//------------------------------//
// Chapter Three: Paycheck To Paycheck  
// Story: The Conversion Bureau: Caught in the Middle 
// by no sh*t sherlock 
//------------------------------//


Chapter Three: Paycheck To Paycheck


Six years ago, Ed Morrison put a down on a house. Actually a more correct word would be shack. At 220 sq feet, it wasn't too much, hell, it was hardly anything, but I loved my shack anyway. I had put a lot of work and money into making look at exactly how I wanted it, inside and out. It had become a part of me. So when I'm driving home from a trade and I see an Equestrian car parked on the curb with a pony walking up to my door, I get a little suspicious. 

I kept driving at just under the speed limit and watched the suited earth pony start knocking. I intended to stop and ask who he was, but then I saw what was on the side of his car.  There was "FR" in fancy looking gold letters with three bags of money next to it. 

I stopped looking in that direction entirely and kept driving.  Filthy Rich technically owned my little shack and he was not a pony who like to be kept waiting on his money. He frequently sent associates to peoples homes to collect payments. Usually I could pay the 320 Bits a month, but this particular month happened to be the one where Equestria's national property tax was due. I barely had enough to pay the 390 bit tax let alone Mr. Rich. I'd have to get it to him when I did my next job.

But when I thought more and more about it, that was the problem.  My jobs didn't pay well enough. I had carried over 100 pounds of illegal meat and had gotten less than 300 bits for it. The jobs I did for people paid shit. I could hardly make ends meet each month. My problem was clear. I needed more money.