• Published 14th May 2019
  • 2,370 Views, 1,551 Comments

Unshaken - The 24th Pegasus



The age of gunslingers is coming to an end. As the law closes in on outlaws across the Equestrian southwest, Kestrel must find a way to help her wanted gang of misfits escape or die trying. [A CYOA Story]

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Chapter 97

Despite her best efforts to get some sleep, Kestrel soon found herself up well before the dawn. No matter how much she tried to go back to sleep, she simply couldn’t. Instead, after another half hour of tossing and turning to no avail, Kestrel sighed, grunted, and slipped out of bed. Might as well get an early start to the day, she supposed.

It seemed like the rest of the Gang was having a better time sleeping than Kestrel was; she was the only one of them up and about for the moment. But that was fine by her. It gave her the time she needed to prepare herself for the day ahead. She knew the Gang would need a whole lot of luck to pull this job off, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t find ways to make her own luck. So she cleaned her weapons to a spotless shine, inspected her ammunition as best she could, and set about preparing coffee and breakfast for everypony else once they started waking up. Starlight and her four accomplices had set up their temporary accommodations on some long grass at the side of the camp, where the trees gave them some shelter from the sky overhead and the grasses served as an acceptable alternative to laying on hard ground. Even they seemed to be getting their rest.

Kestrel shrugged as she set the coffee pot over the fire. One way or another, she’d get all the sleep she needed after today. She just hoped it wouldn’t be under a blanket of dirt.

As the sun came up, the camp slowly started to come to life. A tense air hung over them all like a cloud about to storm, and nopony was quite in a talkative mood. The most a few ponies managed was a curt greeting or a word of thanks as they took their breakfast from the fire, and everypony ate in silence. That uncomfortable silence persisted until just before nine o’clock, when Tumbleweed stood up and cleared his throat.

“Alright, everypony,” he said, eyes glancing from one pony to the next. “We got three hours to go ‘fore this auction gets started. I reckon it’s time we start headin’ out.”

Kestrel nodded. “Everypony goin’ to the conference, stuff your uniforms in a bag or somethin’ ‘til we get a bit closer. Don’t want to raise suspicion ‘bout what a bunch of conference workers are doin’ way out here away from Hoofston, ‘specially shen we should be there already.”

“Good idea,” Tumbleweed agreed. He turned to Trixie, Roughshod, and Snapshot. “You three, and the other three goin’ with you, make sure you head into town separate. Anypony see you together ‘fore you pull off the distraction, it ain’t gonna be as believable. You may not get the response we want outta the Pinks and the Law. Remember, make sure to start it off at noon sharp. We’ll be countin’ on the noise pullin’ the Pinks away from us so we can make our own move.”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie will not let you down,” Trixie proclaimed, proudly puffing out her chest. “She will have all the simpletons of Hoofston wrapped around her hooves, mesmerized and in awe of my feats of magic!”

“And then I’ll start crackin’ skulls together!” Roughshod smashed his hooves together and grinned. “Might even get to pocket some change for myself ‘fore the Pinks show up. A little bit off the top ain’t hurt nopony.”

“Just make sure y’all are ready to skedaddle soon as you got the heat on you,” Tumbleweed said. “You’re the distraction team, but we don’t want you to get yourselves killed tryin’ to bring some heat down on ya. Get the Pinks’ attention, then make your way to safety. Are we all clear?”

The distraction team voiced their assurances that they understood their job, and Tumbleweed waved them along with his hoof. “Good. Now, start movin’ and gettin’ into position. It’s best we stagger our departures and arrivals so nopony’s able to trace us back to our camp.” He turned to Miss Irons and gave her a flattering smile. “Miss Irons, I trust you will be comfortable lookin’ after camp ‘til we return?”

“I’ll be alright, all by myself,” the stern mare said with a shake of her head. “At least you’re leaving me the big gun to defend myself with, should anypony accost me while I’m by my lonesome.”

“Try not to waste all the ammunition for it,” Wanderer said, winking at her. “I know you’ll be tempted to turn the crank at least once.”

“For wont of something to do, perhaps,” she retorted. “Just try not to get yourselves killed having fun stealing from the rich.”

“We’ll do our best,” Kestrel said. “As much as I’m sure Starlight is fine dyin’ a martyr for her cause, the rest of us ain’t so keen to make a statement by pushin’ up daisies.”

Starlight crossed her forelegs and rolled her eyes. “The revolution cannot succeed if all of its faithful die in pursuit of it. That being said, we are all committed to the cause to the point of doing whatever needs to be done to see it succeed. I’m sure you all feel a similar way about protecting your gang from the law.”

“Can’t fault us there,” Tumbleweed said. Then, looking over everypony one last time, he nodded. “Right, any more questions? If not, let’s get this show on the road.”

“About time,” Starlight said, standing up. “The six of us going to the conference, we should leave in pairs and approach it from different directions. We’ll meet up on the north side of the auction tent and plan our next moves there. Party Favor and myself, we’ll go in from one side.”

“Wanderer and myself will pair up,” Tumbleweed said. “That leaves you and Silvie, Kessie. You two should be able to avoid suspicion if it’s a wait staff and a security pony movin’ about. Makes it look like you two are preoccupied with important business. Same for me and Wanderer.”

“Uh huh. Sounds fair to me.” She looked at Silver, who smiled back at Kestrel. “Any sides of the conference different, or does it not matter? Anythin’ we should be keepin’ an eye out for?”

“Well, we’ll approach from the west, south, and east,” Starlight said. “The north side is too close to the city, so we can’t predict any confounding variables we might run into moving through the city into the conference first. The west side is where most of the ponies of Hoofston are entering or leaving the fairgrounds from. The south side is pretty sparse, but the ground’s open there, so you might be seen approaching. If you go from the east, that’s where a lot of the staff tents are, like security or the infirmary. It’s not likely to be as busy as the main entrance, if you don’t want ponies looking at you.”

1. Approach the conference from the west. Slippin’ in through the main gates with a whole crowd of ponies’ll let us blend in with the crowd, or at least get lost in it. Just hope nopony there gets the chance to take a good long look at us while we’re headin’ in.

2. Approach the conference from the south. The south’s supposedly sparse and empty, but anypony happenin’ to look toward the south’ll see Silvie and me comin’. Might be odd seein’ two conference employees approachin’ from the fields and hills south of the city.

3. Approach the conference from the east. We ain’t likely to be seen, but we’ll have some explainin’ to do if we get caught where the other security is. Might be even worse off if there’s Pinks over there, but if we ain’t seen, it’ll be our easiest way to get in and blend into the crowd.”

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

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