A month had passed by since that night.
I was sat in my father's chair, in the home I once shared with the only ponies I had ever cared about, and who had ever cared about me. The house was devoid of life, save for the sole occupant residing within it, and even he was feeling dead inside. The atmosphere, the ambience, everything felt so cold, so wrong...
The funeral took place about two weeks ago. Only I was there to bid them farewell. Our relatives and friends were either dead themselves, or had moved away from Manehatten a long time ago, wherever to I did not know. The sky was bright and sunny as my parents were laid to rest, a beautiful day for any other pony, but not to me. I found the happy cheerfulness to be insulting to the moment. There was nothing to be happy about. There was nothing to be cheerful of.
After the funeral, the keeper of my parent's will approached me, and asked to speak with me in private so as to discuss the terms written upon the parchment. According to the document, upon my parents' passing, I was to inherit the house, along with all items and possessions within. I would also inherit any and all savings left behind by my mother and father, so I had some money to see me through the coming days for a while, at least long enough until I was able to find work.
But not matter how hard I tried, nopony would hire a Pegasus without a cutie mark. The bits left by my deceased family soon began to dry up, and I was no closer to finding a source of income. Worse still, I began to receive letters from tax collectors, demanding payments within short deadlines. They were accompanied by threatening messages promising that if I did not fulfil the debts, I would lose my parents home.
This house...Only a sole lonely Pegasus lived in it now, his only company being the memories that he treasured dearly, for they were the only good memories he ever had in life. I had to do something. I had to! I,I just couldn't let them take my home away from me! I couldn't let them steal my memories of my parents, and move some strange foreign family or recently married couple into it, to desecrate everything my family had worked for, had sacrificed much for!
But I regret, I truly and sincerely regret, what I brought myself to do in order to find the money. With every fibre of my being, on my own worthless soul, I hate myself for ever stooping to such a level.
I was walking down the streets of Manehatten one afternoon, after succeeding in deluding myself that a stroll would help clear my mind and put it a little more at ease. I needed to get out of the house, especially after I had received that letter earlier on that day. The letter that threateningly swore my house was to be taken two days from now unless I (somehow) managed to find the money that was owed. Still jobless, despite my best efforts, there was no way I could succeed in fulfilling such a task.
I turned off into an alleyway as part of a detour I usually took to get home faster. It was starting to get late, and I did not want to be out during the night. My days were bad all the time, but it was when night ell and blanketed the city in darkness that the true horrors crept onto the streets, and began once more their acts of depravity and sin. I was heading down the alleyway when I noticed a shadow spring up upon the brick walls to my side. Turning around, I saw a unicorn stallion, a pale blue colour and with a feathered hat for a cutie mark - damned cutie marks - adorning his flank. His eyes, a purple haze, stared into mine with a shady expression which accompanied the smirk on his face.
I felt...uneasy, to say the least about him, so I turned around and continued on my way. That was when he chose to call out to me. He said my name, which caused me to stop in my tracks. I had never met this stallion before, so how was it possible for him to know my name? I stopped still, but did not turn around. He saw my attention was his, and so he carried on.
He told me that he and 'some friends' of his had been 'observing' me for a few days now. He and his associates had wanted to offer me help. Somehow, they knew about the money problems I was currently going through, struggling with, and that he and his friends could help me resolve those troubles if I offered a helping hoof. I was sceptical, uncertain as to what his motives were, and how he intended to 'help' me, or why he wanted to 'help' me.
But you must understand, at the time, I had two options; the first was to lend an ear to this stallion, and at least hear what he had to say. The other was to ignore him completely, and return home to the house I was inevitably going to lose in a few days time. Would you have done anything different in my position? Perhaps you would have. After all, you're not in my position.
Out of curiosity, I let him speak.
It turned out that he, along with several other ponies, had been spying on a local bank for some time now, and were planning on pulling a heist on the place tomorrow. The bank was supposed to have raked in well over a million bits, and all that money would be shared equally between the participants of the robbery. Nopony was going to get hurt in the process, and the whole heist was planned out carefully so as to be swift, simple, and precise. The way I played into the plan, was that the thieves needed a lookout, somepony who could alert the others of any law enforcement activity in the event that something went wrong. Apparently, I was to be the lookout.
All I would have had to do was stay outside, and keep an eye open for any guards or officers. If I saw any, I just had to let the rest of the group within the bank know of their presence. I was promised a share in the profits, which was more than enough bits to solve my debt woes, and leave enough left over to keep me comfortable until I had managed to secure a real job.
My mind told me that this was the only chance I'd ever get to solve my debt problems here and now, but my heart screamed that this was wrong. I wasn't a thief. I couldn't aid in the theft of a bank! Could I?
After the shit that life had thrown my way, and after the demands for money I had been receiving, what did I really have left to lose? Besides the last good memory I had left?
I wish I never went along with the plan.
The next day, I found myself walking towards the bank, along with the unicorn stallion from the alleyway, and his accomplices, who turned out to be two earth ponies, strongly built and with serious expressions on their faces, wearing sort of cloak that concealed their bodies, and obscured their cutie marks beneath the fabric. They entered the bank, and after the unicorn reminded me of my role, I took my place outside as the lookout. It must had only been a couple of minutes before I heard the commotion inside, and I turned around to see the unicorn preparing some sort of offensive spell with his magic, his horn glowing a sinister crimson light, aimed towards the poor mare clerk behind the counter. The earth pony thugs were holding vicious, sharp daggers in their hooves, which had probably been hidden underneath those cloaks they were wearing. I noticed they also were wearing masks, obviously to conceal their true identities.
There were probably about ten ponies at that bank that day, besides the thieves and myself. An elderly couple, huddled together in a corner. A young pretty mare, with her hooves wrapped around a little foal in a protective manner. A few other stallions and mares all cowering on the floor, fearful looks on their faces. I imagined myself in that position; to have came to the bank that day, perhaps to deposit some money, or maybe to withdraw, and suddenly find myself staring into the crazed eyes of a mad pony, charging a deadly spell that clearly looked like it had the potential to serious injure, if not kill, somepony.
It was so wrong of me. I couldn't believe I was doing this. And for what? For money? Was what I was doing really worth this? It was too late to back out now, and in a way, even at the moment of writing this note, it still feels like it is. I heard the unicorn yelling loudly to the ponies cowering before him, and saw the earth pony thugs casually walk up to the mares in the room, no doubt with with despicable looks on their faces beneath those masks as they inappropriately 'flirted' with their hostages, who cried as they were touched suggestively by their captors. And all the while, I was outside, acting as the alarm, not doing anything to stop them. I thought we were here to take the money and go, not traumatize the poor souls!
The unicorn robber telekinetically levitated a bag over to the mare behind the bank counter. I still remember her shaking in fright as he approached her. He mumbled something I couldn't hear from where I was, and she nodded her head. I assume he was giving her his demands. She took the bag, got up and walked over to the vault behind her. I could just about hear the unicorn urging her to hurry up, though the agitation in his tone was clear. Meanwhile the other thugs were stroking two mares forced into a corner with their daggers. I still can picture their faces - wide-eyed, frightful, crying...
My attention was immediately brought back to the bank mare stuffing the bag with lots and lots of shiny gold Bits, still trembling, and flinching every time the unicorn raised his voice to her. I should have walked away from it all. I should have ran and called for help, tell somepony, or do something other than aid these criminals. But part of me knew that if i did, I'd lose my parent's home, and you must understand how dear that place was to me then! What good memories there remained in my life were all locked away within that house, along with the bad ones. But there were still good memories! I, I couldn't just - I had, no I needed that house! If i lost it, I lost all of the memories within!
The bank mare came back to the counter and, with a shaking hoof, passed the bag of bits back to the Unicorn, who snatched the precious prize with his magic. As he took the sack of Bits, the earth pony thugs immediately stopped harassing the mares and trotted over to their leader.
The magic he had built up in his horn from earlier started to gradually fade as he and his cohorts backed up from the counter and towards the door. I felt relieved that the ordeal was finally over. I won't lie and say i didn't feel any guilt over what I had just been a part of, because i assure you that there was nothing BUT guilt for the crime I had partaken in. But the only thought on my mind besides that was to getaway with the thieves, collect my share of the loot, and just go home and never look back upon this day again, let alone speak or even reminisce over it.
But life just didn't want me to have my way for once.
Suddenly, before I realized what was happening, the unicorn's horn quickly flared up, and the magical build-up returned, only this time, he didn't hesitate to release it. The energy shot from his horn like a bullet, towards the bank mare clerk, who could only stand there with dread, pure horror, plastered all over her face. As could I.
When that magical projectile struck her, she...she...was...no more. She was just...obliterated. Just a horrendous splatter of red, across the walls and on the floor, was all that remained of her. Everypony in the bank, save for the smirking unicorn and his chuckling affiliates, just screamed and wept. I yelled out as well, joining in the chorus of cries, which very nearly drowned out the sound of the sirens as the law began to stir and respond to the chaos.
The thieves ran out of the bank, and began to run away down the street. I chased after them, screaming at the unicorn as I ran after the murdering son of a whorse. He promised me that nopony was going to be hurt! This was meant to be a simple robbery; go in, get out, share the Bits, part ways. What had transpired was nothing of the sort! I galloped after him, demanding an answer. Quite a way behind me, I could hear the officers shouting at me, telling me to stop where I was at once. I couldn't let that happen. I wasn't going to let myself be put in prison for this. I wasn't going down as an accomplice to a theft and a murder.
As the thieves turned off into an alleyway, the unicorn suddenly spun around, his horn glowing a bright light. I fell over backwards, momentarily blinded by the flash which he had conjured up. All i could see was white. Nothing but white. For a fraction of a second, I thought I had died, and that this was how the afterlife must have looked. How i wish i had died that day. But sadly, it wasn't, for when i heard that bastard's voice, i knew immediately that i was still alive. And that son of a bitch laughed at me. He called me a fool for believing that I was ever going to get a stake of the stolen bits, that I wasn't actually acting as a lookout at all.
I was the fall pony. The one who would take the blame for the crime.
His hooves echoed throughout the alleyway as he darted off, my world still white from the blinding flash he conjured. I still laid upon the cold ground, mortified with this revelation. And even as the sound of the officer ponies approaching began to ring in my ears, i still only thought of one thing; that at this moment in time, i was well and truly bucked.
The touch of cold steel hoofcuffs wrapped around my hooves, and when my vision finally returned to me, I was walking down the street, marched along the sidewalk by three officers. They led me towards a cart with a cage in it. I was thrown into the cage, and the iron door slammed shut. But it didn't matter to me anymore. Nothing mattered. Why should it have mattered?
I had let myself be tricked into 'helping' those thugs steal from that bank. I had stood there and let them kill an innocent mare. I didn't even think about finding somepony and getting help.
What had I done to deserve this life? What cruel higher being mocks me with every step i take in this cruel excuse of an existence?
Why me?
Why?