Unshaken

by The 24th Pegasus

Chapter 63

During the grand finale on Friday: 6 Votes

Quirk Gained: Daring

“I don’t see why we shouldn’t make our move during the finale,” Tumbleweed said after a moment’s consideration. “After all, crashin’ a conference like this on any day of the week don’t require much tact or thought to it. Crashin’ the conference during the finale when everypony’s got eyes on it, well, that’s how you make a statement.”

“Hopefully not too much of a statement,” Kestrel said back to him. “We don’t want to get the Pinks dropped on us ‘fore we even have much time to get comfortable here in Hoofston.”

“The Pinks’d be here no matter what we did soon as they heard this big conference got robbed. Least this way, we get to stay ‘til Friday before they sniff us out.”

Across the table, Starlight Glimmer seemed more than pleased with the outlaws’ decision. “Great! Excellent!” she exclaimed, excitedly tapping her hooves together. “This is exactly what I needed. Thank you so much for providing it to me! The Revolution needs everypony it can get!”

Kestrel rolled her eyes. “We ain’t interested in your revolution, Starlight,” she reminded the unicorn. “We’re just in it for the money. Just so happens that our interests align enough to work with you.”

“It’s a partnership born of equal opportunity,” Starlight countered. “And when we’re done with the Conglomerates, Equestria should be a little more equal than when we started.”

“If that’s what you believe, then go for it.” Tumbleweed lifted his beer mug to his lips and drained its contents in a few gulps, then set it aside. He wiped the froth off of his lips with a fetlock and then stood up. “In the meanwhile, perhaps it’s best we don’t be seen with each other ‘til it’s time to act. Don’t want to raise suspicions and the like.”

“Even with your disguises?” Starlight asked, cocking her head. She waved off any response with her hoof. “Yes, it’s best to remain discreet about this matter until it’s time to act. In the meanwhile, we should use the week we have to gather information and plan out our strike. Unless your gang is more of an ‘act first, think later’ bunch?”

Kestrel shook her head and slid across the bench to stand up next to Tumbleweed. “That’s how amateurs do it,” she said, once more trying to get her skirt to settle comfortably over her hindquarters now that she wasn’t sitting down anymore. “And we ain’t amateurs.”

“That’s reassuring to hear,” Starlight said. She too stood up and put some bits down on the table to pay for the drinks. “I’m going to ask around with some friends and contacts to see if I can get a better idea of what’s going to happen at this grand finale. They should be able to let me know what the Apples are planning. You might benefit from investigating the grounds of the conference once they finish setting it up to figure out what the best approach is.”

“I’m sure we will,” Kestrel said, nodding to the revolutionary. “We’ll meet up here again on Wednesday to discuss what we’ve found. Should give us plenty of time to figure out on Thursday what our plan’s gonna be.”

“Wednesday, then,” Starlight said with a smile. She gave the two ponies a salute and walked past them toward the door. “And the revolution begins on Friday.”

Kestrel and Tumbleweed watched her go, then shook their heads. “Filled with revolutionary zeal yet, Kessie?” Tumbleweed asked, an amused smile forming on his lips.

“Ready to fight and die for the cause,” Kestrel replied, voice dripping with sarcasm. “Come on, let’s go. We should probably start making our way back to camp, we spent enough time wanderin’ around this city before we met our idealist.”

“We’ll probably be back ‘fore the old timers and Trixie,” Tumbleweed said as they made their way out of the door. “They don’t move so fast when they get some time to themselves.”

“I’m sure Trixie is doin’ everythin’ she possibly can to make that experience end as quickly as possible,” Kestrel said. She rolled her shoulders as she stepped outside, grimacing at how sweaty and cramped her wings felt trapped under her dress in the hot sun of the south. “And I’ll do anythin’ to get outta this dress soon as I can to stretch my wings.”

“I’m sure it must be torture. Come on, then.”

An hour later, the two ponies found themselves once more on the outskirts of their camp, leaving the road behind to step into the treeline. They didn’t have far to go before they came across Snapshot resting in the shadows, rifle across his lap as he rested with his back against a tree. The stallion only nodded at them, and when Tumbleweed asked if anypony had gotten too close to the camp while they were gone, he shook his head. Relieved, the two gang leaders made their way to the inner clearing of the camp, where Kestrel immediately tore off her dress in one smooth motion, stretched her wings to their full glory, and let the illusion shatter off of her body as it failed to compensate for the motion of two additional wings.

“It feels so damn good to be home,” Kestrel said, fluttering a few feet off the ground. “Next time we go to town, I ain’t gonna bother with the damn disguise. Wearin’ somepony else’s skin just makes my own crawl.”

“You’ll probably think mighty differently if it gets you caught by the Pinks,” Tumbleweed said. His own illusion faded away with a glow from his horn, and he made his way over to his tent to change out of the rancher’s clothes and into his normal attire. “The others should be back soon. We’ll have a chance to confer with them when they arrive. In the meanwhile, take it easy for a bit. Maybe see what Roughshod is up to. Who knows where he wandered off to.”

“Do I really care?” Kestrel asked, shrugging her wings. “He’s a grown-ass stallion. I ain’t gonna be his momma. If his own didn’t want him, why should I?”

Tumbleweed chuckled at that and ducked into his tent. “True enough, Kessie. True enough.”

Kestrel made her way back to her own lean-to and dug out her usual duster and clothing. At least she could fly in that, and the cloth kept the sun off of her back, which was about the only real reason to wear clothing this far south. She had some time to relax, she knew, and get situated before Tumbleweed discussed the findings with everypony later tonight. The only thing she had to do now was decide on how to spend it.

1. Find where Roughshod went off to. Tumbleweed said he might be down by the lake. Wonder if he noticed anythin’ we should know about while we were gone?

2. Keep Snapshot some company. The stallion spends so much time on his own, keepin’ watch for us. Maybe he’d like to have somepony else hang around with him while we wait for the others to get back.

3. See how Silver is doing. Wonder if Silvie is feelin’ better. Maybe I should talk to her, try to smooth things over from last night, as awful and embarrassin’ as that was…

4. Go exploring. Might be somethin’ interestin’ near our camp. At the very least, a flight’ll help me stretch out sore muscles.

Author's Note:

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

[terrycloth]

4 Exploring. Everyone must be a loner.

[Blaster M]

4: Could use an aerial scouting session.

[RoboRed]

2. I'd like to see some characterization with Snapshot.

[Jaro45]

Number four ( 4 ) sounds like fun. A quick flight to take a look around, maybe find a perfect tree to nap in. Hell, there might even be a sunken wagon fulla gold hidden deep in the pond!

As for the first choice, screw Roughshod. (not while there are dogs in the street!) He wants to be a dink on his own? Fine.

[Gearsmash King]

We never really did check out the surrounding area of camp, other than for security. Let's have a look around. There might be something interesting to see. I'm voting option 4.

[Hahapie]

I vote 2. Out of all the chit-chat and lore we’ve gotten from the gang, I feel like Snapshot is the one we as readers know the least about. This could be a good opportunity to fix that and learn more about him besides he shoots well.

[Merula]

4. More intel is nice

[TheGearChronicles]

4, sounds fun

[SolarisLunaris]

4

[djthomp]

Wow, we're Daring now. Not sure if it's the choice that I would have made, but at least we'll get to see the big announcement at the end up close.

Relieved, the two gang leaders made their way to the inner clearing of the camp, where Kestrel immediately tore off her dress in one smooth motion, stretched her wings to their full glory, and let the illusion shatter off of her body as it failed to compensate for the motion of two additional wings.

Nudity! Lewdness!

Hmn. Let's definitely not poke the Silver bear just yet, and probably not the lone sniper either. Visit Roughshod or go exploring, and I'm thinking exploring. Pegasus needs to stretch her wings a bit more.

[Alkahambra]

2 gets my vote.

[M4Tiger4014]

Gunna lose, but I say 3. We can’t lose cohesion now