Chapter 99
Continue without Starlight and Party Favor: 10 Votes
“We can’t wait for ‘em to show up,” Kestrel said. “Sure can’t go lookin’ for ‘em while we’re already here. We gotta get movin’, get started on the plan. Maybe they’ll show up.”
“Or maybe they’re part of the newest distraction,” Wanderer said. “Whatever’s taking them so long, I hope it’s not anything serious. We don’t need our cover blown this early.”
“Well, better the Pinks catch Starlight and her friend than they do us,” Silver remarked. “They can’t draw a connection to us, unless they squeal.”
“Starlight don’t seem the kind to give the authorities anythin’ they want,” Tumbleweed said. “She probably thinks they’re all pawns of the rich. That’s good for us.” Then he looked back at the auction tent and rubbed his chin. “At any rate, doin’ this with four instead of six complicates things a mite bit. I was countin’ on havin’ Starlight’s expertise to help us take care of the security and staff ‘round here, but we’ll have to make do with what we got.”
“So how do we wanna do that?” Silver shrugged her uniform loose and pulled out the coils of rope she had tucked against her midsection, coiling it on the ground. “I got the rope to deal with anypony that ain’t gonna move for us, but it’s not exactly like we can just tackle somepony in the middle of the tent and tie ‘em up.”
Wanderer made a show of stretching his wings and rolling his neck from side to side. “Well, I don’t know about you two young ladies, but I think Tumbleweed and myself should take care of the interior of the tent. Neither of you are particularly proficient liars, and using force is, like you said, Silvie, not much of an option inside of the tent.”
“Good; suits me fine,” Kestrel said. She pulled out her revolver and looked it over, then tucked it back into her uniform within easy reach of her mouth. “I ain’t good with words, but I can whip ‘em good if need be. Shouldn’t be too much of a problem.”
“Bring anypony you take down back here,” Tumbleweed advised her. “If Starlight and Party Favor show up, you might catch ‘em here. If you don’t, they might see the bodies and know we’ve started. That’s as good a warning as we’re gonna give ‘em.”
“Right.” Kestrel turned to Silver. “Well, Silvie, toss me the rope and let’s get started. We’ll clean things up outside the tent, then slip inside and help out with what needs helpin’ in there.”
Tumbleweed straightened his uniform and nodded to Wanderer. “Well, you old fart, y’know what they say: age before beauty.”
“I’d say I’m both aged and beautiful,” Wanderer shot back, but he nevertheless took the lead toward the front of the tent. “And when we’re done with this, I oughta teach you young’uns some respect for your elders…”
The two mares watched the two stallions depart, and then Kestrel took the lead in walking away from their staging area. “Alright, here’s how we’ll do this,” she said, looking left and right to make sure they were clear to exit their cover and start moving around the tent. “We see somepony lookin’ like they’re supposed to be assigned to this auction thing goin’ on, you go in and say somethin’ to ‘em. If you can’t get ‘em to leave, I’ll club ‘em in the back of the head with my gun. Anypony we gotta take down, we tie up and haul outta there quick as we can, got it?”
“Sounds ‘bout as good of a plan as we’re gonna get,” Silvie said. “Let’s just hope there ain’t too many ponies we gotta move.”
They stalked around the outside of the auction tent, making sure to keep their distance so as to not look conspicuous while they looked for targets. Ponies were still trickling into the tent, most of them wearing suits and attended to by lackeys carrying briefcases for them. Just one look at them made Kestrel want to wrinkle her nose in disgust, and she had a momentary bit of sympathy for what Starlight and her companions were trying to accomplish. Some ponies just had so much money that they wasted it on frivolity, while ponies like Kestrel and the Gang had to struggle to put together whatever they could to survive. At least robbing from ponies this wealthy helped everypony involved.
How many ponies are providing security outside of the tent? 1
But despite all their precautions, the only pony they saw outside of the tent was a stallion with a ticket counter, clicking the device in his magic as the bidders filed into the tent one by one. Kestrel was surprised; surely there’d be more security? But maybe whatever had held up Starlight was drawing attention away from the auction tent. If Starlight and Party Favor had become a secondary distraction at the conference, then that was an opportunity that the Gang couldn’t let pass them by.
“This can’t be that easy,” Silver remarked, just as surprised as Kestrel was. “It ain’t that simple, right?”
“Maybe it is; maybe it ain’t. Regardless, we gotta move him, so let’s get movin’. Bring him ‘round back; I’ll pounce on him and we’ll get him subdued easy.”
The two mares split in different directions, with Kestrel returning to the original rendezvous spot while Silver went to go talk to the staffer counting bidders. Removing him, Kestrel realized, would also have a secondary benefit; if nopony was limiting how many bidders stepped into the tent, then that meant more ponies inside once the robbery started, and more cash to walk away with. This conference, if they could pull it off, could prove to be very, very profitable for the Gang.
Silver uses Sweet Talker (6) to lure the staffer behind the tent: Success
Kestrel didn’t have to wait long before she heard Silver call out just loud enough to alert Kestrel she was coming. “I swear, I saw her right back here!” the mare exclaimed from the other side of the tent. “She looked hurt!”
Kestrel uses Muscle (5) to surprise (+2) and subdue the staffer: Critical Success
Silver rushed around the tent just as Kestrel stepped back into the shadows, and Kestrel drew her revolver and lashed out as soon as she heard the stallion’s approaching hoofsteps. The hammer struck the stallion square on the temple, and the staffer didn’t so much as cry out as he did crumple to the ground with a sigh. Silver’s eyes widened and her wings popped out in surprise at hearing the solid thwack, and she eyed the stallion on the ground with concern as Kestrel stepped over him. “Is he gonna be okay?”
“Still breathin’,” Kestrel said, pointing to the unconscious pony’s rising and falling chest. “C’mon, let’s tie him up, not that I really think we need to. He’s probably gonna be down and out for a long while.”
Silver provided the rope, and the two mares were able to get the stallion tied up with very little effort, owing to his disposition toward being unconscious. With the staffer safely tucked away in the shadows between the tents, where hopefully nopony would find him, Kestrel turned her attention toward the big tent. “Well, we ain’t heard any shootin’. That’s a good sign. Shall we go see what Tumbleweed and wanderer are up to?”
With their duties outside taken care of, Silver and Kestrel slipped into the tent with the rest of the crowd and looked around. Row after row of foldable chairs had been set up in the open ground inside of the tent, all facing a wooden stage at the far end. The chairs were rapidly filling up with ponies, though plenty milled about in the open space by the edges of the tent, discussing their enterprises and forming the beginnings of business deals that would move tens of thousands of bits from one pony’s pocket to another. It didn’t take them too long to spot Wanderer and Tumbleweed, who were observing the tent from the far right side.
“Any problems?” Kestrel asked in a low voice when she and Silvie joined up with them.
How many ponies needed to be moved from inside of the tent? 1
Tumbleweed uses Sweet Talker (9) to dismiss the security pony inside of the tent: Success
“None whatsoever,” Tumbleweed said, grinning at Kestrel and Silver. “Only one pony providing security near the stage. I got rid of her plenty easy by tellin’ her she was bein’ moved to deal with an unruly crowd by the west entrance. I doubt we’ll see her ‘til it’s too late for her to do somethin’ ‘bout us.”
“It’s like these ponies want to be robbed,” Wanderer remarked, shaking his head. “Might as well oblige ‘em.”
“Hopefully it stays this easy,” Silver said. “We didn’t see Starlight or Party Favor, though.”
“We got some time ‘fore this whole show’s gonna get on the road,” Tumbleweed said. He gestured to the nearby table of champagne and hors d’oeuvres, and picked up a glass in his magic. “We’ll see if she shows up or not. In the meanwhile, how’s about we enjoy our hosts’ hospitality some before we enjoy it even more?”
That elicited a small smile from Kestrel, and she happily poured herself a glass of champagne. “Don’t mind if I do,” she said, taking a sip. Everything had gone so well that she felt she was entitled to a little pleasure before the real work started.
After all, who knew if it would last.
[NO POLL FOR THIS CHAPTER]
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No failures beyond still no sign of Starlight AND a crit success in the same chapter? I'm officially worried now. Let's just hope this run of luck can hold out at least one chapter more. That or the potential failure blows up spectacularly. Either will be fitting for chapter 100.
I'm trying not to hold my breath, but I'm nervous to see how this goes.
Thst went way too smooth. I think I need more sandbags.
Wat, how are we getting this lucky?! This has to be some sort of trap!
10259594
That makes two, no, three, no, literally everyone reading this.
This... was way to easy. Next Chapter is gonna be hell. Fitting for Chapter 100.
Lmao, watch Chapter 100 be the end of the story, ending with them all dying/being arrested. That would be a plot twist.
Really unimpressed with the security the Apple family is paying for today. They should have pinched their bits just a little bit less.
We don't deserve rolls this good.
Oh come on.
Maybe Lady Luck is actually working for Starlight.
I think 2, drink lightly, we don't want everyone to be drunk when the good luck wears off.