Chapter 115
As the weekend came to a close and a new Monday dawned over Hoofston, Kestrel found the relief and excitement that came from pulling off the successful heist at the Conference to be wavering. Everypony knew that by now, the Law had to have recovered from the thrashing the Gang had given them on Friday, and it was time to play defensive until Starlight and her companions made progress on setting up Applejack’s ransom. Kestrel just hoped that the revolutionary would be faster at setting up a deal than the Pinks would be at tracking the Gang down. And the less she had to think about bounty hunters, the better…
Tumbleweed and Wanderer have recovered from their wounds and are no longer Grazed.
At least the weekend gave the Gang a chance to rest, relax, and recover before the lead inevitably started flying again. Tumbleweed felt good as new by Sunday evening, and even Wanderer felt surprisingly spry once he got his graze patched up. Kestrel still had a little bit of a lingering soreness from her injury, though, and Trixie kept poking and prodding too much at her own grazing wound to let it properly heal. Silver Wings had even threatened the magician with a paper cone to put around her head like a cat or dog to make her stop touching the injury, though Kestrel still caught Trixie occasionally sniffing at her injury when she thought nopony was watching her.
The downtime was at least useful for acclimating Gizmo to the camp… as much as a mechanical automaton needed time to adjust to its new surroundings. Wanderer had spent some time with the robot on Sunday afternoon trying to establish ground rules for it in a way that it could understand, which was made all the more difficult by the metal mare being unable to interpret what he told it in anything more than the most literal definition. At one point, he had told Gizmo to “go away” when it was hovering over his shoulder during lunch, and the robot had turned around and walked off into the plains of Hoofston before the Gang was able to find it again and bring it back to camp. But at least with some time they’d managed to get it to understand that it was not to ever leave camp without one of the Gang with it, and it should alert the nearest gang member immediately if it spotted somebody approaching the camp that wasn’t with the Gang. And, most importantly, they made sure that the automaton never, ever approached Applejack. There was still too much risk that the earth pony had some way to override Gizmo’s instructions and use the robot to escape into the night.
As for Applejack herself, the president and CEO of the Apple Conglomerates had been anything but a gracious guest, though perhaps that was to be expected, given the circumstances. The Gang left her tied to a tree at the edge of camp, close enough to keep an eye on her but far enough away so that she couldn’t interact with Gizmo, and it was plainly obvious to everypony that the mare was furious with her predicament, even if she refused to speak to anypony for anything more than an occasional request to be untied so she could relieve herself. They always had Roughshod take care of untying her and watching her when that happened; even though she was the president of a major corporation, it was plain to all that Applejack had strong muscles from years as a youth tending to orchards by hoof. Kestrel’s jaw still ached from the first time she’d untied Applejack and the earth pony thanked her by kicking her in the face and making a run for it. Thankfully, Tumbleweed was nearby to use his magic and drag the capitalist back, and both gang leaders agreed that Roughshod would be the best bet for dealing with the earth pony from now on. Applejack may have been strong, but she wasn’t that strong.
Even though the Gang laid low that weekend, it wasn’t like they could keep entirely isolated forever. They’d already spent the week before the Conference on high alert and leaving camp only when necessary, and that meant their supplies were running low. So on Monday, Miss Irons and Wanderer, masked under Trixie’s illusions, chanced a trip into town, even though it was risky. Nervous that the two elderly ponies would run into some kind of trouble in town, Kestrel spent the morning and most of the afternoon disassembling, cleaning, and reassembling her revolvers, and when those were clean, she gave the scoped rifles some care as well. Hopefully she wouldn’t need to use them again, but just in case…
She only earned some relief when Miss Irons and Wanderer returned safely with a wagon full of supplies and no Pinks to be seen. She was happy to see them back in one pice, but the looks they had on their faces and the story they told as the Gang helped unload supplies didn’t give Kestrel much cause for celebration.
Has the situation changed in Hoofston? Yes
“The Pinks already have posters up all over town,” Wanderer said as he watched Kestrel and Silver drag a wooden box of canned beans off the back of the wagon. “Mostly of your face and Tumbleweed’s, Kessie, but I saw one of mine, too. Thank Celestia that Trixie’s illusions work well for quick trips into town. Safe to say, the Pinks made sure that all of Hoofston knows who we are, and they’ll be out trying to get any information they can.”
“That ain’t change much, then,” Kestrel said, dropping the box of beans next to the chuck wagon and shrugging. “Not like we was plannin’ on showin’ our faces in Hoofston ‘til this ransom got done, anyhow.”
“No, but it does mean that even the roads going into and out of the city aren’t safe from prying eyes anymore.” Wanderer scratched an itch on his neck with a wingtip and shook his head. “Pinks’ll have patrols out on the roads, and combin’ through the countryside. Might be they’ll come across us sooner or later. I just don’t want to be caught sitting on my tail when they do.”
“They won’t find us,” Silver said. “Not before we ransom Applejack and get out of here.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of yourself, missy,” Miss Irons chastised her. The elderly mare frowned at Silver. “Overconfidence will just served to get us all killed.”
“We could go hunt them down for a change,” Roughshod said, jumping into the conversation. “I bet we can scare them back from lookin’ ‘round the countryside if a few of their patrols go missin’.”
“Or we could try and ambush a patrol and find out what they know about us,” Wanderer said. “Exposing ourselves could be dangerous, but the rewards would make it worth it. We’ve been running from the Pinks, but so far we’ve been running blind. It’d be nice to know what they know and then use that to our advantage.”
Kestrel frowned at the crate of whiskey bottles in the back of the wagon and thought.
1. Do nothing. Silvie’s got the best idea of it; any runnin’ ‘round’s just gonna get us in trouble. We just gotta hope for the best, hope that the Pinks don’t find us ‘fore we can get this ransom deal pulled off.
2. Ambush a Pink patrol. If we can find one of them patrols on its lonesome, then maybe Wanderer’s plan’s the best way to go forward. If we know what the Pinks are plannin’, and how much they know ‘bout us, it might serve us well in the long run. Course, attackin’ a Pink patrol could just intensify their activity in the area.
3. Hit the Pinks hard. If we find and start massacring Pink patrols, then they might fall back, like Roughshod thinks. We won’t have an opportunity to go takin’ prisoners if we hit these patrols hard and fast to minimize risk to ourselves, but scarin’ ‘em back’ll be better than riskin’ ourselves to find things out.
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Eh, I'd go with 1. The Pinks aren't going to run out of ponies and a random patrol isn't likely to know much.
2. Wanderer knows best
1. TL;DR it would be a net loss to commit violence
Hmmm.... How evil do we want to be? The better question is this: What do we gain from killing Pinks indiscriminately?
A. Fear, which is should weed out the weaker hunters, but likely won't do anything against the more experienced ones
B. An increase in our bounties, as they need to up the price to make it worth taking us on, which will only attract more experienced (and dangerous) hunters.
C. risk injury
D. expend ammunition
E. Increase our detection risk, as the chance for someone to escape an ambush is ever present
F. Minor loot from the people we kill
Ultimately, engaging in hunting is a net loss
Do it! Implement the Cone of Shame!
4, make Trixie wear the Cone. (But seriously, 2).
I'm up for doing hit and runs to thin the numbers. 2.
I'm going to say option 1. There's no guarantee that the patrol we hit will have useful information. Or, how strong a patrol really is. Running in and trying to catch one could end with either success or someone getting seriously injured. Or, worse.
Option one ( 1 ). I don't like the idea of sitting around doing nothing, but killing Pinks here and now will just cause more trouble. Stay low and be ready to run.
And option four, put the cone on Trixie. We could all do with a laugh.
1 because I don't think that we need a even higher bounty on our heads before we have even left.
1: Curb your bloodlust yearlings!
Also 4: Trixie gets the cone of shame
2
1. Anything I’d say has already been said by others because I’m late to the chapter
Tough, but I think option 1. That attempt AJ made to break away already shows we don't quite have the same luck as we did back during the heist. Keep eyes and ears open and hope things hold out long enough for Starlight to get us information.
Option 1. Too much risk for the reward. Also, option 4. Trixie needs the cone to heal.
im going with option 1, to much risk with the other options
Option 1. No need to risk it
I'll throw in for 1 as well. Better to stay quiet while we wait for Glimmer & co. to do their thang.