2: Gangsters are not allways stereotypical

That night as he laid there, Niko's mind was plagued with bad memories. Dreaming of how long he floated there in the ocean with no food or water, praying to any god or goddess for salvation.

His prayers were answered after three days of floating on that parachute bag. He had been slipping in and out of consciousness for the last 12 hours, trying to will himself to stay conscious. If it hadn't been for the almost tropical heat he would have succumbed to hypothermia long ago.

He was pulled into consciousness by a strange sensation, opening his eyes he almost wished he had stayed asleep. He was in the eye of a storm with a whirlpool in the center which was slowly pulling him in.

"Just fucking great" He croaked out, barely ably to make a sound from his dry and cracked lips. He had already realized he was going to die so he just decided to let it happen with a smile on his face.

The current swept him faster and faster to his inevitable demise "HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!" Niko laughed like a mad man as he was swept into the swirling vortex of water, only silenced as he was finally swept under.

Niko jolted awake breathing hard and sweating profusely "haven't had that dream in a while" He said to himself shaking his head a bit. Groaning, he sat up from the couch and felt the bandage on his side. the memories from last night flooded into his mind.

"'Hm' She is kinda cute I guess" He shook that thought out of his head. There weren't many ponies he could trust and he had just met her. "Keep it in your pants Niko" he said to himself remembering his friend chuck telling him off anytime he started chasing a girl. Niko always seemed to fall for the girls that would hurt him, and fall hard. Not that Babs seemed like a bad mare or anything he just didn't want to jeopardize the little bit of peace he had.

Looking over at the clock on the stereo, it read 5:02. He groaned knowing it was time to head for work. without another word he got up and threw a good t-shirt, his jacket, and trusty fedora on, then headed for the door.

'Today is gonna suck' He thought to himself as he walked through the side streets heading towards the docks. The injury from last night was mended fine but if he wasn’t careful he might rip the stitches out.

As he walked through town he did his best to hide what he looked like, to be a fly on the wall, a skill he picked up quickly over the last year or so. between guards following him, everyday ponies screaming and running and the gangs around town either trying to capture him or kill him, the skill became quite useful.

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out his cigarette pack and noticed it was almost empty. Deciding better safe than sorry he made a slight detour to a back ally shop he frequented. It was a simple gryphon grocery/supply store. the ponies hardly ever came around the shop aside from the ponies in the gang in control of this area, was because they sold things like meat and other things that were the norm for omnivores but not for herbivores like the ponies.

They were the only ones in town that treated him fairly. not to mention the gryphon who ran the store was kind of cute but he wouldn’t tell her that for fear of her anger and respect for her brother, the leader of the local gang 'the Black Phoenixes', Raul wasn’t you’re a-typical gang leader. He had strict rules: #1 no-one sells drugs or weapons to kids #2 they don’t hurt civilians under any circumstances and #3 the gang is family, if you hurt one of them you have to deal with every single one of them on your doorstep looking for payback. I respected them for how they did things, yea they sold drugs and other shit but they kept to there rules and made their neighborhood one of the safest around most of the time.

The shop was on a large side street between his building and an orphanage were most of the gangs members grew up, there were a few of Raul's gang hanging around the street listening to music or selling, nothing out of the ordinary. unlike all the other gangs in Manehatten , Raul's was made up of both ponies and gryphons.

As Niko walked towards the shop he noticed a group of gryphons inside an ally fairly close to the shop surrounding a young gryphon girl maybe only just into her teens. The group were all wearing a red and gold headband that he recognized all to well. The 'Red Talons' were a gang of burnouts from the gryphon empire that had thoughts of taking over Equestria from their shitty little hide-out on the east side of the city.

Approaching them from behind cautiously he spoke. "You guys lost? This isn't your turf last time I checked and I'm sure Raul didn’t give little piss-ant hatchlings like you permission to peddle your shit around here" Niko called out a few feet behind the thugs.

"da buck you say?" The apparent 'leader' said turning around walking towards Niko trying to look tough and failing miserably. He wasn’t very big maybe about 5'2 if even, ratty feathers and looking like he hadn't had a fix in a few days.

"Oh my bad, I didn’t realize your ears were so full of dick juice you couldn’t hear me. Let me spell it out for you GET.THE.BUCK.OUT.OF.HERE.YOU.LITTLE.PUSSY. That clear enough for you?" Niko said putting his hands in his pockets. The gryphon continued walking up to Niko and as soon as he was close enough Niko moved fast, grabbing him by the neck, lifting him off the ground causing the rest of his group to turn their attention toward them.

Hearing the commotion a gryphon walked out of the store and saw the group of thugs surrounding Niko and just smirked before putting a claw into his beak and letting out a loud whistle. the sound bounced around the ally making everyone but Niko stop what they were doing and look at the gryphon by the store entrance.

He was an intimidating sight. He was larger than most gryphon males, almost as tall as Niko. His feathers and coat were dark brown almost black, the feathers on his head were gray with the same dark brown as his coat jaggedly accentuating both eyes with on long scar over the left one going down his cheek.

"Aye Niko, was-up man you outa smokes again?" He said striding out of the shop soon fallowed by three gryphons and two ponies at his back.

"Yeah, just cant seem to kick the habit" Niko said nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders.

"Man those things gonna kill you homes" He said come to stand beside Niko.

"And that rotgut you call booze wont?" Niko chided back with a grin making Raul smile.

"So where you catch these red talon pussies?" he said ripping the headband off the gryphon being held by the neck and examining it.

"Harassing this poor girl on her way to school and trying to peddle their bullshit" Niko said with a grin knowing Raul had his back.

Raul chuckled as he snapped his claw and four more of his gang came out and surrounded the group making them look like they were about one twitch away from pissing themselves.

"What you fucks thinkin? Comin into MY neighborhood, harasing this pour fledgling near MY sisters shop, and pissing off one of MY friends?!" Raul looked at me and then back at the group.

"Your lucky I showed up when I did or Niko here would'na been as nice as I'm gonna be" He chuckled as he said that and motioned with his head. Niko threw the thug back into his little group as they were all grabbed by Raul's gang.

"Strip-em and tossem into the pink district. Oh and don’t forget to hand-cuff there hands to their feet" He said with a devilish grin.

Niko and Raul started laughing there asses off as the group of thugs were drug off screaming. Niko fist bumped Raul.

"Have fun boys!" Niko yelled still laughing.

"No soap needed homies!" Raul added as they headed toward the shop.

As they were walking the young gryphon girl the thugs had been harassing ran up and hugged Niko with enough force to almost rip his stitches out "GAH! careful kid, your welcome" Niko said rubbing the feathers on her head and smiling down at her.

While she was hugging Niko Raul just smiled and went into the shop leaving him and the girl.

"Thank you, they were trying to take me with them. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn't shown up" She said with a few tears in her eyes.

"Its alright, no need to thank me. I think you should get going though, school starts in an hour" she nodded and quickly pecked him on the cheek then took off fast.

Niko watched her take flight. It always amazed him to watch gryphons and pegasi in flight, their wings compared to their bodies seemed disproportioned, more so for the pegasi. He turned and started into the shop. It had a simple over hang and a single glass door with raught-iron bars over the glass. The interior was just as simple with 3 isles filled with various goods from school supplies to food stuffs. The lighting was slightly dim casting a kind of home-y feel to the whole place, the walls had a few posters and various pictures ranging from the Wonderbolts to the Gryphon Empire. In the back was a single half counter with a cash register. behind the counter were a few shelves containing various liquors and tobacco products. (Niko was rather relieved when he found out this universe had cigarettes)

He went through the door and noticed Raul still standing just inside the door with his front claws in a prayer pose.

"What are you doin man?" Niko asked a little confused.

"Prayin to the royal sisters for your soul" Raul replied smirking.

Niko just shook his head and walked further into the shop "NIKO!!"

Niko grimaced hearing that voice, especially if it was pissed. He walked farther into the shop not wanting to stall the inevitable ass-chewing he was about to get.

"Hey Gilda, how are y-" He tried to say but got cut off.

"Causing trouble around my shop again? I swear to Tartarus ill kick your ass if you scare off my business!" Gilda walked out from behind a short counter and walked up to him looking ready to kill, so Niko just stood there waiting for her to finish. He looked over and saw Raul siting in the back avoiding the whole conversation.

"I'm sorry Gilda, but you know I cant stand by and let shit like that happen!" Niko pleaded, she just huffed and ruffled her feathers about to turn around, she stopped short though and sniffed.

Niko flinched 'damn gryphon cense of smell' He thought.

She turned back and walked straight up to Niko getting within an inch of him glaring, she sniffed one more time.

"Ok, where are you hurt this time?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

"I'm fine Gilda, I don’t kno-" He tried to speak but was again cut off.

"I can smell the blood, an I know its yours." She stated crossing her arms and giving him a look that told him he wasn’t getting service if he didn’t tell her.

So Niko preceded to tell her everything that happened last night from walking home, to the conversation he had with Babs including being stitched up.

Gilda had a bad habit of treating Niko like a disobedient child she had to take care off sometimes. through the whole story she was looking over the wound, which was half healed already, checking the wound over and bating his hand away every time he tried to put his shirt back down.

"It’s a good thing he missed your kidney, not to mention that freaky fast healing of yours." she sighed pulling his shirt back down.

"You get yourself killed and ill bring your ass back just so I can get a shot in, you hear me?" she stated poking me in the chest with her claw, a worried look in her eyes. Niko just nodded with a smile.

"I know Gilda, I know. So you think I can get my usual?" Niko asked keeping the smile on his face to try and lighten the mood.

She sighed again heading back behind the counter and rummaging in the glass case under the counter, pulling out a red pack with a moon crest on it and tossing it at him. He caught it and reached into his pocket to pull out his bits.

"6 bits right?" he asked counting them in his hand. Gilda looked at him blankly inside her own thoughts for a second then shook her head.

"Their on the house for saving the girl" She said with a shrug

Niko exited the shop with a smile on his face, those were the only two on this planet that he had come to trust whole heartedly.

Author's Note

........some answers come later, MUCH later.

I would like to apologize to those who like this story. I work for a living and don't have anyone lighting a fire under my but to write on the occasions that I actually find some free time. Im not abandoning and not giving up. brony till I die.