Unshaken

by The 24th Pegasus

Chapter 106

Cross the river into the woods on the other side: 11 Votes

“We need to find someplace to hide from the Pinks until nightfall,” Kestrel said, and she pointed a wing across the river. “Them trees over there’ll make a good place to hide. Ain’t too many Pinks comin’ after us right now, so if we can slip into the trees, they ain’t gonna find us no matter how hard they look. That’s our best bet to get outta this mess soon as we can.”

“We just need to find a place to cross the river, then,” Tumbleweed said. He eyed the river up and frowned. “This spot here ain’t exactly a good place to cross it. Water looks a little too swift and deep. Unless Starlight, you could use your fancy magic to teleport us across and everythin’.”

Starlight shook her head. “I may be able to get us across, sure, but Gizmo is powered by mana crystals. Unless I knew for sure the enchantments the capitalists used to power them, I’m not going to risk it. She could explode if I tried to use my magic on her like that.”

Gizmo blinked and took a step back, almost as if the robot was nervous. At the very least, it was a good imitation of equine emotion. “Any damage sustained to my mana crystals resulting from unsupervised magical discharge will void my warranty. The Apple Conglomerates do not take responsibility for any resultant damage to property or loss of life.”

“The last thing I want is to get blown to itty bitty pieces by our pet robot,” Tumbleweed agreed. “Can you walk across the river? You don’t have to breathe or anythin’.”

“I am designed to be waterproof; however, crossing a river may prove perilous in case the current knocks me over and I become bogged down in the mud.”

“There’s no way we’re going to get her out of the river if she gets stuck in there,” Wanderer said. “We need to find a safe place to cross.”

“Alright, let’s go further south along the river and try to find a crossin’.” Tumbleweed took his hat off and rubbed at the sweat beading along his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt. “Kessie, Silvie, you two go off ahead and see if you can find anythin’ so we ain’t wastin’ our time tryin’ every half-promisin’ spot along the way.”

“Right. Silvie, let’s get goin’. The sooner we find a crossin’, the better.” Kestrel made sure her revolvers were reloaded then took wing, Silver flying close behind her. The rest of the Gang, meanwhile, took a moment to catch their breath and then began trotting south, their speed limited by Gizmo’s mechanical pace. Kestrel just hoped that they’d be able to find a suitable crossing before any more Pinks show up.

The Gang quickly finds a suitable spot to cross the river: Fail

All Kestrel could see in front of them, however, was the wide, winding neck of the river. There were no islands or stones in the middle that betrayed the presence of a shallow ford, and only one place seemed like it could possibly have a crossing because of a few dead trees sticking up from the water, but the water was white around the trees, and Kestrel didn’t trust the current enough to hazard a cross. They would have to press onwards.

“Any sign of the Pinks?” she shouted into the wind. “Please tell me they ain’t on us yet!”

Have the Pinks caught up to the Gang? No

Silver looked over her shoulder and scanned the horizon for a moment before shaking her head. “Not yet, not that I can see,” she said. “We got some more time to work with. Think you see anythin’ up ahead?”

Are there any crossings within easy reach of the Gang? No

“Not in this mile,” Kestrel said, shaking her head. “Startin’ to think we shoulda gone into the hills. As it stands, them that’re down there are stuck down low without any cover should we get caught. Maybe we can find someplace narrow enough to carry Gizmo across. Might be our best bet now.”

They flew on for a little bit, but it wasn’t long before Silver gave out a shout of alarm. “Pinks!” she cried out, pointing behind them. “They’re comin’!”

Have the Pinks caught up to the Gang? Yes

“Only three on wing,” Kestrel said, her eyes narrowing at the three bobbing specks closing in from the direction of the conference. “Go down and alert the rest of ‘em. Let’s drop these three quick ‘fore they can fly off and get more on us. We should have the element of surprise, provided they ain’t spotted us yet.”

Silver nodded and broke off, and Kestrel angled away from the river and toward the hills. She found a rock to lean against that gave her some cover from the sky, and she saw just out of the corner of her eye the Gang get into good positions down below. All they had to do was wait for the Pinks to get into position overhead, and as soon as they did, all Tartarus broke loose.

Gunfire ripped up from the ground, accentuated by a blast of Starlight’s magic. The bullets ripped through the three Pinks on wing, and they barely managed to get their weapons out and fire a few hopeless shots before they’d been cut to ribbons. Kestrel put two into the first Pink she saw, knocking him out of the air at range, and if those bullets didn’t kill him, she knew the fall would. The other two dropped just as quickly, and soon the world was quiet once more save for the running of the river drifting past down below.

Kestrel scoffed as she holstered her revolver again. “That was easy,” she murmured to herself, taking wing to regroup with the Gang. “Almost like Lady Luck wanted us to kill ‘em easy.”

When she flew back down to the Gang, she found the rest of the Gang reloading and holstering their weapons, with Starlight tossing the bodies of the Pinks into the water so the river would take them away from there. “Damn dogs, so willing to die for their master,” Starlight grumbled. “Think there’s any more of ‘em?”

“If there were any more right now, I’d be surprised,” Kestrel said. “We’ve killed so many of ‘em, and those were pegasi flyin’ out after us. I’m sure there’s more, but they probably ain’t gonna be in such a hurry to die like the rest of their friends.”

“I certainly hope so,” Tumbleweed said. “That should get us the room we need to get away. Now c’mon, let’s keep movin’. Lady Luck’s on our side, but I ain’t sure how much longer she’s gonna favor us. Let’s find a crossin’ and take it. I’m sick of fightin’ these damn bounty hunters.”

That, they could all agree on, and once more, they set off at a brisk pace. Before too long, they found that was only belly deep to ford the river, and one by one they waded their way across. Apart from the pegasi, Gizmo had the least trouble crossing, her mechanical limbs powering her across the river as long as her hooves could find solid ground to gain purchase on. Once everybody was on the other side, they shook the water off of their legs (save for Gizmo, who ignored it) and pushed on into the trees.

It wasn’t until the river disappeared behind them and the sky began to dim through the canopy of the trees that Kestrel finally let out a sigh of relief. Somehow, they’d gotten in and out of the conference with their lives. She could only hope the distraction team had been similarly as lucky as they had been.

But she wouldn’t know until they got back to camp.

[NO POLL FOR THIS CHAPTER]

Author's Note:

I decided to wrap things up here, since it was pretty clear that the Gang was easily getting away. Lady Luck surprisingly favored us greatly during this whole endeavor, and everybody got in and out with only grazing injuries at the most. We may have to wait a few chapters before we find out how the distraction team fared, however. Hopefully they were as lucky as we were, and Kestrel didn't hog all of Lady's luck from Trixie and Roughshod.

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Please comment your decision down below. Only comments expressly stating your choice will be considered. You cannot vote for multiple choices. Polling will be considered closed after a few days and a sufficient number of comments.

This story is a CYOA comment-driven story, where you, the readers, decide the outcome of the story. Each poll contains several options, each with sub-optimal choices thrown into the mix, with nothing but the prose to clue the readers into what each option entails. The will of the masses, alongside a few unbiased dice rolls, will decide the outcome of the story.

You can find Kestrel's character sheet, along with some key information about her and the Gang, here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xAGDlcd5mlMTAHwexlsrXOffQMMLoQc12u9itAa-io0/edit?usp=sharing

If you want to see the dice rolls in action, check out my Discord server: https://discord.gg/RsVkdD

Comments

[alamais]

Lady Luck surprisingly favored us greatly during this whole endeavor

Behold the power of friendshipCOMMUNISM! A GLORIOUS VICTORY, COMRADES!!!

cdn-img.fimfiction.net/story/s79d-1508883293-389780-medium

[N4rwh41]

Praise the Lady!

[Quick Fix]

I'm...I'm out of luck related metaphors to describe how this should not have gone this well. Hopefully we don't get screwed at the last second and have the pinks stumble across camp or something.

[Jaro45]

10326377
From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs comrade.

[RoboRed]

That....worked out surprisingly well in the end.

[djthomp]

Lady Luck seems intent on slowly and carefully feeding Pinks into the Gang woodchipper. Might as well just let them escape back to camp and go see how the distraction team is doing.

[Blaster M]

10326377
Starlight: