Unshaken

by The 24th Pegasus

Chapter 37

Check on Trixie: 46%

Sighing, Kestrel tossed back a big swig of the beer and forced herself to stand. Exertion was still painful, and she figured it’d keep being painful for a few days more. So long as she didn’t end up shot in the meanwhile. She always was a fast healer, the trick was to not get worse while getting better…

On the topic of things that she needed to prevent from getting worse, Trixie entered her mind. Surely the magician heard the commotion and all the gunfire; doubtless she knew what it was about. Trixie was a new recruit just like Sienna had been, and she probably needed some reassurances right now. At the very least, Kestrel knew she had to make sure she wouldn’t be killing another stupid mare tonight.

The candle was still lit in Trixie’s wagon, though Kestrel didn’t hear any commotion coming from it as she approached. She didn’t know what to make of that; was Trixie cowering in the safety of her little wooden home on wheels, or was she just reading or something else like that? At any rate, Kestrel knocked on the door before doing anything else to let Trixie know she had a guest.

“Who is it?” Trixie asked almost immediately, a slight note of shrillness to her voice. She covered it up quickly enough with a cough, though not fast enough to escape Kestrel’s notice. “I-I mean, who disturbs Trixie at this hour? She is trying to get some great and powerful sleep!”

“It’s Kestrel,” the outlaw grunted back at her. “I just wanted to check in on you.”

“Check in on Trixie? What for?” Kestrel thought she heard the unicorn shifting about inside the wagon, though what she was doing, she had no idea.

“Just… ‘bout the whole thing goin’ down with Sienna,” she said, shrugging her wings. “Just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

A moment of silence passed. Then another. Finally: “You’re not going to shoot Trixie too, are you?”

“You tryin’ to run on us?” Kestrel asked.

“No,” Trixie said, indignation replacing worry. “Trixie knows what an oath is, unlike Sienna. Besides, now that she has consorted with outlaws and bandits like yourself, she has the distinct feeling she would not be welcome in town anymore. The engineer on the train saw her face, and we let him go.”

Trixie had nothing to worry about with regards to Highball, Kestrel knew, but she figured it probably would be best not to mention that. “Honestly, you shoulda known what you were gettin’ into back at the saloon,” Kestrel said, shifting her weight from one pair of legs to the other. “You sure you’re fine?”

“Would it make you feel better if I opened the door?”

“Possibly,” Kestrel admitted. “Just wanna make sure we ain’t got no problems ‘fore I go to bed for the night.”

A latch on the door slid open, and then the glow of Trixie’s magic took hold of the corners and pushed it open. She stood in the doorway, candle flickering at her back, in a sleeping gown and mask with bags forming under her eyes. That certainly surprised Kestrel; perhaps Trixie was just going to bed after all.

Trixie seemed to read her thoughts and rolled her eyes. “Trixie was going to try and get some sleep. I figure it’s better if I just try to put what happened out of my mind for now and not think about it.”

“Believe me, I’m tryin’ to do the same,” Kestrel said. She smiled some now that her confidence in her remaining recruit was reassured. “Well, if you’re feelin’ alright, then I guess I should say thanks.”

“Thanks?” Trixie echoed, her brow raising in confusion. “For what?”

“For fixin’ me up.” Kestrel stuck her foreleg out and leaned against the corner of Trixie’s wagon. “You said you pulled that bullet outta me earlier. Never got the chance to say thanks.”

“Oh. Well, you’re welcome.” Trixie scuffed her hoof against the ground and stepped back from the door. “Do you want to come in? Trixie figures she should be polite.”

“If you don’t mind.”

“Please.”

Kestrel grunted as she hauled herself up the steps and into the back of Trixie’s wagon. It certainly seemed cozier now that the magician had folded up her stage and her supplies into the side of it. There was barely enough room for a pony to turn around, and nowhere near enough for two to stand side by side. Everything she needed for her shows had been crammed into one little wagon, and Kestrel was surprised a unicorn like her could even pull it all. “Not much room for recreation in here,” she said.

“Trixie’s shows were her recreation,” Trixie said, flopping down on her hammock hanging above a trunk. It swayed slightly before bouncing off the left wall, though if Trixie felt or cared about the bump, she didn’t show it. “I didn’t need much space. Just enough to keep all my things and sleep at night.”

“The rest of us could learn a thing or two from you about packing and traveling,” Kestrel mused. She opened her mouth to say something more, reconsidered it, then tapped a feather to her chin. “Why do you… do that?”

Trixie blinked. “Do what?”

“Switch back and forth like that,” Kestrel said. “Sometimes you use ‘I’ and sometimes you say your name. It’s weird.”

A little bit of rosy red built in the mare’s cheeks. “Trixie—I guess I’m still not used to talking with other ponies,” she said. “Most of the time I only talk with them using my stage persona while I did my shows. I don’t have anypony close whom it felt natural to just talk in the first person with.”

“You seem to do it enough around me,” Kestrel said, winking at her.

Trixie scoffed. “Because you were the first friendly face Trixie found in the past few months.” She put her hooves behind her head and stared up at the ceiling, the corners of her mouth turning upwards. “Funny, the first pony to show Trixie some real kindness in a while is wanted by the law…”

“Just ‘cause the Law don’t like us don’t me we ain’t good ponies,” Kestrel said. “Least, I try to be, when I can. Outta all of us, Silvie’s the real angel. Girl’s got a real sweet and soft heart; sometimes I can’t figure why she’s with us.”

“You and her seem close,” Trixie observed.

Kestrel nonchalantly shrugged her wings. “I guess. Poor thing needed somepony to be her mama bear, comin’ into the group fresh outta the planter aristocracy, barely holdin’ a gun before in her life. It weren’t gonna be Miss Irons, and I figured she’d appreciate havin’ somepony keepin’ Roughshod offa her. Though to be honest, she’d buck him in the balls soon as he tried puttin’ a move on her, and he knows it. She didn’t need my help with that.”

“Hmmm…”

Kestrel’s brow lowered. “What you hummin’ about now?”

“Just wondering,” Trixie said, and she smirked at Kestrel from the corner of her mouth. “You’re an interesting pony, Kestrel, I will admit. It amuses me to wonder where your heart lies.”

“My… heart?” Kestrel cocked her head to the side. “What're you on about?”

“You know,” Trixie said. She sat upright on the hammock and gestured vaguely out into the night. “I heard stories while you were out cold. I know just how turbulent relationships have been for you. It makes me wonder just who an outlaw like you goes to bed at night dreaming about.”

Kestrel felt her cheeks begin to burn as she tried to word a response to that.

1. Highball. He were my first love, and I was gonna be his wife. That ain’t somethin’ I’m ever gonna forget.

2. Faithful Heart. That filly almost got me to put this whole life behind me and be hers and hers alone. I still have a locket with her feather in it; sometimes I stare at it until the moon is low and the sky begins to brighten.

3. Silver Wings. I can’t deny the thought’s crossed my mind a few times… she reminds me of Faith, had her situation been different.

4. Trixie. Why not make some new dreams now?

5. Nopony. I ain’t got the time to think ‘bout things like this. Life’s tough enough as it is without havin’ to think about somepony else too.

(Confidence Required: 45 Votes)

Author's Note:

This chapter's poll: https://www.strawpoll.me/18558467

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

[N4rwh41]

SO. MANY. SHIPS! :D

[Merula]

Ho boy, shipping time!

[djthomp]

So, Trixie is anxious but not panicking. That's probably a decent enough state.

Hmn. Definitely not Silver, I'd rather it remain a big sister/little sister relationship. And probably not Faith or Trixie because it would be funny to deny 24 any opportunity for lesbians. And not Highball, that needs to stay in the past or we might prompt events that could connect the gang to the train robbery.

I'm thinking 5, nobody.

[alamais]

Well, Nopony and the two horses from the past are obviously terrible choices that only horrible, deranged people would make when there are two possibilities we could actively have a chance at gettin' with.

Sooo...Trixie is best pony, obviously, but she's also kinda new so maybe give her some time before we add her to our lesbian harem...on the other hoof we've been described both as Silvie's big sister and mama bear...of course maybe that just makes it better <insert various lewd emotes here>. Hmmm coin flip.

[KarmaSentinal]

Highball, she's still hung up over him and it would tie in with she told trixe when they first met.

Kestrel shrugged. “I ain’t been lucky enough to be somepony’s wife."