Unshaken

by The 24th Pegasus

Chapter 52

Flee the combat area: 6 Votes

“Rough!” Tumbleweed shouted over the roar of combat around them. “Hitch! Let’s go!”

“Fuck!” The big stallion slapped the Chatter gun in frustration, nearly knocking it out of its mount, and hopped off of the stage. “Kessie! Help me fold this stage up!”

“Celestia damn it all!” Kestrel cursed, dropping to the ground and adding her muscle to Roughshod’s to fold the stage back into the side of the wagon. Thankfully it was light and expertly balanced, a necessity given Trixie’s previous lonely touring across the country, and the cables and counterweights did most of the work for them. When that was done, Kestrel hopped over the wagon and landed on the other side, using the wood for cover between her, the Vipers, and the cavalry descending on the gulch from above. “Wanderer!” she shouted, slapping the side of the wagon. “Kick open the back door and turn the gun that way! We’re outta here!”

“Why don’t we just ditch the damn wagon?” came Wanderer’s voice from inside. “It’ll just slow us down!”

“You wanna get caught in the open desert with nothin’ to keep ya safe from the pegasi in the sky?!” Tumbleweed shouted back. “Didn’t think so! Rough, move!”

Combatants DRAW using Gunslinger, Roughshod PULLS using Muscle

1. Tumbleweed: 14

2. Kestrel: 13

3. Cavalry: 12

4. Rainbow Dash: 11

5. Wanderer: 10

6. Rattlesnake: 9 (Gunslinger has tiebreaker priority over Muscle)

7. Roughshod: 9

8. Vipers: 4

Chaos reigned around the gulch as Vipers and cavalry fired back at each other, bullets biting into the dust and dirt every which way. As Roughshod began to pull the wagon away, Tumbleweed hauled himself back up to the driver’s seat and fired a parting shot at Rattlesnake, who had picked himself up from the ground and was readying a shot at the wagon.

Tumbleweed shoots Rattlesnake: Critical Success

Rattlesnake rolls Healthiness (6-1 from Grazed) to determine damage: Critical Success

Rattlesnake remains Grazed (-1 Healthiness)

For a moment, Kestrel thought Tumbleweed had shot the Vipers’ leader in the heart when the stallion fell back to the ground. But to her surprise, he got up again, a bent golden medallion slipping out from beneath his overcoat. Cursing, Kestrel quickly realized that the medallion must have blocked Tumbleweed’s bullet, and she pointed her own revolver at the Viper to hopefully finish the job.

Kestrel shoots at Rattlesnake: Critical Fail

…Only for her revolver’s hammer to click on a dud round. Blinking in surprise, Kestrel quickly worked the action to get another shot in, but a few stray shots of gunfire forced her to drop her head once more, and she had to hop onto the side of the wagon as it began to rumble away to not be left behind without cover. She climbed halfway up the side, holding on with her hooves while her wings worked her revolvers, only for a bullet to perforate the wood right in front of her muzzle. She looked up to see the fading trail of a rainbow veering toward her, sunlight glinting off of the barrel, and a scowl on a familiar pegasus’ face.

Does First Lieutenant Rainbow Dash recognize Kestrel in the confusion? Yes

“Uhh, Rough? Better start pullin’ hard!” Kestrel shouted over her shoulder. “That Rainbow Dash pony is here!”

“Have Wanderer shoot her!” Rough shouted back, straining and finally getting the wagon moving at a decent clip. “All I can do is pull, damn it!”

“Wanderer!” Tumbleweed shouted, relaying the message. “Shoot the rainbow broad down!”

The Chatter gun roared out the back of the wagon, but the rainbow officer twirled away from the barrage. “I can’t get a good angle out the back!” Wanderer shouted from within. “This damn thing can’t shoot up that high!”

“Then just keep shootin’ at everypony else!” Kestrel said, firing off a few pot shots with her revolver. “You got nearly as many bullets as Rough’s got fleas!”

Tumbleweed opened his mouth to say something, but a bullet from Rattlesnake grazed across his cheek, and he tumbled down into the driver’s seat by instinct. Wiping the blood off of his cheek, Tumbleweed kicked the floor of the driver’s seat and shouted down at Roughshod. “C’mon, Rough, put some damn leg into it!”

“If I tear open my stitches it’s your damn fault!” Roughshod shouted back, but he nevertheless poured on the speed and set the wagon rolling at a rumble only a stallion as strong as he could manage. The gulch began to fade behind them, along with the chaotic shooting of the Vipers and the Cavalry as the two sides fought for their lives.

But they weren’t in the clear yet. Breaking off from the fight to give chase was Rainbow Dash and a wing of eight cavalryponies, their repeaters cracking off shots as Roughshod hauled the wagon across the open desert dust as fast as he could. Kestrel flung herself into the driver’s seat next to Tumbleweed where she could use the roof of the wagon and the seat back as cover and cursed when she saw they were still being pursued. “Damn it, Wanderer, keep shootin’!”

Combatants DRAW using Gunslinger, Roughshod PULLS using Muscle:

1. Tumbleweed: 18

2. Kestrel: 18

3. Rainbow Dash: 17

4. Silver: 14

5. Roughshod: 14

6. Wanderer: 9

7. Cavalry: 5

“Chase off their leader!” Tumbleweed shouted, firing off a shot at the rainbow pegasus leading the cavalry wing. His bullet struck her wing and tore out a chunk of feathers, making her falter but failing to drop her out of the sky. Kestrel fired as well, sending the officer rolling right to avoid, her shot as well, and when she tried to fire back with her revolver, she accidentally fumbled it out of her mouth and had to dive down to catch it again instead of taking a shot.

As she attempted to recover, however, Silver Wings dived down on her from above, firing her revolver from nearly point-blank as she divebombed the officer. Blood and blue feathers burst into the air, and Rainbow Dash began to fall, only to miraculously catch herself and shake off what Kestrel thought at first glance was a grievous injury. The sight of silver feathers blurring through the air put an excited grin on Kestrel’s face, and she kicked the floorboard of the driver’s seat. “C’mon, Rough! We got Silvie with us, let’s go!”

“Ain’t the best place for it,” Roughshod grunted back, swerving the wagon around scattered red rocks and the occasional withering cactus. “I see some clear ground up ahead, though!”

“Don’t worry ‘bout that!” Tumbleweed shouted. “We’ll just keep killin’ ‘em all ‘til they get the message!”

But it wasn’t Wanderer who connected with a spray of bullets; it was the cavalry, turning their attention to the pony that just struck their leader. A hail of gunfire chased after Silver as she dashed back to the wagon, and just before she could land safely with Kestrel and Tumbleweed, a bullet went through her back and out near her navel. Blood streaked the roof of wagon as she hit it hard, and Kestrel shouted in dismay and dragged Silver into the seat next to her.

Silver is now Critically Injured and suffers -3 to Healthiness.

“Shit!” Tumbleweed shouted, firing a few more shots up at the cavalry before dumping the empty shells from his revolvers and slotting more into their place. “Kessie, how’s she look?!”

“I’m… fine!” Silver coughed, red staining her teeth. She quivered and pressed her hoof to her gut, and it came away deep red. “Don’t… worry ‘bout me!”

“Stay low,” Kestrel growled at her, pressing Silvie low and tearing her bandana from her neck to stuff it in the younger mare’s exit wound. “We’ll getcha fixed up when we get outta this, just hold on, hold on…”

Of course, as she dumped the empty shells from her revolvers and reloaded them alongside Tumbleweed, she bit hard enough into her lip to draw blood. At the rate things were going, getting out alive was hardly a guarantee…

[NO POLL FOR THIS CHAPTER]

Author's Note:

I decided to cut the chapter early here, as it was going to go on for a while longer and my dice roller bot decided to kill itself in the middle, which forced me to resort to an online dice roller and post screenshots of the rolls. That got messy and really annoying to deal with real fast, so I'm going to stop it here and wait until the next normal update day on Friday to continue. See you all then!

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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

[N4rwh41]

Aw... I was hoping for a good old fashioned bloodbath. Oh well, at least we have a chance of killing a main character! (unless plot armor exists... on either side)

[alamais]

[djthomp]

Does First Lieutenant Rainbow Dash recognize Kestrel in the confusion? Yes

Of course.

Silver is now Critically Injured and suffers -3 to Healthiness.

Crap!

[Merula]

Well shit