As the day wore on, Kestrel found herself sitting with her back to a tree, waiting for the sun to go down with a cigarette in her mouth. Her ears still rang faintly from the several rounds of target practice with Snapshot, but at least listening to the birds chatter and sing around the lake helped dull the tinnitus. Coupled with the quiet chatter from the camp behind her, it was almost enough to make her fall asleep. Almost.
Kestrel and Snapshot roll Gunslinger to determine who won the shooting contest.
Kestrel: 9
Snapshot: 10
Snapshot has won the shooting contest.
She grumbled as a wingtip fidgeted with the revolver by her side. It certainly hadn’t been her best performance with a firearm as of late, but it was good to shake some of the rust off, even if she still lost. She probably needed to get more practice; surprisingly, she hadn’t had a reason to fire her revolvers yet since coming to Hoofston. But that was almost assuredly going to change tomorrow, unless things went off without a hitch…
Kestrel scoffed to herself. Wishful thinking, that’s for sure. But hopefully the Gang had done enough things correctly that they could mitigate their chances for an utter disaster. After all, they’d each spent the week doing whatever they figured they needed to do to get a little luck on their side. Hopefully that would account for something tomorrow, right?
A quiet supper came and went; nopony really seemed all that interested in sharing small talk or finding something to laugh and joke about. A tense cloud of trepidation had settled over their heads. The conference had to be ending about then, and that meant Starlight and her followers were on deck for getting the uniforms the infiltration team needed. All their plans hung in the balance, waiting for the success or failure of a mare who they barely knew. Kestrel hated the feeling of being helpless, but all they could do was wait.
The sun crept lower in the sky, first touching the western horizon, then slowly sinking beneath it. Kestrel watched it from her tree by the lake, watched it until it disappeared, and the orange glow of the dying day slowly succumbed to the midnight blue of the night. She cleaned her revolvers in silence and checked her ammunition for any faulty rounds. The last thing she needed tomorrow was a dud round in a critical situation, and after the problems both she and Snapshot had earlier that day, dud rounds were suddenly at the forefront of her mind.
Maybe with some of the money she pocketed from the job she’d go buy some griffon rounds, if she could find them. Snapshot did say they were the highest quality lead one could get, after all…
A whistle from the far end of camp perked her ears, and she looked over to see Snapshot standing near the trees that went toward the road. Tumbleweed trotted over to share a few words with him, and then the two went toward the road. Grunting, Kestrel stood up and shook some of the dried grass out of her coat and clothes before leisurely cantering back toward camp. It seemed like Starlight and her crew had arrived. Hopefully the news was good.
All eyes in the camp were on the ponies making their way back through the tree line. Tumbleweed and Snapshot led the way, along with Starlight, who was followed by an assortment of ponies behind her. Some had weapons visible on their persons, while others didn’t. Still, they all had that same spark of fervor in their eyes that Starlight had, and Kestrel had no doubt in her mind that they were just as fanatic about their revolution as their leader was. Not for the first time, Kestrel wondered if this was really a political movement or just some kind of poor ponies’ cult.
“So?” Kestrel asked them as they approached. “How’d it go? Go off without a hitch, I hope?”
Did Starlight and her gang have any difficulties acquiring the uniforms? No
“Simple as it could have been,” Starlight said, and her magic snatched a neatly-folded security uniform from the back of one of her followers. “We found a bunch of them going to a bar to drink after the conference was over. Once my allies separated them from the other patrons, I used a sleeping spell to neutralize them. They shouldn’t wake up until tomorrow night, and by then, the conference job will be long done.”
“Notice anythin’ different about the conference while you were out there?” Tumbleweed asked her. “Anythin’ change?”
Has the situation around the conference changed since Wednesday? No
“Not that I could tell,” Starlight said. “Everything seemed much the same. Most of the security is still being managed by local police or security at the Apple Family plants in the city, bolstered here and there by a hoofful of PPDA enforcers. I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that despite their obscene wealth, the Apples aren’t willing to pay for more than twenty or so of Pinkie Pie’s enforcers to keep their conference safe.”
“That don’t mean they ain’t brought more Pinks to the city of their own volition,” Kestrel cautioned. “They know we’re around here. I’d be surprised if a few more ain’t shown up on trains since the beginning of the week.”
“We’ll worry about that when we see how many of ‘em the distraction team is able to draw away,” Tumbleweed said. Then he nodded to Starlight. “How’s about you introduce us to the rest of your friends, in the meanwhile? We’ll be workin’ pretty close together, tomorrow. Wanna make sure everypony knows each other’s names.”
“Right.” Starlight took a step to the side and pointed her hoof at each pony in turn. “This is Double Diamond; he’s my right hoof,” she said, pointing to a white unicorn standing closest to her. Then she gestured at a pegasus, a unicorn, and an earth pony in turn. “Then there’s Night Glider, Sugar Belle, and Party Favor. The five of us together have been the nucleus for political reform throughout Equestria. I couldn’t have gotten this far without them.”
Each of Starlight’s compatriots bowed or waved as she called out their names, and Tumbleweed nodded as well. “Right, then. We’ll getcha introduced to everypony here ‘round the fire. Least, my name’s Tumbleweed, and this is Kestrel,” he said, pointing to Kestrel. “We’re the two that make most of the decisions ‘round here. Has Starlight filled you in on our plan?”
Double Diamond nodded an affirmation. “She explained it to us yesterday,” he said. “I’m going to be leading our part of the distraction team. Party Favor is going to stay with Starlight in case you need any earth pony strength, since it seems that’s what you’re lacking at the moment for the conference team.”
“That’s a good way to cut it, then,” Tumbleweed said. “Miss Glider can be the wings that the distraction team doesn’t have, then. I think this’ll work out perfectly.”
“Right,” Starlight said, and she gestured for the rest of her followers to lay out the uniforms they’d gathered. “Well, there’s going to be six of us at the conference, so we made sure to get six uniforms. We got four service staff uniforms and two security uniforms. I’ll take one of the service staff uniforms; I’m not exactly security material.”
“And I’m not wait staff material,” Tumbleweed said. “That leaves one security uniform and three service staff outfits between Kestrel, Silvie, Wanderer, and Party Favor.” He looked to Kestrel. “Well, number two? What’d you prefer?”
1. Security. I’d make a much more convincin’ security staffer than I would on the wait staff. I don’t think my drawl and mannerisms’ll suit me well for service staff.
2. Service staff. Security’s likely to be much more scrutinized by the ponies runnin’ the thing than the service staff will be. Service ponies are practically invisible to the big wigs; best place to put a wanted outlaw like myself.