Author's Note

So this chapter is a bit of backstory for Shoeshine and Silverspeed. Its gonna take place ten years before the rest of the story.

The Beginning

I tucked the rifle into my dufflebag and stared at my two accomplices. Sweet Leafs and Shoeshine tucked their own weapons into their bags. We had planned this robbery for months. We stood in front of a small town bank. We didn't bother learning the town name, we weren't gonna be here long. The snow was coating the ground and I could tell Shoeshine was getting sick of the cold.

"You all ready?" I asked. "Don't fucking kill anyone, we don't need to leave any bodies. If the cops come, shoot near them but don't kill em. They'll be pissed about the robbery already, we don't need em madder."

"Born ready," Shoeshine answered and patted her gun. I held up a hand.

"We go in quiet till we get to the teller. One teller, small town bank. The cop response time should be a bit longer than normal response times. Nicknames from here on out, got it?" I wanted this to go without a hitch. Last thing we needed was our fucking names all over the cops radios and the tvs.

"Got it," Sweet Leafs nodded. We put our black ski masks on and stalked our way to the door. We had made sure to stay out of the cameras view. I quietly opened the door and the two entered the building. I followed suit and quietly shut the door. At this time of day and the area we were in, it was dead inside. Nobody to see us till we got the desk. There might be a few people inside but not many. At least two armed guards or so Sweet Leafs said when she scouted the place out a few days prior. She flirted with a contracter that worked in the camera system company and we found out a majority of the cameras were for show. They didn't actually work. We stood outside the double doors that lead to the actual part of the bank and unzipped our bags. I pulled out my rifle and nodded to my accomplies who already their weapons out.

"One, two and three," I quietly whispered and kicked the door open. We ran into the room and Shoeshine pointed her gun to the ceiling and started shooting.

"Everyone, get the fuck down and stay quiet or get shot!" She shouted. I was right, it was pretty quiet inside. Only four customers, one teller and a guard behind a locked door. A women screamed and she laid on her stomach. I knew the glass was bullet proof so I didn't bother wasting ammo shooting it like Shoeshine shot the ceiling. She always a reckless one. I grabbed the women and slammed her face against the glass.

"Open this fucking door now or she gets it!" I shouted to the guard. I pressed the muzzle of my gun to her head for effect. He shook his head and I rolled my eyes. I slammed her head again against the glass and he jumped. "Last fucking warning, I'll kill her." He hastily nodded and unlocked the door leading to the back. I kicked it open the rest of the way and put the women in front of me. He wouldn't actually try to shoot if I had a human shield. I knew it and he knew it based on the fact his hand paused before he could grab his handgun from it's holster. I shoved her away and slammed my gun into his head. He fell with a cry.

"S!" I shouted to Shoeshine. "Get the explosives and open that door." We all knew the guards didn't have access to that door to the gold. Only bank managers did and none of them were here according to the schedule we had stolen from the trash can out bank. Shoeshine never forgived me for making her climb in there. "L! Get these fucks in that office back there!" It would have gotten confusing using the first letter of our names because all of ours started with S. Shoeshine kept the S, Sweet Leafs was L for Leafs and I was A for Archer. She nodded and pointed her rifle at our hostages.

"Get in the fucking room! Now!" She screamed.

"We've done everything you wanted," the teller grumbled. She grabbed him and shoved him forward to the ground, prodding him with her gun. I really hope she didn't accidentally shoot him. The hostages started moving into the room and Sweet Leafs shut the door, putting a chair against the handle so they would be stuck in there for a bit at least.

"All ready," Shoeshine told me. "Just gotta call it in." I glanced over and gave a satisfied nod. We only had limited explosives that I had made so we had to be stingy. I pulled out my phone and dialed the number. I pressed call and shoved it into my coat pocket. We all three covered our ears from the imminent explosion. A loud bang came from the explosives and the building shook. A bunch of dust came from the ceiling and the door fell backwards.

"We're in!" I told the others and lead them in. We vaguely knew the way based on a old layout we had gotten online from ten years ago. We got the vault door and I grinned. "S, put explosives down please. We gotta get this fucker off." She and Sweet Leafs went to work putting the final explosives on it. We all quickly took cover behind some boxes and once again covered our ears. One loud explosion later, we were in the vault.

"Holy shit," Sweet Leafs said in awe. We all three stared in awe at the gold bricks on the carts. That's the whole reason we were here, we heard through the grapevine the bank had gotten a shipment of gold bricks. We all three separated and started shoving gold into our duffel bags.

"God damn," I grunted. "This is heavy."

"Heavier it is, more money for us!" Shoeshine laughed as she zipped her bag up. We definitely couldn't take it all, but we could steal a damn decent amount. Shoeshine exited the vault and went to I assumed the garage door. I followed Sweet Leafs out and I froze. A pair of hands grabbed me and I felt the muzzle of a hand gun pressed to my head.

"Don't move," the guard warned. Sweet Leafs spun around as the guard yanked off my mask and tossed it on the ground. "I've seen her face, I'll remember you!"

"You forgot a thousand things everyday pal, you should make sure this is one of them," I told her.

"Drop the gun!" She ordered Sweet Leafs. My accomplice kept the gun at her side. I had a nagging feeling what was going to happen.

"L," I said warningly. The gun jumped in her hand and I felt something warm splatter up on my cheek. I stared behind me in disbelief at the dead guard with a hole in her head. Her handgun clattered to the floor and I gave a sigh of relief. I stared at Sweet Leafs. "Are you fucking insane? We didn't have to do that!"

"She saw your face. She could have exposed us all," she said in a bored tone. "It was either we kill her here or kidnap her and kill her somewhere else. There will be time for grieving later." She walked away to where Shoeshine was waiting. I sighed in frustration and picked up my mask and her gun. I flicked the safety on and tucked her handgun into my waist of my black jeans. I joined my group and cringed at the sound of sirens.

"Fuck. The cops are here ahead of schedule," I grunted as I wiped the blood off my cheek. I had honestly been scared the guard would have shot me after she died on accident.

"Fuck it!" Sweet Leafs exclaimed. "S, hit the shutter door." Shoeshine slammed her hand against the button and the garage opened. All three of us instantly ran out and hid behind the money trucks. I peeked through the window as the first three police cars pulled up. I took a deep breath and shot near one. He jumped and took cover behind his car as the tire exploded. The other two started opening fire on my position as more cops pulled up. Shoeshine and Sweet Leafs returned fire. I glared at Shoeshine as she shot a deputy.

"We were trying to avoid shooting them, remember!" I shouted over the sounds of different guns firing, fuming. We ran to the road and miraculously made it. Our getaway driver was waiting. It was some young local kid fresh out of college. We were paying him twenty percent to outrun the cops. He glanced back worried as we hopped in.

"Yall okay? I saw the cops and heard a bunch of shooting."

"Just drive," I grunted. He rolled his eyes and started driving. I wasn't in the mood anymore for formalities. I groaned as I saw a police car was behind us. They got up beside us and the passenger started shooting.

"I think they are gonna- hurk!" The driver slumped forward as the dash got covered with blood.

"Local kid just bought it!" I shouted as I reached over him and shoved his dead body out the car. I slide over to the drivers seat and took over. "Fuck you!" I slammed our car into the side of the squad car and it went off the road into a tree. I sighed as I wiped some blood off the window. I was getting real tired of wiping blood off of things today.

"Easy, they haven't gotten this car over the radio yet," I warned Shoeshine. I saw her relax her hand on her gun as two cop cars flew past us. I sighed in frustration. These county cops were smarter than I thought and had set up a roadblock ahead of us. "Hold on!" I yanked the wheel onto a road with train tracks and hit the gas. I hoped to outrun the train. Yeah never do that.

"Jesus!" Shoeshine yelled as the rear of the car got hit by the train and we went spinning. The car finally came to a stop and I kicked my door open.

"Let's go, we can hunker down somewhere," I groaned. My fucking spine hurt. I probably shouldn't be walking but I'd rather not go down for a robbery charge. Plus the dead guard inside the bank. I squinted at something in the distance and my eyes widened. "Run!" A gunshot echoed and Sweet Leafs fell over with a scream. I glanced back and stared as the snow under her turned dark red. All I remember next was being on the ground and feeling pain everywhere. I reached down to my side and pulled my hand to face. I stared at the blood stained hand and groaned. I've never been shot before and it was painful. I twisted my head back go look at Sweet Leafs who was gasping for air. I assumed she had been either shot in the lung or stomach.

"Get out of here!" I gasped out to Shoeshine who had started shooting at the cops who were arriving.

"Hell no!" She shouted.

"Now!" She looked at me desperately and nodded, running behind the house we were near. One of my talents was playing dead and slowing down my breathing. I did that as a cop identified me and Sweet Leafs as dead. I tried my hardest to not cry at hearing she was dead. I don't know when I had stopped hearing her gasping sounds. I laid there for a hour or so tops till the coroner arrived and tossed us both into the van and started driving away. I vaguely heard the sound of a dirt road and the van stopped.

"You gotta fucking piss again?" The driver demanded.

"Well duh. I had a lot of water today. Trying to be healthy," the passenger argued as he got out the van. "Don't fucking leave me here." I saw my opportunity and slunk forward quietly. The drivers eyes widened as I wrapped a arm around his neck and snapped his neck. I've killed before, I just hated doing it. Made robberies messy. I quietly climbed over his body and out the van. I snuck up on the passenger and tackled him. He was way weaker then the driver and I easily snapped his neck too. I grunted as I stood up and stared at his fading eyes.

"Thanks for the van," I said dryly.

I sighed as I stood behind the tree and watched Sweet Leafs funeral. I hated that I couldn't actually be there up close but there was a cop standing there. Probably looking for Shoeshine. I had heard she got away and I was happy for that. Just wish we all did. I found it frustrating that they were burying her here and not her home town of Canterlot. I tossed my cigarette out into the snow as they started putting dirt on her casket. I pulled my coat closer around me and turned around. It was time to get the hell out of here. This town was way too hot with a police presence after the robbery. I had no idea where I was going, but anywhere but here.

"Sorry, Sweet Leafs."