//------------------------------//
// Chapter 101 
// Story: Unshaken 
// by The 24th Pegasus 
//------------------------------//

“Everypony down, NOW!!!”

Kestrel jumped away from the wall with a quick flutter of wings, her feathers slipping into the grips around her revolvers and pointing them into the crowd. All around the tent, the six infiltrators likewise rushed forward to commanding positions, brandishing weapons (or in Starlight’s case, charging her horn with magical energy) and shouting. Surprised and frightened cries rose up from the crowd trapped in the tent, and the ponies knocked over chairs or slipped and fell as they stumbled over each other to try and put as much distance as they could between the outlaws and their weapons.

Up on the stage, Applejack looked out over the sudden appearance of ponies with guns with disbelief. “What in tarnation?!” she shouted, moments before her brain caught up with what she was seeing. She turned to run, but Starlight’s magic seized hold of her throat and slammed her back down to the stage, leaving the earth pony sprawled on her back. The pink unicorn then put her hoof on Applejack’s neck, pinning the choking pony to the ground, and a wild, almost manic grin stretched across Starlight’s face from ear to ear. “Going somewhere?” she asked in a frighteningly singsong voice. “But the fun’s just started!”

Gizmo blinked its mechanical eyes behind her and cocked its head. “Please, ponies, there is no need for violence,” it pleaded in a tinny voice. “Disputes are best settled with honest words, not with hooves.”

On the tent floor, however, Tumbleweed and Kestrel paid the automaton no mind. “Nopony so much as move!” Tumbleweed warned, brandishing his weapon in the air for all to see. “You start trouble, we’re gonna finish it, and it ain’t gonna be good for you!”



Tumbleweed uses Sweet Talker (9) to intimidate the ponies into submission: Fail



Rather than cowing the businessponies into submission, however, a few bared teeth and spit back at the Gang’s leader. “Damn outlaw!” one shouted. “We’re giving you nothing!” shouted another. “You’re going to pay for this!” shouted a third, but it was the fourth that immediately stole Kestrel’s attention. “Everypony, run! Help! Help!”

One of the ponies near the entrance made a break for the exit, galloping as fast as he could and shouting for help. Wanderer and Party Favor had already started moving in to corral the crowd from behind, and so were taken by surprise when one of the ponies already attempted to flee. Wanderer was too slow to turn to him on joints beginning to strain under arthritis, so that left Party Favor to lunge for the pony before he slipped out of reach.



Party Favor uses Muscle (7) to tackle the fleeing pony: Fail



He managed to grab onto the pony’s tail, but a twist and a kick let the fleeing pony slip out of his grasp. Before anypony could do anything else, the fleeing pony was gone, shouting for help in the middle of the conference.

Tumbleweed growled and tugged on Silver’s wing, who was just about to take off and fly after him. “Leave him!” he shouted. “Start on the crowd!” Tumbleweed moved in closer, and he flipped his revolver around in his magic and whipped the first pony that had shouted back at him across the muzzle. Blood flew from the pony’s broken nose, and he fell to the ground whimpering. Then Tumbleweed brandished his weapon on the rest of the crowd. “Cash valuables, anythin’ you got! Hoof it over!”



The Gang is able to intimidate the crowd into handing over their valuables: Success



Now that blood stained the ground, the crowd seemed less interested in holding onto their valuables. Kestrel, Tumbleweed, Silver, and Wanderer moved through the crowd, collecting valuables and emptying wallets of bank notes. Party Favor stood near the exit, one eye watching inside for any more ponies trying to escape, and the other peeking out of the tent flap in case any response was mustered. So far, however, there was none.



The Gang begins looting the crowd: 566 bits (566 total)



On the stage, Starlight took her time to savor the feel of a capitalist under her hoof, then pivoted to address the crowd. “Greedy fat cats of Equestria!” she shouted, eyes sparkling with a passionate fire held inside of her. “You think you’re better than the common pony, do you? You think that your wealth would protect you? Make you invincible? Everything you have was built on the backs of the common pony, and you thought your pockets were so heavy that your weight would keep them down forever! But no longer! Today, the common ponies of Equestria rise up against your greed and tyranny! Today marks the beginning of revolution!”



The Gang continues looting the crowd: 525 bits (1091 total)





Silver finds extra loot amounting to 559 bits (1650 total)





Does the conference muster a response yet? No



Kestrel started tuning Starlight’s words out as she worked her way through the crowd one by one, stripping a pony of any valuables they had on them and emptying their wallets before pushing them to the ground and moving onto the next. Her pockets were slowly filling, just as the rest of the Gang’s were as they worked through the ponies. Silver snatched up a briefcase, cracking it open to find extra money stashed inside, while Wanderer struggled to collect things off of a particularly stubborn mare. Kestrel bared her teeth and gave her head a little shake, but carried on with her own looting. Wanderer was slowing them down, but at least he was helping, unlike Starlight, who just wanted to use the opportunity to preach her message to the ponies she was directly antagonizing.



The Gang continues looting the crowd: 320 bits (1970 total)





Silver and Tumbleweed find extra loot amounting to 1057 bits (3027 total)





Does the conference muster a response yet? Critical Yes



Just as Kestrel felt the Gang was beginning to get into their rhythm with the looting, Party Favor suddenly turned back toward the interior of the tent with a worried look on his face. “Ponies with guns are approaching the tent,” he said. “They’ve got pink suits on, too.”

“Pinks?!” Tumbleweed let out a quick stream of curses under his bandana. “Thought the damn distraction team would take care of this! That pony that slipped out of here, he musta caught ‘em ‘fore they galloped off into Hoofston. How many of ‘em we got?”

Party Favor peered back at the tent flap and did a quick count, his eyes bouncing from one to the next. “Eight… no, ten, I think,” he said. “What do we do?”

“Active security ponies have arrived to put an end to this quarrel,” Gizmo helpfully stated from the stage. “Please, everypony, lower your weapons and this may still be resolved peacefully.”

“I’ve half a mind to rip that damn thing’s head off,” Tumbleweed growled, stepping away from the crowd. “Kessie, Silvie, keep the crowd on the ground. Rifle through their things some more if you can, but this heist just turned into a hostage situation. Wanderer, see what we can do ‘bout that automaton thing. I’m gonna see if I can buy us some time with words.”

Up on the stage, Applejack wheezed under Starlight’s hoof and grinned up at her. “Looks like money can buy protection after all,” she said. “And filly, I’m gonna love to watch you hang.”

“Shut up!” Starlight growled, stepping harder on Applejack’s throat and spitting into the mare’s face. “I ought to snap your neck right now, capitalist pig. Think your hired help can get in here before I end your life?”

While the situation began to deteriorate around them, Silver turned an anxious look to Kestrel. “This ain’t turnin’ out as good as I thought it was gonna be,” she said in a worried voice. “What’re we gonna do?”

“We got hostages to buy us some time,” Kestrel said. “And we got their employer in here with us. Applejack could be a pretty valuable hostage.” She frowned at the ground as she tried to figure out an ideal way out of this situation. A couple of Pinks wouldn’t have been a problem to take on, but ten of them? That was too much for the Gang to handle, to be sure. And the longer they waited, the more that were likely to show up.

And then there was the issue of what to do with Gizmo. Kestrel had no doubt that the robot pony would be worth far more to the Gang if they got out of here with it in one piece, but that could prove tricky if the robot tried to resist them. So far it seemed to only be interested in standing its ground and attempting to defuse the situation, but who knew what would happen if the Gang tried to do anything to it. But something had to be done, and there wasn’t a lot of time to do it.



PICK 1 FROM EACH CATEGORY



ESCAPE PLAN:

1.     Flee as soon as we can. A little over 3000 bits ain’t what we were hopin’ for, but we can’t count on everythin’ goin’ our way. Our best bet is to get outta here as soon as we can, regardless of what form that happens to take.

2.     Stall for time to do more looting. We can squeeze these ponies for a lot more, I know that. We barely put a dent in what they’ve got on ‘em. If we can keep Tumbleweed talkin’ for a few more minutes, then we can add more to our haul, but if they move on us and we ain’t ready to run, then things could get crazy hectic, crazy fast. [UP TO 5 MORE ATTEMPTS TO LOOT]

3.     Delay as long as possible until we’ve got this place cleaned out. Tumbleweed’s a good talker, and he can keep this thin’ goin’ for as long as we need him to. That’ll give us plenty of time to clean this place up and get movin’. [UP TO 10 MORE ATTEMPTS TO LOOT]

GIZMO:

A.    Break Gizmo down and run with the parts. We can still get some of the gems outta Gizmo and find a way to sell ‘em later. Probably the lightest and fastest option outta everythin’ short of leavin’ it behind entirely.

B.    Escape with Gizmo intact. If we can get the automaton outta here in one piece, that’ll give us way more time to figure out what we’re dealin’ with and how best to go about turnin’ it into a profit. We just gotta coax it to come with us somehow.

C.    Leave Gizmo behind. That robot’s too much hassle to move, and too difficult to try and break down. We’re best leavin’ it behind and travelin’ light.

APPLEJACK:

I.    Take Applejack with us as a hostage. Not only will havin’ her as a hostage help us get outta here in one piece for the Pinks’ fear of shootin’ her, but she could also bring in a hefty ransom herself once we get the opportunity to.

II.    Leave Applejack behind. Ain’t no sense draggin’ her along with us, if she’s gonna be fightin’ each step of the way. Best leave her be here with the rest of the fat cats when we get movin’; maybe they’ll remember that we spared ‘em and her.

III.    Kill her. If we’re goin’ down, we might as well let Starlight make a statement…