time, only the date and the place,” Kestrel said with a shake of her head. A lot of things could have been better planned about this whole ordeal, but at this point, it was what it was. As look would have it, however, her sharp eyes spotted a familiar purple coat round a corner and begin walking toward the bar below them. “Though speak of the devil, and she shall appear…”

Silver’s ears perked, and she rolled back onto her hooves, her clothes dampened from the rainwater in the cloud. “Lucky us,” she said, stretching out her wings and taking to the air. “Lead the way, Kessie.”

Kestrel didn’t so much as take wing as she did walk off the edge of the cloud and let gravity do the work for her. She only opened her wings and caught the air in her feathers when she was about halfway toward the ground, and a few flaps brought her safely down to the outside of the bar, Silver following right in her wake. Together, the two mares pushed open the doors and stepped inside, keeping their eyes open for any ponies in pink suits inside. Thankfully, there were none.

Nodding to Silver, Kestrel made her way deeper into the bar. It was slowly getting more crowded, which was both good and bad. The more ponies there were, the greater the chance somepony would recognize the two outlaws in their midst, but it also made it less likely anypony would pay attention to a discussion happening in the back of the bar. Thankfully, nopony seemed to recognize the two mares as they made their way toward the booth in the back of the bar.

Starlight blinked in surprise when Kestrel and Silver slid into the bench across from her. “Umm… do I know you?”

“You do,” Kestrel said with a nod. “At least, one of us.”

“Your voice—ohhhh.” Starlight relaxed and smiled. “Different disguises, I see.”

“Not quite,” Kestrel said, leaning forward. “This here’s the real deal. Our magician, her illusions ain’t all that good if we fly. And with things in Hoofston the way they are, flyin’ in and outta here is the safer option.”

Starlight shook her head. “Your mistake is trusting a unicorn who calls herself a magician instead of a mage to cast your spells,” she said. She turned to Silver and held out a hoof. “Unless you were under the guise of a stallion last time, I don’t think we’ve met. Starlight.”

Silver shook the offered hoof. “Silver Wings,” she said with a nod. “I ain’t gonna worry about false names, ‘cause you’ll probably see my face on a poster ‘round here soon enough.”

“I’ll keep my eyes out, then,” Starlight said. She pulled her hoof back to her side and turned to Kestrel. “I’m assuming ‘Thistle’ isn’t your real name, then.”

“Kestrel,” Kestrel said with a curt nod. “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, though… what have we got?”

“Right… well, I talked to a few of my friends and contacts inside the factories and around town,” Starlight said. “This grand finale event, it’s happening inside a closed-off tent at noon on Friday. All the big name fat cats are going to be there for that. I wasn’t able to get any exact details on what the Apples are showing off in that tent, but it’s supposed to be some kind of one-of-a-kind machine, powered by valuable crystals.” She leaned forward and winked at the two mares. “I don’t know if the machine itself will be useful to your gang, but I imagine if you take it apart and break out the crystals, they’ll be worth buckets of bits. Plus, all the investors there are likely to have fat purses. You can clean out the crowd while you’re stealing this contraption, whatever it’s supposed to be.”

Kestrel nodded, turning that over in her mind. If this contraption indeed turned out to be very valuable, coupled with all the rich ponies sitting in one place… “We could probably make several thousand off of this,” she said with a satisfied nod. “Maybe ten thousand. Depends on how much cash those ponies are carryin’ on ‘em.”

“There’s supposed to be an auction following the display,” Starlight said. “I imagine they won’t have empty pockets. The Apple Families don’t like being stiffed; they’d want payment in full from the winner as soon as possible before they turn over whatever this thing is supposed to be.”

Silver rubbed her hooves together, practically salivating at the thought. “And we won’t even have to shoot up a train for all those bits…”

“Now, that’s what I’ve found,” Starlight said. “What about your Gang?”

“We’ve, admittedly, had to take things a little more cautiously than you,” Kestrel said, tapping her forehooves together. “But we learned some things while we were out and about. Mainly, the Apple Families hired the Pinkie Pie Detective Agency to run their security.”

Starlight scowled at the noose. “I’ve had run-ins with the PPDA before,” she said. “They’re just hired thugs for the rich to keep their purse strings secure and beat down ponies yearning for equality all throughout Equestria.”

“One way of lookin’ at it, sure,” Kestrel said with a nod. “Point is, the Pinks are tough. They’re trained, and they play loose with the law. Startin’ a shootout with them is a much more dangerous proposition than chasin’ away some outmatched police ponies. And I bet if there’s gonna be this much money in one place on Friday, they’re gonna be out there in force.”

“That certainly complicates things,” Starlight agreed. “I suppose whatever plan we come up with is going to have a lot of moving parts. Smash and grab isn’t likely to end well considering the opposition.”

“Then what is our plan?” Silver asked, looking between the other two mares. “I’m not as good as Tumbleweed when it comes to thinkin’ up ideas…”

“I’ve got a few friends I can rally to aid us,” Starlight said. “They should be able to get us whatever we need, so long as we give them enough notice.”

Kestrel rubbed her chin with her hoof. “Well, we can look at things in the simplest manner,” she said. “Either we go loud, or we try a more subtle approach. Each has got its challenges, though…”

1.     Opt for the loud approach. We go in guns blazin’ with the Chatter gun to back us up, we can catch the Pinks by surprise and wipe out a lot of ‘em ‘fore they can even respond to us. Gives us a more limited window to get what we want and get out ‘fore reinforcements arrive, but it cuts down on the unknowns a good bit.

2.     Attempt a more subtle approach. There’s a lot we could accomplish with some disguises and well-placed guns. If we can get control of that auction tent without the Pinks findin’ out, and keep the crowd under control, we can really take the time to clean the place out.

3.     Divide and conquer. We cause some mayhem near the conference to draw the Pinks and the police away, we can secure the auction tent easier. We’ll have less resistance to contend with, but fewer of us to take the score and get outta there.

4.     Call the whole thing off. The payoff ain’t gonna be worth the risks we’ve gotta take to collect it. We’re better off startin’ over from square one, even if it means tryin’ to find another opportunity to collect a score with the Pinks in town. [GANG MORALE -2] [STARLIGHT WILL REMEMBER THAT]