Unshaken

by The 24th Pegasus

Chapter 23

Try to recruit her: 51%

Kestrel sighed and leaned back on her seat. “Don’t rightly know,” she said, looking Sienna up and down. “Way I see it, you ain’t got no future anywhere outside of this life. You been a criminal since you was ten. I know what that’s like. I started stealin’ to survive when I was eight. I ain’t never been on the right side of the law since. There’s no goin’ back from that.”

That condemnation seemed to make Sienna shrink down in despair. Kestrel just shrugged and pulled out her knife, digging out gravel and grit from under her horseshoes. “Now, you could go back to your old gang. I doubt this Rattlesnake feller’s gonna care one way or another whether you came back. But I mean, you tried to run away once and failed. Guess we did you a favor pulling you out of there. You gonna run back now after all this?”

When Sienna failed to say anything more, Kestrel gave her a slight nod. “I reckon your best bet is to stay here and see what happens. We need tough ponies like you. And Roughshod might be a bastard, but if you’re one of us, he ain’t gonna hurt you. I think you’d find a better life with a gang that respects mares instead of your Vipers.”

Is Sienna receptive to Kestrel’s suggestion? Yes

Kestrel watched Sienna’s ears perk up, and she saw a flicker of something in her eyes. Was it hope? She wasn’t sure. Sienna swallowed hard and, after some effort, managed to look Kestrel in the eyes as she spoke. “You… mean that?”

“’Course,” Kestrel said. She managed a small smile for the former captive. “Don’t think you have to commit one way or another, now. Just… think about it. I’m sure I can persuade Tumbleweed to consider it.”

“I… well, thank you, I guess.” The young mare looked back at the wagon and shuddered. “I don’t have to go back to that, do I?”

Kestrel shook her head. “So long as you stay in camp, you’ll be fine. I may be offerin’ you a spot in our family, but trust’s gotta be earned first.” She pointed up to the bluff where Snapshot was silhouetted against the sky and nudged Sienna in the side. “I ain’t gonna put you back on the wheel, but that don’t mean you’re free to wander off whenever you feel, understand?”

Sienna shakily nodded. “I… I understand.”

“Good.” Kestrel pointed to the kettle with a wing. “Feel free to grab a second helpin’ then, for your cooperation. Just try to leave some for Tumbleweed when he gets back. He’ll be more receptive to your plight if he ain’t hungry.”

“Alright… okay.” As Kestrel stood up and started to leave, Sienna raised her voice. “Wait!” When Kestrel turned around, Sienna blinked twice and hung her head. “…Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me for nothin’,” Kestrel insisted. “This is a thankless life we live.”

She left Sienna behind in the camp, spreading her wings and flying high above the desert. She chased her shadows across the ground for some time, then turned around and flew in the opposite direction. Nearly three hours melted away into nothing as Kestrel soared high above the ground, consumed with her own thoughts and meditations. Only when she saw a colorful purple wagon ascending the slopes to the camp did she finally begin to glide back down to earth.

By the time she landed back in camp, Tumbleweed had parked the wagon alongside the others and was unhitching himself from the harness. Wanderer helped Trixie out of the back, and when she looked around, her jaw fell slack at what she saw. “This is your camp?” Trixie wondered aloud. “It seems so… primitive!”

“We’re certainly not traveling in style,” Wanderer said with a chuckle. “Well, apart from what we take with ourselves.”

“Ours is a hard life,” Tumbleweed said. “It’s not too late to turn back now, little filly.”

Trixie seemed to bristle at being called a little filly. “Trixie has suffered through worse!” she proclaimed, stomping away from the wagon. “She has spent many nights alone in scorching deserts and frozen mountains! Nothing is too hard for Trixie!”

“You must never spent much time in the desert if you don’t realize it gets cold at night, not hot,” Kestrel teased her as she approached.

Trixie scoffed. “There you are. Trixie was wondering where you went. Instead of bringing her back here yourself, you left Trixie in the care of these two strangers! They wouldn’t even let Trixie see where she was going!”

“All the better to protect ourselves with,” Tumbleweed said. He gestured to Wanderer, who bowed his head. “Follow Wanderer, he’ll get you set up. We’ll see if you’re worth your bluster in the morning.” Then he turned to Kestrel and looked over the camp. “I trust nothing went wrong while I was gone?”

“Camp’s still in one piece,” Kestrel said with a shrug of her wings. “Don’t know what more you could expect.”

“Indeed.” His head suddenly ceased its swivel, and his eyes locked on Sienna’s ruddy coat by the fire. “What is she doing free?” he asked Kestrel, his voice both concerned and accusatory.

“I… had a talk with her,” Kestrel said. “Miss Irons said she was bawlin’ like a filly in minutes once Roughshod got his hooves on her. Figured she’d be more cooperative with me.”

“And what did you talk about?”

Kestrel felt like Tumbleweed’s eyes were piercing through her soul. She coughed and rubbed the back of her neck with her wing crest. “I asked her a few questions about what she and Roughshod shared words over. Learned a bit of her history.”

“Then why is she not tied back up?”

“I… well, I implied that she should maybe join with us instead of goin’ back to the Vipers.”

Is Tumbleweed okay with Kestrel’s decision to attempt to recruit Sienna without telling him? No

Those piercing eyes only grew harder. “Kessie? Have you forgotten how we do things? Have you forgotten what keeps us safe?”

Kestrel shook her head… but her eyes lowered all the same. “No, sir.”

“We keep the Gang small… we keep ourselves tight. The more ponies we bring on, the bigger the risk we’re gonna get caught one day. And here it is, in one day, you’ve offered two different ponies the opportunity to join on with us.” He raised an eyebrow. “You start to see why I’m… concerned with your judgment here?”

Kestrel took a step back, but her wings puffed out all the same. “I think they can be useful to us,” she insisted. “More ponies means bigger hauls we can take down.”

“And a bigger trail for the Pinks to follow,” Tumbleweed reminded her. He sighed and looked back at Trixie, who was eyeing the wagon full of repeaters and ammunition with suspicion. “You better be right about this, otherwise we’re gonna have problems.”

“I ain’t been wrong yet,” Kestrel said.

“Yet.” Tumbleweed sighed and walked off. “I just pray that you’re right, Kessie. I pray you are…”

Then he was gone to get some food, leaving Kestrel alone in the camp. Alone… and with some time to kill.

Tumbleweed is now skeptical of Kestrel's recent decisions and will be keeping a close eye on her.

1. Discuss plans with Tumbleweed for the train.

2. Sit by the fire with Trixie

3. Watch the stars with Wanderer

4. Get some sleep and prepare for the train robbery

(Confidence Required: 45 Votes)

Author's Note:

This chapter's poll: https://www.strawpoll.me/18196680

Please use the poll for voting. You can discuss options in the comments, but I will not take anything stated there into consideration when determining the vote.

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/RsVkdDP

Comments

[Gearsmash King]

I figured Tumbleweed would react like that. But, I'll bet if we talk to him about the train. That might be a good way to start smoothing things over with him. Plus, it might prove our point.

[Dustyhooves]

i knew this was going to happen. Boss is going to loss trust in us if we keep pulling shit like this. We need to stop acting like we are the boss.

[alamais]

Yeah, that figures. Still hopin' for some Trixenna (friend?)shipping, if they survive long enough. Definitely need to plan around the train robbery now, since we did the scouting.

[Merula]

I have a feeling we will need to smooth over things with Tumbleweed. Best thing to start with that should be talking with him about the robbery we're planning

[djthomp]

Is Sienna receptive to Kestrel’s suggestion? Yes

Nice.

Is Tumbleweed okay with Kestrel’s decision to attempt to recruit Sienna without telling him? No

Oops.

No more recruits for a while, apparently.

I think we need some more face time with Tumbleweed after that last mess up, 1.