Money Is Everything

Money Is Everything

Life fucking sucks.
You think things are going good, and then you remember you're a killer, a criminal.
My life isn't a good one. It's a tale of blood, murder, theft, arson, and armed robbery..

You may not really know me yet, what I'm capable of, but you will soon. I'm unknown to almost everyone, yet hated by all who have been affected by the crimes of the members within my former posse.

This may come as a surprise to you, Princess Luna, that the one pony out of a whole gang that you want help from is addressing you directly. Writing to you from an unknown place.

Well, Princess of the Night, don't get to thinking that I like you or that this is a surrender. You've done something with my family and I shall figure out what, even if it means having you imprisoned in that moon for another thousand years.

This isn't a threat. It's a reminder, as to which one of us has more to lose.

"We don't have all day Cross, hurry up writing," This coming from a bold voice behind me, as the light from outside shines in slightly upon entry.

"Actually, I was just finishing up," I quirked as I stood up and without the slightest glance, shouldered past a pegasus much bigger than I was.

A blinding light shone into the tent as I made my exit.

Six months earlier

A loud bank alarm rings throughout downtown Manehatten.
Inside are four ponies, taking their time with a robbery.

"The police'll be here any minute Cross, and we still have nothin to show fur'it!"
A tall and skinny unicorn with a cloth cover smiley-face shielding his identity had begun to regret his decision and turned his desperation to me, all the while wavering a gun amongst a crowd of hostages.

"They'll pull through, they always do.. Just keep the hostages at bay and don't use our names, dipshit." I responded sort of harshly.

"Yeah.. Pull through with nothing, maybe." The Unicorn turns and keeps a single hoofed gun fixated on the hostages.

"How about both of you shut up."
The older pegasus scolded us as he walked into the room wearing a bandana over his face and a cowpony hat on his head, carrying a bag of bits.
Behind him was a more bulky pegasus, with an even bigger bag of bits and a Shadow Bolt mask on from Nightmare Night.

I estimated that the bits between the two of them totaled at around a few hundred thousand.

"How did you get in and out so fast?"
I asked with an impressed and slightly envious tone.

"I'll fill ya in later, we don't have no time to talk. All of Manehatten had to of heard that alarm." The older pegasus answered quickly.

We all followed him out of the back and into an alleyway, moving as fast as we could.
That was when I heard a slightly rushed pattern of not just four- but eight hooves behind me.

Turning to look over my shoulder, I got a face full of blood as the head of the unicorn practically shattered and fell apart, bullet shrapnel flying upward.

Right where he stood, was now a single officer pony cowering with a double-barrel shotgun, and no ammo.

Poor bastard only brought one shell?

Blinded by rage- and blood, a dazed anger grew over me.
I shoved the officer down, taking his shotgun from him in the process.

I was just about to bash his skull in, when a gunshot rang out behind me.
A bullet flew past my shoulder and went right between the officer's eyes, blood and brain matter pouring out of the back of his skull.

"I done told you we ain't got no time to waste, he's gone. Now hurry up or you can bet your flank that we will be too." The older pegasus nudged my shoulder, and took off.

Obviously I wasn't far behind him.

Catching up, we turned a corner in the alleyway and were faced with an open street, with a hijacked police carriage waiting for us.

Just like that we were gone. All three of us had made it out, although we just lost our fourth. All that mattered was that no money was lost in the process. After all, money is everything... And everything is money.

"How'd that go for a heist, huh Cross?" The bulky pegasus addresses me with a cocky attitude.

"I'd say about as good as your sister. Worthwhile, went on forever, and now-pretty loose," I retorted back at him, and the whole carriage broke into a laughing fit.

I waited a second, and then spoke again.

"Oh come on now, she's not that bad. Aside from having you as a brother, she's got it in bed, the looks."

The carriage continued to laugh until the bulky Pegasus rolled his eyes and let it go.

"Maybe you should marry that mare, Cross," The old pegasus finally said after wiping his eyes.

"I've thought about it." I made eye contact with the old pegasus, before the bulky one's glare caught my eye.

"Her father's blessing is what I need. Even if he is an abusive cunt." That comment was the first time the bulky pegasus had ever agreed with me on anything I had to say.

That night we were all at camp far from Manehatten, counting how much we made off of our score, and distributing it.
The original split was supposed to be 20% to the driver and the four of us. So with one pony out of the picture, we cut his down to 10% and sent it to his family anonymously. The remaining 10% was cut down to 2% for ourselves and the driver. A cut of 20% changing to 22% doesn't sound like much at first, but the total score was 175,000 worth of bits.

Which would you take, thirty-five thousand, or thirty-eight thousand
five-hundred? My point exactly.

It would have been easy to write off the Manehatten Heist as something that was just on the news, like we had anything to do with it.

Us? A reincarnated band of outlaws- with a walking tank and a cab driver?

Nooo.. never.

Surrounded by a small fire, we poured one out for the unicorn, and drank. In between drinks we talked about where we planned on going once morning came, knowing very well that we had different things in mind with only two of us going to the same destination.

The old pegasus went first after a quick swig. "North, maybe. I reckon there's some nice tail up in the Crystal Empire."

I chuckled lightly at the innocence of his gesture.

"Get a clean shave, a shorter haircut, slick it back and I'll be sittin' pretty." The old pegasus gave a single confident nod, satisfied with his plan.

We all took a swig after he finished, and I went next. "Like you said, I think that I'll marry that mare."

I made sure that the bulky pegasus knew I had glanced in his direction before continuing.

"Maybe start a family one day." I then took a decisive swig to let them know I was done.

The bulky pegasus didn't hesitate in getting his part out of the way. "Well, first, I plan on making my way back home to see if I can convince my sister to not marry Cross."

He grinned. The sight of his rare smirk made the older pegasus raise a brow, just as confused– if not as concerned, as I was. I mean, I couldn't tell if he was grinning because he secretly wanted me to marry her, or if he was grinning because he thought he might actually succeed.

"Then," He continued, "I'm hoping to go to Baltimare and start a body and wing building company."
Following in suit, he took a swig as well.

When we all turned our heads to the driver, he looked kind of quizzical. "Well... I suppose I'll just move out to Fillydelphia, and start up a cab business of my own."

We all downed our drinks and called it a night, for the morning was to be a new chapter of our lives. For all I cared about, it was just for mine, specifically.