“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…
1, A, III.
Yes I’m a horrible person, but I really wanna see what happens if they kill Aj.
2, B, I
Get Gizmo to cooperate using Applejack as a hostage.
Options 2 B II. If we're hauling the robot there's no place for a (potentially dangerous) hostage. Knock Applejack out, finish looting, grab Gizmo and run.
1,C,II
We're not going to survive an engagement with that many Pinks responding. Best leg it before they arrive.
3. Have faith in the stats, and get the money
B. AJ will probably have some kind of control rune or something
I. Having a valuable hostage will help us talk our way out of this situation.
10271523
While I like the wild card * Cough Murderhobbo Cough * approach, I genuinely think we need her to get out of this alive.
2, C, II
The gang need 100k, and a 3k haul just isn't going to cut it, especially given how hard the pinks and AJ’s company will be following them from now on. On the other hand spending too long there will just get them surrounded. Gizmo is too much of an unknown in my opinion. it (he?) can do a lot of different tasks as AJ said, and if bodyguard is one of them it could end badly.
As for AJ, I’m torn between leaving her and killing her. Taking her with will slow the gang down too much, but he other options are both valid. Sparing her will hopefully mean the heat on them won’t be as bad, and Starlight killing her will hopefully mean most of the heat falls on Starlight’s group. I’m leaning toward spare her, but I’m honestly not sure which is best.
10271523
I'm not terrible sympathetic toward this version of AJ ("damn workers leeches, imma replace you"). And if you have played Detroit: Become Human you know how robot labor can backlash on economy.
Still there is no point in killing her. She is more valuable as hostage.
10271565
Forget control runes. Programming commands, maintenance, repairs... The robot is useless without its creator, or an expert with the blueprints and AJ's notes.
Another reason for which Gizmo and AJ are a complete, single pack. Take it or leave it.
2, A, I
Though a sick part of me is enticed by the possible outcome of option III, OPERATION: Blapplejack.3, A, I
While I also kinda really want to let starlight send her message, we’re not getting out of here if she’s dead. Though if the pinks rush in anyway (I.e, if tumbleweed fails) we definitely should just kill her to send a message of “you fucked up. This could have been avoided, yet this is the option you chose”
We also need more than 3k to make this worth it and I have faith that tumbleweed (and Lady Luck) will give us the time we need.
1,B,I
We're burning up too much time if we stay to shake the crowd any longer. That robot does seem very valuable, either intact or torn apart. But, probably a lot easier to move under it's own power. And seeing how Applejack knows more about it, it's only logical to bring her along. Either to help us tear it apart, or buy it back after ransom. (Highly unlikely she will, but she might be desperate to have it back afterward.) Plus, she's my favorite pony, so I don't have the heart to kill her. But, leaving her behind doesn't work for me either.
Here we go.
That could be a mistake.
Ahh, so that is what Lady Luck had planned.
Hmn. We need to move, but let's not leave empty handed. 1,B, I.
We're not going to meet the goal this year with 3k hauls everytime, I want to see what we can do with the gizmo and we can always shoot it in the head if we have to. Leaving Applejack will for sure turn Starlight on us (killing her won't stop the Pinks. Cornwall, anybody?).
2, B, I.
There we go. Have to say it's still going better than expected, no-one's been wounded/killed. Yet. Not to mention if the distraction party isn't drawing as much heat as anticipated, they could come back into play.
So, the big plays:
2 - If not for looting, then we need the time to make any of the other options happen beyond the quick and brutal path. Which we're still above. Roughshod's not here after all.
A - If things had gone smoothly, I would have gone for B. We're critically down on time though. Have Tumbleweed stall long enough for us to get something useful from Gizmo, then cut and run.
I - Surely one of us can incapacitate AJ and take her with us for hostage/cover purposes. If not and she resists...I can understand if III ends up becoming a viable option.
2,B,1
2, A, II.
Idk why people sayin bring the very obvious unknown robot prototype along.
Escape plan 1. With the 5 loot attempts they had, they only made about 3k, so based on that, the most they would likely get is 10k. That falls pretty short of their goal, so the added risk isn't worth it.
Gizmo C . The robot is way to much of an unknown. I dont trust it and they should keep a close eye on it. That being said. A lot of new technology that are debut at events like this, are in a extreme prototype phase and only just barely working.
Applejack I. What concerns me, is that i don't know how much of a fighter she is in the story. Take her as a hostage for now, but if she becomes a problem, they should be read to kill her.
2, B, I
Don't want to push it time-wise, but we need more ca$h. AJ + Gizmo seems like the best tactic—since he seems to be programmed to preserve life, we could potentially put him to work in some way during the escape as long as we leverage AJ's continued existence. And besides, if we somehow manage to get away with him intact, maybe Starlight could jury-rig him into a murderbot for us! :D
BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD. KILL HER.
So, I got bored and was reading tv tropes, when I discovered that yor Pinks are based on the actual Pinkerton detective agency. Congratulations on writing the first fic to make me actually dislike pinky pie.
10272903
I'm surprised you just now picked up on it, honestly. I have explicitly called them "The Pinkie Pie Detective Agency" in full before, after all.
10272914
I think it was more that I didn't know Pinkerton detective agency was a thing XD
1, B, III.
Aaaaand the luck is gone. Dammit!
2, B, I
1,B,II
We gotta get the buck outta Dodge. Bringing AJ along or killing her would just draw more heat down on us. Honestly, we should probably just scrap the robot too, but I want to see more of it.
1 B III
You do what you gotta do